Music Licensing Sites

Does anyone know which licensing site has the best performance / reward / fairness? I've looked at Pond5.. Seems interesting but I don't want to upload and then have no movement on my tracks. Is there a reasonable way to approach all of this?

Thanks

I'm curious to hear what others have to say on this too.

At this point, I've only had brief/minimal experience with licensing, so my knowledge is limited...

From what I've encountered, there's no definitive resource or answer to the "performance/reward/fairness" question. The reason is partially because many composers are different and many companies serve different composers/clients. One place might be great for one and horrible for another. Some people have had great success with Pond5 and others have no sales (filter by # of sales and you'll see a few composers doing very well on that site). It also seems to be a long-term effort in terms of performance. I've heard of many composers who say it takes years before they get enough momentum to call licensing even a part-time job. 

When keeping that in mind, fairness is tricky to determine. For example, if one company gives you 50% and another gives you 30%, the math is obvious (50% is more), but maybe the other company works harder at getting your music sync'd and that's why they take a larger cut. There's a lot of pricing/cost that is not transparent so it's really difficult to know what's happening - that's can be very misleading and, in effect, discouraging.

To your other part of the question, "Is there a reasonable approach...?" From what I've been hearing from others, and from what I've been doing, it comes down to doing your homework. Do LOTS of research on lots of companies. Keep a notebook or cloud notes and write down names, websites (including quick links to submission pages), percentages/rates, exclusivity, file requirements, stem requirements, audition requirements, genre preferences, etc... I spent hours and hours and many days compiling info that was relevant to ME. 

You'll likely narrow down your search to a smaller collection of companies that might fit what you do (but that doesn't guarantee they'll even accept your music) (and, if accepted, that doesn't guarantee your music will perform well) (and maybe you don't have enough music to submit yet). With that list, research what other have said about them and whether they are worth putting time into (of course, just like my comments, take them with a grain of salt). Then if you're ready to submit music, go for it!

There are a number of classes (online and in-person) that approach this topic. Sometimes those can be useful. The feedback is always beneficial, and the network/community is an important aspect too. 

With all that said, here's a link to a big list of licensing sites/companies compiled on another forum: 

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-picture/1134796-music-library-list.html

I'd love to see what others have to say as well...