Do you like surprises? I love them. At least when they are good! The broken water heater or flooding toilet is not the kind I like. I’m talking about stuff like a cool birthday present, a nice tax refund, that kind of thing.
Let me give you some background so all this makes sense. When I was just getting rolling my band made money a couple of different ways. We played shows which usually paid for at least gas and a hotel room. The other way was selling CD’s and t-shirts. As an indie band there weren’t a lot of big paydays.
This is where the surprise comes in. One day I went out to my mailbox and there was an envelope from ASCAP. We had signed up a few years before and had actually gotten a small award/grant from them which payed us a small amount every quarter. I think it was like $75 or something. I figured this envelope was our grant money. As I looked over the statement I realized it was for more than the 75. Much much more. Little did I know but I had just received my first “mailbox money”. For those of you who don’t know, this is the term for a royalty check that comes in the mail out of the blue, usually from a performing rights society or PRO for short like ASCAP. We had gotten a song placed on a TV show and this was our payment. Whoo hoo! My mind was blown. I was starting to realize there were other, perhaps easier ways to make money in the music business than what I had thought. How come nobody was talking about this? Did they like it being a secret? Or did they just not know? Maybe a combination of both.
I want to share some info I think will help you. In the U.S. there are three primary PROs these days. ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. I’m with ASCAP both as a writer and a publisher. These organizations collect your performance royalties. For example, let’s say you got a song placed in a TV show or a movie. Whenever it gets shown you get a royalty. A few of my first bigger placements were on “The Big Bang Theory” and various MTV shows. Depending on the popularity of the show and whether it’s in Prime Time or the middle of the night determines how much money you get. You split this money with any co-writers you have and your publisher if you have one. Often in these type of deals whoever orchestrated the placement will either get all of the publishing or split it with you. So to clarify, if you wrote the song all by yourself you would get 100% of the songwriter’s share. Then there is another 100% for the publisher’s share. That part is earmarked for the “publisher”. That could be your buddy who went out and hustled and got you the placement or it could be you. It could also be a big publisher like Warner/Chappell. The two 100%’s is a little weird I know but that’s how it works.
So, back to the mailbox money and seeing my first nice, fat check. The statements that come with checks detail when and where the show aired, how many times it was shown and how many credits you got. Credits have a dollar value associated with them and the more credits you get the more bucks. I had gotten some placements in the past on some smaller networks so the payout was only so much, but this was a different league. I was completely blown away by how much more a Prime Time placement would pay on one of the major networks. I’m talking CBS, ABC, NBC, and Fox. This is why you pray to the gods of syndication for repeats and a show that is evergreen. By that I mean a show like “The Andy Griffith Show” or “Seinfeld”. Shows that have run for 20–50 years and have no indication of slowing down. We got our “Big Bang” placement in the 3’rd season. It’s during the goth club scene in the “Gothowitz Deviation”. You can barely hear it! But, that does not matter, we still get paid and paid. And likely will for years because of that magic word: syndication. The other nice thing is it shown on WTBS, which has a huge reach. In other words, higher payouts.
I won’t get into everything I think makes a song “placeable” but I will say a couple of big reasons are catchy songs and excellent production values. The higher dollar placements I’ve been involved in have been the more full band with vocals type songs. I’ve also done a lot of shorter instrumental cues that have gotten some action as well. These are typically a minute or two long. MTV shows where they use a lot of fast cuts seem to love these type of pieces. If you look at the list of music for one episode of this type of show it will be surprisingly long. When you are using 15 -20 second quick clips, the credits add up.
Not only can the mailbox money be a surprise, but sometimes the placement itself is as well. Numerous times the first I’ve heard of it is when a friend tells me they saw it on TV or when I get the check in the mail. This is one reason why if possible it’s good to have someone acting as your advocate to chase down publishing money that you are owed. It’s easy for this stuff to slip between the cracks. These shows are also getting shown all over the World, so more money but more chasing. This is because different countries have their own PROs. Sound a little messy? It can be. As I’m sure you can imagine, money can fall between the cracks and go unclaimed when you’re dealing with foreign PRO’s. For the last year or so I’ve been using Tune Core’s publishing administration services to help chase down this extra cash. So far, so good. If you are with a huge publishing company they should be chasing down these funds. After all, when you get paid, they get paid.
Another thing that is often a surprise is exactly how the placement came about. For example, we had our song “Senseless” used prominently on the first episode of “Animal Kingdom”. How that placement came about is a mystery to me. I’m guessing a music supervisor who was already familiar with our stuff knew it would be good for the scene. Definitely a blessing and I’m thankful to this person. This is a great example of why you should always keep plugging away. We literally have songs that have gotten placed that we wrote 15 or 20 years ago. Ka-Ching. The gift that keeps on giving.
I’ve really just scratched the surface of the publishing world here but I thought I’d write a bit about it because if you are not doing this, you should be. It can be a great source of extra income and gets your music more exposure.
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Speaking of getting placements, here are a few tips to make your songs a better fit for placements. The first is no fade-outs. You want your song to have a “button ending”. The second is to have your song or cue evolve as it goes. Music editors will copy and paste stuff around so you will give them more to play with if the second time a part comes around it is a little different or evolved. Next, is try to have a regular vocal version of a song but also make a version with vocals muted so it’s just instrumental. Last, is turn on the TV and listen to the background of shows where you think your music might fit or that you could write fresh music for. Listen for tempo, mood, and instrumentation. Take notes. These songs have gotten placed for a reason. Make your songs fit the bill.
Be persistent in looking for placements or finding someone to look for you. This is definitely not a sprint, it is a marathon. Try not get frustrated as this can take a lot of time to see results. If you are patient with it, you will have success.
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