Hi guys,

Jesse Josefsson is helping people out to be successful as a composer in the Production Music world.

He states he has a list of libraries and gives tips so you can have a fulltime income in a pretty short period of time.

Is it worth to enroll ‘buy’ his online program where he reveals the best music libraries and where he gives tips on how to produce, mix and master music for libraries?

It seems to me he knows what henis talking about.
What do you think?

I'm sure it's nothing you can't do on your own with a bit of research. Plus you wouldn't have ended up paying for his "help".

Nobody needs to sign up for that nonsense.

Haha! Really?

We;ve been down this road before. Just a year ago :

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/musi...ighlight=jesse

Thanks for sharimg this link with me DrBill
It is really helpful to see other’s opinions.

SyncMyMusic bundle offer - hurry, only 24 hours left on this amazing bundle order!!!

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...and visit 24 hours later with another browser and...oh look, 24 hours left!

There are all kinds of videos on YT these days that claim some path to success. I think the only people having success are producing videos.

That may be true. Music is pretty commoditized these days. Most of the music stuff done will not generate enough income to make a living. So making videos and giving out information about music is a great strategy to separate oneself from the pack. Most composers do not have videos of themselves. The key is to sell something else along with the music to make a living.

Yup - sell something besides music!!!

Coffee cups, T-Shirts, Hoodies, posters, keychains - all have more intrinsic value than advice on how to get into an industry that is dying.....

I mean fair play to the guy, he's got his grind, he's passionate and knowledgeable in this world, probably has plenty good advice, I wish him all the best. So long as you keep in mind that it's intrinsically exploitative in that he's guaranteed to make money in giving you advice that might make you money.

No different than college. A lot cheaper though!

Ha! If you worked in the financial and legal world, you would need to make sure any client was completely informed of that in a totally unambiguous manner. In writing and signed off.

I think he offers a lot of tutorials, advice but he sells stuff like websites where I am sure he gets a cut. Aside from the website, most of the info on tutorials on his Sync Academy page could be found on Youtube for free.

He is all about positive thinking which is great. However, I do not think he is open enough to reveal the actual state of the sync market. Not being forthcoming about that would be the only thing I would have an issue with but then again, it is his bread and butter and he needs to keep the business train rolling.

Exactly. How to you sell "imploding doom"? The business is not what it seems. The writers on the street level working hard and long are just starting to REALLY feel the bottom fall out right now. The next few years will make it painfully obvious to all the newcomers and would be composers. Especially as AI makes it's imprint.

There's no question that if you're a writer that's not been around the game for long and tend to veer to the homogenous drone ect, production music may not be the career for you for very much longer. Exacerbated by CV19 over the last year, it's going to get very difficult.
I can't imagine doing production music for a living personally. It's a good hobby so long as it doesn't interfere with playing real music.

With mugs...and T-Shirts

Seriously though it's the same in most industries, everyone says the best time to get started was a decade or two earlier. Whether that's photography, web design or selling office stationery.

What's also true is there's often more money in training the wannabe's than actually doing it yourself.

He seems like a nice guy and pretty knowledgable.

I do wonder if he is so successful making a living as a composer, why is he spending hours making videos on how do be successful?

Jesse is moving up in the world.

Composing is great, but at some point a composer may want to branch out into other areas. It’s the same way in any other career field. A computer programmer may want to step away from the keyboard and become a trainer, a manager, or even switch to some other non-tech role. Also, I believe that he does still compose music from time to time.

I think Jesse is doing a good job with his service. There really wasn’t any other Youtuber who delivered info about music licensing. He created a lane for himself and is making moves.

While most guys here complain about royalties and music libraries, Jesse has seemed to use his experience to pivot into another space. It’s a smart move to me.

Nice. Is it a smart move for those people paying big $$ to learn techniques that won't work in a few years in an industry that is already melting down as we speak? Rhetorical - no need to answer.

I mean, the guys on the tip of the pinnacle of the food chain will always (mostly) be working. Everybody else has to do what they have to do to keep eating. Reinventing yourself into other more lucrative or productive areas is always in the mind of someone successful. The fortune seekers are always one or two or a thousand steps behind. Can all of us composers become composer teachers?

The real question is not if it's good for Jesse. It's if it's good for his subscribers long term. The writing is already on the wall.....

No, Jesse is doing the right thing.

His courses and classes are no more predatory than young adults working to earn college degrees from expensive private liberal arts college.

Will some of those students end up moving back in with their parents? Will some land jobs at a coffee shop or retail? Will some get six figure jobs at major corporations? It’s all up to the consumer in the end.

I don’t think the course itself will be helpful for most composers. But Jesse doesn’t seem to be some predator making money from the weaknesses of human nature. There are many other entities making much more money providing much more dangerous goods and services.

Making music itself isn’t as profitable as it once was. So it makes sense to pivot into other avenues that do make more money. Hopefully some of the more experienced composers here will learn and take advantage of their skill sets.

You could qualify for a free refund #songsforasunnyday

The problem is that his services are geared to people with the big dream. Nothing wrong with that, but because he is in it to make money, he cannot let his subscribers in on the truth of the real state of the industry. I think this could be a case where sunny optimism does more harm than the actual truth.

A common thing. There is a book about library music that is quite popular that suggests 6 figs is possible in a few years.

If you are starting out now, very difficult if not impossible.

It is gonna be difficult to give a realistic view of the landscape when you are trying to sell a product that suggests otherwise.

Is that the Dan Graham book ?

People worry too much about the doom-and-gloom surrounding music licensing. One reason I like Jesse’s videos is that he encourages composers to stop listening to the negative people.

Hardships will always be there. But constantly listening to the naysayers and people claiming to give reality checks isn’t helpful either. If someone is determined to make a living licensing music, he or she should listen to people who are successful and find ways to incorporate some of those successes into their work flow.

I believe that attitude is more important than composition skills in the end. One must have the correct attitude to become successful. That is the only thing that will help one to push through obstacles and endure the struggles.

Have you subscribed to his course?

Yeah, a little over a year ago. It wasn’t bad at all.

I definitely could see how someone without any knowledge or limited experience in music licensing would benefit. His course wasn’t about theory or technique. It was more geared towards helping people to focus on creating licensable music and pushing them to work with music libraries to build a catalog. There was no “get-rich-quick” vibe from the course.

For experienced composers, there may not be much to gain as far as how to get in contact with libraries and how to pitch one’s music. But the community aspect of Jesse’s course was good to boost morale and provide a positive experience for people who may be down on themselves.

Music licensing can be a lonely career field for many. Sitting in front of a DAW and making music can feel just as draining as flipping burgers or working in an office. The idea is to gain perspective about how to build that catalog for long term growth and royalty streams. Those streams will change as technology changes, so composers should not get discouraged, but adapt accordingly!

EVERYone should be happy and dream big!!!!

Well, if you found it useful I shouldn't really criticise it. For me he comes across as an opportunistic bullsh*****. He seems so small scale really. From his website:

"Now 12 years later, I'm seeing a single placement earn me over $1,700! And I get hundreds of placements a year."

This is not at all impressive. That is very, very small scale. If I had been doing it 12 years with 1,100 tracks and only getting hundreds of placements a year I would probably start a video course too.

I am of the opinion that if these YT dudes were genuinely successful then they wouldn't have time to make all those videos.

However, 20 years in this industry has made me very cynical - maybe too cynical - so it's probably my problem!

Jesse isn't the only guy doing sync library videos, there's a bunch and they have lots of videos and lots of redundancy. I think there is a lot of good information if you can sort through all of the sunshine BS.

I've also watched and read interviews with library owners and I noticed a couple common statements they all make:

1. Follow the submission guidelines
2. Give them your best work

To me that equates to:

1. Don't waste our time
2. Don't waste our time

Some have success getting placements and some don't. Is it because the material isn't good or it isn't a popular genre?