17 thoughts on “Score A Trailer, Win A Synth

  1. mhm…a prize worth US$ 847…

    ‘…each entrant consents to the use of his/her name, voice, picture, likeness and biographical data … in advertising, promotional and marketing materials…without additional compensation, which may require, without limitation, winner to appear in person on a television, radio or Internet broadcast…’

    without limitation. well played, lawyers – this is really cheap.

    1. This is crazy, talk about erosion of musicians rights… I wonder what they would do if you won and then said no to a personal appearance? Not that I’ll be entering 🙂

      It also makes me wonder about the score for the film, surely they must have already produced loads of sounds and music for the film?

  2. This is disgusting. The price of an OP-1, when divided out into the hours required for this job, would be an insulting rate of pay for an amateur or a pro. People need to pay for creativity. If the film makers want to get paid for making films, it’s hypocritical to not pay musicians for their music.

    1. Yeah, but this is a contest for fun and prizes. This isn’t a job that they’re outsourcing. If you want to see gross exploitation like that look on Elance or ODesk where people expect dozens of hours of work done for $50. And people actually bid on it!

  3. I get the “don’t work for free” sentiment. But I also completely expect that there are tons of people out there who could do a knockout job of this in very little time, and would be ecstatic to get a free quality synthesizer and a little exposure in return. I would bet dollars to donuts that the winner of this gets offered enough work after the fact to more than make up for the “free” hours up front. We all started somewhere, right?

    I see people ride bikes up and down the road I live off of, every day of the week, rain or shine, and nobody is paying them to do it. They ride because they love it, and they feel the process itself is enough of a reward. And all be damned, they just happen to end up more healthy as a side effect! People cook, go to the gym, practice yoga, garden, and any number of other labor and skill intensive things every day, not for money, but for the love of doing it and a handful of side benefits. Are you really so surprised that this same thing applies to making music?

    I would challenge other established professionals to consider this as a growth exercise. Divide the cost of the OP1 by your hourly rate, and the see what you could compose in the time frame. Maybe it’s enough! Then assume you probably charge many times what highly talented people with less experience might charge, and recalculate the hours you could compose. Honest truth… THAT is your competition going forward. No choices, just the way things work in the modern world. You can put your fingers in your ears and ignore it, or you can figure out a way to not only survive, but thrive in this new shifting economy.

    1. i did not criticize the prize for the entry work. i critized the missing compensation for the marketing appearance – which is nothing but exploitation of a person who does not know. i am professional director btw, i know how much such a person should get.

    2. ‘…the new thrifting economy…’ come on, my friend. an economy that does not pay for work is not an economy. nobody is in the business until he/she is actually PAID money. everybody who is listening to this ‘come on, it’s a chance!’ crap is just wasting time and – even worse – feeding an exploiting system. work for money. or do not work. this is the system we all prosper of. and my experience in over 20 years in media biz.

  4. I already have like 5,000 hours of material recorded. I can put together 1:40 in no time to enter the competition. Plus, I’d love another OP-1.

  5. pretty certain, even a web add would cost more than 847$ .
    Anyway you either you giveout a price or not, all these rules about exploiting the winners persona for advertising is total bs.
    It seems to me they are pulling an apple-u2.

  6. Well put, Xtopher

    It’s a competition, not a work-for-hire. So, yeah, let the best man win.
    Got some old stuff that, with some changes here and there, might work just fine for this 🙂

    Challenge taken! 🙂

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