Wanted - YOUR music for our clients in tv, radio, films, adverts, games etc.
- Thread starter Adam Makin-Trax
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Adam Makin-Trax
New member
Yes Greg. We mainly work with writers, who are also the artist(s). We don't take any money from mp3 \ cd \ download sales - only from licensing via our catalogues.
When a track is accepted and then used \ licensed through one of our catalogues, it earns a pay-per-play payment or licence fee. That use can also lead to broadcast royalties if made through our royalty-based catalogue. Our commission is 30% of these earnings. If you send a track to almost any other music company or library they'll take 50% of your money.
I'm a musician and used to write for libraries. If a track made £100, the libraries took 50% leaving £50. My publisher at the time took his 40% leaving me with £30.
That's why I set up Makin' Trax - to find the best music from unsigned artists, and give them 70% of the money earnt.
We also work with labels and publishers if you are signed.
Adam Makin-Trax
New member
Well that's how the music business works! Whether you're at the top and have managers, agents, labels, publishers, third-party writers and producers all after a cut, or just gigging in a local venue and bringing in fans who subsequently increase the owner's takings by buying beer...
I'm happy that you don't have to worry about money and wish you luck with your songs \ career.
If anyone else would like the chance of making some money and doesn't mind that the people pushing it usually work from 8:30am til midnight every day, searching for artists, listening to thousands of tracks, choosing the most suitable, drawing up agreements, emailing each artist at least 5 times to make sure they send their details and agreements back (I was the same when I was writing and producing for other people!), replying to emails from artists asking a thousand questions, register each royalty-based track with the artists details, designing the website so the developer knows how it should look and work, testing and improving the site after each stage of coding, entering data for each track so our server knows where they are in the database and what the genre, sub genre, feel, mood, theme and instrumentation is, uploading accepted tracks to our server, finding and contacting new clients, asking them for their music requirements, searching through hundreds of possible matches, narrowing those down to just a few to send them, contacting them again to make sure they received them \ liked them \ want to use them, keeping track of every artist and their music to make sure the right tracks get sent to the right client, then there's the licensing stage...
and all for nothing unless a track is licensed \ used. Its currently a 'sole trader company', so I don't have a fixed wage - I rely on my work pushing the tracks to bring in the 30% when they're used. No tracks = no wages.
So that's how licensing companies
I know, and I want no part of it. I think the music business is a total joke now, even small-timers like your operation, and it's because too many people have their hand in the pot that was created by someone else. An album retails for 13 dollars and the artist(s) that actually wrote and performed the music gets what? 1 or 2 dollars of that? Fuck that. The whole industry is full of blood sucking leaches. Users.
The Root Investigates Who Really Gets Paid in the Music Industry
Kudos to you for getting into the easier and less creatively demanding although more profitable side of music. I do hope you manage to stay afloat, albeit at someone else's expense. I'll stay on this side. My shit aint marketable anyway.
Adam Makin-Trax
New member
Don't put yourself down! Shit sells - just check the charts
miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
Hey Adam...I understand what you are doing and how the profits break down compared to industry norms, and if indeed you are working to help songwriters place their music...that's all cool. There are many such service providers, so not a problem with you wanting to do that same.
However, I agree that the manner in which you are doing it here does come off "all thumbs"...and it would be much better if you had a finished/working website where all the details were laid out, some contact info...etc...etc.
Not sure why there's a "gap" between your old and new websites...I mean, even if you are now on new servers, you could have kept your old website content live on the new servers until your new website content was ready...there's really no need to let your website go dark during that process...but, that's for you to work out, I'm just saying that it's not helping your credibility doing it this way.
However, I agree that the manner in which you are doing it here does come off "all thumbs"...and it would be much better if you had a finished/working website where all the details were laid out, some contact info...etc...etc.
Not sure why there's a "gap" between your old and new websites...I mean, even if you are now on new servers, you could have kept your old website content live on the new servers until your new website content was ready...there's really no need to let your website go dark during that process...but, that's for you to work out, I'm just saying that it's not helping your credibility doing it this way.
TyphoidHippo
1Trillion K Platinum User
You wrote the TOS? Who are you? Dragon?
TyphoidHippo
1Trillion K Platinum User
Pardon my confusion - it's just that your join date is like a week ago. Are you one of the owners or what?
TyphoidHippo
1Trillion K Platinum User
So... you're mshilarious? What's with the alias?
TyphoidHippo
1Trillion K Platinum User
I'd never seen recording.org before...weird. I just looked through a few threads, and it reads just like gearslutz (over opinionated snobs spouting nonsense). I'd vote for not turning this place into that, if this is an issue being debated, lol.
And your posts are awesome here, msh (errr.. jon.... you're msh to me and everybody else who's ever gotten good advice and/or learned new things from you). I think it'd be a shame if they were all removed from the Internet, myself.
And your posts are awesome here, msh (errr.. jon.... you're msh to me and everybody else who's ever gotten good advice and/or learned new things from you). I think it'd be a shame if they were all removed from the Internet, myself.
mjbphotos
Moderator
$12.99 list price for mine. I get $1.69 for hard copies! (more for digital downloads, though)
I'm still trying to figure out what this guy does except for collecting money - how does he actually PROMOTE any music?
miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
I think that's his secret....
....but the key point is that he collects nothing until you collect. I'm not just taking his side, but this is how many publishing companies work...they find someone who wants your song for something...and for that they take a cut and you get a cut.
If people knew how to find those interested parties on their own...then they could sell their music on their own....but that's not an easy thing to do.
One thing that publishing companies and these kinds of service providers have that most individual songwriters don't...is connections, which they have developed, and that's how they sell your music...so for that, they get a cut. I really don't see anything bad about that...it's a service and they get paid only when you get paid.
What you want to watch out for is the ones that ask you to put up some money up front with promises of shopping your music around. At least the OP isn't asking for anything up front...so there realy is no risk that I can see.
I would like to see some kind of pro/biz website, with proper content and info from the OP...and not just go by an ad in the forum free classifieds.
miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
None...and I would not submit any unless I knew who/what exactly I was dealing with..I would want to see some semblance of a legit service/biz, which is what I am suggesting to the OP.
This is not the first time I've seen these types of services offered on the Internet, though yeah, some ask for money up front which supposedly you can recoup after they place your songs...if they place your songs....but that's all very risky.
As I already said, I'm not specifically supporting the OP, but I do feel that there is nothing wrong with these types of services IF you don't have to shell out any money up front. I mean, people post their stuff up on MeSpace, YouTube, Facebook...etc..etc....why?....because they hope to get their stuff heard and maybe even sold (either as a song or themselves as an artist or both).
So.....if there is a legit service that will place your music for your and give you a fair amount of the profit while keeping a cut for their services....WTF is wrong with that?
In my own situation...I have NO notions of "rock stardom" as an artist (I permanently put those ideas aside when I hit 30), but I sure as hell would like to sell some of my music at some point. It's something you can do without needing to worry about personally fitting some A&R image/profile as an artist, and it underscores the point that if you have decent songs, someone else might want to *and be able to* do something more with those songs than you ever could.
Heck, I certainly don't know how to promote my songs to a high level and into a profitable situation. We talk about marketing on and off here...and I don't know of too many "home rec" guys that have found the easy way to do it....successfully.
This is not the first time I've seen these types of services offered on the Internet, though yeah, some ask for money up front which supposedly you can recoup after they place your songs...if they place your songs....but that's all very risky.
As I already said, I'm not specifically supporting the OP, but I do feel that there is nothing wrong with these types of services IF you don't have to shell out any money up front. I mean, people post their stuff up on MeSpace, YouTube, Facebook...etc..etc....why?....because they hope to get their stuff heard and maybe even sold (either as a song or themselves as an artist or both).
So.....if there is a legit service that will place your music for your and give you a fair amount of the profit while keeping a cut for their services....WTF is wrong with that?
In my own situation...I have NO notions of "rock stardom" as an artist (I permanently put those ideas aside when I hit 30), but I sure as hell would like to sell some of my music at some point. It's something you can do without needing to worry about personally fitting some A&R image/profile as an artist, and it underscores the point that if you have decent songs, someone else might want to *and be able to* do something more with those songs than you ever could.
Heck, I certainly don't know how to promote my songs to a high level and into a profitable situation. We talk about marketing on and off here...and I don't know of too many "home rec" guys that have found the easy way to do it....successfully.
Right, that's what I thought. No need to read the rest. So why are you defending this guy, and not all the other guys that come in here looking to make a quick buck off of us? Or are you just arguing with mshilarious because that's what yall like to do?
miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
Well...if you DID read the rest of my post and some others previously....
...I already stated that I am NOT defending the OP specifically, and I think I was pretty clear that I felt he was doing himself a disservice by just using the free classifieds to promote his service. What I was "defending" (though not really defending, just agreeing with) was that these types of song placement services are not intrinsically bad when they offer some kind of profit split AFTER a song is placed and money is made. It's a very normal way of doing business in the music biz.
AFA as MSH, I think he was the one trying to argue about TOS and mods not doing their jobs....blah, blah, blah....which has nothing to do with the discussion in this thread about the service of placing songs for songwriters.
And lets not get his little crusade all stirred up again in this thread as Chater has already removed the off-topic posts once, so no need to go off-topic again. If anyone wants to discuss the TOS, forum policies, mods, etc....use the BBS Feedback forum.
Besides...she again has let this thread stay without ruling it as SPAM, so lets not bring all that up again either.
Really...the discussion about song placement services is a good one, and rather than doing it here in the free classifieds....it might make better sense for someone to start a thread in the Marketing forum and let this thread go back to being just a classified advertisement.
...I already stated that I am NOT defending the OP specifically, and I think I was pretty clear that I felt he was doing himself a disservice by just using the free classifieds to promote his service. What I was "defending" (though not really defending, just agreeing with) was that these types of song placement services are not intrinsically bad when they offer some kind of profit split AFTER a song is placed and money is made. It's a very normal way of doing business in the music biz.
AFA as MSH, I think he was the one trying to argue about TOS and mods not doing their jobs....blah, blah, blah....which has nothing to do with the discussion in this thread about the service of placing songs for songwriters.
And lets not get his little crusade all stirred up again in this thread as Chater has already removed the off-topic posts once, so no need to go off-topic again. If anyone wants to discuss the TOS, forum policies, mods, etc....use the BBS Feedback forum.
Besides...she again has let this thread stay without ruling it as SPAM, so lets not bring all that up again either.
Really...the discussion about song placement services is a good one, and rather than doing it here in the free classifieds....it might make better sense for someone to start a thread in the Marketing forum and let this thread go back to being just a classified advertisement.
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