Composer/Producer Submissions

Hi, I'm John Bickerton, the Creative Director here at the UniqueTracks Production Music Library. I'm going to take you through the process of submitting music to UniqueTracks. Please read carefully and decide if our submission policies are right for you.

One of the chief differences between UniqueTracks and a lot of other music production libraries is our policy of seeking exclusive deals with our composers. What this means is we contract composer/producers on a work-for-hire basis for album-length works.

Work-for-hire, as used in our contract means that UniqueTracks will pay you a project fee to acquire and own the following:

• the master recording for all tracks
• the musical compositions for all tracks on the album (we will own the publishing rights)
• the publisher's share of performance royalties.
• If negotiated at the time of the deal, UniqueTracks will also acquire the master work files (main/final sequencer files, etc. of the recording)
  

As creator of the music, you will still own your composer's share of performance royalties.

We have done non-exclusive, consignment type of deals in the past but we are getting away from that now and are mainly interested in owning original music that cannot be found elsewhere. If you are interested in having your music carried in a lot of different music libraries, you should indicate that on any submission materials.

How to Submit

Please send a demo CD. It's hard for me to get to listen to music on composer web sites or myspace pages. I get too many requests. It's easier if I can get a CD and listen at my own pace on my own schedule. I am interested in your work but need to receive it as an audio CD.

We mainly book our music for the upcoming year in the third and fourth quarters of the current year. We can receive your submission at any time but decisions about what music to release in the coming year are made from Sept-Dec of the current year.

Since we are a production library we are interested in all styles of music but I usually recommend sending me your strongest work. You don't have to cover the whole map stylistically or show how broad your range is, I'd like to hear what you do best.

On Demos: Show beginnings and endings

One thing that I like to hear on demos that most composer's don't submit is 30 or 60 second edits of the material. Because these edits are almost always part of a production music album's requirements, I like to get a sense that the composer can create an interesting beginning and ending and doesn't just rely on fade outs to end the track.

There's an art to nice controlled ending so show that. You don't have to do it for every track on the demo but the demo should give a sense that you can handle a mix where there is a definite and composed ending. If you want to indicate which tracks have that ending, please do so.

Mail your demo to:
John Bickerton/Creative Dir.
UniqueTracks Inc.
P.O. Box 150414
Van Brunt Station
Brooklyn, NY 11215-0414
USA