Greetings Fellow Composers!
I’ve been selling a track on a weekly basis to a Regional USA supermarket chain for their in-store, and terrestrial radio, and on-line radio (Pandora) :30 commercials.
They now want unlimited usage paid monthly for the track.
So… What would you charge?
Thank you!
Wow congratulations Lori! 
And welcome to the community by and for composers.
What were the restrictions of the license you used to sell every week?
Also, do they want unlimited usage as in expand this campaign geographically too?
Thanks for replying, Mikael.
I’ve been charging $100 for a :30 track that has become their signature music bed which they use approx. 50% of the time. The remaining 50% I supply them with other beds in various genres and styles from my music library depending on what they’re promoting.
Of course, my rates increase with time involved.
FYI: Once a week I also record the VO talent, and mix the voice over and music for their commercial/commercials. To give you an idea, last week I did five radio commercials for them.
I wanna keep them happy if you know what I mean.
As far as geographically expanding, they have been in business for over 50 years (172 supermarkets) but they have no desire to go national as far as I know.
I’m thinking of pitching them a flat rate of $500 a month for the one track – for 1st year – with unlimited use for radio, in-store, and Pandora.
Whad’ya think?
Thank you very much!
L
I don’t have experience personally with such deals, but I do have long business experience overall…and my business instincts tell me that you are selling yourself short. Especially since you put in extra work to keep them every week. You have basically made yourself very hard to exchange, as the entiresworkflow is dependant on you. That is a great position to be in for any negotiation!
I can’t really give you a number, but since they want unlimited usage, that should be reflected. I assume this means they also want exclusive rights to the track…well then…I would personally not do less than 10x for unlimited exclusive usage.
Remember, for a chain with 172 supermarkets, this is pocket change money for them anyway. And if they have been happy using your song, to the degree they even ask for this unlimited use, well…I think you have a good chance to get a substantial increase.
Good luck, and let us know how it goes!
Thanks for your input, Mikael. Much appreciated!
All the very best to you & yours!
L