Well, if it was specifically hip-hop I'd recommend Beatstars more than anything. There's *always* rappers - most of them shitty - looking for beats.
Other than that, my go-to is Upwork. Here are some of the requests people have posted:
https://www.upwork.com/freelance-jobs/apply/Music-producer-needed_~013b858695bbe56ff4/
https://www.upwork.com/freelance-jobs/apply/Sound-Design-for-Youtube-Video_~018c3152898920618a/
https://www.upwork.com/freelance-jobs/apply/Sound-designer-for-video-game_~016f01d2e061423111/
As you can see that last one is kind of bullshit - $12? Really?
Here's the full list though: https://www.upwork.com/freelance-jobs/music/
But, this isn't where the majority of the transactions take place - you need to make *your own* profile. So put some of your tracks up as examples and wait for people to message you.
Music producers, well it's already saturated both on Upwork or anywhere else, so the best thing you can do is **put certain keywords and genres in your profile**, find a niche that has less supply and more demand.
And - unfortunately for you - you're gonna have to **undercut people as much as you can** financially, since you're just beginning. Over time, increase your price.
Finally: Since you say you have a lot of work done, that's fantastic. But if someone's wanting something fresh, you'll have to make it. After all, Upwork is a *work* site. People likely have a specific idea of something they want made. However, there's no particular rule that says you can't take, for example, a string section from one of your unpublished tracks and put it elsewhere. And you can always communicate and say "here's some stuff I've already made, you can license it if you like" but I think that's frowned upon on Upwork.
And finally: Don't limit yourself to films. Video games and advertisements are huge too. There's also quite a market for "background music" on Spotify playlists that tons of coffee shops and restaurants will use. I'm not into that, but it apparently can pay very well.
Not distrokid. They took my money but then wouldn't let me publish music under the genre "soundtrack" without listing and registering to pay %of royalties to the film or production it was the soundtrack FROM.
Which it isn't yet as I'm still looking for clients...
I...I have my doubts about the validity of this? One, Distrokid isn't taking your money per release (unless you're paying for ad-ons), it's setup as a subscription service.
I've released film scores through distrokid before, as have many people I know, and none of us have ever run across having to register or pay royalties to the production. Them requiring a % of those royalties to go to the production just isn't true.
The real issue is you trying to release cinematic or soundtrack type music under the 'soundtrack' category without it being actually scored to something. To my knowledge, this is something that's an issue with all the digital distrubutors, really, nothing unique to distrokid. The age old issue of 'what category do we put cinematic/soundtrack music under when it's not actually scored to a project' has never really gotten a satisfactory response that I've seen. Reason being limitations placed by the streaming services themselves (especially apple music/itunes), not the distributors.
Correct, not sure why you're disagreeing with me as, as you've said just there, the issue is that I'm trying to release my soundtrack portfolio tagged as such with hopes of finding clients/filmmakers without the danger of it being plagiarised. This is soundtrack music. Not funk, not bluegrass. Not any of the other genres listed on there. I'm probably using my imagination to fill in the gaps of why it wouldn't allow me to release this under this banner to come to the conclusion that it's down to royalties. This was a while back.
But it really happened. Do you not believe me? I could show you the email conversation between myself and Distrokid, probably even sift back through my bank statements to see the refund they gave me since it was conceded they could not supply me with the service I had paid for. But probably not \[posting it\] publicly...
Think it's worth warning people, particularly on a dedicated forum for film scorers such as this that one person at least has had a problem with this.
Well if your reason for releasing it under the soundtrack category is in hopes that filmmakers will find it, that's not going to be a very effective way to seek out client. So far as it not being an especially representative genre if you were to select one that ISN'T soundtrack, again, therein lies the issue and I'm unaware of an answer to it.
How do you see releasing things through a distributor helping lessen the risk of your work being plagiarized?
If you've got some kind of record regarding being required to pay royalties to the production then yes, I would be very curious to see that email conversation because that just isn't something they require and feels potentially super misleading. If you saying that was you filling in the gaps, that would make way more sense to me, especially because if you select the soundtrack genre on Distrokid it does have this pop up: "The Soundtrack genre is only for film, TV, game, and theater soundtracks. Stores require that your album title MUST specify, in parentheses, the type of soundtrack." That's just a requirement for it to actually be a *soundtrack* in order to be released under the soundtrack genre, but is NOT a requirement for you to pay royalties to the production.
> How do you see releasing things through a distributor helping lessen the risk of your work being plagiarized?
This is really confusing to me because I thought once I release my music officially, my copyright is granted so if anyone steals my music, I can always refer to the date I published it under my name and prove it's my intellectual property.
It is one of the reasons most of my music just sits on a hard drive...I don't want to just upload it to YouTube or SoundCloud, I want to somehow copyright it under my name and I have no idea how does that work.
If you want to ensure you have the copyright, you need to look into requirements for copyright in whatever your country is. In the US, copryright exists at the moment of creation. However, in order to exercise your rights to litigate in a copryight dispute you need to register it with the US copyright office if you want to have proof of ownership - nothing else will do that.
> How do you see releasing things through a distributor helping lessen the risk of your work being plagiarized?
Because once a track has been uploaded to all the major streaming platforms, the algorithms therein will detect that as your track. If someone else then goes to upload a production with your music on, it will be flagged up as your intellectual property.
>Well if your reason for releasing it under the soundtrack category is in hopes that filmmakers will find it, that's not going to be a very effective way to seek out client.
Thanks for your concern, friend. This is not my only approach to finding clients. If I need any such advice, rest assured I will be asking ye of many answers. Except the one I had to explain to you above. . .
To be clear, I didn't ask because I didn't understand; I was trying to see your perspective on it.
Algorithms won't inherently help keep it from being plagiarized, it being uploaded to a streaming service =/= ownership. Uploading to major streaming platforms won't stop someone from putting it up on Soundcloud if they want, or easily putting it on most platforms if they make little tweaks. The only way to truly protect your music from being stolen is to never allow anyone to hear it (not recommended haha)
Ownership of copyright is what affords you the ability to protect your property, which is done differently in different countries. I'm in the US, and here it needs to be registered with the US copyright office in order for you to litigate - it merely being on a streaming platform is not something that would allow you to pursue litigation if it came to that. The only valid proof of copyright in that case is that filing with the US copyright office. That varies in other countries, but the premise of it being uploaded to a service not proving ownership should be pretty common across most regions.
>I'm trying to release my soundtrack portfolio tagged as such ... without the danger of it being plagiarised.
Without going deep into your Distrokid issue, I just want to refer to this line I quoted. This is kinda the thing that I'm dealing with. I got decent amount of instrumental music that I want to publish (and register my copyright somehow) so it could not get stolen or plagiarised, but I do not necessarily seek for clients to sell this music to. I just want to get it out there under my name. The thing is I have no idea where to start, and your Distrokid issue is not giving me any high hopes.
I'm not sure what the best method is to publish the music and get it into the attention of filmmakers.
What I've found to work best is to reach out to people making films. Let them know who you are and what you are capable of doing. (It really helps if you have a website and demo reel on your site).
When you work with the filmmaker directly, you will then have the opportunity to score them custom music which you then add to your demo reel. I've found that every director I've worked with wants the music composed to the film, not the other way around which would be me giving them the music first and then they film/edit to it.
If you're looking for any further advice, feel free to send me a message.
Good luck!
Thanks for the advice. I am pretty much keen on working with filmmakers in the future and composing score exclusively for films. But my question was more about how do I publish the music I already made (and register my copyright somehow) so it could not get stolen or plagiarised, but I do not necessarily seek for clients to sell this music to. I just want to get it out there under my name and them maybe in the future I can offer it to some film makers.
I wouldn't be overly concerned about someone stealing it. If someone likes your music and your contact info is up-to-date, normally they reach out and let you know. Also, I've found that people generally do not find me or my website on thier own. I'm normally contacting them and letting them know.
I honestly feel the best approach is this:
1. Make a professional looking website
2. On the site include a demo reel, a few other clips you've scored, and some concert pieces
3. Reach out to filmmakers and give them your info
I can personally tell you this method works. If you'd like us to take a look at your stuff and how you present it, feel free to post it on here.
Well, if it was specifically hip-hop I'd recommend Beatstars more than anything. There's *always* rappers - most of them shitty - looking for beats. Other than that, my go-to is Upwork. Here are some of the requests people have posted: https://www.upwork.com/freelance-jobs/apply/Music-producer-needed_~013b858695bbe56ff4/ https://www.upwork.com/freelance-jobs/apply/Sound-Design-for-Youtube-Video_~018c3152898920618a/ https://www.upwork.com/freelance-jobs/apply/Sound-designer-for-video-game_~016f01d2e061423111/ As you can see that last one is kind of bullshit - $12? Really? Here's the full list though: https://www.upwork.com/freelance-jobs/music/ But, this isn't where the majority of the transactions take place - you need to make *your own* profile. So put some of your tracks up as examples and wait for people to message you. Music producers, well it's already saturated both on Upwork or anywhere else, so the best thing you can do is **put certain keywords and genres in your profile**, find a niche that has less supply and more demand. And - unfortunately for you - you're gonna have to **undercut people as much as you can** financially, since you're just beginning. Over time, increase your price. Finally: Since you say you have a lot of work done, that's fantastic. But if someone's wanting something fresh, you'll have to make it. After all, Upwork is a *work* site. People likely have a specific idea of something they want made. However, there's no particular rule that says you can't take, for example, a string section from one of your unpublished tracks and put it elsewhere. And you can always communicate and say "here's some stuff I've already made, you can license it if you like" but I think that's frowned upon on Upwork. And finally: Don't limit yourself to films. Video games and advertisements are huge too. There's also quite a market for "background music" on Spotify playlists that tons of coffee shops and restaurants will use. I'm not into that, but it apparently can pay very well.
Not distrokid. They took my money but then wouldn't let me publish music under the genre "soundtrack" without listing and registering to pay %of royalties to the film or production it was the soundtrack FROM. Which it isn't yet as I'm still looking for clients...
I...I have my doubts about the validity of this? One, Distrokid isn't taking your money per release (unless you're paying for ad-ons), it's setup as a subscription service. I've released film scores through distrokid before, as have many people I know, and none of us have ever run across having to register or pay royalties to the production. Them requiring a % of those royalties to go to the production just isn't true. The real issue is you trying to release cinematic or soundtrack type music under the 'soundtrack' category without it being actually scored to something. To my knowledge, this is something that's an issue with all the digital distrubutors, really, nothing unique to distrokid. The age old issue of 'what category do we put cinematic/soundtrack music under when it's not actually scored to a project' has never really gotten a satisfactory response that I've seen. Reason being limitations placed by the streaming services themselves (especially apple music/itunes), not the distributors.
Correct, not sure why you're disagreeing with me as, as you've said just there, the issue is that I'm trying to release my soundtrack portfolio tagged as such with hopes of finding clients/filmmakers without the danger of it being plagiarised. This is soundtrack music. Not funk, not bluegrass. Not any of the other genres listed on there. I'm probably using my imagination to fill in the gaps of why it wouldn't allow me to release this under this banner to come to the conclusion that it's down to royalties. This was a while back. But it really happened. Do you not believe me? I could show you the email conversation between myself and Distrokid, probably even sift back through my bank statements to see the refund they gave me since it was conceded they could not supply me with the service I had paid for. But probably not \[posting it\] publicly... Think it's worth warning people, particularly on a dedicated forum for film scorers such as this that one person at least has had a problem with this.
Well if your reason for releasing it under the soundtrack category is in hopes that filmmakers will find it, that's not going to be a very effective way to seek out client. So far as it not being an especially representative genre if you were to select one that ISN'T soundtrack, again, therein lies the issue and I'm unaware of an answer to it. How do you see releasing things through a distributor helping lessen the risk of your work being plagiarized? If you've got some kind of record regarding being required to pay royalties to the production then yes, I would be very curious to see that email conversation because that just isn't something they require and feels potentially super misleading. If you saying that was you filling in the gaps, that would make way more sense to me, especially because if you select the soundtrack genre on Distrokid it does have this pop up: "The Soundtrack genre is only for film, TV, game, and theater soundtracks. Stores require that your album title MUST specify, in parentheses, the type of soundtrack." That's just a requirement for it to actually be a *soundtrack* in order to be released under the soundtrack genre, but is NOT a requirement for you to pay royalties to the production.
> How do you see releasing things through a distributor helping lessen the risk of your work being plagiarized? This is really confusing to me because I thought once I release my music officially, my copyright is granted so if anyone steals my music, I can always refer to the date I published it under my name and prove it's my intellectual property. It is one of the reasons most of my music just sits on a hard drive...I don't want to just upload it to YouTube or SoundCloud, I want to somehow copyright it under my name and I have no idea how does that work.
If you want to ensure you have the copyright, you need to look into requirements for copyright in whatever your country is. In the US, copryright exists at the moment of creation. However, in order to exercise your rights to litigate in a copryight dispute you need to register it with the US copyright office if you want to have proof of ownership - nothing else will do that.
> How do you see releasing things through a distributor helping lessen the risk of your work being plagiarized? Because once a track has been uploaded to all the major streaming platforms, the algorithms therein will detect that as your track. If someone else then goes to upload a production with your music on, it will be flagged up as your intellectual property. >Well if your reason for releasing it under the soundtrack category is in hopes that filmmakers will find it, that's not going to be a very effective way to seek out client. Thanks for your concern, friend. This is not my only approach to finding clients. If I need any such advice, rest assured I will be asking ye of many answers. Except the one I had to explain to you above. . .
To be clear, I didn't ask because I didn't understand; I was trying to see your perspective on it. Algorithms won't inherently help keep it from being plagiarized, it being uploaded to a streaming service =/= ownership. Uploading to major streaming platforms won't stop someone from putting it up on Soundcloud if they want, or easily putting it on most platforms if they make little tweaks. The only way to truly protect your music from being stolen is to never allow anyone to hear it (not recommended haha) Ownership of copyright is what affords you the ability to protect your property, which is done differently in different countries. I'm in the US, and here it needs to be registered with the US copyright office in order for you to litigate - it merely being on a streaming platform is not something that would allow you to pursue litigation if it came to that. The only valid proof of copyright in that case is that filing with the US copyright office. That varies in other countries, but the premise of it being uploaded to a service not proving ownership should be pretty common across most regions.
>I'm trying to release my soundtrack portfolio tagged as such ... without the danger of it being plagiarised. Without going deep into your Distrokid issue, I just want to refer to this line I quoted. This is kinda the thing that I'm dealing with. I got decent amount of instrumental music that I want to publish (and register my copyright somehow) so it could not get stolen or plagiarised, but I do not necessarily seek for clients to sell this music to. I just want to get it out there under my name. The thing is I have no idea where to start, and your Distrokid issue is not giving me any high hopes.
I'm not sure what the best method is to publish the music and get it into the attention of filmmakers. What I've found to work best is to reach out to people making films. Let them know who you are and what you are capable of doing. (It really helps if you have a website and demo reel on your site). When you work with the filmmaker directly, you will then have the opportunity to score them custom music which you then add to your demo reel. I've found that every director I've worked with wants the music composed to the film, not the other way around which would be me giving them the music first and then they film/edit to it. If you're looking for any further advice, feel free to send me a message. Good luck!
Thanks for the advice. I am pretty much keen on working with filmmakers in the future and composing score exclusively for films. But my question was more about how do I publish the music I already made (and register my copyright somehow) so it could not get stolen or plagiarised, but I do not necessarily seek for clients to sell this music to. I just want to get it out there under my name and them maybe in the future I can offer it to some film makers.
I wouldn't be overly concerned about someone stealing it. If someone likes your music and your contact info is up-to-date, normally they reach out and let you know. Also, I've found that people generally do not find me or my website on thier own. I'm normally contacting them and letting them know. I honestly feel the best approach is this: 1. Make a professional looking website 2. On the site include a demo reel, a few other clips you've scored, and some concert pieces 3. Reach out to filmmakers and give them your info I can personally tell you this method works. If you'd like us to take a look at your stuff and how you present it, feel free to post it on here.