Songs For Sale
It’s been an interesting year for me on many fronts. I’ve been a witness to the changing of my own mind in many ways, and I’ve experienced a shift in my priorities to the business side of music. I’d love to have the luxury of waking up and concerning myself only with art. That’s not how life has gone this year. If there were someone content to tend to our business, or we had generated enough demand to warrant hiring a business manager then maybe I could slide back into a more purely creative role, but we’ve been left to fend for ourselves, which requires me to think differently and spend my time differently.
There have been lots of days where I’ve found myself debating myself over the value of our songs. It’s something that’s hard to put a number on, because it may feel a little arbitrary, and the range of pay is so massive. For instance, I read in a book that a big Hollywood Blockbuster might pay something like $250,000 for a license to use a song in their end credits sequence, but at the same time I’ve taken meetings with music supervisors who want to pay $500 for a library of songs to use multiple times throughout a season. Sure, things like resumé and demand have to be taken into account. You might be a great negotiator and be able to push your prices up. I’m just saying it’s hard to value art, and you have to value yourself in order to believe you deserve what you want.
I mentioned yesterday that I started reading Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet, and it provided me with another timely quote from the lesson “On Buying and Selling”:
“And if there come the singers and the dancers and the flute players, - buy of their gifts also.
For they too are gatherers of fruit and frankincense, and that which they bring, though fashioned of dreams, is raiment and food for your soul.”
- Khalil Gibran
It’s a nice reminder that however abstract our creativity may be, it’s a noble pursuit, and it deserves to be valued same as any other trade. It’s particularly funny universal timing because I also received a royalty statement from BMI today, where I can see reported earnings from the first quarter of this year, which includes the songs we wrote and licensed to the Wu-Tang show.
So, while my modern American greed may leave me with a desire to create more value, it is nice to know that there is at least some value to the work in this moment. We’re doing something right.
-J.P.