I recently had a member of TAXI’s forum ask what the difference was between a production music library and a music publisher. Great question! Here’s the answer I posted:

Production Music Libraries and Publishers are both publishers, and it’s my observation that the best music libraries get most of their best placements by doing hand to hand combat — meaning that they develop relationships and actively pitch. Another observation is that Film and TV music supervisors really don’t like to search databases for music. They’d rather email or call a human, have them cull a few tracks they think would work and pitch them, whether by email or in some cases, in person. The world’s biggest and best music libraries have sales forces all over the world.

A straight up music publisher like Warner Chappel or Universal Music Pub might have as many as 250,000 (or more) titles in their catalog (spanning decades) and a staff of creative people who act kind of like TAXI, in that they tell their writers which songs are best, give their writers some creative advice and hand-holding, sometimes in the form of pairing up co-writes, as well as pitching their songs to artists, and yes, even film and TV opportunities.

A couple of major differences are that publishers like Universal typically don’t sign single songs. Instead, they sign songwriters, give them an advance against future income, and the songwriters need to turn in a song or two per month (that meet the pub’s standards), depending on the number of co-writers they will be splitting the income with.

To get a staff songwriter deal, it typically takes having a song that’s already been cut to get the publishers interested. Once they know there’s an income stream, they’re much more interested. They often want a piece of the existing cut. Another way to get a pub deal is to get a record deal and be the songwriter in the band, or for yourself if you’re a solo artist. Once you’ve inked the record deal, a publisher will often offer you a pub deal because there is some probability that the record will generate mechanicals, and with tons of good fortune, performance income as well through airplay, etc.

A big difference with libraries is that they typically don’t give advances (unless you’re creating custom projects/CDs they commission you to create to order), and many of them offer non-exclusive contracts on single songs. I think it will be quite some time before the majors do non-exclusives, as they’re interested in building equity. Exclusive rights build equity, much like equity in stocks or real estate. Eventually, they cash in their chips and sell off the entire catalog for what is called a multiple, similar to selling a business for X times net profit.

Gotta stop now before I write a book. Hope this helps,
Michael

I just wanted to let you know that Mega-Hit Country Songwriter Jeffrey Steele will be our honoree this year and our keynote interview at TAXI’s annual convention, the Road Rally.

Jeffrey Steele at TAXI's 2003 Road Rally

Here’s a list of his professional accomplishments:

• 2007 BMI Songwriter Of The Year
• 2007 BMI Song Of The Year, “What Hurts The Most”
• 2006 NSAI Writer Of The Year
• 2005 NSAI Writer Of The Year
• 2003 BMI Writer Of The Year
• 2003 BMI Writer Of The Year
• 29 Top 10 Songs
• 24 Top Five Songs
• 8 No. 2 Songs
• 8 No. 1 Songs
• Currently for 2008: Rascal Flatts “Here” climbs the charts.
• Recently for 2008: Rascal Flatts “Everyday” #2, Phil Vassar’s “Love is a Beautiful Thing” #2, Craig Morgan’s “International Harvester” #8 and Cascada’s pop smash, “What Hurts the Most” #1
• One of Billboard magazines Top 5 Writers, 6 years in a row
• Over 35,000,000 airplays on radio and television
• Over 500 songs cut in an 8-year period by over a 100 artists
• 95 singles released off more than 75 Gold and Platinum records
• Over 50 million records sold
• More than 50 writers awards
• 2007 CMA Triple Play Award (3 no 1 songs in a year) “Brand New Girlfriend”, “My Wish”, and “What Hurts the Most”
• 3 Grammy nominations as a writer and as a musician
• 1991 Academy of Country Music award, Band of the Year
• Judge/mentor on season 6 of NBC’s, “Nashville Star”
• Star of the G.A.C. T.V. reality show, “The Hitmen of Music Row”
• Multi Platinum Producer of artists like: Montgomery Gentry, Keith Anderson, and John Waite, with 2 no. 1 songs and 6 Top 10 songs.

His Songs:

My Town, Speed, Something To Be Proud Of, Hell Yeah, Gone, Chrome, I’m Trying, Brand New Girlfriend, What Hurts The Most, My Wish, Me And My Gang, These Days, Everyday, The Cowboy In Me, When The Lights Go Down, Unbelievable, Big Deal, She’d Give Anything, A Cowboys Born With A Broken Heart, They Don’t Make Em Like That Anymore, Everytime I Hear Your Name, Couldn’t Last A Moment, Help Somebody, Love Is A Beautiful Thing, International Harvester.

To learn more about becoming a TAXI member, getting two free tickets to this event, and to see the schedule of events for this year’s Rally, please click here.

That’s all for now,

Michael