Instrumentals for TV Licensing

[CosmicDolphin]

2016...decided it was time to actually DO something with the music I spend so much time on so I've been focusing my efforts on writing instrumentals this year for film & TV pitches so I thought I would share a few of them with you guys. It's a big learning curve for sure, and I'm doing it with my long time mate of 40yrs Dale so he plays all the guitars and I do all they keys/electronica/mixing.  We've joined TAXI after lurking there for about 15yrs..finally decided they are legit haha. It costs but it's not that expensive if you split it with a writing partner and  only the same cost a a shiny new piece of gear each year.

The reason I joined now is because there are more & more instrumental opportunities and as neither of us are real "vocalists" it seemed ideal. Here are a few of the tracks I've done this year.


Set for Stun is Electro House

Rezonator is Dark Eletronic Underscore

Little Bombs is Electro Pop

Back to The Hills is Old Skool Hip Hop

[docmidnite]

THAT´s the reason for being so quite here...! IC!

They all sound cool and decent!
Any resonance so far?

[CosmicDolphin]

THAT´s the reason for being so quite here...! IC!

They all sound cool and decent!
Any resonance so far?

Part of the reason yeah..I still check in though and sneak around though.

So far since the start of Feb we have submitted 20 pieces of music. Takes 4-6 weeks to hear back...5 have been "returned" ( they don't like to call it "rejected"  Lol  ) and 4 have been " Forwarded " ....that means they are sent on to the Music Supervisor or Music Library Owners Etc.  The rest are all Pending at the moment..We just carry on writing while we wait.

Actually those are good numbers from what I have read in their forums, the top people seem to have about 60+ percent of stuff forwarded. Some people take 6 months before getting their music good enough to be forwarded...some never get one at all.

A Forward is no guarantee of anything other than that it has been shortlisted and will be listened to by the right people, but get enough of them and eventually things will happen. It's a bit of a numbers game so we have committed to 10 per month which is manageable between us..I hardly ever watch TV or anything !  

A lot of these pieces of music go into libraries that music supervisors go to for putting into reality TV shows and stuff like that, some of them are for Network TV shows and movies as well though.

There's tons of of listings every month for all sorts of music, I'm tending to go for the electronic stuff and my mate is doing the guitar driven stuff.

He's beating me 3 -1 at the moment out of the 4 forwarded tracks !  Although like he said if I hadn't mixed them for him they probably wouldn't have sounded professional enough.

Like I say, BIG learning curve and no money probably for 18-24 months out of any deals struck but the ones who stick at it seem to to pretty well.

 

[Zax]

Sounding great, CD!!

Best of luck to you both!

Frank

[CosmicDolphin]

Sounding great, CD!!

Best of luck to you both!

Frank

Cheers Zax

Had a Music Library in LA email us about signing one the tracks they received from Taxi last night, just waiting to find out which track it is and what the deal is !

[PVD]

Very cool.  Good luck.

Paul

[CosmicDolphin]

Very cool.  Good luck.

Paul

Cheers Paul..surprising what can happen when you put your mid to it...Only 11 weeks after we started and things are already happening. I just read a post on one of their forums from a guy who has submitted 60 pieces over 3 years all rejected !

So we are surprised but delighted to have hit the ground running

CD

[CosmicDolphin]

THAT´s the reason for being so quite here...! IC!

They all sound cool and decent!
Any resonance so far?

Doc

You'll be interested to know all of these have been "screened" now by Taxi... 3 of these 4 were rejected..one was put forward which was " Back to The Hills "

Rezonator was too repetitive

Set for Stun was not "engaging enough"

Little Bombs..said was a good piece but not right for the pitch, needed to sound more "band-like"

The good news is I can work on them and resubmit them to another opportunity but we've had 9 pieces put forward now out of 20

[gbm]

Nice Mark

My 2 cents

Stun - The stop (non-sequence) at 0:28 kills the momentum of the song IMO. Lots of potential. Not enough happening musically.
Resonator - not enough happening musically IMO. Lots of potential.
Little Bombs - not enough happening musically IMO. Lots of potential.
Back To The Hills - - not enough happening musically IMO. Lots of potential. The best one of all.

If you are looking for collaborators, I would be glad to help with composition, I will need the midi.

[CosmicDolphin]

Nice Mark

My 2 cents

Stun - The stop (non-sequence) at 0:28 kills the momentum of the song IMO. Lots of potential. Not enough happening musically.
Resonator - not enough happening musically IMO. Lots of potential.
Little Bombs - not enough happening musically IMO. Lots of potential.
Back To The Hills - - not enough happening musically IMO. Lots of potential. The best one of all.

If you are looking for collaborators, I would be glad to help with composition, I will need the midi.

Hey Gary, Back to the Hills has already been deemed good enough and sent to the music library owners for them to consider.

As for the rest I can't collaborate on them as I'm doing this 50/50 with my friend and writing partner, and we are signed up with PRS but anyone can join Taxi if they wish to.

CD

[gbm]

OK

I haven't joined Taxi yet, not sure when I will

You could also post them on iTunes, if you're a member of a Performing Rights Organization you can get royalties from every download. It's not a lot but its something and you can build an audience that way too.

good luck

[gbm]

Sorry yes you are with PRS you probably also need a publisher account.

[CosmicDolphin]

Sorry yes you are with PRS you probably also need a publisher account.

If you place it in a Library they act as the Publisher

[gbm]

yes Taxi gets 50% for being publisher. It only costs $50.00 here in the states to become a publisher and 5 minutes of your time. if you're your own publisher you can rake in 50% more money. That's how the states do it anyway.

[CosmicDolphin]

yes Taxi gets 50% for being publisher. It only costs $50.00 here in the states to become a publisher and 5 minutes of your time. if you're your own publisher you can rake in 50% more money. That's how the states do it anyway.

Taxi aren't the Publisher mate and take no cut of any deal you may get...they just run listings of what their clients are looking for and pass the best ones over to the Library / Music Supervisor / whoever needs it. Any subsequent dealings are directly between you and the client..once your track is with their client Taxi's part is done. The Library is normally the publisher, and yes most publisher splits are 50/50 as you say.

Sure you could set yourself up as your own publisher if you wanted to..but who is going to sign any music off you? The music supervisors in the TV & Movie companies go to Music Libraries that Taxi is sending your music to, they won't sign stuff from an individual person like you or me.

The value of Taxi is in the network of clients they have all looking for music who won't take unsolicited material...but they WILL listen to the the stuff Taxi sends them as they will only send what they think are the best submissions.

Not just a case of how good the music is but also of having contacts..once you get friendly with some Libraries they often sign a bunch more stuff from composers directly.