Two wild (but true) things I've experienced in the trailer music industry:
I've been a composer in the US trailer music industry for 11 years.
As part of an initiative at my studio, I spent a lot of time training teammates interested in writing trailer music. They went from knowing nothing (but being outstanding and instinctual composers) to regularly landing custom trailer gigs without my help.
Some of our credits are with companies like Marvel Studios, Netflix, Apple, Hulu, Amazon Studios, Warner Bros., CNN, and 20th Century Studios.
Here's what I can tell you about my experience with the process and how to get into it.
You will likely not score trailer footage, but you might if you work with a publisher that has earned the trust of trailer houses.
If you ever get a chance to see trailer footage, for the love of all that is good, please do not share that with anybody. Do not post photos on social media. The media will pick it up, and you may never work in this part of the industry again. Keep trade secrets to yourself, and respect your audience—they like being surprised!
*"Trailerizing" means taking an existing piece of music and cutting it into a 3-act structure, adding risers, drums, and enhancing elements so it fits the often-larger scale of trailers.
Based on empirical data, I can say with confidence that if you've never worked in the trailer or pop music industry, your production ability for trailers is probably not as good as you think.
To do this right, you have to learn about 3-act narrative structure, grab the best sample libraries your money can buy, and practice the ever-living hell out of making them sound good. (Record live when possible, but it's not at all necessary.)
Write A LOT of music and show it to people who work in the trailer industry because that's how you're gonna get good.
Don't show your trailer music to people that don't work in trailer music because they aren't part of that industry. They don't understand the requirements. Trailers are a different beast.
Those rejections are coming from both trailer houses and trailer music production studios. Every "no" you get is another step to getting a yes. That's especially true if you can get feedback on why your music got rejected.
Once you get the hang of things, you're gonna get the occasional "yes." My first "yes" was a kill fee of $500. Once you get your first "yes," you'll realize it's the start of a hundred future "yeses." Keep going!
Kill fees are made only if your music does not get licensed on the ad.
The general consensus with trailer composers is they are rare or uncommon. If you do get them, they're between $250 to a few thousand dollars.
I get demo fees with every project I work on. I don't know why—I think it's because my publisher has good relationships with music trailer houses. Or, my publisher is secretly putting up the money to have me pitch my music.
They're usually a few hundred dollars.
Most of the customs I do won't land on the final trailer. You can do a great job writing the music, get it accepted by the trailer house, and have it become part of the final edit. But...
There are always multiple trailer houses, each working on multiple edits of the trailer. The chances of yours becoming the one to make it as the final is not in your control.
(Big trailer payments do not happen often. If you work 8 hours per day every day and land 3 big trailers in one year, I would personally say you had an extraordinarily good year.)
If you design trailer-based SFX, you can expect to receive a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per sound. (I'm always talking about totals here. And again, my experience).
That $350k project was for a huge game release. A friend who works at a big game company once told me that their company invests the same amount of money to market a game as it does to develop one.
There's an abundance of money invested in marketing. The aforementioned $100k+ payment I got for a few notes of music was such a bizarre occurrence; I've never seen that again in the past six years.
That includes learning how to produce things of high quality and creativity very quickly.
The shortest deadline I've ever had was 5 hours to score the entire 2:30 trailer from scratch. In this case, I had footage available. I finished it in 4 hours, landed the placement, and everyone was happy.
The longest deadline I've had was maybe 5 days:
If you do happen to get the placement, be prepared to wait 90+ days for the money to get to you.
Sometimes, companies licensing your music will sometimes forget to send quote requests or inform the publisher. Or, your publisher will be working on the deal and not tell you about it, but you'll have already seen the trailer online.
The first trailer license I got was for Netflix. I saw the trailer and heard my music before I even knew my music had been approved and licensed.
Please consider having another source of income before going into writing music for trailers.
A common publisher-composer deal is 50/50. So if you land a $20k job, the publisher earns (truly earns) $10k.
Without my publisher's connections, I wouldn't have worked on so many projects.
I cannot highlight the importance of a good publisher enough. We all need to find teammates that invest in us. We need to know who will take care of us and invest everything we have into caring for them.
If I were to approach a music library to join their roster right now, I'd look toward movies coming out in 2023 and 2024, write trailer music that could fit those worlds (but don't use the themes), and tell the music library that "I wrote these with those movies in mind and I'd love to work with you on pitching them."
By doing that, we're showing them we can do the work, are willing to do it, and are thinking about wholeheartedly serving the publisher and the trailer houses/editors they serve.
Wishing you much joy and creativity.
Your friend,
yapa
- I once saw a major game project offer a total of $350,000 for a :30 - :60 song for their trailer.
- I once earned a total of $100,000+ for playing a few seconds of plucked notes.
I've been a composer in the US trailer music industry for 11 years.
As part of an initiative at my studio, I spent a lot of time training teammates interested in writing trailer music. They went from knowing nothing (but being outstanding and instinctual composers) to regularly landing custom trailer gigs without my help.
Some of our credits are with companies like Marvel Studios, Netflix, Apple, Hulu, Amazon Studios, Warner Bros., CNN, and 20th Century Studios.
Here's what I can tell you about my experience with the process and how to get into it.
Custom vs. Pre-Existing Music
These are the two ways you land a paid license on a trailer. You're either going to be asked to write custom music or someone will find something you've already written and ask you to trailerize* it (if it's not already trailer-friendly).You will likely not score trailer footage, but you might if you work with a publisher that has earned the trust of trailer houses.
If you ever get a chance to see trailer footage, for the love of all that is good, please do not share that with anybody. Do not post photos on social media. The media will pick it up, and you may never work in this part of the industry again. Keep trade secrets to yourself, and respect your audience—they like being surprised!
*"Trailerizing" means taking an existing piece of music and cutting it into a 3-act structure, adding risers, drums, and enhancing elements so it fits the often-larger scale of trailers.
Your Production is Probably Not As Good As You Think
Whether you're creating custom or pre-existing music, your priority will be about getting your production value to a place that can stand with (or go beyond) every trailer you've seen in the last 6 to 12 months.Based on empirical data, I can say with confidence that if you've never worked in the trailer or pop music industry, your production ability for trailers is probably not as good as you think.
To do this right, you have to learn about 3-act narrative structure, grab the best sample libraries your money can buy, and practice the ever-living hell out of making them sound good. (Record live when possible, but it's not at all necessary.)
Write A LOT of music and show it to people who work in the trailer industry because that's how you're gonna get good.
Don't show your trailer music to people that don't work in trailer music because they aren't part of that industry. They don't understand the requirements. Trailers are a different beast.
Often No, Occasionally Yes
You're gonna get a lot of "no's" when you write custom trailer music.Those rejections are coming from both trailer houses and trailer music production studios. Every "no" you get is another step to getting a yes. That's especially true if you can get feedback on why your music got rejected.
Once you get the hang of things, you're gonna get the occasional "yes." My first "yes" was a kill fee of $500. Once you get your first "yes," you'll realize it's the start of a hundred future "yeses." Keep going!
Demo Fees & Kill Fees
Demo fees are payments made to you regardless of whether you land the gig.Kill fees are made only if your music does not get licensed on the ad.
The general consensus with trailer composers is they are rare or uncommon. If you do get them, they're between $250 to a few thousand dollars.
I get demo fees with every project I work on. I don't know why—I think it's because my publisher has good relationships with music trailer houses. Or, my publisher is secretly putting up the money to have me pitch my music.
They're usually a few hundred dollars.
Landing A Trailer Is A Minor Miracle
You're always competing against the very top composers in the trailer business, and their production chops are the best in any part of the music industry.Most of the customs I do won't land on the final trailer. You can do a great job writing the music, get it accepted by the trailer house, and have it become part of the final edit. But...
There are always multiple trailer houses, each working on multiple edits of the trailer. The chances of yours becoming the one to make it as the final is not in your control.
How Much Trailers Pay
The payment ranges are vast, and it all depends on the amount of music and the terms of the agreement. We might see an average range of $20k to $60k (total).(Big trailer payments do not happen often. If you work 8 hours per day every day and land 3 big trailers in one year, I would personally say you had an extraordinarily good year.)
If you design trailer-based SFX, you can expect to receive a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per sound. (I'm always talking about totals here. And again, my experience).
That $350k project was for a huge game release. A friend who works at a big game company once told me that their company invests the same amount of money to market a game as it does to develop one.
There's an abundance of money invested in marketing. The aforementioned $100k+ payment I got for a few notes of music was such a bizarre occurrence; I've never seen that again in the past six years.
Deadlines (And Writing Fast)
If you don't care about the money, a good reason to get into trailer music is to improve your skills in literally every other music production thing you do. Being pushed by people working on high-level projects makes you get good.That includes learning how to produce things of high quality and creativity very quickly.
The shortest deadline I've ever had was 5 hours to score the entire 2:30 trailer from scratch. In this case, I had footage available. I finished it in 4 hours, landed the placement, and everyone was happy.
The longest deadline I've had was maybe 5 days:
- 2 of those days were dedicated to panicking and thinking about what I wanted to do;
- 1 day was used to create the general idea and structure;
- 1 day to flesh it out;
- 1 day to finish, mix, and deliver.
Trailer Jobs Can Drag On For A Long Time
It may take 3 days to finish the first draft of a custom trailer track, but it's not unusual for revision requests to come every week for the next many months. You will be working on the same trailer at least once per week for a long time, with no guarantee that your track will win the placement.If you do happen to get the placement, be prepared to wait 90+ days for the money to get to you.
Sometimes, companies licensing your music will sometimes forget to send quote requests or inform the publisher. Or, your publisher will be working on the deal and not tell you about it, but you'll have already seen the trailer online.
The first trailer license I got was for Netflix. I saw the trailer and heard my music before I even knew my music had been approved and licensed.
Please consider having another source of income before going into writing music for trailers.
Find A Publisher
This has been the most crucial part of my success in the trailer world and in many other music things.A common publisher-composer deal is 50/50. So if you land a $20k job, the publisher earns (truly earns) $10k.
Without my publisher's connections, I wouldn't have worked on so many projects.
I cannot highlight the importance of a good publisher enough. We all need to find teammates that invest in us. We need to know who will take care of us and invest everything we have into caring for them.
If I were to approach a music library to join their roster right now, I'd look toward movies coming out in 2023 and 2024, write trailer music that could fit those worlds (but don't use the themes), and tell the music library that "I wrote these with those movies in mind and I'd love to work with you on pitching them."
By doing that, we're showing them we can do the work, are willing to do it, and are thinking about wholeheartedly serving the publisher and the trailer houses/editors they serve.
Conclusion
This post is not an all-encompassing trailer music encyclopedia. But I hope you now feel more confident in experimenting with this part of the industry. I've never felt more imposter syndrome than when working on trailer music. But if you do the work over and over again, it goes away. Feel free to ask me questions here.Wishing you much joy and creativity.
Your friend,
yapa
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