What's Happening: Week of May 1, 2017

I hope everyone is in fine fettle has we head into the next week. Rather than just look ahead in this post, I'd like to take some time to look back as well.

Something interesting (and good) and happened last week. If you've read my blog in the past, you may remember that I did a little experiment where I created a stock music track based loosely on a formula for a "feel good" song developed by Dutch cognitive psychology and neuroscience professor Jacob Jolij of the University of Groningen. At long last, that track "Driving Uplifting Rock," has found a buyer! Who knows, this may be just the beginning of something great (but I'm not holding my breath).

I've also experienced a significant surge in licensing revenue over the past month, including the last few days. A lot of that is coming from the podcast intros and loops I've been working diligently to develop and market since the end of January. I analyzed the sales of my podcast music thus far and wrote about my conclusions in the post from last week that I've linked to above. Since then I've had yet more podcast sales and they continue to follow the pattern I identified in that post: preferences skewing toward the longest and shortest versions.

On my Twitter feed this week I'll be featuring tracks that sold last week, and expressing a lot of gratitude to the buyers who have licensed my work. I have one loop in the pipeline. It's more of a typical stock music track than my recent podcast music intros and loops. If you're on Twitter and not following me now, please do so (@thisbrucesmith). I'm a lot more active there than I am here. Also, please check out my latest featured stock music track (it's epic!) and have a great week.

Insights From My Podcast Music Experience

Early in the year, I noticed that a significant number of people were searching for and buying music for their podcasts on Pond5, which is the marketplace where I do most of my business. I concluded that there was an under-served market there, and went in heavily on developing intros and loops for podcasters. A little over three months and almost 100 tracks later, I took a few minutes to look at what was selling from the podcast music collection I had created on Pond5, and promoted pretty heavily on Twitter and Google+. Here's what (I think) I've learned.

First, the podcast music is already accounting for a significant portion of my stock music sales. Since I created my collection and began to market it heavily at beginning of February, about a third of all my item sales at Pond5 have come from the collection. Since the beginning of April, it's over 40 percent.

Second, there's a definite trend in what buyers are looking for. The keywords that seem to be coming up most (besides "podcast intro" or "podcast music") are: "corporate," "orchestral" and "urban." This leads me to believe that a lot of people licensing my work are looking to make a professional, polished presentation of their podcast with a business audience in mind. Meanwhile, others perhaps want to impart a more edgy feel. What's not selling, at least not yet, are the more "oddball" styles, like light classical, baroque, and surf rock (it was a moment of weakness when I came up with that, I guess). There's certainly a lot of interest: one of the "corporate" podcast intro tracks has broken into my all-time top five in item views. (For context, I have over 400 items on Pond5, developed over a 4+ year period.)

Also, the length of the music matters. Of the items I've sold out of the podcast music collection, more than a third are in the :08 length range. Half are :10 or shorter. There's still interest in longer intros in the :25 to :30 range, but the radio formula of doing multipled of fifteen seconds (:60, :30, :15) apparently does NOT apply with podcast music. I've also sold a few loops, but not nearly as many as I'd expected. My conclusion is that the majority of my buyers want to get straight to the point, or maybe are looking for alternate audio to bracket their segments in addition to their existing music.

Based on this, to the extent I add to the collection, I'll probably focus on the styles I've mentioned. I also plan to dispense with anything in the :15 range, as there's very little demand for it. I'll still do "full" versions in the :25 to :30 range, but concentrate more effort on creating memorable, logo-type themes in :07 to :10 durations. I'll do some loops, but won't make them as much of a priority as in the past.

Are you a podcaster? Do you agree that I'm on the right track here? I welcome your comments. Also, if you haven't done so before I hope you'll check out my complete podcast music collection at Pond5.

If you're interested in exclusive custom music just for your podcast, I can do that as well. Please fill in the contact form below and I'll get back to you.

What's Happening: Week of April 24, 2017

I hope you've enjoyed your weekend and that the coming week starts off well.

I have three new sets of podcast music that I'll be featuring on my Twitter feed tomorrow (the 24th). One has a light classical theme, arranged for string quartet. It has full and abbreviated versions, plus a brief logo or outro (depending on how you want to use it). The second one I call an "ambient suspense" intro. I chose not to use the word "podcast" in the title, since I think it could be used for a number of different things besides podcasts, In addition to a full (~:30), short and logo versions, this one also has a longish (~:42) looped version. The final one is an "urban" (in this case basically hip-hop) intro with full, short. logo and looped versions.

If you're not following me on Twitter at present, I hope you will - https://twitter.com/thisbrucesmith

With the completion of this set of podcast music intros, I think I may take a break from them for a while. However, you never know when I'll unexpectedly get the bug to write more, so stay tuned.

At my main website, my featured stock music track this week is "Orchestral Rock Podcast Intro (Full)." I do hope you'll check it out - http://thisbrucesmith.com.

Thanks for stopping by to see what's happening. Take care.

What's Happening, Week of April 17, 2017

I hope everyone has enjoyed their weekend and those who celebrate it had a spiritually fulfilling Easter. How comes a new week, full of the promise of spring.

My featured royalty-free stock music track this week is "Fun Day," a really bright, upbeat family-oriented track with bells, accordion, acoustic guitars, bass and percussion. I hope you'll check it out.

LICENSE "FUN DAY" HERE

Once again, I'm contemplating releasing a single. The track I'm considering is more subdued than "Dream Catcher" - more of an easy listening sort of thing, but also very uplifting. Stay tuned for more info.

Lessons Learned on Twitter

I've been using Twitter for some time now as my primary social media marketing tool. I think it has helped my stock music business, although that's somewhat difficult to quantify. It's also provided an opportunity to express myself in numerous ways. I have a chance to tweet my gratitude for people like you who support my work. I can highlight things that are near and dear, especially the healing power of music. I've heard that trolls on Twitter are the most brutal of all on the Internet, but fortunately have not had those sorts of problems.

There are great things about being on Twitter. Last week, for example, to celebrate the induction of Yes into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I did a sort of Yes lyric "tweet-a-thon." I tweeted out snippets of Yes lyrics (mostly from off the top of my head) from across their decades-long catalog. The biggest thing this experience taught me is that you just never know what's going to catch people's collective fancy. The lyrics I expected to have the most impressions, those from classic hits "Roundabout" and "Owner of a Lonely Heart," were not the most popular. Instead, the most impressions (by far) and interactions went to this tweet:

As we flow down life's river
I see the stars glow one by one
All angels of the magic
constellation
Be singing us now#Yes #RockHall2017

— Bruce Smith (@thisbrucesmith) April 7, 2017

Obviously, there are a lot of people whose spirits were touched by these last lines of the song "Hearts" from 90125. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to connect with fellow Yes fans across the Twittersphere, even if only for a moment.

The other lesson I've learned is less happy. For all of the connection that social media provides, we are still provincial and isolated in many ways. In recent weeks I've tweeted my sorrow and mourning for victims of senseless violence in three different places: St. Petersburg, Egypt, and Syria. The St. Petersburg tweet attracted far more attention than the other two. It's easy to rationalize this as the result of more Westerners on Twitter. Yet any taking of innocent life is an abomination against all of us, no matter where it happens or who perpetrates it. Until we as individuals treat all of these things the same, nothing will change at the social level.

What's Happening, Week of April 10. 2017

I hope you had a lovely weekend and are looking forward to Easter week. I spent quite a bit of time tromping outdoors this weekend and am beat as I write this on Sunday evening. Saturday was especially exhilarating, with a trip to Glen Helen Nature Preserve in Yellow Springs, Ohio. As a matter of fact, here' a picture of "the Yellow Spring" up close and personal.

But tomorrow begins a new week. I plan to do my usual promotional and content marketing things. In addition, I'll be working on new podcast intros. I'm thinking another urban themed intro and maybe a blues shuffle. At some point this week I'll talk a little here about last week's Yes lyric "tweet-athon." To make a long story short, it was great fun and quite uplifting.

Have a great week!

Yes Lyric Tweet-A-Thon

To celebrate the induction of Yes, my favorite band, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tomorrow (April 7), I'll be tweeting bits and pieces of some of my favorite Yes lyrics from across their decades-long canon. I'll be doing this over the next two days in fits and starts. I do NOT promise to include every album. As with most fans, I like some Yes albums better than others. (I know - "blasphemy!" - get over it.) My tweets will feature bits of lyrics that have special personal meaning to me.

If you want to follow on my feed, I'll be using the hashtags #Yes and #RockHall2017. Obviously given the 140 character limit, this may prove to be a challenge. I'm up for it nevertheless, at least until the publishers threaten legal action.

I also don't guarantee that what I tweet will be precisely correct, since I'm working from memory and don't plan to take a lot or time scouring YouTube or any of the lyrics sites to jog it. Id est quod est.

New Podcast Intros and Loops Today

I' m featuring new podcast intros and loops on my Twitter feed today. One set is high energy metal in four versions: full, abbreviated, looped, and logo/outro. The second has an urban, "old skool" feel in full, short and looped versions.

Also, my new video on royalty-free music for podcasters is online at YouTube. Hope you'll check it out.

What's Happening, Week of April 3, 2017

Sweet and bitter for me this week.

That harbinger of spring, baseball season, is back. Around these parts, Opening Day is tomorrow (April 3). I'm not living in Cincinnati at the moment, and I don't plan to go to the Opening Day festivities. But if I cared to, I could make may way to a Skyline Chili here in the Dayton area for a free Cincinnati-style chili cheese coney with mustard (and if I were by myself maybe even onions, too - living dangerously).

Tomorrow would also have been my sister Donna's 69th birthday, so I'll be thinking about her quite a bit.

Meanwhile, there's music stuff to talk about. Two new sets of podcast intro music went online, one corporate, one with a jazz salsa vibe. In addition, I have two new sets waiting in curation at Pond5. One is metal, the other has an urban "old skool" feel. Trying to cover as many bases as possible. I've also finished a promotional video for the podcast music collection and plan to upload that to YouTube either tomorrow or Tuesday. When that's online, I'll let you know here and on Twitter.

I hope the spring is in your step this coming week. Thanks for stopping by, listening and supporting my work.