Why do musicians slave themselves for FREE (or for peanuts) just to get their name in a credit roll? I can tell you after having produced a movie that I could CARE LESS what credits (if any) someone has. There's only 2 things I care about: 1) Is the song what I'm looking for and is the quality up to par, and 2) How cheaply can I license it for? Is it within my budget?
Producers find it within their budget to pay studio teachers (required by law when someone under the age of 18 works on the movie) for a bare minimum of $150 to $200 per day. Good production crew people may work for as little as $125 a day, with beginners working for perhaps $75 per day. So when a producers says "We're out of money. We can only pay you copy & credit" why would you stoop so low? Producers are getting away with paying nothing because musicians THINK that having a credit will somehow advance their career. I can tell you that it doesn't make any difference. It's all about the song and the price.
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The $500 was just a hypothetical example hence the 'budget being
The $500 was just a hypothetical example hence the 'budget being' statement but lets say you have 1,000 artists to listen through and do not have the time to listen to all of the songs. You have to weed out the prospects somehow. I know if it came down to it i would choose to listen to someone who is working hard and striving for success and show it by means of doing work for free over the artist who has nothing to show for themselves. It's the same reason a web designer with a portfolio would get a job over someone with no portfolio or someone with a College degree gets a job over someone with a GED.
1,000 artists to listen through and do not have the time to list
1,000 artists to listen through and do not have the time to listen to all of the songs.
There's never that many to screen. Never even close. I worked with some publishers and they'd send me a few tapes or links. I also had people email me their websites with songs posted. The screening process for me was to listen to about 10 seconds of a song, then usually decide that it wasn't what I was looking for, then finally narrow it down to a couple of songs. When you're looking for specific music you don't care who it is that wrote it and what their resume looks like because finding those songs that you need is so difficult, especially when you don't have much of a budget. If the song is a high quality recording and fits what you need then that's all that you need.
Well which musician would you choose to write a song in your mov
Well which musician would you choose to write a song in your movie. Budget being $500.
1) I am a musican for 10 years have been chosen and credited on several songs in several movies like movie A, movie B, movie C. I charge $500/song
or
2) I am a musican for 10 years and the only place my music has been heard is on myspace you can hear my songs there. I charge $500/song