When did you start 300 Monks, and what was your inspiration for doing it?

300 Monks is a collective of composers and producers living, working and creating cinematic music deep in the forests of Brooklyn.  We are like the Shaolin Kung-fu monks who perfect the martial arts, only we make visionary music for moving images.  We live in a hidden fortress in a Brooklyn most never know or see covered by deep centuries old forests.  Why 300?  300 is a strong “sangha” or brotherhood.  We’ve been around for eons, and on the web in beta form since summer 2004 and our public view since September 2005.  Our original aim was to bring quality music to web and flash designers .  Having been a Creative Director  and co-founder  of  an  interactive shop  I knew that most designers never knew where to get good music for their work.

What is the business model, and why are you optimistic for growth in 2006 and beyond?

The business model works like this: You have different levels of engagement with us.  For those who need things in a hurry and don’t have the budget or disposition to deal with a music company, our production music library gives quick, efficient and very affordable access to stellar quality music from all over the world. You preview, purchase with a click license and then download your music.  For broadcast, we follow up with a written agreement.  What makes us excited about this is the velocity of the entire experience.  We noticed that many of our sales happen at 2am on a Sunday night for a Monday morning presentation. We’ve found that web producers are used to sourcing stock photos and code online so find it natural.  Old school video and film editors and producers are just starting to learn this and have responded enthusiastically as they don’t need to store racks of CDs in their studios which are all aging rather poorly -- one editor told me how dated the tracks on many of those CDs sound. 

Music supervision is something we do occasionally as some of our clients will say I’m looking for something that sounds like “Such and such,” “Where shall I look” or “Can you suggest some tracks?” 

For those wanting a custom score, we have a process for that too which can be a matter of weeks to months.  Obviously the fees are higher and the results too.  You get an exclusive, proprietary soundtrack which becomes an inseparable and indelible audio mnemonic for the characters, themes in the film/production.  I’ll be giving a presentation on our process at the Edit-Ves Filmmaker Festival in Frankfurt, Germany on September 25th, 2006.  Custom scoring is where we hope to grow into a great resource for independent film, studio films, gaming and new media similar to the way Hans Zimmer’s company has become.

We also offer an audio brand consulting practice which can be extremely intensive depending on the client.  This kind of work involves market research, analysis, an audit of current brand equities and can generate everything from audio trademarks such as “Intel Inside” to what we call “brand-tracks” to promotional events involving the use of audio to retail store environments to museum installations to the pitch of the motor in an automobile.  We also can create audio brand guidelines and serve as the stewards of the brand from an audio standpoint similar to what the Interbrands and EnterpriseIG’s of the world do from a visual point of view.  I believe this area is ripe for growth and that we are now in the equivalent of what the 1920’s were to visual branding as trademarks were just starting to become the norm. 

How have you streamlined the licensing process?

Right now there are no performing rights royalties being collected from websites unless they are radio or retail operations like iTunes.  So we’ve created a “click license” for our web and mobile customers to use this piece of music in their production.  It happens in the checkout cart and has been pretty successful.  We have pulldown menus to select usage when you purchase your license.  As you choose usages, the prices reflect that.  For commercials and broadcast we issue a written agreement with a term which can be renewed.  And obviously all of these are non-exclusive.  For exclusivity, it’s on a case-by-case basis on the phone. 

What do you feel are the needs of music supervisors today?  How does 300 Monks work with and benefit music supervisors?

I don’t exactly know what the needs are so maybe someone will tell me.  I suspect from seeing your brilliant presentation at BMI (Awww shucks – Ed.)that music supervisors need a vast array of material and they need to present a rough cut with the selected music and then if approved, clear it immediately.  We offer the ability to get what we call a “comping” file (a term graphic designers use especially for images).  This comping file is what you temporarily place in the composition of your work to see/hear if it works.  These are low res MP3’s with an audio watermark.

We can definitely help music supervisors find music appropriate to their needs and put out the word to our network of signed and unsigned composer/producers.  We get a flood of demos everyday from which we cherry-pick the highest quality.

How does 300 Monks work with and benefit artists/composers?

300 Monks helps to bring light and publicity to an artist/composer and more importantly…cash.  Because we have multiple levels of engagement we offer the opportunity to showcase your work, engage in custom scoring and share information and knowledge.  Our agreements are modeled on CDBaby’s very artist-friendly agreements.  We just split the sync fees after expenses.  The artists keep their publishing.

What are some projects that 300 Monks has placed music in?

On the licensing side we’ve had many websites for corporate clients Verizon, Outback, Pfizer, Little Tikes as well as lots of personal and smaller sites.  We’re just starting to get attention from the editors and filmmakers now and have recently placed some tracks in a bunch of independent films, a regional commercial spot for a hospital, a couple of corporate industrials and one or two independent games.  Custom scoring, we’ve done 2 independent feature films “Mrs. Worthington’s Party” now in negotiations with Sony Pictures and “Elizabeth Gunness” just hitting the festival circuit, several animated shorts, an upcoming Christian film going straight to DVD and a few docs.

What makes this work challenging?  What’s been surprising about the process of building out 300 Monks?

The biggest challenge, believe it or not, is getting the word out that we’re here.    The whole world of search engine optimization has been of surprising importance.
Price points has also been a surprise as what we thought we could charge for our precious music has been chiseled away to what they are now.  As a longstanding proponent of animation and video and music on the Web, it’s also surprising how long the penetration of these technologies has taken to get to the masses.  I think the YouTubes and GoogleVideos and Vimeos of the world are what we’ve been promising users since the mid 90’s. 

Do you consider yourselves to be music supervisors as well, or do you work more like a publisher?  Is there another name for what you do altogether?

That’s a great question.  Most people have no idea of any of these distinctions so we try to give our clients the easiest explanation.  We provide the music – whether that means licensed, custom, outsourced etc.  We’re your music department!  Just program us in your speed dial 1-888-211-5945.

What niche do you feel 300 Monks is filling?

In terms of sound, we are organic, melodic and global with good karma -- and some wit too!  In terms of business, I think we’re approachable, yet professional.  That puts us in between the giants like EMI Music and your brother-in-law who plays guitar…a little.  We can cater to independent filmmakers, producers, gamemakers, editors and make them look genius with our music.  Audio is half the experience and a direct line to the emotional centers of the brain.  We like to say “we add instant emotion, just add picture.”

What advice do you have for someone who may be considering developing their own music supervision-related business?

Go to film school and offer your music supervision skills for free in addition to whatever crew position you’re doing.  Just make sure you get that credit.  Also, start a website like musicsupervisioncentral.com and give out some wisdom on this subject.  Filmmakers and visual creators know so little about this world and most seem terrified of it.  We’re like magicians.  Trust is the key quality.  You have to inspire trust that you can take care of all their needs even beyond audio.  I find myself counseling writer/directors on dialog, scenes, characters and reassuring them of their choices far more often than I thought I would.  And read Robert McKee’s “Story”.  It’s the Bible of screenwriting and is so illuminating to what is going on in the big picture, no pun intended.  It will give you a common language to talk about the film.

What do you think is next for 300 Monks?  What direction would you like it to grow?

We would like to continue growth in all of our areas of licensing, scoring and consulting.  When one of our projects breaks we anticipate there to be an exponential increase in interest in our activities.  We would love to partner with other symbiotic companies/collectives say in fields like animation, editing, and post-audio mixing. 

Anything else you’d like to add?

A funny thing is that some people thought we only provide religious or spiritual music or even just chanting music.  While we are spiritual people, the music is our religion – it’s just gotta be great – insanely great preferred.

Visit 300 Monks at http://www.300monks.com/