This may be the single BEST way to understand EXACTLY what Broadcast Quality Recordings are. TAXI’s Michael Laskow gives great explanations and plays some tracks that make the term “Broadcast Quality” crystal clear. You’ll discover that you probably have Broadcast Quality tracks in your catalog right now!
Learn how to make Broadcast Quality Recordings and Tracks at TAXI’s Road Rally, November 5th-8th..
Click to continue reading “Film and TV Licensing Opportunities Abound at TAXI’s Road Rally”
It seems like so many songwriters and artists have given up on the dream of getting a record deal with major record label. Flying around on private jets and trashing hotel rooms is a dream now long forgotten. Film and TV placements are the new “record deal.”
Most musicians don’t know how to choose the right music licensing company or companies, because they haven’t done their homework yet. They haven’t learned how to know which company has the best chance of getting them a film or TV placement period, and they often have no idea which company has the best track record for making the most money for the songwriters ad artists they work with.
Truth be told, it’s not all that hard to set up a web page that looks great, add a database that hosts music, post up a couple of success stories (true or not), and bammo, you’re in business as a music licensing company! Doesn’t matter if you’re in the cow pastures of Wisconsin, the heart of Hollywood, or the plains of Africa. Nobody does due diligence any more. “If they’ve got a cool web page, they must be real!” Uh-huh!
Things to watch out for:
Open submissions — Not ALL companies that allow any old Tom, Dick or Harry to submit to them are schlock shops, but many are. Accepting music from any and everybody seems appealing at first, but it also means that the music supervisors and music editors are going to hear a lot of mediocre music (at best), and quickly leave the site with nothing in hand.
Rating and filtering by fans and competing musicians — Music supervisors want filtered music. They want only the very best music. In many cases (but not necessarily all), music that has been selected or filtered by competing songwriters or artists doesn’t stand up to the quality of music that has been pre-screened by real music industry professionals. Why? Two reasons: The musicians doing the filtering have never worked at a music supervision company, a film company, a TV production company, a record company, or a Film or TV publishing company. They simply don’t know how high the bar is set. They also may not know that just because they personally like a particular song or instrumental track, it doesn’t mean that it will work well for TV or film music companies.
The second reason is that some less than ethical people will “vote down” the competition. It’s become somewhat common for musicians who want their music to rise will ask fans, friends and family members to visit the music web sites that have “contests,” to give them high scores and give the competition low scores.
Companies that are too quick to accept music into their catalogs – There are companies who will sign almost anything. even though the deals are often non-exclusive, it can be a sign that the company is just trying to fatten the catalog or music library for a later sale, and is more interested in quantity, not quality.
Companies that don’t have solid, long-term relationships with the industry — Music supervisors have go-to people that they’ve worked with for years. They trust their ears. They know they can rely on them for great music. If you can’t find solid evidence that those relationships exists at te company you’re about to sign with, you might want to keep looking and find a company that does!
If you’d like to lean more about how to get started licensing your music through production music libraries and how to pick the right film & TV licensing companies for your music, watch this series of short videos I did with Matt Hirt. Matt is a long-time TAXI member, and through diligent work, persistence and getting his music picked up by the best music licensing companies (mostly through TAXI, if I can be so immodest) he’s created an income that any songwriter, artist or composer would be happy to have.
Watch the video. I promise you’ll learn just about everything you need to know about music licensing in a very short time.
Enjoy!
Michael
Running opportunities for Film and TV placements in our Music Industry Listings back in 1992 made me the laughing stock of the music business. It was unheard of for Indie artists and songwriters to get their songs placed in network TV shows or better yet, feature films put out by major Hollywood studios back then.
Nobody seemed to know much about Production Music Libraries (which are Film & TV music publishers) - what they did, how they worked, or what kind of music they needed to license to TV or Film productions. I knew because at one point in my career I managed the largest audio post-production studio on the planet, and we used tracks from the best Production Music Libraries every day.
We used them for background music on TV shows and commercials. We used library tracks under voiceovers for radio spots. We licensed music from Production Music Libraries for Industrial Videos… you know, those cheesy videos that widget manufacturers and big pharmaceutical companies put out.
The point is, it just wasn’t cool to license your music for anything but records. Indie musicians and major label artists all turned up their noses at the very thought of having their music in a TV show or movie.
Funny how all that’s changed! Now, even the Rolling Stones and the Beatles will license their music for film, TV and video game projects. Major labels are more than happy to license music from their acts for TV shows, simply to get some exposure.
And who do you think was one of the earliest pioneers of helping Indie artists, bands and composers license their music? Yes, TAXI, the company that everybody in the music business laughed at. Trust me, they are definitely not laughing any more.
As a matter of fact, hundreds of companies have tried to imitate what TAXI does, but they all lack one very critical element - human ears. TAXI filters the music companies ask us to find. We use industry experts under our roof to find the very best. While the music supervisors like using music from Independent artists and songwriters, they don’t want to search a database full of less than wonderful music.
It takes more than a website and a database full of mediocre music to get the job done well.
That’s exactly why I created TAXI, and that’s why we are still the world’s leading independent A&R company. People from the TV, Film and Music industries don’t have the time to filter. We do it for them. We give them what they ask for. We give them what they need. We give them top notch music from the very best Indie artists, songwriters and composers.
The irony in all of this was best demonstrated when I asked an A&R person from Interscope Records this question during our annual, members-only convention, the Road Rally, last year, “What do you think is the best thing the people in this audience can do to get on your radar? Where do they start getting your attention so you’ll sign them to a record deal?”
The answer he offered up? “The best thing you can do is try to get your music placed on a TV show or in a movie!”
Wow, seventeen years later and TAXI is finally cool. That A&R person was right of course. Getting your music placed in TV shows and Films is just as much about the exposure as it is about the money. And if you do it persistently, and for a period of years, you’ll be able to turn it into a full-time gig because the money can really add up over time.
More specifics about how to make money by placing your music in Films and TV shows in a future blog!
Giving Your Tracks the Right Title Can Get Your Music in More Films and TV Shows
You might think that writing great songs and instrumentals is the best way to license more of your music. You could be right, but here’s a really simple tip that I’ll bet you never thought of — give your songs and tracks better titles that make them easier to find.
Imagine that you’re a music supervisor searching for music to license for a Television Show or Movie. As you type in your database query, “uptempo, male, country, instrumental,” trying to find the perfect track for a rodeo scene, the database spits back 231 options with titles like, Country Instrumental, Male Country Instrumental, Country Kicker, Texas Hold ‘em, and so on…
If you had titled your track, Rodeo Rider or Rodeo Ruckus, the music supervisor’s eyes would be much more quickly drawn to your track than the others because the title is specific and conjures up a visual image. Remember, music supervisors may be music people, but they work in an industry of visually oriented people. Also noteworthy is that a good portion of the music selected for Films and TV Shows is actually temped in by video editors — most definitely PICTURE people.
Here’s a great exercise to help you learn how to choose better titles. Watch a TV show or movie and take notes about the types of scenes you see: a break up scene, a car chase, or a crime scene investigation. Next to each of them write down where they each took place: a beach breakup scene, a San Francisco car chase, and a crime scene investigation lab. Get the idea?
Your titles? Beach Break Up, San Fran Car Chase, CSI Lab.
Make it easy for picture people to SEE where they should be using your music and I can almost promise you that more of them will!
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:
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
Dear Passengers,
I’ve been having one of those weeks where “signs” are everywhere. You know what I mean… little signs that keep pointing to things you shouldn’t or can’t ignore.
For me, the signs have all pointed to the same thing - songwriters, artists and composers missing opportunities that are staring them in the face.
The first sign was getting a call from a top Film/TV publisher telling me that 70% of the TAXI members she contacted with deal offers didn’t respond. When queried, the members told me they weren’t sure if the deal offer was real or legitimate, even though the company rep told them she found them using TAXI.
All they had to do was ask us to get clarification! It was what I would call a gold-plated company. The one I’d want to sign with if I did Film or TV music.
My next sign was getting several emails in short succession from musicians telling me they didn’t think their music was good enough. They were stopped dead in their tracks by their own fears. I wrote to you about that a few days ago.
Specifically, there seems to be a lot of confusion about what the term Broadcast Quality means. I’m going to clarify that for you in this email.
The misconception seems to be that you must record your music in a state of the art studio to achieve Broadcast Quality. Not true! I’m going to give you some great examples in a minute.
In the Film and TV Music world, Broadcast Quality can often be achieved using nothing more than a few tracks in a home studio. You can use a relatively inexpensive condenser microphone and a couple of basic pieces of outboard gear or plug-ins to get the sound you need.
Let me introduce you to Denny Earnest from Montana. Denny has been a TAXI
member for a very long time, has signed dozens of tunes with Film/TV
publishers through TAXI, and has had enough film and TV placements to
create a nice income from them. Click this link and listen to Denny’s
tunes, “Coming Up Slowly” and “Tiesco Select.”
There’s no question that Denny is an excellent player of many stringed instruments. There’s no question that these tracks sound great. There’s also no question that these are great examples of what Broadcast Quality can be. Can’t you hear these tracks being used in a movie or a TV show? Don’t you hear tracks like these all the time on your TV?
They often come from people like Denny getting signed by publishers through TAXI.
What makes those simple tracks Broadcast Quality is the quality of the playing and the clean, yet simple recording. Could you have done that?
Next up is Bill Gordon from Miami, Florida. Bill is a top-notch pianist. I’ve been in his small home studio. He’s running ProTools in a room that’s roughly 15′x15′ in a little guesthouse. The console and the rest of his gear sit in the same room as his piano. Sound familiar?
Click this link and listen to the song, “Riverboat Blues.”
As you might have read in Bill’s bio, he’s had a bunch of great TV placements, all I believe, as a result of his TAXI membership. Broadcast Quality? You bet! Great playing and a nice clean recording from a home studio. Can’t you easily hear “Riverboat Blue” getting used in the background of a riverboat gambling scene in any movie or TV show? Could you have done that?
Matt recently told me that even if he didn’t record and produce any new music for a year that his income would continue to come in from all the music he had “in the pipeline.” Meaning that his existing tracks would continue to produce income for some time to come. The gift that keeps on giving 
Ready to hear a range of Matt’s work? And I do mean a range! If you listen to all the tracks on the page I’m sending you to, you’ll learn a LOT about what the market needs and hear some great examples of Broadcast Quality done in a home studio outfitted with ProTools, some great sample libraries and virtual instruments.
Also notice how Matt has named many of his tracks. I like the fact that his titles give you a good idea of what the track will be about. Here’s the link:
I’ve got to believe there are many of you reading this who are saying, “I could do this too!”
That’s exactly the reason I’m writing to you today. So many of the “signs” that have been hitting me over the head this past week are telling me that the reason many musicians aren’t successful yet is simply because they’re afraid of the unknown.
Now you know!
You might be wondering how Broadcast Quality plays out for artists, rather than for people doing instrumental music only. Glad you asked!
I spent a good chunk of a Saturday afternoon listening to TAXI members Mike and Ruthy from Woodstock, New York. As I listened to song after song, I kept imagining myself pitching their music to Film Music Supervisors. I also thought of you!
Why?
Because Mike and Ruthy have tons of songs that are great examples of what I would call lo-fi, home recording and production that absolutely works, and is absolutely Broadcast Quality. Click this link:
Listen to Mike and Ruthy’s tunes
Check out, “All the Time.” Wouldn’t that be a great song for a movie like Juno?
How about, “Alone on the Homestead,” for a movie like Cold Mountain?
And then there’s the gritty electric song, “I’m Going to Get My Girlfriend Out of Jail,” which would be great for an ironic scene in a Seth Rogin comedy or a heavy, serious scene in a film like Traffic.
Every song or track I’ve pointed you to would qualify as Broadcast Quality. Have I cleared it up and shown you that there may be tons of possibilities out there for you and your music?
To summarize, Broadcast Quality does not necessarily mean that a track or songs has been recorded in a state of the art studio with a twelve-foot long SSL console. Much of the music you hear in Film and TV is recorded with ProTools or Garageband, with a relatively small amount of other gear - maybe some compressor/limiters and reverb units.
Reasonably good, clean recordings that are well balanced in the mix are often good enough. Mastering your tracks is not necessary.
You can ruin an otherwise Broadcast Quality recording by adding a wimpy, underperformed or pitchy vocal. While the tracks might be well recorded, a sub standard vocal performance can easily lay waste to an otherwise great track. I can’t overemphasize that enough!
My advice? Hire a singer or make the track an instrumental!
One final thought. Two to three minutes is a great length for Instrumental tracks for Film and TV applications, and buttoned, not faded endings are often preferred. Make it easy on your potential customers and they’ll love you for it!
I hope this helped.
Talk to you soon,
Michael
