[Fmpro] Fwd: This Week in FMW: FTV Music Conf, NeKo Demo, New SESAC Office, ASCAP UK Awards

[Mark Northam]

Hi Kerry -

Thanks for the candid thoughts - that's exactly what this forum is all
about. Unlike some other organizations that censor any critical remarks on
their forums, we don't.

What we're seeing is a shift in the entire industry, resulting largely from
cheap technology and an oversupply of talented composers. Until composers
see more benefit in organizing than they do to being mercenaries, there will
be no effective resistance possible on an industry-wide basis. Our magazine
trying to take a moral position on which of the revenue streams is of more
value on library deals (see below) isn't going to solve anything. To quote
Mike Post at a memorable seminar in the 1990s here in LA, "If you want to
compete with me, you had better be ready to work for free!". I'll never
forget it.

To me, the music library business from a composer's perspective all comes
down to three income streams - the sync fee, the writers' performance
royalties and the publisher's performance royalties. No writer will get all
three, because that wouldn't leave anything for the library. I think there's
as much of a case to be made that a library that refuses to share any sync
fees with its composers is doing a lot of damage to the "state" of composer
deals.  And one that takes copyright without any up front fees? Even worse.
Frankly, the current crop of renaming libraries where composers don't get
any up-front fees but don't have to give up copyright is a pretty good deal
compared to some of the copyright-grabbers out there.

As far as music libraries offering no-fee music for broadcast usages that
will likely generate performance royalties, to me it's the result of
competition. I think it's also important to contrast a custom score that
would  involve weeks of work on the part of a composer, and a library
placement of an existing work whose costs have already been paid for and the
library placement(s) are attempts to generate additional revenue for music
whose costs have already been recovered.

Since the advent of FreePlay Music (http://www.freeplaymusic.com) more than
5 years ago, the no-fee-for-broadcast-usage libraries have been growing.
While it's obviously not an ideal situation, it's clearly the result of an
oversupplied industry swimming in tracks - an evolutionary result of cheap
MIDI technology and hundreds of thousands of people in their bedrooms with
computers and synths cranking out music that ranges from good to bad and
everything in between.

Best,

Mark N.



On 10/23/07 7:17 PM, "Kirbyko3 at aol.com" <Kirbyko3 at aol.com> wrote:

> 
> In a message dated 10/23/07 8:44:46 PM, mnortham at gmdgroup.com writes:
> 
> 
>> The sheer amount of music on the market now with all the libraries has
>> created this oversupply situation, and this is how this particular library
>> (and more than a few others) is reacting to it.
>> 
>> Your thoughts?
>> 
> 
> I remember a time about a year ago when everyone on this list was absolutely
> aghast at the fact that Lifetime was now paying only $5k to score one of their
> movies, and that was a travesty. People on this email list were saying things
> like, "Well we have to ban together and just refuse them if they come our
> way."   How we've gone from balking at a $5k fee to actually allowing a
> zero-fee 
> music library to advertise in a composer-friendly publication, through an
> organization dedicated to composers, really is beyond me.   In principle
> alone, I 
> think FMW as an organization should tell an advertiser like that, "What you're
> doing isn't kosher with us and we won't support you."     Is it really worth
> the couple hundred $$ you might've gotten for that ad?
> 
> It's under my skin in a very big way.
> 
> Kerry
> 
> 
> 
> 
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---------------------------------
Mark Northam, CEO
Global Media Development Group

http://www.FilmMusic.net - Film & TV Music Job Listings

1-800-774-3700 ext. 702 / 310-645-9000 ext. 702
http://www.gmdgroup.com
Yahoo/Skype: marknortham  /  AIM: mnortham