Once on Broadjam's list, one gets regular emails with subjects such as: "Last Chance for $15,000 Piano Licensing Opportunity." "$30,000 Deadline for Positive and Bright Tracks!" This sounds great!
I won't answer the question of "is it worth it," but instead I offer the empirical data of my experience with the website.
As my experiment was from 2011, I will offer the current rates for participating in any of these contests or working with Broadjam:
A "Primo Membership" currently costs $19.95 a month, or $199.95 for one year, or $299.95 for two years, or $399.95 for three years. For this price you get:
- $5 submissions to all Music Licensing Opportunities
- Your own templated .com website ($60 value)
- Direct access to industry professionals.
- Sell mp3 downloads, and keep 100% of the profits for your first 500 sales
- Unlimited Song Transmissions
- 12 Free entries in monthly songwriting challenges ($60 Value)
- Eligibility for spotlight in the Broadjam Newsletter, sent to thousands weekly.
There is also a Film/TV membership for $9.95 a month or $99.95 per year. For this price you get:
- $5 submissions to all Film/TV Licensing Opportunities
- Direct access to industry professionals
So here's my story:
As I was teaching a film scoring class for UCLA continuing studies at the time, back in 2011 I decided to try using the website to market my music - to evaluate the website's value for composers just staring out.
I also committed myself, for three months, to competing in any contest where my music was appropriate. I signed up for a year membership and for the period of three months, I was making submissions about four or five times per week or more.
I also committed myself, for three months, to competing in any contest where my music was appropriate. I signed up for a year membership and for the period of three months, I was making submissions about four or five times per week or more.
But my submissions, mostly at $5 a piece, were not without qualification. There were certain contests I would not participate in.
For example, if you read the complete email for the two contest above offering $15,000 and $30,000 for the winner, these also says that the purse is "to be split with the publisher."
I would never submit for these as my understanding is that if you win these contests, not only do you split the purse, a publisher would then take your publishing to the piece in question. This did not feel right to me as my publishing and the ability to submit my pieces in multiple places at once is vital to my business. Therefore, I would only submit to contests where there was no middle man between myself and the client.
When I would sign into my Broadjam account, I would be able to view a timeline of contest. It would tell me things like, "On Thursday, June 9th 2011, the provider played 192 song(s). Your song, "Priceless Moments" was played.
Likewise, you could participate in a "Peer Review" process where fellow musicians could vote on your piece and how appropriate it would be for the project described. The song would then be tagged with a peer rating.
For a neophyte composer, having a peer review would be of interest. Knowing where you stand against professionals is good to know.
However, and there is no way to say this without sounding egotistical - but it needs to be said:
As an Emmy nominated composer with 20+ years of experience, I would hope that my music would be favorably reviewed. And I did indeed find this the case. I was always in the top 5%. Often I would see messages in the timeline saying my music was downloaded by the provider and under consideration.
But let's look at the empirical data:
If there were, as it was in one case, 192 submissions, all things being equal, my chances of seeing the full purse for my $5 submission was 1 in 192, or a .0052% chance of winning.
If you landed in the top 3, often Broadjam would kick in $50 to the second and third place compositions, changing the odds of seeing a return on your $5 investment to 3 out of 192, or .015625%
By comparison, the odds of winning at roulette, when betting on black, are 47.37%.
Still, a was committed to trying. One win would more than wipe out what I was spending.
And then it happened. After 30 or so submissions, I finally saw on my timeline:
I would never submit for these as my understanding is that if you win these contests, not only do you split the purse, a publisher would then take your publishing to the piece in question. This did not feel right to me as my publishing and the ability to submit my pieces in multiple places at once is vital to my business. Therefore, I would only submit to contests where there was no middle man between myself and the client.
After submitting a piece, what would happen then?
Likewise, you could participate in a "Peer Review" process where fellow musicians could vote on your piece and how appropriate it would be for the project described. The song would then be tagged with a peer rating.
For a neophyte composer, having a peer review would be of interest. Knowing where you stand against professionals is good to know.
However, and there is no way to say this without sounding egotistical - but it needs to be said:
As an Emmy nominated composer with 20+ years of experience, I would hope that my music would be favorably reviewed. And I did indeed find this the case. I was always in the top 5%. Often I would see messages in the timeline saying my music was downloaded by the provider and under consideration.
But let's look at the empirical data:
If there were, as it was in one case, 192 submissions, all things being equal, my chances of seeing the full purse for my $5 submission was 1 in 192, or a .0052% chance of winning.
If you landed in the top 3, often Broadjam would kick in $50 to the second and third place compositions, changing the odds of seeing a return on your $5 investment to 3 out of 192, or .015625%
By comparison, the odds of winning at roulette, when betting on black, are 47.37%.
Still, a was committed to trying. One win would more than wipe out what I was spending.
And then it happened. After 30 or so submissions, I finally saw on my timeline:
Congratulations!
The Provider of this Opportunity has selected 1 of your songs, and will be contacting you. Please make sure your contact information is accurately filled out in your Broadjam account.
Please contact Broadjam Customer Service for this Provider's contact information if needed.
Please note: Broadjam is not a party to any contracts you sign with Opportunity Providers.
Here's a sceenshot from my timeline confirming my win:
A few days later I did indeed get an email from "The Provider." I responded that I was thrilled they liked the piece and asked what the next step was to finalizing the license.
There were no further contacts from Broadjam nor "The Provider," and I never received my prize. Multiple emails to "The Provider" were never answered.
Thus ended my experiment with Broadjam. If you have had an experience with Broadjam, I invite you to share it in the comments below.
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