The good folks at Alfred Publishing got a jump start on their end-of-year schedule and surprised me this week with my 2014 sales statements! Every year, they send me a list how many pieces of music I sold in different formats (score and parts, score alone, parts alone, digital downloads, MakeMusic files, etc.) And every year I sort through it and see which are my top sellers of the year. So here are my top five folios of scores and parts from April 2013 through March 2014 (domestic):
1. Dragonfly
2. Across the Wind
3. Gauntlet
4. Gargoyles
5. Avatar
Nice! The two newest pieces came out on top, followed by my two all-time classics. Gauntlet and Gargoyles have consistently been in the top five since they were first released nearly 15 years ago. I'm happy to see so much enthusiasm for Dragonfly and Across the Wind as well! Avatar dropped a little this year, but, shockingly, it remains in the top five - most likely bolstered by people who mistake it for the theme to James Cameron's movie (for the record, my piece was published four years before his movie came out). In my opinion, Cameron can't release Avatar 2 fast enough.
That was sales inside the US - now for the top-selling scores and parts in foreign markets:
1. Dragonfly
2. Gargoyles
3. Beale Street Strut
4. Samba del Sol
5. Across the Wind & Avatar (tie)
Interesting! I can't remember when there's been this much crossover between the two lists. Usually the top foreign sellers are a completely different set of titles, but there are four names in common this year! I'm most surprised to see Beale Street Strut on this list - it's a jazzy piece and I just figured it would be too American to appeal outside our borders.
Here's the list of top-selling scores:
1. Gauntlet
2. Gargoyles
3. Avatar
4. Las Mariposas Exoticas
5. Agincourt
Teachers buy extra scores for the judges when they take their orchestras to contest and all of these pieces are popular contest pieces. I'm most happy that Agincourt getting on more and more lists.
Finally, something relatively new on the sales report is a list of print licensing and mechanical fees. When a group records a piece of music or makes photocopies for extra parts, they're supposed to notify the publisher. So thank you to all the honest directors out there who did what they're supposed to do.
This list also includes the number of digital downloads, so I'd like to remind everyone that you can listen to and download fantastic professional recordings of my works at alfred-music.com.
Showing posts with label royalties. Show all posts
Showing posts with label royalties. Show all posts
Monday, September 29, 2014
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Sales Statement 2011 (Part 1)
I got my annual sales statement from Alfred Publishing recently! When I first started getting these, they were listings of how many copies each piece of published music was sold that year and, while that's the same basic principle for current statements, there are major changes from those early days. Now, each piece of music is available in multiple forms: Score and parts, score alone, parts alone, digital parts downloaded through SmartMusic, digital score downloaded through SmartMusic, print licensing, mechanical licensing, and photocopy licensing. Then all of those are divided into domestic sales (inside the U.S.) and foreign sales (everywhere else), meaning that each of my published works has a potential for 16 revenue streams.
To be honest, though, each of those revenue streams accounts for very little on its own. My foreign sales are a fraction of a fraction of my domestic sales and only one honest director paid Alfred after making photocopies like he's supposed to do. But those few dollars here and there accumulate and, added to sales of scores and parts (which make up the bulk of the sales), they added up to a significant increase in overall sales from last year. So if you bought something of mine this year, thank you!
Now comes the fun part: discovering which were my best sellers of the year. Here are my top five best selling folios of scores and parts (domestic sales):
1. Avatar
2. Gauntlet & Sneaking Suspicion (tie)
3. Gargoyles
4. Las Mariposas Exoticas
5. Agincourt
Avatar was last year's number-one seller as well and I credited that to people mistaking my piece for the soundtrack to James Cameron's 2009 movie. I suppose this either means that people haven't caught on yet or they really like my piece. Gauntlet and Gargoyles always seem to make the top five and Sneaking Suspicion did well, mostly because it's brand new. Star of Valor and Storm Trail were also new and had respectable numbers, but didn't crack the top five. Agincourt stays strong, but this year's surprise is the resurgence of Mariposas. It's an older piece that usually stays in the middle of the pack, but has rallied for some reason this year.
Overall, it was a good year! I'll have more information and top five lists in a later post.
To be honest, though, each of those revenue streams accounts for very little on its own. My foreign sales are a fraction of a fraction of my domestic sales and only one honest director paid Alfred after making photocopies like he's supposed to do. But those few dollars here and there accumulate and, added to sales of scores and parts (which make up the bulk of the sales), they added up to a significant increase in overall sales from last year. So if you bought something of mine this year, thank you!
Now comes the fun part: discovering which were my best sellers of the year. Here are my top five best selling folios of scores and parts (domestic sales):
1. Avatar
2. Gauntlet & Sneaking Suspicion (tie)
3. Gargoyles
4. Las Mariposas Exoticas
5. Agincourt
Avatar was last year's number-one seller as well and I credited that to people mistaking my piece for the soundtrack to James Cameron's 2009 movie. I suppose this either means that people haven't caught on yet or they really like my piece. Gauntlet and Gargoyles always seem to make the top five and Sneaking Suspicion did well, mostly because it's brand new. Star of Valor and Storm Trail were also new and had respectable numbers, but didn't crack the top five. Agincourt stays strong, but this year's surprise is the resurgence of Mariposas. It's an older piece that usually stays in the middle of the pack, but has rallied for some reason this year.
Overall, it was a good year! I'll have more information and top five lists in a later post.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Major/Minor Dilemma (Part 2)
About a year ago, after receiving my annual royalty statement, I posted some musings about my top-selling compositions - specifically, I noticed that a lot of the better-selling pieces are in minor keys. This led me to wonder if maybe I should just focus on minor-key music when writing for student orchestras.
Well, it wasn't long before I received an e-mail from someone who had read the post and had a different theory:
Of the 5 compositions you posted, the top 4, besides being in minor keys, have really "cool" titles.
I know this seems arbitrary, and it is, but I think we underestimate the value of the titles of our art.
He has an interesting point. I'm always trying to pin down what it is about certain music that appeals to people and maybe an evocative title can set expectations. Titles have always been tough for me and I frequently put off titling my pieces until days before sending them off to my publisher for consideration. So I wrote back:
I wonder if you'd be willing to help me put your theory to a test? My three newest pieces this year
are "Quicksilver," "A Hero's Welcome," and "Porcupine Pantomime." All three are in major keys.
If you'll make a prediction of which of the three will be the best seller, I'll check it against the results
when I receive next year's sales report.
The challenge was taken up:
I'm going to guess "A Hero's Welcome" will be the highest selling. This guess is somewhat arbitrary,
but my rationale is as follows: kids will like the title "Quicksilver" and adults will like the "Porcupine
Pantomime." A Hero's Welcome has universal appeal between the age groups. That's my best guess.
Hope they all do well for you, though.
That makes sense to me. So the sales numbers are finally in and the rankings for the newest pieces are
(*drumroll*):
1. Quicksilver
2. Porcupine Pantomime
3. A Hero's Welcome
Obviously, there are a lot more factors at play than tonality and title. First: exposure. Quicksilver was
performed at last year's Midwest Music Conference, which features huge audiences of music-buyers. Second: Tempo. In my experience, fast music is more popular than slow music and A Hero's Welcome is a lyrical moderate-tempo piece. Third: Degree of difficulty. Beginner orchestras are always larger than intermediate and advanced groups, so there's usually a higher demand for beginner-level music. Porcupine Pantomime was the only early-level piece of the three. I suppose the moral of the story is that the appeal of a piece of music doesn't rest on anything as simple as tonality and title.
So I'll put it to you, reader. I invite you to predict which of this years pieces will be the top sellers:
• Star of Valor: A medium-to-advanced concert overture with fast, heroic melodies, a little bit of shifting, and a fast tempo.
• Storm Trail: A fast, minor-key, intermediate-level piece in 12/8 time.
• Sneaking Suspicion: An all-pizzicato, minor-key piece for beginners with a moderate tempo.
Well, it wasn't long before I received an e-mail from someone who had read the post and had a different theory:
Of the 5 compositions you posted, the top 4, besides being in minor keys, have really "cool" titles.
I know this seems arbitrary, and it is, but I think we underestimate the value of the titles of our art.
He has an interesting point. I'm always trying to pin down what it is about certain music that appeals to people and maybe an evocative title can set expectations. Titles have always been tough for me and I frequently put off titling my pieces until days before sending them off to my publisher for consideration. So I wrote back:
I wonder if you'd be willing to help me put your theory to a test? My three newest pieces this year
are "Quicksilver," "A Hero's Welcome," and "Porcupine Pantomime." All three are in major keys.
If you'll make a prediction of which of the three will be the best seller, I'll check it against the results
when I receive next year's sales report.
The challenge was taken up:
I'm going to guess "A Hero's Welcome" will be the highest selling. This guess is somewhat arbitrary,
but my rationale is as follows: kids will like the title "Quicksilver" and adults will like the "Porcupine
Pantomime." A Hero's Welcome has universal appeal between the age groups. That's my best guess.
Hope they all do well for you, though.
That makes sense to me. So the sales numbers are finally in and the rankings for the newest pieces are
(*drumroll*):
1. Quicksilver
2. Porcupine Pantomime
3. A Hero's Welcome
Obviously, there are a lot more factors at play than tonality and title. First: exposure. Quicksilver was
performed at last year's Midwest Music Conference, which features huge audiences of music-buyers. Second: Tempo. In my experience, fast music is more popular than slow music and A Hero's Welcome is a lyrical moderate-tempo piece. Third: Degree of difficulty. Beginner orchestras are always larger than intermediate and advanced groups, so there's usually a higher demand for beginner-level music. Porcupine Pantomime was the only early-level piece of the three. I suppose the moral of the story is that the appeal of a piece of music doesn't rest on anything as simple as tonality and title.
So I'll put it to you, reader. I invite you to predict which of this years pieces will be the top sellers:
• Star of Valor: A medium-to-advanced concert overture with fast, heroic melodies, a little bit of shifting, and a fast tempo.
• Storm Trail: A fast, minor-key, intermediate-level piece in 12/8 time.
• Sneaking Suspicion: An all-pizzicato, minor-key piece for beginners with a moderate tempo.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Royalty Statement 2010 - Part 3
The third part of my royalty statement is a little nebulous. It involved "licensing" - an umbrella term that involves all income other than print sales. Most of it is listed as "MakeMusic Print Licensing." MakeMusic is the company that makes Finale notation software and Smartmusic, which is a great online resource where teachers and students can play along with recordings and print parts. So whenever someone pays to download one of my pieces online, I get a cut.
Some other pieces registered income from "Misc. 3rd Party Mechanical Licensing" which, I think, means that I get paid when someone records one of my pieces. A lot of orchestras record their concerts and sell them as fund raisers and, in theory, the directors should let Alfred Publishing know and pay for the copyright. In reality, only a handfull of honest directors have ever done this.
A third listing reads "Digital (Other Than Print) Licensing." and accounts for the highest single royalty on the licensing report. I have no idea what that means. Maybe something to do with video? I can only guess, but whoever you are, thanks for doing whatever you did with Breeze In the Keys and please do it again.
You'll notice that there are no rankings listed in this post, which leads me to the most nebulous part of this report. I have no idea how many MakeMusic downloads there were or how many recordings of each piece were sold - just that a certain lump-sum dollar amount is assigned to each title. And no two amounts are the same. I'd suspect that the royalty rate depends on the number of downloads or CD's burned, so it's hard to specify exactly.
Some other pieces registered income from "Misc. 3rd Party Mechanical Licensing" which, I think, means that I get paid when someone records one of my pieces. A lot of orchestras record their concerts and sell them as fund raisers and, in theory, the directors should let Alfred Publishing know and pay for the copyright. In reality, only a handfull of honest directors have ever done this.
A third listing reads "Digital (Other Than Print) Licensing." and accounts for the highest single royalty on the licensing report. I have no idea what that means. Maybe something to do with video? I can only guess, but whoever you are, thanks for doing whatever you did with Breeze In the Keys and please do it again.
You'll notice that there are no rankings listed in this post, which leads me to the most nebulous part of this report. I have no idea how many MakeMusic downloads there were or how many recordings of each piece were sold - just that a certain lump-sum dollar amount is assigned to each title. And no two amounts are the same. I'd suspect that the royalty rate depends on the number of downloads or CD's burned, so it's hard to specify exactly.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Royalty Statement 2010 - Part 2
In my last post, I mentioned that most of my music sales come from within the US, but a small portion comes from other countries. I can't be sure which other countries, but this blog has received hits from Canada, Sweden, Slovenia, Argentina, China, and Spain, just to name a few. I've also found my music for sale on German and Japanese online music stores, so that may also give some indication.
As I understand it, many other countries don't have the same model of music education that is common here in the US and most ensemble playing is done in private after-school groups, so there's far less demand for string orchestra sheet music.
Anyway, here are my top foreign sellers for the past year:
1. Agincourt
2. Gargoyles
3. Gauntlet & Porcupine Pantomime (tie)
5. Hot Potato
Interesting results! It seems that my most popular pieces abroad are very close to my most popular pieces in the US. Porcupine Pantomime and Hot Potato are relatively new, which may account for their higher sales.
Something else to keep in mind: several pieces on the royalty statement are listed multiple times, because they're sold at different rates in different countries with different currencies and exchange rates. There are four different listings for foreign sales of Gauntlet because it was sold at four different prices around the world.
There's no record of foreign sales of scores only or parts only, which leads me to believe that either those options aren't available in foreign markets or there's no demand for extra scores and parts.
As I understand it, many other countries don't have the same model of music education that is common here in the US and most ensemble playing is done in private after-school groups, so there's far less demand for string orchestra sheet music.
Anyway, here are my top foreign sellers for the past year:
1. Agincourt
2. Gargoyles
3. Gauntlet & Porcupine Pantomime (tie)
5. Hot Potato
Interesting results! It seems that my most popular pieces abroad are very close to my most popular pieces in the US. Porcupine Pantomime and Hot Potato are relatively new, which may account for their higher sales.
Something else to keep in mind: several pieces on the royalty statement are listed multiple times, because they're sold at different rates in different countries with different currencies and exchange rates. There are four different listings for foreign sales of Gauntlet because it was sold at four different prices around the world.
There's no record of foreign sales of scores only or parts only, which leads me to believe that either those options aren't available in foreign markets or there's no demand for extra scores and parts.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Royalty Statement 2010 - Part 1
I got my annual royalty statement from Alfred Publishing recently, which outlines how many of each of my pieces they've sold in the past year, and first, let me just say
THANK YOU JAMES CAMERON!
You see, James Cameron decided to name what would become the highest-grossing movie of all time after a piece of music I wrote five years ago (kidding - the fact that we used the same titles was a complete coincidence). Anyway, it seems a lot of people mistook my music for James Horner's film score. Or they really enjoyed my music on its own considerable merits.
Here are my top five sellers this year (4/1/09 - 3/31/10):
1. Avatar
2. Gauntlet
3. Gargoyles
4. Agincourt
5. Quicksilver
So Avatar comes out of nowhere to become this year's number-one seller. Gauntlet and Gargoyles are perennial favorites and always seem to make the top five and I'm pleased to see that Agincourt has retained its popularity. Quicksilver was a new one last year and music often sells well in its first year. Plus, Quicksilver was performed at the Midwest Conference last December, giving it a huge boost.
Last year's other new pieces were Porcupine Pantomime, which would have come in sixth place, and A Hero's Welcome, which has a place further down in the rankings.
Now, this is just domestic sales of scores and parts. Scores are sold separately, for when orchestras go to contest and the judges need to follow along. Here are the sales of just the scores:
1. Avatar
2. Gargoyles
3. Gauntlet
4. Crusader
5. Westward Motion
Interesting - perhaps Avatar is becoming a contest staple like Gargoyles and Gauntlet. Or maybe people just want to see the score to Avatar, thinking that it's the film score.
There are still foreign sales and mechanical fees to report on as well as a certain long-standing bet to settle, but that's for a later post.
THANK YOU JAMES CAMERON!
You see, James Cameron decided to name what would become the highest-grossing movie of all time after a piece of music I wrote five years ago (kidding - the fact that we used the same titles was a complete coincidence). Anyway, it seems a lot of people mistook my music for James Horner's film score. Or they really enjoyed my music on its own considerable merits.
Here are my top five sellers this year (4/1/09 - 3/31/10):
1. Avatar
2. Gauntlet
3. Gargoyles
4. Agincourt
5. Quicksilver
So Avatar comes out of nowhere to become this year's number-one seller. Gauntlet and Gargoyles are perennial favorites and always seem to make the top five and I'm pleased to see that Agincourt has retained its popularity. Quicksilver was a new one last year and music often sells well in its first year. Plus, Quicksilver was performed at the Midwest Conference last December, giving it a huge boost.
Last year's other new pieces were Porcupine Pantomime, which would have come in sixth place, and A Hero's Welcome, which has a place further down in the rankings.
Now, this is just domestic sales of scores and parts. Scores are sold separately, for when orchestras go to contest and the judges need to follow along. Here are the sales of just the scores:
1. Avatar
2. Gargoyles
3. Gauntlet
4. Crusader
5. Westward Motion
Interesting - perhaps Avatar is becoming a contest staple like Gargoyles and Gauntlet. Or maybe people just want to see the score to Avatar, thinking that it's the film score.
There are still foreign sales and mechanical fees to report on as well as a certain long-standing bet to settle, but that's for a later post.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Major/Minor Dilemma
I finished "Shadows Of Venice" last night - ahead of schedule. Of course, that means I need to start thinking about my next piece to keep the momentum going. Looking at my chart (the one that breaks down my recent compositions into skill level and tonality), I need more major-key pieces for beginners and advanced students. But here's the thing: looking at my royalty statement from September, most of my best-sellers are minor key pieces. Here's the top five:
1. Gauntlet
2. Avatar
3. Gargoyles
4. Agincourt
5. A Breeze In the Keys
"Breeze" is the only major-key piece in the top five (actually, in the top seven) and I think that's due to the fact that it was new this year. New music sells big at first, but Gauntlet and Gargoyles have been around for a while. The conclusion that I'm drawing from this data is that minor key pieces sell better than major key pieces. So now I'm thinking that I should focus on writing more minor-key music.
1. Gauntlet
2. Avatar
3. Gargoyles
4. Agincourt
5. A Breeze In the Keys
"Breeze" is the only major-key piece in the top five (actually, in the top seven) and I think that's due to the fact that it was new this year. New music sells big at first, but Gauntlet and Gargoyles have been around for a while. The conclusion that I'm drawing from this data is that minor key pieces sell better than major key pieces. So now I'm thinking that I should focus on writing more minor-key music.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Royalty Statement (Part 2)
The second part of my annual royalty statement is for the MP3 downloads available at alfred-music.com. Here are my top five downloaded songs:
1. Gauntlet
2. Gargoyles
3. Avatar
4. Las Mariposas Exoticas
5. Elementals
I'm proud to say that Gauntlet is currently the #1 most-downloaded original song on alfred-music.com (only behind an arrangement of the theme from Halo). Gargoyles is also in the top ten.
1. Gauntlet
2. Gargoyles
3. Avatar
4. Las Mariposas Exoticas
5. Elementals
I'm proud to say that Gauntlet is currently the #1 most-downloaded original song on alfred-music.com (only behind an arrangement of the theme from Halo). Gargoyles is also in the top ten.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Royalty Statement
I meant to write about it earlier, but am just now getting to it: about a month ago I got my royalty statement! Every year, my publisher lets me know how many copies of each of my pieces were sold in the past year. They even break it down between the full packet of score and parts and just the scores (which are available separately). They further break it down between domestic sales (within the U.S.) and foreign sales (everywhere else).
The new statement let me know that my first published piece, Gauntlet, is popular. This never fails to amaze me. Also exciting is that the score for Gauntlet is also a big seller - probably because it's now a staple on contest lists and orchestras need extra scores for the judges.
According to the numbers, here are my top five domestic sellers in the 2007 - 2008 school year:
1. Mambo Incognito
2. Agincourt
3. Gauntlet
4. Gargoyles
5. Hot Potato
This is normal - Gauntlet and Gargoyles often sell big and the most recent additions to the catalog are always popular. Here are the five top-selling scores:
1. Gauntlet
2. Gargoyles
3. Las Mariposas Exoticas
4. Agincourt
5. Avatar
This is exciting. I know that the top three are on a lot of states' contest lists, but the other two are newer and higher sales of scores indicates that they're gaining in popularity. Finally, here are the top selling pieces in foreign markets:
1. Mambo Incognito
2. Hot Potato
3. Avatar & Lemon Twist (tie)
4. Zydeco Two-Step
5. Violet's Tango
I'm not sure what to make of this. Apparently, foreign orchestras have much different tastes than U.S. groups. It should be noted that my foreign sales are a tiny fraction of my U.S. sales. I've heard of performances in Australia, Japan, and Germany, but perhaps Alfred Publishing doesn't have the presence abroad that it does in America.
If you're interested in helping me out and boosting my '08 numbers, by all means point your browser to www.alfred.com or your favorite retailer (sheetmusicplus.com or jwpepper.com perhaps) and do a search for "Doug Spata" to access my complete catalog!
The new statement let me know that my first published piece, Gauntlet, is popular. This never fails to amaze me. Also exciting is that the score for Gauntlet is also a big seller - probably because it's now a staple on contest lists and orchestras need extra scores for the judges.
According to the numbers, here are my top five domestic sellers in the 2007 - 2008 school year:
1. Mambo Incognito
2. Agincourt
3. Gauntlet
4. Gargoyles
5. Hot Potato
This is normal - Gauntlet and Gargoyles often sell big and the most recent additions to the catalog are always popular. Here are the five top-selling scores:
1. Gauntlet
2. Gargoyles
3. Las Mariposas Exoticas
4. Agincourt
5. Avatar
This is exciting. I know that the top three are on a lot of states' contest lists, but the other two are newer and higher sales of scores indicates that they're gaining in popularity. Finally, here are the top selling pieces in foreign markets:
1. Mambo Incognito
2. Hot Potato
3. Avatar & Lemon Twist (tie)
4. Zydeco Two-Step
5. Violet's Tango
I'm not sure what to make of this. Apparently, foreign orchestras have much different tastes than U.S. groups. It should be noted that my foreign sales are a tiny fraction of my U.S. sales. I've heard of performances in Australia, Japan, and Germany, but perhaps Alfred Publishing doesn't have the presence abroad that it does in America.
If you're interested in helping me out and boosting my '08 numbers, by all means point your browser to www.alfred.com or your favorite retailer (sheetmusicplus.com or jwpepper.com perhaps) and do a search for "Doug Spata" to access my complete catalog!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
