Earnings for Film and TV

Questions & Letters to TAXI

Answered by Michael Laskow, CEO, TAXI

I love getting the e-mails you send out to encourage us, but the recent one where you proposed a "schedule" of what we could earn doing film and TV music, even the most basic productions with just one instrument, seems pretty pie in the sky to me. How can you promise that kind of income to your members?

Am I the only one who noticed how unrealistic your thinking was?

— Respectfully,

David Longbiner

Dear David,

You definitely weren't the only one to notice. ;-) I got lots of e-mails in response to my article. Just to be clear, I didn't promise that income to anybody. Nobody could make a promise like that. I tried to show you what is POSSIBLE.

Truth be told, I always wrestle with encouraging people to make the leap and just get started and how to explain how much money they can make. There is really no prescription I can give for the income timeline, but I used the linear numbers to demonstrate possibilities.

No two people will ever earn in the same fashion or at the same rate. There are SO many variables. I've known members that have made $20,000 on a single placement (and one of their very first) submission/track/songs, and have seen other who have slogged away for a few years and made just $13 on their first placement.

The length of the track, where it's used, what time it's used, vocal, no vocal, broadcast network VS. cable channel... so MANY variables to consider.

My points, which I might not have communicated all that well were:

• #1 Work consistently and produce tracks as often as you can.

• #2 You probably have what you need to get started right now, so don't get overwhelmed thinking you need huge orchestral tracks to get in the game. Listen carefully to what's on TV right now, and you'll convince YOURSELF that simple tracks DO get used and used often.

They DO need to be very well executed and really good at setting a mood and/or filling a need.

One of our members sent an e-mail asking how he could make significant money if the costs of copyrighting his material exceeded the projected income. Fair question, here's the answer:

Submit your songs or tracks as collective works to mitigate the cost. It's a lot cheaper than copyrighting them one at a time.

Another one of our long time members thought my projections for the earlier years might have been high, but agreed that in the end, the projections for where you'd end up, were realistic.

Like I said, it's hard (for me anyway) to make the point without using some sort of linear scale, but the reality is that it won't be linear. I know plenty of people who give up after not making a bunch of money in the first year. I also know plenty of people who earn FABULOUS livings from film and TV music.

Here's an unedited e-mail I got recently from a music attorney friend of mine telling me the details of one TAXI member's deal. This is how well you can do if you do it all right and stick with it for the long haul!

Remember, this is UNEDITED, but I can't include the member's name, or that of the attorney. I DO have permission to use this if I don't disclose their names:

Michael,

Here's the recap of what I told you about our mutual client the other day. It's okay to use, but please don't mention him by name.

He has always lived and worked in the Midwest.

• Started his commercial music career in '93 working for a radio commercial production firm.

• Started his own production company in '94 to create music for commercial clients and to start his own library.

• First break was partnering with a small LA based library which blossomed into a bigger deal with a bigger Nashville based company.

• In 2001 he purchased an old building for $200K (which came from an SBA loan) and with another $250K borrowed from a local bank built a state of the art recording studio where he could record his own music and start producing artists for a record label he wanted to start. Thought this made more sense than leasing space to build out a studio.

• He leases out the front part of the building to a retail business and has the studio in the back.

• He started working with a very good friend/composer/producer and a few p/t freelancers who received some production money and their writer's share of public performance royalties.

• He now has almost 20 composers worldwide writing commercial tracks from country to funk to heavy metal.

• Revenues have been increasing at around 16% per year.

• Recently signed a deal with a major publisher/music library that gives him $200,000 per year to produce 15 CDs/more tracks each year, $400,000 cash up front for a 50% interest in his existing 500 track library, and projected revenue is likely to hit $1,000,000 by the end of the first year. He's got no responsibility to distribute or market the music. That's handled by the Publisher and the Production Music Library, leaving his hands free to concentrate on the creative side.

• Most of his tracks were written or co-written by composers who received a flat fee under a Work for Hire Agreement and on the backend will receive their writer's share of public performance royalties (usually paid directly from their PROs).

Let me know if this is enough.

(attorney's name here)

So there you have it David. There's a real-world example of what you can make doing film and TV music if you're smart, hard working, and stick with it for a period of time.

Most people will give up. Those who don't give up can earn this kind of income. I know plenty of them.

They just don't like to talk about it because it creates competition. ;-)

— Warm regards,

Michael

Please address questions to:

TAXI

5010 N. Parkway Calabasas #200,

Calabasas, CA 91302

or e-mail to:

All letters submitted become the property of TAXI and can be edited for length, spelling, grammar and sentence syntax. Basically, we can do whatever we want!