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Is trailer music a field too competitive?

there are no craft secrets anymore hidden from anyone

?

How do you reach that conclusion? Maybe if you're willing to sit through 10,000 hours of Youtube "how to" videos and sort the good advice from the bad, you could argue that "craft" is all discoverable, but it's sorting out what's useful from what's not that separates good music from bad.

Based on what I hear broadcast, fine craft certainly has eluded some people who nevertheless are successful enough to get hired.
 
Every time I see a thread on trailer music, I read posts that dismiss it, saying it's "all the same," or "just loud," or "more of that bad old epic stuff."

But isn't that a bit like saying, "I hate dance music. It's full of those drums and fast tempos and guitars and synths and stuff!" Or, "I hate love songs. It's always about some girl or some guy and some love crap." Yes, there are lots of feeble songs that try to be dance numbers or love ballads, but some of them are good, and those are often the ones that catch on.

Sometimes they're merely catchy, but that is part of music too.

I've written trailer music over the years and found the most success with pieces that I thought were "cool," for want of a better word. Pieces I liked myself, not attempts at imitating someone's past success.

Is it all ground-breaking avant-garde? Nope. I've been to lots of avant-garde concerts and I liked some of them, but they often take place in a room filled significantly with friends of the composers or performers. Perhaps by its nature, avant-garde is just not a super-popular place. So therefore I wonder why trailer music in particular comes in for such negativity, especially on a forum largely taken up with people who are, or would like to be, commercially successful (i.e. making money at music).

Trying to write in any popular genre and make it new enough but still recognisable -- still telling your audience what kind of experience they can expect from this or that film -- is not easy.
 
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So therefore I wonder why trailer music in particular comes in for such negativity, especially on a forum largely taken up with people who are, or would like to be, commercially successful (i.e. making money at music).

probably because musically and harmonically trailer music is quite a simple and minimal musical art form and gives the illusion that is easy to make when in fact the complete opposite is the case. its a real achievement to be successful in the trailer music industry if you ask me. those guys have a serious grasp of the craft and years of experience.

Danny
 
I strangely have no interest in trailer music. Have at it fellas.

Always been interested in long form myself.
 
Trailer composer here.

It is certainly true that the amount of composers wanting to break into the industry has increased a lot in the last two years or so. I hear this from libraries who have even more people reaching out to them to get an "in" than they did 2 years ago. Word has got round that this is a career to make money with, so we might be approaching the apex of the "pork cycle".

The same is also true for the amount of trailer libraries popping up. I can't actually keep up with it, and a music supervisor friend and myself have a good head-scratch about this every time we talk (and compare notes on which ones we notice that popped up and which ones have gone to the wall - this happens as well). It is also true that trailer houses, the ones that actually cut the trailers don't have gold-plated futures either, some suddenly do a lot less well than they used to, for whatever reasons, and the same goes for some composers, too. So like any industry it is in flux, but I can't help but get the feeling that a certain level of saturation has set in on several fronts.

In a way I feel the industry has an analogous fate to that of the sample library world, where in the last year in particular we seem to have reached a nadir, where we have gone from a scenario ten years or so ago where you had to pay an arm a and a leg for EWQLSO, to now being bombarded with new brass and other libraries every other month, and the most ridiculous reductions on sample libraries (even by libraries who said they wouldn't do reductions) being common place now. Similar situation: word has spread that you can make money with developing sample libraries, but the pot is only so big and if more people are sharing that pot more people with be earning, but less money per library, with a few at the top being ok.

So that doesn't mean that people should give up on their dream/hope/wish of being a trailer composer, it just means it is harder than it was 5 years, and even harder than when the industry was in its infancy, when big bucks could be made quickly (form what I heard, I wasn't there for the very beginning).

There is a whole other aspect to this on what one can charge these days and where that is heading, the impact of netflix, amazon prime et al and AI, but that's for a different discussion.
 
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Placements are very random and it's a bit of an insiders game where relationships and business partnerships prevail. It's just too random and too much luck is involved to imagine making it a sole source of income without an ungodly amount of effort.

I love TSFH's approach where their music isn't even crafted for trailers, it is just so damn powerful and well produced that editors have to have it. You can make a lot of money with that style of music outside of trailers too, if it's done well.

It definitely is oversaturated with typical epic music and various other trailer styles. Too many people just copy whatever the hottest formula is at the moment. A hand full of those tracks get placed and the rest die quietly on source audio. Whatever you do, don't do THAT. Spend your time trying to find a unique sound and bring something fresh to the table. There are hundreds of composers that plaster the market with generic trailer tracks. There is absolutely no way to compete if you join into that. If you come up with unique ideas that are undeniably awesome for trailers, you will get a placement or two eventually.

Or just rip off Evey Reborn from the V for Vendetta score in as many ways as possible and load up on errors and omissions insurance. :)
 
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I've written trailer music over the years and found the most success with pieces that I thought were "cool," for want of a better word. Pieces I liked myself, not attempts at imitating someone's past success.

This resonates with me. I backed into writing "trailer music" when I took a short break from writing other production music. I decided I needed a palette cleanser so I started making some fun sound design-y tracks from heavily manipulated field recordings. At a certain point it occurred to me that these might sound really good in a theater so I sent a link to a few of them to a top trailer library. They loved them and it became an album! It felt almost like an accident.

Since then I've done another similar album and a recent one that actually sounds more like something resembling what I think of when I think of trailer music. I still don't know the formulas though and I don't know that I want to know, at least for now.

Don't get me wrong, I have a huge respect and admiration for the skill and dedication it takes to be a trailer composer in the classic sense, I was just never trying to be that person so I appreciate that there might be a little space for someone like me who can have fun and go nuts within this framework while taking a more workman-like approach with other types of music. Will it pay off? I dunno. It already has as far as the experience goes. It does seem that maybe there's a hunger in that world for music that doesn't fit the norm.
 
Another factor is that trailer houses are also competing.

Let's say Warner Bros hires 5 trailers houses, each trailer houses makes 5 trailers with different music. That's 25 options for only 3 theatrical trailers.

Sometimes, my roommate and I, each have music in the editing stages, but only one will come out.

Sometimes I'm competing against myself because I made different customs with different publishers for the same trailer, but different trailer house.

Lastly, it's kind of ridiculous how much they rely on focus groups. Your music needs to vibe with teens haha ;)
 
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Lastly, it's kind of ridiculous how much they rely on focus groups. Your music needs to vibe with teens haha
Do you know how they do the focus testing these days? I've heard rumors of eye-tracking software and face analysis for intensity, interest, boredom, etc. but I don't know if that is just being tested or if it's out in the field.
 
Why not just do music, and work on the trailer part of your portfolio. If the work gets good, you can see if there is a catch.

Most musicians today have to hustle anyway, and puts together a 360 portfolio of income revenues. Trailers could be one for you, but a broad perspective is your friend.

Putting all your jettons in one slot is crazy gambling. Not a way to beat the house.
 
Could I answer your question with a question... What is your definition of "too competitive"?

For example, high school, college, semipro and pro sports all have different levels of competitiveness and require different amounts of work. Some people might think college sports is too competitive, while others might not think that about professional sports. It all depends on what you consider too competitive and how much work is too much work.

Another metaphor (simile?) is being an actor. Some people might think it's an unattainable goal, yet from living in California I've met lots of actors who've made a good living from guest appearances on TV shows and commercials. Similarly, maybe it's more reasonable to try making money with trailer production related jobs, rather than counting on getting actual trailer placements... like teaching the skills required to make trailer tracks, for example, or collaborating with independent filmmakers, youtubers and videogame devs (tv and commercial vs film acting).
 
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Do you know how they do the focus testing these days? I've heard rumors of eye-tracking software and face analysis for intensity, interest, boredom, etc. but I don't know if that is just being tested or if it's out in the field.

Don't know either. Considering the money studios spend on marketing (which is often more than the movie's budget). I wouldn't be surprised if they have the tech.

edit: found this - it's actually crazier!

"One example of this in action is the the use of neuromarketing to successfully predict the success of a film – based on nothing but the participant’s psychophysiological responses to the trailer. Both biometric measurements and electroencephalography (EEG) alone have proven to be effective in determining later profitability.

The creation of most Hollywood films is dependent on focus group approval, and if such measures were truly informative, it would appear to follow that few films would flop. The neuromarketing research shows that there is another way.

Another example is the measurement of web advert success using eye tracking. Participants were asked to look through websites which contained different forms of banner advertisements. It was found that images featuring faces were more commonly attended to, and more memorable, than other advertisements.

The study provided an actionable insight into how web-based banner advertisements can be improved to increase the interaction of potential customers. Such granular, specific, and verifiable results would be hard to come by with focus groups."
Source: https://imotions.com/blog/focus-groups/
 
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Don't know either. Considering the money studios spend on marketing (which is often more than the movie's budget). I wouldn't be surprised if they have the tech.
I got to play with some of this tech offered by a company that claimed to do affective response evaluation for film trailers. Also I got to see the report generated by my response to some trailers. But I never was clear if the company was actually convincing studios to use their tech to evaluate and tweak trailers. They were understandably cagey about that side of things.

I was a very difficult subject for the tech because evidently I do not move my facial muscles much when I watch trailers on computer.
 
This resonates with me. I backed into writing "trailer music" when I took a short break from writing other production music. I decided I needed a palette cleanser so I started making some fun sound design-y tracks from heavily manipulated field recordings. At a certain point it occurred to me that these might sound really good in a theater so I sent a link to a few of them to a top trailer library. They loved them and it became an album! It felt almost like an accident.

Since then I've done another similar album and a recent one that actually sounds more like something resembling what I think of when I think of trailer music. I still don't know the formulas though and I don't know that I want to know, at least for now.

Don't get me wrong, I have a huge respect and admiration for the skill and dedication it takes to be a trailer composer in the classic sense, I was just never trying to be that person so I appreciate that there might be a little space for someone like me who can have fun and go nuts within this framework while taking a more workman-like approach with other types of music. Will it pay off? I dunno. It already has as far as the experience goes. It does seem that maybe there's a hunger in that world for music that doesn't fit the norm.

there definitely is. if you can come with non generic tracks there is a place for you. they've heard it all before by now they are looking for that something different now i can tell you that.

Danny
 
Do you know how they do the focus testing these days? I've heard rumors of eye-tracking software and face analysis for intensity, interest, boredom, etc. but I don't know if that is just being tested or if it's out in the field.
did a live sound gig for an Ad Agency that has a Kardashian and Ciarra as clients. The agency claims it exists and this was about five years ago.
 
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