March 10, 2020: And the journey begins! My first album was accepted by Pink Shark Music, a US publisher! I submitted three emotional drama tracks to them in August 2019 and they asked me if I'm interested in producing a five-track EP. A month later, I sent them six tracks (I thought maybe they would choose five from there). And then we went through a round of revisions. Then in December they asked me if I could just add another four tracks to make it a full album. So now here it is, my very first production music album!
Sept 24, 2020: This is epic: I sent three tracks to Epic Music LA and they got accepted! This is crazy. I looked at their list of composers and they have heavyweights like the great Mark Petrie, my teacher Jesse Loren Josefsson, Avery Berman whom I once sought advice from, and so many other big names. Anyway, here's a link to the tracks.
Nov 12, 2020: This is a huge surprise. I submitted an album of 10 tension tracks to UK publisher Gargantuan Music on Nov 9, and saw on my Soundcloud stats that their founder Simeon Bowring listened to one track... and that was it. So I told my fellow composer, and my idol, Troy Marshall that my chance was gone. Maybe Gargantuan was too big for me, and I need to set my sights lower. Then three days later I got an email saying my album has been accepted. No revisions needed!
Jan 8, 2021: My third album has been accepted, this time by a US publisher I once ghosted after being selected. So yes, I could have begun my library music journey with SpiderCues Music in August 2019, but I thought they were too big for me and I wasn't confident. A little over a year later, I submitted a 10-track tension album, which I also sent to a few other publishers. And by the time SpiderCues boss Noel Webb had gotten back to me, I had already signed the tracks with Gargantuan. I felt like an idiot but I told Noel that I would produce another album for him. This time, I made sure I was not going to send them to other publishers. Thankfully they got accepted. Here's a link.
Jan 18, 2021: Finally, I managed to get in with US publisher CrimeSonics. Those guys are really a tough nut to crack. I had three or four rejections, and the one track that got accepted went through three rounds of revisions. And they are asking for about 20 alternate versions! But I've learnt a lot from the boss Dan Brown Jr. It's truly a great honour to work with a five-time Emmy award winner.
July 11, 2021: First time writing to a specific brief and I've got three tracks in with another publisher, APL Publishing. Got the connection from my friend Jonty Keys, a Manchester City fan living in Dubai, whose neighbour happens to be APL boss Daniel Kafer. Links here and here (my tracks are right at the bottom!)
July 31, 2021: THIS IS GETTING INSANE! Ok, I've been living under a rock and so the first time I heard there's a genre called epic music was in 2018, when I bought Dwayne Ford's Epic Mayhem album (which was released in 2014). It was published by Songs To Your Eyes (STYE) and ever since then, I've been keeping an eye out for their releases and setting myself the ambition of some day writing for them. Recently, I found out that STYE had set up a royalty-free arm called Jambox. Since it's royalty-free, I thought I'd stand a chance to get my tracks in there. So I submitted some of my best non-exclusive tracks that I also had in Pond5 and several other places. Five hours later came the big shock: The owner, Opher Yisraeli, asked if I'm interested in writing a full album exclusively for STYE, a strings-based tension underscore album for elimination rounds in reality TV shows. I was still shaking as I replied to Opher saying yes, I'm definitely interested. Ok now I need to get down to work, as soon as I stop pinching myself.
Aug 2, 2021: Contract signed with STYE. This is a dream I don't want to wake up from.
Sept 2, 2021: MY FIRST PLACEMENT! My track Desert of Despair from my first library music album has been placed in MTV: Families of the Mafia. Thanks to my publisher Pink Shark Music!
Sept 8, 2021: My Gargantuan Music album is finally out! They've called it Tension Underscores.
Sept 28, 2021: All 10 tracks accepted by STYE, no revisions needed!
Oct 12, 2021: IT'S OUT! The best album I've done thus far, one that took me out of my comfort zone because it was strings heavy and I haven't mastered my strings programming yet. They've called it Tension Setters. Oh and it's out on Apple Music and Spotify as well. Meanwhile, I've completed another album, this time I've pitched to LiftMusic from the UK.
Oct 14, 2021: LiftMusic accepted my album! So they're producing this for their German agents DNA Musik's label Minds and Music. Album is slated to be out in June 2022.
Oct 31, 2021: My second placement! It's a track called Beneath The Shadows from my second library music album, which can be listened to here and watched here. Thanks to my publisher Gargantuan Music! This is crazy; the album just came out last month. I thought they say you've got to wait two years to see placements?
Dec 31, 2021: As it turns out, Beneath The Shadows was used throughout November and into December, until Dec 12, with multiple airings throughout the day. According to Tunesat, a total of 178 airings in Netherlands. Let's see how that translates into $$$ when I get my BMI statement.
Jan 6, 2022: My second album for Gargantuan Music has been accepted! We started talking in November 2021 about a new album and they asked for "minimal crime suspense". So now that's done and dusted. Not sure when it will be out though.
Feb 23, 2022: First placement of the year! Moment of Truth from my debut album with Songs To Your Eyes was used in the M (KRO-NCRV) show in the Netherlands. Seems surreal to hear my music in the background while politicians like Boris Johnson, Mark Rutte and Ursula von der Leyen are speaking.
March 1, 2022: Another album got accepted! This time it's with French publisher SuperPitch, who are as super responsive as STYE. I submitted the day before, and today they replied. With most publishers it can take weeks, or you won't hear back at all. It's slated for release in the summer.
March 24, 2022: I'd be doing my second album with Songs To Your Eyes! Same concept as the first, but more Survivor style, with lots of percussion. Album due end of April. I need to get cracking.
April 4, 2022: Another track from Tension Setters has been placed! This time it's An Agonising Wait that was used in a crime show running in RTL5 in the Netherlands. I'm beginning to love that country.
April 5, 2022: I've landed my first placement on the BBC! Yay! The track, Approaching Storm, was used in a new crime show called Scam Interceptors that's running on BBC One. Thanks again, Gargantuan Music :)
April 11, 2022: The same Netherlands crime show, Politie Landelijke Eenheid In Actie, is using my track End of the Journey! Massive thanks to Songs To Your Eyes!
April 15, 2022: First placement on CBS! The track Solitude from my first production music album was used in a show called Come Dance With Me. I did some googling and found out it was co-conceived by LL Cool J! How cool is that! LL was such a huge influence that I named my band's first album "A Dark Trip On The Ill Tip" after LL's last track on the BAD album, "On The Ill Tip".
May 8, 2022: An Agonising Wait from Tension Setters has scored a hattrick now, with placements in another two shows in the Netherlands. It has been used in a couple of episodes of 24 Uur In De ER (a show about medical emergencies I reckon?) and the Dutch version of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares.
May 16, 2022: Politie Landelijke Eenheid In Actie has used a third track from the Tension Setters album: Bracing for the Worst.
May 22, 2022: My track Cloaked Dagger has received 20 airings in Switzerland since May 16! It's been used in a show called Puls in an episode on back pain (you can hear the track from around 6:32 to 7:34). My first placement with APL Publishing :)
June 23, 2022: My second album with Songs To Your Eyes is out! Titled Reach The Summit, it's available on Apple Music, Spotify, or, if you enjoy looking at waveforms, on the publisher's sourceaudio site. How timely, given that my placements seem to be drying up, if Tunesat is to be believed.
June 27, 2022: Did I say my placements have dried up? Just found out that Act of Betrayal from my first library music album has been placed in the 2022 BET Awards. Well, it's not the Grammys but I'll take it! Thanks to Pink Shark Music :)
July 25, 2022: And the crime spree begins! I have three crime albums with publishers waiting to be released, and the first is out. It's my first album with SuperPitch so I'm eager to see how it pans out. Check out the album here.
Aug 2, 2022: After a dry July on Tunesat, a placement on RTL 8 show Mooi en Meedogenloos for Blindsided from Reach The Summit, which was released just six weeks ago. That was quick!
Aug 18, 2022: My favourite track, Final Farewell, has been used in a weather programme in Austria! If you're not in Austria, you'll have to use VPN to watch it.
Aug 19, 2022: My first BMI statement! Nothing much to shout about, let's just say that it's enough to buy me one Waves plugin.
Sept 2, 2022: Blindsided got a total of 16 airings up till Sept 2. Whoop!
Sept 6, 2022: Shattered Hopes from Reach The Summit was used in a crime show called Opsporing Verzocht in the Netherlands!
Sept 18, 2022: The first placement from my first SuperPitch album! Unknown Territory was used in a Netherlands show called Lodewijks Groene Geluk. Looks like it's about gardens?
Sept 20, 2022: I decided to do a quick tally of my placements, given it's about a year since my first in September last year. So here goes: Total number of tracks used: 14 of 65. Total airings: 216. Total airtime: 1 hour, 36 minutes and 11 seconds. Airtime breakdown by country: Netherlands: 1hr 21m 10s (84.4%), Switzerland: 12m 44s (13.2%), US: 1m 30s (1.6%), Austria: 25s (0.4%), UK: 22s (0.4%).
Oct 25, 2022: It's been a relatively quiet October, just a couple of placements in Khalid & Sophie in the Netherlands. Hope it rains in November.
Nov 18, 2022: My second BMI statement arrived, and it's pretty decent! Almost five times more than the first, with the most royalties coming from Germany. Hope it continues at this rate...
Nov 30, 2022: November has been slightly not as quiet as October, with placements in Top Gear on BBC1 and a couple of crimey shows in the Netherlands. And my first placement from SpiderCues!
Dec 13, 2022: Finally, my tracks with DNA Musik are out! They are split across two albums under the theme Forensic Files. The Fear has eight of my tracks and The Facts has two. I'm especially grateful that the publisher highlighted my tracks among the ones to listen to in the introductory notes for both albums. Love 'em!
Jan 1, 2023: I'm gonna spend the next three months completing my uplifting orchestral album. I started this in September and it's far from finished. It's taken way too long, but I blame it on the fact that this is the first time I'm doing anything that sounds positive and uplifting.
April 13, 2023: Honoured to have my uplifting orchestral album accepted by Italy's oldest publisher, Flippermusic!
April 24, 2023: Had my track placed in... Murder She Wrote? Nah, surely not in the actual show but during its commercial break, I guess. The first quarter of the year has been great, with placements in CSI: New York, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Scam Interceptors, Married At First Sight and a bunch of other shows in the Netherlands and Germany. All my SpiderCues placements are in Germany, which suggests their agent there, Sonoton, is really good!
May 19, 2023: Had my best BMI payout yet, a 35-time jump from February's all-time low. The biggest amount came from Australia (three figures!!!), from a show called Beauty And The Geek. The track used was End of the Journey from the Tension Setters album. I'm just shocked that one track in one show can bring in three figures, and that Australia would pay out almost 10 times more than what BBC One pays.
May 30, 2023: Had my first placement in Belgium in a show called Blind Getrouwd: Match or Mistake. The track used was Elimination Heartbreak from the Tension Setters album.
June 3, 2023: My first album with Flippermusic is coming out this month! This album took a lot out of me cos it's the first time I've done something which is not dark or tense or melancholic, which are exactly the ingredients in my third album for Songs To Your Eyes that is due to be released in July.
June 4, 2023: My CrimeSonics track is finally out! And it's the opening track in the volume!
June 13, 2023: Blind Getrouwd: Match or Mistake, running on Belgium's Q2 channel, has been using tracks from the Tension Setters album. I've been getting Tunesat detections almost every day for the past two weeks. But the best part is, on June 13, a clip with the track A Painful Exit ran for 1.56 minutes! It's the longest usage I've seen. The previous longest was 1.04 minutes.
June 16, 2023: Flippermusic emailed to let me know that my album is out!
July 1, 2023: I found Beneath The Shadows used in a Hungarian show on YouTube. The track plays from the beginning of the clip.
Aug 1, 2023: Got a placement in College Hill: Celebrity Edition in an episode featuring LA Lakers' Lamar Odom, and I found the clip here. You can hear my track Act of Betrayal from 0:27s onwards.
Aug 16, 2023: This Netherlands show called Zeeman Confronteert has been using my music from STYE's Tension Setters and SuperPitch's Investigation #16. Whoever the producer is, I love you!
Aug 18, 2023: BMI statement came in and it's up from the same quarter last year, but nowhere near what I got in the previous quarter. Let's see what November brings
Sept 1, 2023: First placement from the Forensic Files album, used in a show called Abenteuer Leben täglich which is shown in German channel kabel eins.
Sept 25, 2023: Found my music used in Social Media Murders: The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth, which is a true crime story. It's really sickening what happened to her. May she rest in peace.
Sept 28, 2023: My third album with Songs To Your Eyes is out! Called Tension Builders, it's quite different from what I've done for them previously as this one had more synths and sound design. My favourite track is the last one.
Oct 10, 2023: I'm not sure what made me go to Reliable Source Music's website today, and I'm glad I did cos I had a really nice surprise. On their top banner is my latest STYE album! Huge thanks for promoting it among all your new releases guys!
Oct 29, 2023: Nice end to the month. I've been getting several placements in Bureau Rotterdam (RTL 4), Married At First Sight (E4) and Top Gear (DR2) in the final week of October.
Nov 2, 2023: It's the second most popular STYE album on BMG Netherlands' site. I'm chuffed!