What Is scoreAscore.com?
scoreAscore.com is a community that connects Media Producers who need original music, with composers who create original music for film projects, commercials, video game scores and other media, as well as a library of pre-existing custom music.

Give Me More Info On How I Work With Other People Here.
Composer members are by invitation only. We connect Producers and Composers with our innovative platform. Everyone on the site is anonymous until you decide to collaborate on a project score. There is no discussion forum, no messaging, no public ratings, no comments. We take an active role in maintaining a community of high level, skilled professional Composers whom we audition.

We have 2 types of Users on scoreAscore.com
Project Owners and Composers

How does a Project Owner use scoreAscore.com?
1. Purchase an original score
Project Owners/Producers can find professional composers who create original music scores. Or they can browse a library of existing custom music scores and cues for their film, commercial, slide show, or video game Projects.
You can post sample video clips up to 3 minutes in length showing scenes from your projects (or if your project is less than 3 minutes, you post the whole thing!). Then our screened, auditioned Composers will submit sample scores for the project. You review the scores synched to your project video clip, and you can choose the Composer who best suits your goals based on the submissions you receive. Our philosophy is that once you see a score married to your picture, you will know if it works or doesn't. Our easy to use platform is perfect for rating and browsing. Think of it as a classified ad, but you dont pay anything unless you find what you like. When you choose your composer, scoreAscore.com puts you in contact with the composer. You then collaborate with the composer offline to create your perfect score. If your project is less than 3 minutes, you can do a quick license directly through our site.

2. License existing music
Browse the online Music Library where you can purchase two types of original music: Original music with a pre-cleared license, an amount that the composer has set, or "Name Your Own Price" for library music based on your needs. All music library uses are licensed directly through our site.

How Does A Composer Use scoreAscore.com?
Composers can sell music to a worldwide audience of media Project Owners/Producers. scoreAscore.com gives you a number of non-exclusive opportunities to license your scores and music.

Can Composers Upload And Sell Original Scores?
Yes. Search for film projects with video samples posted by Project Owners/Producers. Find a project you're interested in scoring, read the text description and if one is posted, download a video sample. Create an original music score sample, then come back and post your MP3 original score sample directly to project owner/producers. The submissions can only be heard by the project owner/producer who posted the clip. The project owner/producers review all of the synched sample submissions and one will get selected by the project owner/producers to score the project! Submit to as many projects at once as you want.

scoreAscore.com Music Library
In addition to custom scores, composers can upload original music clips, up to 10 minutes in length for licensing and post them for sale in the scoreAscore.com Music Library. You can either:
1) Set a "pre-cleared" value to your score, or:
2) Have project owners/producers Name Their Own Price, in which case the project owners/producers will bid a price and suggest the terms of use, which you can choose to accept, reject or respond to with a counter-offer for your music.
It's your choice! You are always in control of your music and of your project submissions on scoreAscore.com.
We are completely NON-EXCLUSIVE and we dont ask for copyright, ownership, and we dont touch your backend income.

Are There Any Registration Requirements?
Any project owner/producer can register for scoreAscore.com. Composers can only register after passing a simple email based technical Audition.

For Project Owners/Producers
The only requirements are to provide a valid email address, a short bit of personal information, and a means of paying for music, which they license. This can be either via Credit Card processed using Paypal, for which no Paypal registration is required, or directly through your Paypal account. If you dont have a Paypal account, we provide a link to sign up during the registration process.

For Composers
Upon Registration, Composers will be asked to provide at least one sample of music they have created for review.
We call this an "Audition".
It's an easy process handled via email. We do this ONLY to determine your technical ability. We DO NOT judge your style. Trust us when we say we want to hear your diversity and originality. We just want to make sure our composers are not recording with chisels and stones and that they know how to create professional sound from their home studios. This assures you that your music will be heard by project owners/producers that are looking for the very best music. Composers whose sample auditions are accepted get access to a serious community of film producers that need scores.
Composers must have a Paypal account in order to receive payouts from scoreAscore.com. Dont have a PayPal account? We provide a link to sign up during the registration process.

Why Do I Need A PayPal Account?
Since this site is about Project Owners/Producers and Composers doing business, you need to be able to receive payments when you sell your scores and you need to be able to pay for the music you use. We chose PayPal since it protects your financial information by never revealing any personal info, it's simple to setup and use, and its free to most of the users in our community who already have personal PayPal accounts. It makes transactions simple and its a name you already trust.

How Do I Cancel My Account?
We can't imagine you wanting to leave our community, but if you insist, then send us an email at admin@scoreAscore.com from the email address you registered with. Provide a reason for your cancellation because we want to know if we can make it work for you somehow, and we will take it from there.

Why Ask For My Personal Info?
For the security of our site we must ensure that all Project Owners/Producers and Composers are legit people.

How Do I Edit My Profile Or Change My Password?
Log into the site and go to "My Dashboard" at the Top. In your Dashboard select Edit on the Left under My Info. Then update the information you want to change and click SUBMIT to successfully update your profile.

Does It Cost To Join scoreAscore.com?
Currently there is no Fee for anyone to join the scoreAscore.com community.

What Does It Cost To Sell Or Buy?
Composers pay nothing to post to sell their custom music. zero, zilch. (though the Project Owners/Producers pay a percentage of the total fee, as set forth below).
Project Owners/Producers pay a fee to scoreAscore.com as a percentage of each purchase for helping them find the music Composer for their Projects. These Fees are:
40% for all music library transactions
20% for all project transactions ($100.00 minimum SAS fee)
These fees are deducted from your payout.
There is a nominal $200.00 minimum budget for Projects posted.

How Do I Get Paid As A Composer?
We pay directly to your PayPal account. We pay Weekly if not faster!. So if you sold on Sunday you will be paid by Saturday of the same week. Usually within 48 hours.

MUSIC
What Kind Of Audio Music Files Can I Upload?
scoreAscore.com supports a wide range of audio formats including AAC, MP3, M4A, WMA and WAV. For uploading, we recommend 16-bit PCM encoded audio sampled at 44.1 kHz.

How Big Of An Audio File Can I Upload?
Files can be 100 megabytes (100 MB). If you are uploading music to the music library, the file can be up to 10 minutes long. If you are submitting music for a project, the music may be up to 3 minutes long. We suggest you dont try to upload longer or larger files as the upload process may stall. No sense in wasting a lot of time trying this.

VIDEO
What Kind Of Video Files Can I Upload?
scoreAscore.com accepts a wide range of Video File formats. After the file is uploaded our servers convert it into a highly efficient format for playback on the site and for downloading videos. Please note, the higher quality you try to make your video, the more compression will be required to fit it into our 100MB limit, you will lose quality and spend unnecessary time in the process. You can compress your video before you upload using apps like Apple iMovie, Final Cut or Windows MovieMaker, or any number of other free and shareware apps. A good place to find programs to help with this is download.com. For the Mac this is a good list: http://www.pure-mac.com/video.html#mpegstreamclip

Some video formats work best and are most compatible with certain computers, software or devices. There's no way we can tell you exactly what format you should start with, but we know these work well.
Windows Media Video (.WMV)
.MP4 (ipod/psp)
.MOV (mac)
.FLV (adobe flash)
.MPEG
.AVI (windows)
.M4V (h.264)

Does My Uploaded Video Need To Be Really High Quality?
Frankly, its not critical that your video be of the highest quality for Composers to understand what you want in a Score. You're not selling your project here; you’re just trying to convey a mood. We suggest not fretting over uploading the highest quality possible. Exporting from a program like Final Cut using the mpeg4 export at 480x270 would do fine! Below are some recommended specs:

Video
Preferred Containers	M4V, AVI, MOV or MPEG-2
Resolution	Recommended: 480x270
Bit rate	400 kbps
Frame rate	The frame rate of the original video should be maintained without re-sampling. In particular pulldown and other frame rate re-sampling techniques are strongly discouraged.
Codec	H.264 or MPEG-2
Audio
Codec	MP3, AAC, PCM
Preferred Containers	WAV, MP3, AAC
Sampling rate	44.1kHz
Channels	2 (stereo)

If you cant get your file to upload or dont see the format listed, you can get the best uploading results from converting your file to MPEG4 video with MP3 audio.
A good free tool to convert video to one of the accepted formats is FFMPEG. FFMPEG is a command-line tool Windows based tool, so you may prefer to use other free or commercial software that might be easier to use. You can easily find this type of software by searching the web or try the suggested sites above.
Avoid converting an already highly compressed video into one of the accepted formats as this produces poor results. You'll get better results by going back to your original editing software (where you initially edited the video), and re-exporting in a format such as MPEG4 with MP3 audio. If that is not an option, exporting the file as a RAW (uncompressed) video format then encoding it in an external program is another alternative.

How Long Does Uploading And Converting Uploaded Files Take?
Generally, if you have a high-speed Internet connection you can expect the upload to take somewhere between 2 to 10 minutes for every 1MB before the file is uploaded and conversion begins. And about the same amount of time for processing before the file is available for playback on the site. However, the experience is different for every user because of the variation in connection speeds and the size of the file. Be aware it can take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours to upload a video due to any number of speed, connectivity and server load factors. Music Clips generally are not as large and wont take as much time.
So lets say you upload a 10 MB file, it could be about 40 minutes to 2 1/2 hours, and possibly longer before it is uploaded, processed and available for playback on the site, depending on the Internet connection and site usage. This is comparable to what you'll experience on the other widely used video or music sharing sites.

I Uploaded My File. Now I'm In "My Dashboard" And The Project Says "Processing..." What Does That Mean?
Once your file has actually been transferred to the scoreAscore.com servers it is then processed for optimal playback and the creation of any low res "comps" that are stored. The time this takes varies depending on many factors, but generally speaking, the same 2 to 10 minutes for every 1MB of file you uploaded is typical. However, the experience is different for every user due to variations in file types, bit rates, connection, etc.

COMPOSERS
I Dont Want To Submit To A Project. But i Want to Post Music For Sale And License To The scoreAscore.com Music Library?
To upload to the scoreAscore.com Music Library, Login and select Upload Music. Follow the instructions, add the required details and select "Upload"!

How Do I Submit A Custom Score To A Project?
Select "Projects Needing Scores". You'll see that you have a number of search filters that you can use to find the type of film projects, commercials, video game productions you want to score music for. After using the filters to narrow your search, in the search results you'll see a list of open Projects that meet your criteria with relevant details and thumbnail images. Click the name of the Project to open the "Project Details" Page.
On that page you can perform a number of functions:
- Like : Clicking Like adds the project to your list of Likes. This way you can keep an eye on this project without searching for it again. It is listed in your LIKES in your "Dashboard"
- View Contract Terms: View the Project Owners/Producers Contract Terms before deciding to submit a Score
- Download a Comp: Download a low-res version of the video clip that you can use for reference and timing to create your music Score.
- Report a Violation of Copyright: Report a project that you feel is inappropriate for various reasons. We investigate every report.
- Project Owner/Producers Anonymous ID: Click on this number to see other projects the Project Owner/Producer has submitted
- Submit: Click to agree to the terms and to Upload your Score that you created for review by the Project Owner.

What Happens When I License My Music?
You receive a notification of the license via email, and only after we have cleared the Project Owners/Producer’s payment are they allowed to download a HI Quality MP3 of your music which they licensed.

What Happens If I Submit To A Project But I Am Not Selected?
You will get an email notifying you that you were not selected, with a link that will allow you to update your music title/description/price, etc. as well as the opportunity to release your music to the scoreAscore.com Music Library. If you choose not to add to the library, the music is left in your non public “My Music” area within your "Dashboard".

PROJECT OWNERS/PRODUCERS
How Do I Find Existing Music To License?
Using the "Find Music" links, you can search the website for two types of ready-to-use custom music cues and scores:
Pre-Cleared, and Name your Price. Change the filtering and search options to find custom music scores that suit your needs.
In the Search Results you'll see details of the music. Select the "Name" of the clip and you can listen to the file from the "Music Details Page". On that page you can perform a number of functions:
- Like: Clicking "Like" adds the Music or the Composer to your list of Likes. you can like clips/scores and Composers independently of each other. You can also "Dislike" something. This way you can keep an eye on this composer or clip without searching for it again. It is listed in your LIKES in your "Dashboard"
- Composers Anonymous ID: Click on this and find other music you might like by this composer
- License This Music: View the License terms and Complete the Licensing transaction.
- Report a Violation of Copyright: Report music that you feel is inappropriate for various reasons. We investigate every Report.

How Do I Post A Project And Hire A Composer?
First its helpful to know that we classify Custom Music Score Projects into two distinct categories:
- Projects of 3 minutes or less
- Projects longer then 3 minutes

Select the "Hire a Composer" link found throughout the site.
You'll see a form that let's you start the Hire a Composer process. Provide a good description of the emotion, tone and mood that you are looking for. Even describe the instruments or genre you would like in the music score. You can choose whether or not the composer being geographically close to you is significant. Describe if its a commercial short, a film, a video game score, etc.. Describe your ideal score in any way that might help inspire a Composer for your project. The more details you provide, the better chance of getting what you want!

Provide Budget details, and choose if you have a video to upload as a sample for the composer to use as reference.

You dont have to provide a video. Maybe you are not done with the production. Or its a commercial spot piece that you can describe easily. Or a piece that needs only a certain mood of background music, such as a slide show, a video game that needs a certain genre of custom score music, or if you dont want to post a video for confidentiality purposes. If you want to provide samples of different parts of the project you’ll create multiple projects and name them accordingly, such as "A Boy and his car - Open",  " A Boy and his Car - Homecoming",  " A Boy and his car – Flashback". Since each one requires a different kind of score, potentially you can receive more submissions that way and get more Composers and music scores to choose from. Remember, the Composer has to rely on your detailed project description.

You can choose to make the project visible to the browsing public - non registered scoreAscore.com composers, or only to scoreAscore.com members. Then hit Submit. Composer members will recieve an email notification of your project! 

Dont Want To Post A Video Clip?
Or you dont have one? No problem. Describe your project, and select "No, I don't have a video Clip to upload" during the project creation process, and still receive Score submissions.

Can I Edit The Details Of A Project Later?
Yes you can. Go to "My Dashboard" and click Edit or, even Delete a project at any time.

What Happens After I Choose A Composer?
When you have made your choice, from the Submission Review page - click; "Purchase Music".
The Composer is notified via the site, and your payment is then processed. You are then provided with the Contact Information of the Composer so that the two of you can begin the process of collaborating on the project.

What If I’m Not Happy With How It Worked Out?
If you are unable to conclude a deal with a Composer after having selected him or her, we are glad to offer one free re-post of the Project. When you select a new Composer, we will apply the previously paid fee against the fees for the deal made on the repost.