# Finding MusicLand



## Carles (Dec 17, 2016)

Hi guys,
As crazy as it sounds I've made it.
Left my job at Weta Digital in order to have more time for writing music.

Actually this was planned for a later date, once my royalties would be more significant, but family reasons have accelerated my migration from VFX to music full time.

Is going to be though I guess because my musical income is really low, but did sell my flat in Spain in order to finance the operation. As far as the royalties will keep growing even if slowly all should be fine. Otherwise I always could back to the CG job, got a nice CV in that field.

What it wasn't working at all was to care about two full time jobs, sleeping 5 hours a day, exhaust and sick...

I've been really close to give up couple times, much more decided the second one.
Then I was having some correspondence with Rctec at that time and had to tell him about.
He saw me surrender and lose MusicLand and had a strong reaction with me, in the middle of a recording session writing to me telling why I shouldn't do that and trying to make me to react.
Literally Hans did put me back on the track with his (energetic) wise words.

Hans if you read this, please accept my gratitude, I almost kill what I most love, I couldn't never forgive that to myself but you made me open the eyes in time (not because of who you are, but because what you said from musician to musician).

Still not sure that I'll make it, actually very hesitant, but hey, some people do invest money buying some sort of machinery or stock assets to resell in order to initiate a business. I don't need assets, my most missing part of the formula is just time. So why cannot I buy... time?

In the worst scenario I'll lose money, but the pleasure of doing what I love for the next few years is... just priceless.

Fingers crossed now!

Best,
Carles


----------



## synergy543 (Dec 17, 2016)

Congratulations Carles! 
Brave step you're taking but a good one (you can never regret following your heart). 
I look forward to hearing the fruits of your journey.


----------



## Saxer (Dec 17, 2016)

Good luck and a lot of fun!


----------



## OleJoergensen (Dec 17, 2016)

Great decision and I wish you al the best!
It would have been a great waist stop with music. I have listen to your Tchaikovsky album- you do have talent!
I look forward to hear more Music from you .


----------



## mc_deli (Dec 17, 2016)

Go for it! Your work and attitude are inspiring


----------



## patrick76 (Dec 17, 2016)

Best of luck, I have enjoyed your work that you have shared here. I wish you much success! 

Do you plan of focusing on library work?


----------



## wst3 (Dec 17, 2016)

Best wishes for success! I will be watching your posts for encouragement myself...


----------



## Carles (Dec 18, 2016)

Thanks guys


----------



## Carles (Dec 18, 2016)

patrick76 said:


> Do you plan of focusing on library work?


Yup, that's the idea.


----------



## mark.warman (Dec 18, 2016)

I have so admired the musicianship and craft in each recording you've posted here over several years and read with interest your honest and agonised wrestling with which direction to take. You are evidently such a creative soul: if heart and passion are not fully engaged in your present work, you surely have to move on. Of course it won't always be easy but I'm convinced you're doing the right thing. Much luck to you!


----------



## leon chevalier (Dec 18, 2016)

Congrats and good luck 
I love your mockups and your posts here ! Your are one the few that make this forum the best place on internet !


----------



## vicontrolu (Dec 18, 2016)

Bona sort Carles! 

What is musicland BTW?


----------



## Farkle (Dec 18, 2016)

Fantastic news, Carles, and best wishes and best of luck to you! I think you'll really enjoy the production library scene; work hard, ask questions, and keep reaching out to libraries. I think you'll do great!

Best,

Mike


----------



## Carles (Dec 18, 2016)

Again many thanks guys.


vicontrolu said:


> What is musicland BTW?


LOL, just a concept. Coming from the graphic field that's my particular way to say "working on music full time" or "being a musician all the time".


----------



## Tatu (Dec 18, 2016)

Well done, Carles and best of luck to your musical endeavours!


----------



## FinGael (Dec 18, 2016)

Thank you Carles for sharing your story. The very best of luck in your endeavours - in MusicLand and in life in general.

In exchange I will write some words about mine.

At some point, music, which had been the biggest thing for me since my early years, became a heavy burden (or to be exact - my relationship with it) and I gave up on it.

Went through some really rough rides with life, lost everything I had, including my health, and because of that have been several times really close to being forced to leave this world.

Nowadays my health is pretty good and I am doing the things I love (that includes music, cinematography, photography and filmmaking) and I am mostly living strongly in the present moment, a day at a time, my heart and being filled with gratitude. Not a life of a fake smile or forced positive sounding affirmation sentences, but truly doing and giving my best to appreciate all of it - as long as I have that chance. Today I also have truly amazing people around me and life feels meaningful in so many ways.

Not sure where the path will take me, but it will get me there.

Still have to say, that the most important thing to me in life is not music, but growing and becoming a better human being. Living the way that feels right inside of me, loving and helping other people, honoring life - its ups and downs and trying to create something meaningful and constructive from it. The nature has also played a big role in my recovery and I try to help it through my work; it is speaking its wisdom all the time, but most of the people live so much in their heads, that it is hard for them to see or hear it.

I believe through my personal experience, that in many cases, in great art, the most important thing is what you are as a human being. When someone manages to make his/her life a piece of beautiful art, it can be seen and felt and can be implemented in many different creative ways to express one's self.

I am an esoteric and think that the vibrational state or the state of the consciousness of the one creating, can play a big role in creative forms of self expression. Many of the great artists are or have been great human beings (not all of them) and when a true master paints, he/she paints with more than brushes and colours.

All the best to all of you adventurers.


----------



## jonnybutter (Dec 18, 2016)

All the best Carles.


----------



## AllanH (Dec 18, 2016)

it takes courage to make the leap and that is always the (required) first step. Best of luck!


----------



## Desire Inspires (Dec 20, 2016)

Congratulations.


----------



## dannymc (Dec 22, 2016)

> Yup, that's the idea.



congrats Carles. i remember you posting some months ago about the fact that a composer such as yourself was relegated to either submitting to RF sites into a sea of thousands of other tracks and had recently joined audiosparx which you weren't expecting much from. i'm guessing something else much more significant happened music wise since and you found a really good home for your music. care to share the rest of the journey since that post? 

Danny


----------



## Carles (Dec 22, 2016)

Thanks everyone guys.
Arrived to Valencia, finally! (it's a near two days trip!!)



dannymc said:


> i remember you posting some months ago about the fact that a composer such as yourself was relegated to either submitting to RF sites into a sea of thousands of other tracks and had recently joined audiosparx which you weren't expecting much from. i'm guessing something else much more significant happened music wise since and you found a really good home for your music. care to share the rest of the journey since that post?



Danny my music is not and never will be in RF sites and I think you should do the same as you are producing quite elaborated work (or use a pseudonym if so). It takes me quite long to produce every single track so makes non sense to me waste such amount of time and effort to get them ending into the RF market because as you well said feels like you are releasing a few water drops into the ocean.
Don't get me wrong, AudioSparx can place your stuff well (some people makes really nice money with them), and deals are not bad (I've got 5 placements so far on a single track, R. Strauss Also Sprach Zarathustra sunrise fanfare) and it's nice to make 50-200 USD with stuff that never was conceived as profitable. They are hard workers and if you do not opt for their "MusicSite" (RF) you are going with typical sync+performance royalties deal (AudioSparx itself). Not an issue in this case to have both deals for those tracks because public domain is not making performance royalties in many territories anyway. However I prefer to keep my own intellectual property away from RF or RF-related libraries as other interesting publishers might be not happy with that.
I got 22 classical renditions at AudioSparx so I have only public domain in there. No intentions to release my own stuff to other than exclusives.

I'm currently working mostly with a couple of very nice exclusives (live players or live+samples) and not making significant money so far as I have no many tracks and it's too early too, so I'll be literally investing money for next 2-3 years to see if I can make it or not.
If I'll make it, that would be fantastic but if I cannot then I always could back to the VFX/Animation industry. What's granted is that next few years are going to be fun by writing music full time while still having some rest and enjoying from my family


----------



## Arbee (Dec 22, 2016)

Good luck Carles, I believe one of the most important aims in life is not to die wondering. It's a principle I've lived with all my life and it has served me well


----------



## LamaRose (Dec 22, 2016)

Studies have shown that the number one regret folks have when approaching their final days was not doing what they really wanted to in life... compromising. 

I still go back and listen to "Tales from Greece." The sky's the limit for you!


----------



## dannymc (Dec 29, 2016)

> Danny my music is not and never will be in RF sites and I think you should do the same as you are producing quite elaborated work (or use a pseudonym if so). It takes me quite long to produce every single track so makes non sense to me waste such amount of time and effort to get them ending into the RF market because as you well said feels like you are releasing a few water drops into the ocean.
> Don't get me wrong, AudioSparx can place your stuff well (some people makes really nice money with them), and deals are not bad (I've got 5 placements so far on a single track, R. Strauss Also Sprach Zarathustra sunrise fanfare) and it's nice to make 50-200 USD with stuff that never was conceived as profitable. They are hard workers and if you do not opt for their "MusicSite" (RF) you are going with typical sync+performance royalties deal (AudioSparx itself). Not an issue in this case to have both deals for those tracks because public domain is not making performance royalties in many territories anyway. However I prefer to keep my own intellectual property away from RF or RF-related libraries as other interesting publishers might be not happy with that.
> I got 22 classical renditions at AudioSparx so I have only public domain in there. No intentions to release my own stuff to other than exclusives.
> 
> ...



thanks Carles. i presume you might of come across the tracks i posted in audiosprax. to be honest i don't mind those tracks being on there, i think i have about 15 or so tracks there. they were some of the first productions i composed and it was one of my first steps into the music library game about this time last year. i've since stopped posting tracks there and moved from RF sites to non-exclusive libraries to exclusive libraries which is where my focus will be going forward. Audiosparx and Pond 5 are the only two RF i used and Pond 5 is they one that pays best for me each month. even though i did spend weeks making some of those earlier tracks it was mainly because i had the luxury of time on my hands to spend as much time as i would like on a track. i was also still a beginner and couldn't work as fast but since starting working with some of the exclusives i've had to learn how to compose faster and more targeted to meet deadlines. its been a good learning experience and i can now complete tracks in about 2-3days without quality suffering. they are probably less elaborate tracks but simple to the point cues work well for a purpose in many cases and that's something i'm continuing to learn.best of luck in your journey over the next few years. i truly believe if you are talented and hard working enough you will get there. 

Danny


----------



## zacnelson (Dec 29, 2016)

dannymc said:


> and i can now complete tracks in about 2-3days without quality suffering.


That's excellent!


----------



## thov72 (Dec 29, 2016)

Carles, hadn´t read much of you lately and always wondered how you were. I wholeheartedly enjoyed these news. Congratulations!!


----------

