Is it EVER worth paying to be included on the showreel of a licencing agency?

I've been approached by one but it looks like more or less a scam to me. Still, perhaps if the agency is high profile and kosher it might occasionally make sense. I wonder if there's anyone here who has forked out for this sort of promotion and not regretted it.

Quote petev3.1:

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Is it EVER worth paying to be included on the showreel of a licencing agency?

I've been approached by one but it looks like more or less a scam to me. Still, perhaps if the agency is high profile and kosher it might occasionally make sense. I wonder if there's anyone here who has forked out for this sort of promotion and not regretted it.

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No. They should come to you. Even if they are offering money you should be wary.

paying? nah. Pointless. They're using you as a mechanism to make bottom line. They should be looking to build the best sync lib ray possible - if that means telling you that they don't like your material etc then that is infinitely preferable to them rinsing you for money and promising something they cannot deliver.

Or p[ut another way; as someone who owns a company that DOES sync deals (i.e. as music supervisors for film, games and some adverts) we SEEK that which we need and not use any old stuff from a sync promo CD. It's a high risk scattergun approach which might work; but not for a buy in fee.

Thank you. Much as I thought. They can't expect to make anything for their writers from syncs if they feel they have to charge them for being promoted. A good wheeze though, I suppose, from their point of view.

Quote petev3.1:

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Is it EVER worth paying to be included on the showreel of a licencing agency?

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No.

Interesting because I can see both points. Yes, paying is bad BUT if you pay 100 pounds to feature on a promo and end up making 1000 pounds from it then you have speculated to accumulate - and won!

Of course it's a gamble but personally speaking I am a great believer in being in it to win it!

You wouldn't win the lottery without a ticket, and that's the simple truth.

Quote narcoman:

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They're using you as a mechanism to make bottom line.

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I don't think anyone would actively set out to make bottom line - it makes no business sense! Supermarkets might do it as a loss leader but music I seriously don't think so.

What other options do you have for that time and that money?

From a strict engineering economics point of view, the answer to your question depends on that. For example: infinite time on your hands, and infinite money to spend? - going for it seems reasonable, if you're looking to add one more way of "breaking in" to the business. No free time and no extra money? Then obviously not.

The hard part is that of course the answer is somewhere in the middle, but the process of weighing the options and alternatives can be considered in the same fashion.

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Alexis -Cubase 6.5.0/SX3.1.1.944, XP SP2, 4GB RAM (1GB not accessible, but used just to balance the computer so it doesn't tip over); Delta 66 in Omni i/O Studio; Motif8; UAD-1

Quote Declan Tranter:

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Quote narcoman:

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They're using you as a mechanism to make bottom line.

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I don't think anyone would actively set out to make bottom line - it makes no business sense! Supermarkets might do it as a loss leader but music I seriously don't think so.

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That's not what bottom line means. It means the minimum over which you can build a business. they are cutting out THEIR losses (and any gamble they have) by making you pay for it. Bottom line is your minimum to build margin.... not the least you can charge.... it is the minimum amount to make net earning above zero and it makes perfect business sense in terms of what this so called "company" offers. they remove their financial risk such that any money in becomes revenue and not recoup.

Quote alexis:

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For example: infinite time on your hands, and infinite money to spend?

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Then you retire to a tropical island.

Quote alexis:

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but the process of weighing the options and alternatives can be considered in the same fashion.

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- no they can't, because any 'outfit' which is charging composers to use their music to find licenses which they then make further money on, can quite simply fc*k right oft.

There's no weighing up to do.

Clearly jokers.

If they want they can take a commission AFTER they have licensed the work.
Or they can publish it and take publishers share.

If they are really $h*t - they can offer to publish it, AND NOT PAY YOU.

- but YOU PAY THEM ?

Fc*k off.
Pr*cKz

Absolute jokers. No succesful outfit operates like that. No respectable outfit operates like that. They are not gonna break you into anywhere - they just want you and a 1000 idiot's like you's money.

Edited by blue manga (25/04/12 07:58 PM)

"Of course it's a gamble but personally speaking I am a great believer in being in it to win it!"

You are being a bit naive there. Listen to Manga - these people are scamsters. This is how it works.

Thousands want to break into music - but have no contacts. Some claims they have the 'ins' so say pay me and i'll make sure it gets heard. OK, they have already won because they have taken your money knowing that if they pass a show-reel on - if it all gets turned down, or not even listened to they have done their bit. They tried. We all know most manuscripts get binned and demo's are not listened to, but you have paid someone to exploit that truth. You have no way of knowing what effort they went to. If they claim themselves to be 'industry leaders' so what? They could just bounce through the tracks laughing their heads off having done their bit.

Now maybe they are really hoping killer tracks come up - but if they do the owner may have already signed away proper rights to it by signing on for this in the first place - so they win again.

The irony of this is that its never been easier to get your stuff out their. There are plenty of specialist record labels, maybe only digital, but they will be looking for syncs as well, and if you cant get someone to take you on and do it properly with mutual interest and respect frankly you are doing something wrong. This is the first rung - not these exploitative 'agencies'.

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(wait a minute - 'Declan Tranter' ? Ever get the feeling you've been cheated? )

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