You ever wonder why music libraries refuse to pitch certain genres of music? Not every library of course, but there are those that do. Throughout this licensing course I’ve run into 40+ libraries that wont accept anything outside of Rock, Jazz and Country.
Why is this? Why limit potential income?
The answer is simple: They either dislike the genre, have too much of it or don’t understand it.
Allow me to go into a little more detail.
They Dislike The Genre
Everyone’s entitled to their own opinions and tastes. I once asked a library owner why she didn’t accept Dubstep. The lady kindly replied with “I just don’t like it, and it’s hard for me to pitch music I’m not passionate about”
Nothing wrong with that, to each their own.
For others it’s a dislike of working with the genre, a perfect example here would be hip hop. It’s a pet peeve to most because it’s hard to tell if the music is really “sample free”.
Libraries may love the sound, but not the risk. I know some of you are thinking “There’s dishonestly in every genre”. I totally agree, but the chances of a rock group or country producer/singer sampling another musician’s material is rare compared to producers in electronic based genres.
Already Have Enough
Sometimes the library has too much of a certain genre so they put a freeze on it and focus more on what they don’t have. I understand that concept, running a library is no different that running any other business.
Let’s take Dairy Queen for an example. Last time I checked, they’ve transformed into more of a fast food chain! They can’t survive on 1 flavor or ice cream alone.
These days they sell a little bit of everything: Ice cream (lots of flavors), toppings, burgers and fries, smoothies, sandwiches etc.
They’ve expanded over the years.
Lack Of Education Or Exposure
I remember being at a convention (ASCAP) a few years ago and a music supervisor told me he’d shop anything except hiphop and was currently in need of Urban Sounding Music.
So, me being me….needing clarification and all, I asked what he meant by Urban music. The supervisor then rattled off 7 iconic hiphop artist as references! Turns out ‘hiphop’ in his mind, is whats playing on the radio.
It’s amazing how radio can influence one’s perception of an entire genre.
Others just don’t care about what’s circulating. I mean, some people still think country music’s sound is limited to Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks.
I’m sure there are other reasons, but these are the main ones I run into whenever I inquire.
I ran into the same problem with my 90 Day Challenge…But I’m not givin’ up. I’m glad you posted this article.
Just wanted to thank you for taking the time to help out with valuable information. I’m am just learning and getting in to the whole Licensing deal. I have just been rejected but who cares that ain’t going to stop me from doing what I love and that’s music. I just wanted to ask do you have any tips to help get the foot in the door? Maybe they confuse hip hop with something else. I mainly make hip hop instrumentals. When I upload them should I just label them as instrumental instead of hip hop. Thanks.
List Of Music Supervisors
Hi Jeff,
Thank you for visiting and I’m really glad this site is of benefit to you. Don’t worry about the rejection. Keep following this challenge I share a funny story about Hip hop and how some people perceive different genres.
As far as what to title your music (once it’s uploaded), this is totally a ‘you call’. What I would suggest that you make a good descriptive title. Same with the description, you want to paint a picture in the mind of the reader/potential client.
When you’re dealing with libraries that don’t push your music its like the Google Search Engine!
How you describe your track is very important
My music is like standard jazz,like michael BUBLE and frank Sinatra .would I be accepted in my genre.IM a professional singer.thank you tony russo
Tony,
if you have what the library is looking for and it meets their needs, it’ll be accepted