It seems like up until the last decade, everyone aspired to be a “Rock Star”. That was how we all dreamt of making money in music. Now it seems like everyone wants to be a film composer or write music for film and television. While this is certainly a more attainable goal than being a rock star, it is still heavy with competition. To add to the challenge, film and TV budgets are getting smaller and smaller, guess who they are going to try and get free work from? Hint: It's not the 'on set' Janitor.
Being a musician and songwriter is about the only skilled profession I can think of where people will ask, and expect you to work for free. The agencies that DO offer you money, many times offer you an insulting amount, given the skill, experience and equipment it takes to produce a radio quality piece of music. The problem is also compounded by cheap music libraries with hundreds of thousands of songs, selling for a couple of dollars in some cases. Your competition is extensive and your rewards are small in many cases.
In my opinion, in order to make a reasonable amount of money with music, you need to be diverse and be ready for any kind of gig. I have learned this through my music business, M&J Music Creations LLC . I am going to share the ways I have come up with to make money with music.
1 – Writing for a Music Library – Music Libraries market your music for you. They take a percentage of your music sales. Not all libraries are created equal, make sure you find one that has a track record of music placements and don't sign any agreement that you do not understand. Just remember, if a library wants 50% of the sale of your song, you will still be left with 50%. As the saying goes, 50% of something is better than 50% of nothing.
2 – Writing music for Advertisements – This can be anything from music beds, to jingles, to creating musical logo's for companies. This is an exciting field, but it can be tough getting work from advertising agencies if they do not know you. You can start by approaching your local business and offering to write music for their advertisements.
3 – Writing music for others. There are local musicians/singers all over the world who want to collaberate on songwriting. I know singers who don't play an instrument and they need someone to write songs for them to sing. This can be fun and challenging. I would suggest to make an agreement up front as to who owns what % of each song and get it in writing. This can avoid lawsuits and other problems in the future.
4 – Film Scoring – I had a dream I was John Williams once, it was pretty awesome. ..Ya..so unless you have a circle of film maker friends, or get lucky, your best bet might be to friend a local film school and build up a demo reel scoring student films for free. Hopefully your new contacts will pay off in the future as well!
5 – Arranging – There are many local acts looking for arrangers or orchestrators. For experience and practice, you could write a Jazz band arrangement of Gangnam Style and approach your local high school or college Jazz band to play it. (Stay away from the choreography though!)
6 - Mixing and Mastering music for others. Put your years of music production knowledge and experience to work. There are many people on the internet looking for someone to properly mix and master their music. If you are not confident in your abilites yet, you can easily find tracks online to practice with.
7 – Performing – This is last but certainly not least. Performing is the good old 'standby' to me. As a musician, you can always find gigs. Granted, they may not all be great paying gigs, but if you have a reputation in your local area as a solid player, you are guarunteed to find gigs. I suggest the following:
a) Always show up prepared
b) act professional (don't get “wasted” and flirt with bridemaids during break at the wedding gig)
c) Be flexible and easy to work with. This will ensure that when local acts need a player, permanent or fill in, they will be looking for you.
Making money in music is an exceptional challenge in this day and age, especially if you have no contacts starting out. But if you concentrate on 2 or 3 of these ideas, you should be off to a good start.
Mike Lizotte
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