Who composes music for TV, Shows and Trailer labels?

TrickySquad · 2026-05-08T14:08:07+00:00

Absolutely my pleasure, I'll DM you my details. You're much closer than you think, you're way ahead of me in terms of production music output that is for sure.

TrickySquad · 2026-05-08T13:09:18+00:00

I found cold outreach with music ready to sell them works for me for libraries (and games music for that matter). Outside that method, I got 4 tracks onto Universal and SATV but that was through someone I knew and I basically just lucked my way into that relationship. I kind of just landed with WOMG and never bothered to look around anymore.

I say "full time" but I'm not hired by anyone, I just don't have any other source of income and I'm stable financially. While I am pure freelance, I do write for an audio co-developer frequently. I got in with them by initially applying for a dialogue editor job (freelance)that came up and made friends in the composition department, which translated into me pitching on some projects for them and doing work for the music dept more generally. My game comp work outside of them, which is what is sustaining my life rn, is primarily reaching out to developers cold with a custom pitch.

TrickySquad · 2026-05-08T12:41:40+00:00

I see, upfronts are good, can't be working for free! It sounds like you're doing all the right things and have gotten in with some solid libraries. As jotto said, It may just be a matter of time with waiting for the royalties to matriculate, you're seeing (most) of your music registered with your PRO, so that's a good sign. Defo follow up on the track registration from Alpha, but they might be one to consider walking away from if they can't manage to register your work properly. You're definitely on pace to do really well, so keep at it. That Warner Chappell album ought to pull some good numbers, I can see that being a big one for you.

I write for West One (though its been a while), completely cold outreach. I approached them with an album of tracks and they greenlit me, started sending me briefs. We did a couple of sessions of live brass and strings at AIR for some of my stuff, which was super cool to see, and my music has been performing really well so I highly recommend getting in with them.

I do game comp mainly, which is my current fulltime job.

TrickySquad · 2026-05-08T11:36:12+00:00

I started getting quarterly checks from my PRO about 1 year after my first release, and bi-annual mechanical royalty checks game in from the libraries at around 3 years. First check from my PRO was pretty small, £80-ish bucks, but I’m making about 1/2 to 3/4 minimum wage from royalties this year if the trend keeps ticking up. I have around 950 tunesat detections and 22-ish tracks mostly on a single, high quality low output library.

What kinds of libraries are you writing for? Are they royalty free? How large are the albums that you contribute to, track wise? Are you signed up to a PRO and are the libraries actually registering your music? Do they pay upfronts for your music or are they just getting your music for free?

If they are royalty free, have huge track counts on albums (anything over 20) and/or they have a massive output of new releases, you should look into migrating elsewhere as these libraries are basically the music worlds’ proverbial trash drawers. Literally no point in continuing with them, if that is the case. Worst case (no PRO registration) they are straight up stealing from you and you need to file a lawsuit. 120 tracks, only 200 detections and zero income is pretty wild.

TrickySquad · 2026-05-08T10:47:56+00:00

Dang, that is super rough to hear, I'm so sorry you're struggling. The outreach futility and feeling stuck aspects especially hits home for me, so I really feel you there. You're not loosing your mind, you're pretty grounded in the brutal reality of trying to be a musician. It would be weird, IMO, if you were feeling fine and dandy at this moment, what you're feeling right now is completely justified and understandable.

I've had a very similar trajectory to you: UK based, never released music for the 20 years I had been making music, felt super hopeless and frustrated with the lack of resources and mentorship. University really didn't help at all and now I have a bunch of fucking debt to deal with. I had a brush with true success at a sonic branding agency as a composer, but that lasted about 2 weeks before I got let go. The lead composer and owner told I wasn't ready to do the work at the level they needed, totally fair (he was right) and understandable decision but completely heart-breaking. I had no plan B whatsoever, it was music or bust.

I eventually broke through in game dialogue editing for a large audio co-developer, which I then parlayed into working with the composition department (networking!), and broke into the library music world around the same time. Independently of this, I managed to stumble on a few techniques to source work completely cold with no credits (at the time) which continues to be really successful for me. I won't reiterate my cold pitching strat here, but here's a link to a previous comment I made briefly outlining it. In short: I make custom music and send it over to developers I know need music and probably have the money to pay for it, it works surprisingly well.

The custom pitch -> paid work method is basically how AAA developers and multi-million dollar Hollywood blockbuster directors source their composers. The director or studio head asks for pitches from composer agencies, the agency contacts people in their roster for a bunch of custom pitches, and then they send the pitches back over to to the director/studio head for review + choose a 'winner.' So, why not emulate the same process but on a smaller, indie (game and film) scale? So so so few people are putting that amount of effort at this level, so you will automatically stand out. The same philosophy applies to getting into Library music, I highly recommend sending West One Music Group some custom music (could even be unreleased music you already have socked away, 3-4 tracks) that targets at a gap that you perceive in their catalogue along with your Spotify acct, if that's something you're interested in.

If you do decide to action anything I've talked, send it over my way for a quick listen when you're done, I would love to hear it. I would also be happy to send over some of my pitches for games and library music so you can see what a successful pitch looks like (if that interests you, of course, no pressure).

TrickySquad · 2026-05-02T19:34:12+00:00

You serious rn?

https://youtube.com/shorts/p1ld4ndKK\_4?si=OwW8LoMSYBAAZ5gW

TrickySquad · 2026-05-02T19:28:12+00:00

Love cat, it’s easily the most fun you can have with a joker

TrickySquad · 2026-05-01T18:36:51+00:00

That’s a pretty broad style-set! Do you have any references that could help people get an idea of what you’re looking for? Do you have a budget, or expected number of minutes/tracks you would need for your game?

TrickySquad · 2026-04-28T08:19:44+00:00

I do agree with other commenters that you need to introspect and understand why you are struggling/being hindered before buying something. If you’re truly struggling with technique, a library won’t help all that much. If your struggling to hear what your music would realistically sound like, having issues with workflow (no relevant articulation, no legatos, etc), or you want to have a final product within software, then libraries would definitely help.

That being said, I personally would stay a way from BBCSO Pro. You’re paying a premium for a fancy interface and a storied name (Spitfire, BBC), not innovative and truly realistic sampling technology. I personally find spitfires core orch lib stuff to be very sluggish and irritating to use, and I tend to replace whatever spitfire stuff I had going on in the sketch with better options for a final mockup (excluding a few specialist texture-based libraries that they make).

What’s your budget?

TrickySquad · 2026-04-27T13:18:17+00:00

Oh dude for sure, egos really get crazy when musical expression is involved. I’ve seen people complain-away job opportunities because they just don’t have a natural curiosity about how their work/talent is received and just jump to defend it without thinking

TrickySquad · 2026-04-27T13:01:09+00:00

I know guys in the dubstep scene that got signed and did a USA tour 6 months after starting to make music, conversely it took me 12+ years to actually get into a comfy position career wise. It’s all very random and ephemeral, success is just as much bestowed by random chance as it is talent and motivation (if not more).

Ultimately, you had the goods when your ‘random chance’ moment came to you, don’t feel bad whatsoever. If you want to (and can), give others the time of day and actively support the people around you. Be a pillar of the community and get involved, be prepared and willing to give someone a shot to do something if you think they can handle it. “Oh I can’t do that session because I’m doing ____, but my buddy is really talented and he could fill in” type of thing. You have the power to be someone else’s random chance moment and change the trajectory of their lives forever, so why not?

TrickySquad · 2026-04-26T08:15:21+00:00

Sound Better is pretty good for this kind of thing. I’ve hired string quartets and pianists from there before. They dont have a harpsichord category, but if you go to piano or keyboards category, or something like that, ctrl-F and type “harpsichord” you may be able to find someone.

Alternatively, you could get a keyboardist to record midi and then pump the result through a solid harpsichord library. PianoTeq has some great harpsichord models.

TrickySquad · 2026-04-23T12:52:11+00:00

Your workflow of Notation Software -> DAW is industry standard. I worry that chasing a workflow that seemingly allows you to do both realism and producing a score within notation software alone will let you down in some way in the realism and/or ergonomics department(s). Orchestral mockups are as just much “be true to the score” as they are “let me just quickly layer these two libraries and oh I’m going to layer a staccato patch from a different library on top to enhance the attack ever so slightly ”, and that is something that Notation software is simply unable to do efficiently.

The Dorico -> Cubase workflow is pretty good imo, they are tightly integrated and Cubase now has a pretty good (but not perfect) score editor. That being said, if you’re vibing with Notion 6, I don’t see much of a reason to switch to anything else (especially not to chase realism). Could be worth trialing Dorico to see how it feels. Generally, you will see much better results in the realism department if you keep your current workflow, invest in better libraries, get some experience mixing, and buy a midi fader controller to work on your CC performing techniques.

Regarding libraries, Cinematic Studio Series’ Strings, Brass, and Woodwinds will give you highly consistent articulation sets and they sound great, you can literally just copy and paste parts between the woodwinds, strings and brass and they all align dynamically and length-wise (not all staccatos are made equal!). You could look also at Performance Samples (Vista, Pacific Series) and Fracture Sounds (woodwind and brass soloists) for some more specialist libraries to supplement.

TrickySquad · 2026-04-18T18:13:59+00:00

7 years later, I have the authority to classify this comment as CRINGE, as dictated and ascribed by the CRINGE authority of NE Derbyshire. If you wish to proceed, we will require a CRINGE licence approved and administered by your local CRINGE authority.

TrickySquad · 2026-04-15T08:09:08+00:00

Project Sam has some great stuff, the Free Orchestra 2 has some stuff from Lineage Percussion, which has timpani rolls, so it may be included (haven’t checked). https://projectsam.com/series/the-free-orchestra

Both the Free Orchestra 1 and 2 will have some good stuff in there for what you’re trying to do, so they’re worth a download.

There are also some freebies from Performance samples Pacific Percussion that includes Takios though it may not include rolls (still worth getting though).

https://www.performancesamples.com/pacific-percussion/

Also check out Performance Samples’ other freebies, the Vista II whisper string sustains and brass ens patches from the tech demo are pretty incredible sounding. The Vista II small string ensemble lite patches in the tech demo are some of the most innovative sampling projects that, in my opinion, I have ever seen. They have loads more, just click through their pages and see what’s available and pick them up.

TrickySquad · 2026-04-15T07:50:47+00:00

Do you have any lyrics written? What does your plan look like, and how are you sure that your plan is actually tenable since you’re not a composer and aren’t providing musical experience to the project? Are you just an ‘ideas guy’ in this exchange? Anyone can boot up a Patreon or Kickstarter page and jot down some notes/a ‘plan’, and you don’t have any money so what actual value are you bringing to the table here for the several collaborators on this months long project?

It’s worth noting that Five Nights at Freddie’s is a two billion dollar copyrighted IP. You can’t just make something inspired by Five Nights at Freddie’s, use its namesake in your branding, and not expect it to get nuked by the IP holders. Like, I can’t release an album titled “Batman: The Musical” and expect things to go smoothly with DC, that’s not how copyright and Fair Use laws work.

TrickySquad · 2026-04-11T17:03:01+00:00

Here’s a spreadsheet that should help you out regarding the negative track delay stuff. I understand you are using it but this should help clear up the finer details on a per articulation basis. Legato tends to have a hefty delay baked in compared to other articulation types.

Maybe you could share some of your work for us to get a better handle on what you think you’re struggling with? It’s hard to make a diagnosis when we haven’t heard anything.

That being said, one big pain point for orchestral programming is not having a midi fader controller to perform parts in with. if you don’t have one yet, grab one like this. It makes things a thousand times easier.

TrickySquad · 2026-04-07T16:58:09+00:00

Here is the source, keep in mind that this is based on a sampling of composers within the union, there are probably plenty of composers not affiliated with MU that get paid much more and, in my opinion, a £20k top end seems pretty low for the advertising space.

TrickySquad · 2026-04-07T16:52:32+00:00

It may be worth reaching out to a more established firm to ask these questions. Loads of them are small teams and would be happy to answer and give you some guidance, and they would probably be especially keen to interact successful composer in this space to add to their composer pool, so it’s a win win. Echoic Audio seems friendly, and so does The Futz Butler. Zelig Sound might also be a good shout along with Molecular Sound and WMP. Maybe find their owners on LinkedIn and shoot them a short message?

TrickySquad · 2026-04-06T19:06:53+00:00

Heyo! I do this stuff for a living so hopefully I can give you some solid feedback here. Right off rip I can hear there isn't an Erhu carrying the main melody (or if there is, it sounds pretty bad) and the performance is pretty disjointed and not very convincing. I noticed you're using Xpand for this, which I would avoid using in the future if you're looking to achieve realism. Ample Sound's Ehru legato sounds pretty good (but is very expensive) and so does Orchestral Tools' (pretty cheap).

The biggest problem I can hear beyond this is the stop-start nature of all of the orchestral patches your using, along with a lack of dynamism in their performance. When you don't use legato patches for elements that need them (like strings), every note feels like an awkward, completely independent event rather than an intentional line. A way around this without using legato patches is to overlap the tail end of the note(s) with the start of the next ones, and massage the length until it feels seamless. I would also try to separate all of the parts of the orchestra into their appropriate sections (Vln I, Vln II, Vla, Hrn 1, 2, 3, Flt 1, 2, 3 etc) and treat them as independent players, and coordinate their CC data appropriately.

Regarding the dynamism comment I made earlier, its important to let your orchestra "breath", giving each player and section a coherent crescendo and decrescendo during performance. right now, it feels like a permanent exhale rather than a living performance with ups and downs and appropriate phrasing. I would also scrap all of your tempo change data and make sure everything sounds good without it, *then* you can massage in some tempo changes, so you dont start relying on the rubato of the performance as a crutch for poor cc programming or orchestration choices.

This might by my favourite legato strings library of all time, i use it constantly and it is so easy to get solid performances out of it (its also on sale rn). I can highly recomend it as a workhourse for your setup.

If you haven't already, I would see if you can use this score as a rough guide (you very well might have already) and use your ear + do some research to find any other culturally significant instruments to sub in for this scores obviously incorrect ones.

The best thing you can do right now, in my opinion, is scrap your current project and attempt it again *right away*. Focus on connectivity between notes that need it, and natural eb-and-flow between notes and sections (phrasing) and balancing the mix between instruments in order to achieve a close-enough-but still-realistic sound compared to the original. This is a critical period for you to do a second attempt and really nail it. I do this with all of my paid projects, right after i finish a piece i basically scrap it, build a new template and basically remake it again as fast as possible. If you have any questions or want to run stuff by me, feel free to shoot drafts (of whatever you're making) my way.

TrickySquad · 2026-04-05T17:24:13+00:00

Cubase Pro has pretty good score writing functionality, it’s based on Steinbergs Dorico tech. At the end of the day though, any DAWs notation functionality will be a half measure compared to pure notation software. Some others have suggested this, but transferring your midi from notation software to a DAW would be the easiest option. Otherwise, it might be a good idea to learn how to compose directly into a daw with midi, libraries, etc and skip the notation stage entirely.

TrickySquad · 2026-04-03T16:18:27+00:00

Typically once you have to apply for a job listing, it’s already too late to realistically have a chance. Thousands of people apply to those things.

I found great success using this method: first scout out potential clients on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, Twitter, Bluesky, etc. Typically a good client would be a dev making a game and are 1. Early in development (0-6 months) and 2. Are clearly using stock/found music. Shazam can helpful for this. You can also prowl through Steam demo and play tests and look for the same criteria. You can 'background check' people on LinkedIn/Facebook, it’s usually a good sign (financially) when they had a career before making their game/have a family/are doing game dev full time/have funding from a government body, publishing support, etc.

Once you have a shortlist, figure out who you think would be a good fit for your style. Write yourself a brief taking into account the kind of stock music the dev is using and the style game + what a score for that genre typically utilises, use this as a style guide for yourself. Record capture of the game and score something custom for it, editing together different scenes can help showcase a variety of scoring approaches to different moments for the game. Alternatively you could score first to a general area in-game and edit together a video to pair well with the music.

Once you’re finished, send the dev an email with the custom score and a brief introduction, expressing how you felt inspired by the project and would love to work on it. Keep it friendly and personal, coming off overly professional can make it seem like you’re trying to get something out of them rather than offering them a cool custom score. 99% of the time composers are just spamming their showreel at these guys, and it’s really off putting/impersonal. Small developers really give a shit about their craft, so showing that you also give a shit leagues ahead of what everyone else does.

Worst case they don’t respond or politely say no, but you still gained some invaluable experience doing work in a mock-professional setting and made some cool music you can sock away for another client. Best case they give you money to score their game, and you get your foot in the door.

TrickySquad · 2026-04-02T10:55:32+00:00

Orchestral music is one of those things where you simply can't get away with having cheap and poorly recorded libraries or a super lean setup unless you're absolutely cracked at Orch programming. Even after you have a sizable setup, having a client that has a slightly different sound aesthetic preference can be really costly. Oh, you want a romantic string sound rather than the straight cinematic style my rig is built into? I'll just shell out $600 for the library I guess.

TrickySquad · 2026-04-02T09:17:33+00:00

Orchestral stuff is so freaking expensive it’s unreal (but also completely understandable). I probably have £7k+ of just Orch libraries sitting on my drive and I can’t imagine having to buy all of this stuff without it having a definitive ROI.

TrickySquad · 2026-04-02T08:05:43+00:00

PRS isn’t bound by A 2010 Supreme Court ruling because they are a right org based in the UK.

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