We can’t be quantified or packaged. We’re artists, darling. Our art speaks for itself. All true… but all the art out there is vying equally for all of your potential clients’ attentions. And those attention spans are short and very demanding. If you want to make your art into a business, i.e. make money at it, you’ve no choice – you have to brand yourself and then market your art. No getting away from it.

And as film composers and sound designers, we’re usually selling art that’s yet to be created. So what might be a more effective overall marketing strategy is to think of how we can sell ourselves, our persona, our fun-to-work-with-ness, our attitudes to career and life, how you and I collaborating together will without a doubt create something more awesome than we could possibly have done separately.

So marketing is very important to the film music composer or sound designer. But it need not be boring, time-consuming or expensive. Marketing for us film sound creators can be quick, easy, painless, fun, interesting, and very cheap if you take a little time to think creatively about it. Even if you’re totally anti-marketing/branding/selling your soul, you’re probably doing some of it already without even realising it (I’ve talked about some of this in Personality Branding).

And… if it sells more of your work or your services, what you complainin’ about?

Here are all of the ways I can think of (so far) that a film music composer may market themselves. I’ve separated them out into whether I’ve used them or not, and how useful they’ve been up ’til now. Hopefully you can pick out a few to start forming an easy strategy for marketing your wares and yourself.

This turned into rather a long list so stick with it…

Marketing Stuff that really works – directly led to sales:

• Online portfolio website with music and contact details
• DVD Showreel ready to go upon request
• Tailored CD submissions
• Music licensing on other site which led to commissions
• Content marketing (fancy name for blog attached to website): writing blog posts about opinions and thoughts about my experiences. This is all about building a connection with audience, fleshing out a more thorough picture of yourself, what you’re like as a person to work with rather than just a faceless, personality-less, unknown quantity.
• Networking in person and seeing it as an opportunity to make connections for people with other people.
• Having an elevator pitch ready to go… then getting out of the way, asking questions, listening, really engaging in creating the potential for a new business relationship.
• Twitter for both forging new relationships and developing ones already made through other methods.
• Maintaining and keeping tabs on pre-made business relationships on Facebook.
• Word of Mouth recommendations from people you’ve worked with before. Isn’t as tricky as you might first think – be easy to work with, go above and beyond, add value, and make the client feel special (‘cos they are – they’re working with you aren’t they?).
• Working in associated roles – this is really a form of networking. The word-of-mouth that you can gain about you being a really cool person and being great to work with works wonders when you hear about new projects coming up and you offer music composition/sound design!
• Collaborating with other artists in relevant areas for free or as equally paid co-creators in order to raise both of our profiles.
• Doing really awesome work with awesome people on awesome shows with high profile venues/channels with massive audiences is worth its weight in gold (though this probably counts a word of mouth too).
• Giving away free CDs of pre-composed music to trusted filmmakers to license whenever they might like to in the future. Sometimes they’ll come back to you for a bespoke version or even a new commission.
• Participating on relevant trade forums.
• Sending showreel CDs out to local and national production companies. I actually did this without checking whether they wanted to hear it first, tut tut. Even though it worked for me, right at the start of my career when I was a little fraidy-cat when it came to cold calling, it was such a small response – 3 replies from 100+ CDs sent out – that really, I spent an awful lot of money that could have been saved just by making a few phone calls. Though you never know…

Marketing stuff that probably worked indirectly, though I don’t know for sure, or methods I’ve implemented so recently that’s it’s hard to say what effect it’s yet to have:

• Website SEO (search engine optimisation)
• Building a website with a CMS or ‘Content Management System’ (e.g. wordpress, joomla) that’s very easily update-able with news, presents a more unified site where the blog isn’t just an add on, and where you don’t need to go into the code to make site-wide changes.
• Asking for testimonials for your website – also reminds the client how great it was working with you.
• Following up with email note after networking meetings (‘great to meet you’ type stuff).
• Business cards handed out at networking events and included in showreel mailouts.
• Trade press and general newspaper interviews.
• Relevant website interviews.
• Writing articles for relevant websites (such as this one).
• Email signature including links to my latest work on- or off-line.
• Twitter-driven traffic to my website – these visitors tend to stay around on the website a little longer than the average.
• Scheduling tweets for Twitter to maintain a more consistent, steady online presence and reach more followers in all the different timezones.

Marketing stuff I’ve tried that hasn’t worked for me so far (but might for you… but it’s dubious, and if you don’t have time or money or energy, then maybe don’t bother):

• Private online music store selling mp3s and music licenses for media attached to my website.
• A website built on flash – very little search engine traffic at all as most of it can’t be indexed.
• “Faking it ’til you make it”/exaggerating your achievements/pretending to be something you’re not personality-wise – you get found out eventually! It’s so tiring to keep up the facade consistently.
• Following general marketing gurus and social media ‘experts’ on Twitter.
• Following lots and lots of people on Twitter – signal to noise ratio gets less and less favourable, even though your follow stats are high. They aren’t really a targeted audience.
• Premium, i.e. paid-for, online portfolio/cv sites – e.g. Productionbase
• “Working the Room” at industry networking events – no real, viable relationships formed as a result of constantly looking for instant ‘usefulness’ indicators in conversations, looking over shoulders at other people who might be more ‘useful.” This behavior doesn’t really give the best impression.
• Music “giveaways.” I tried this once and it didn’t work… but it might next time.
• Myspace page (although I didn’t put a lot of effort into it)

Stuff I haven’t tried yet so can’t say either way. But these tips might send your business into the stratosphere, so am not ruling them out yet:

• Professional logo design.
• Headshots/professional photography (technically I have but it was for a different business – a live string group – and wasn’t really the right style for what I wanted to promote for my freelance composition).
• Professional web design.
• Hired professional PR and marketing services.
• Email list marketing (round-robins, news updates)
• Using bookmarking sites and comments on other blogs to drive traffic to my site (not intentionally anyway)
• Paid-for ghostwriters for blog content.
• Paid advertisements – e.g. Telephone directories on and offline, in trade magazines, on relevant trade websites.
• Real-world thank you notes (vs email, which I actually do quite a lot).
• Professionally printed branded headed note paper, ‘with compliments’ slips, holiday cards etc.
• Pursuing the press e.g. having a press pack ready, calling the press with a pre-made story or angle.
• Video interviews/vlog (e.g. on your blog).
• Branded associated merchandise – hats, cups, tshirts, bags, stuffed animals…
• Reverbnation page (technically I’ve got a page. but I’ve not put anything of interest on it. So can’t really claim to be an authority on this one)
• Publicity “stunts.”
• Cold-calling production companies. (I take the easy route and ask my working friends and colleagues who I’ve met through networking or working alongside in related media who work at those companies, what’s going on there. So, technically, it’s warm-calling).

Final word – and this is as technical as I’m going to get…

As media composers and sound designers, we are B2B – business to business – rather than B2C – business to consumer. We sell our services or our previously composed music to producers of other media as raw material for them to sculpt into the product that will be sold to the consumer – the audience. So a lot of the advice for marketing for musicians you may find on the web or offline, unless specifically for media music composers and sound designers, isn’t actually that relevant.

Ultimately, rather than focussing on the product, we’re aiming to be service providers – you’re selling you: your working personality, your style of collaboration, your creativity-on-tap. You can’t really afford to just let the music ‘speak for itself’. That’s your past. What you’re selling is in your future. Who you are as an artist. Your creative soul.

If that doesn’t scare you then you’re probably in the right business. Go get ‘em, tiger.

Which marketing strategies do you use? What’s worked and what hasn’t? What would you add to these lists, and what points here are you inspired to take away and implement immediately? Tell us in the comments below.

Through this process, I’ve become fascinated with the ‘Myers-Briggs’ test. There are loads of different kinds of personality tests out there, but this is the one I’ve found the most useful and accurate for how I approach life and, more importantly, the business of scoring picture.

In the most basic sense, it describes you as the kind of person who gets their kicks from jamming with other people, or from kicking your brain into high gear on your own to solve problems; if you live in the ‘now’ or if you’re constantly plotting for the future; if you’re details- or big-picture-oriented; and if you’re ruled by your heart or your head.

But what’s more interesting is how the different bits of your personality come together to create something greater than the sum of its parts.

The test is here. (There are others out there. Google it if you want to try it a few times. If you’re that way inclined… that probably means you’re an xSTx)

Once you’ve got your type, go here to get a summary of your traits, and let us know in the comments if you feel it’s an accurate portrayal of yourself…

I’m an INTJ – also called a mastermind! I’ll plot and plan and scheme until a solution to any problem is reached, or any system I’ve created is the most efficient and fit for purpose it can be. And woe betide anyone who crosses paths with me and doesn’t live up to these high standards of efficiency and reliability. I’m focussed on the details, the intricacies. This counts for both music and life. I know where I want to go and can tell you exactly how I’m gonna get there… and if I don’t, give me a little while to mull it over, and I’ll come back with a point-by-point plan. Colour-coded. With graphs and projections (if there’s time and it’s the most efficient way of conveying the information, of course).

So all this self-analysis is very interesting (unless your an ESFJ, in which case it may not be your cup of tea) but it’s all a little on the self-indulgent side if there’s no real-world application for it.

As with all these personality typing tests, there’s an accompanying list of ‘ideal’ jobs per type. Take this with a pinch of salt (unless you’re an xSFP), and instead see how your natural strengths can compliment your chosen line of work… and how your less-than-useful traits can be ‘hacked’ or worked around.

I’ll use myself as an example, and forgive me for hogging the limelight. (As an INxx, you now know how much I dislike this )

I’m detailed, organised, efficient, reliable, solutions-oriented = working with me is easy as I’ll always deliver on time to the utmost of my abilities, cover all possible contingencies, and not waste budget on pointless extra bells and whistles that you don’t need.

I’m introverted = O-oh. You’d think this was a weakness in our business of ‘it’s-who-you-know-not-what-you-know’. Walking into a crowded room of people I’ve never met with the express purpose of networking is not my idea of fun. I would imagine there are a few readers who are with me on that. But I’ve developed ‘hacks’. I like to get to the nitty-gritty of a person, to understand them, when chatting one-on-one. Small talk is neither one of my strengths nor useful to me in forming relationships with people, but I do like to know what makes them tick – what are their values, their long term goals in life, do they like sci-fi (this is actually the litmus test for getting on with me ).

So I don’t work the room. I can’t, I’m not made that way. Why fight it – it’s not the most efficient way to proceed.

So, at a networking event, there is no time limit on my discussions with you. I won’t sell myself to you, but instead I’ll find connections for you with the people I know… because that’s the most efficient way of making that room of people, that potential system, work… and in the end, that’s the best way for me to find business opportunities – seeking out teams of people that collaborate so well together that they effortlessly create fabulous films or projects that are a delight to score. That’s the theory anyway, and it seems to be going ok in practise so far…

One of the strangest things I discovered in doing this is that I’m a T (Thinker), not an F (Feeler). Life and business is run by my frontal lobe (head), not my endocrine system (heart). Whilst this is awesomely useful from a business-entrepreneurial point of view, I’ve chosen the business of emotion.

I’m a music composer, a crystalliser of feeling, a reality-maker of emotion. Conflict of interests, n’est-ce pas?

I’m still working this out to be honest. I can reduce most of the emotional quality of a piece of score to it’s rational, practical music theory. Is it this process of analysis that allows me to synthesise a score back into that emotion at the required time for picture? Is it my dispassionate nature that allows objectivity, a ‘thick skin’, when it comes to criticism of my work from my clients and collaborators? Is it that I see all my work as a business so that I’m actually ok selling my creations and don’t really mind that much if an editor trims and loops it here and there to fit with a new picture cut?

All I know is that when a piece of music moves me, there must be something seriously useful to learn from it, since it got through all those layers of logic and reason! Which immediately prompts analysis and filing away in the ‘locus of cool’. With colour coding.

Here’s the link to the test again.

Let us know your type in the comments! (If not for yourselves, then do it for me. Now you know my obsessive-compulsive need to understand and work you all out.)

adj
…
2. engaging in an activity for gain or as a means of livelihood
3. extremely competent in a job, etc.
…
n
…
2. a person who engages for his livelihood in some activity also pursued by amateurs
3. a person who engages in an activity with great competence
…

——————

A pro is someone who gets paid for what they do, pure and simple.

Compare this with the opposite, the definition of an amateur, who does the same thing only for the love of it (i.e. for free).

As soon as you get paid, you can legitimately call yourself a professional. A ‘Pro’.

But, ultimately, only by being professional can you get to this point and stay there.

A roundup of the qualities of the Pro Film Music Composer (by no means exhaustive!) follows…

1. It’s business, not a hobby
If you’re in this business as a pro, then you’re a businessman/woman. That means working regularly, persistently on not only your music but on your business.

Get your affairs in order: tax, insurance, working environment, legal requirements. You’re in this game to sell your music, to get paid for composing.

2. Be an expert
Educate yourself in composition, musical styles, and methods of collaboration and delivery.

Keep your knowledge up-to-date with new technological innovations, musical trends, media language, etc. Have an informed opinion.

Note: this does not mean jumping on the bandwagon/keeping-up-with-the-Jones’ by buying every new piece of technology that comes out. This does mean knowing what’s new, what it can do, and what it may or may not be able to do for you now and in the future.

3. Be objective
You’re creating raw materials for someone else to manipulate, not a completely finished, final product. Don’t get precious.

Accept criticism graciously. It’s not personal; even when it seems like it is.

4. Pro-actively research and create opportunities
Use downtime between gigs to update your showreel, website and promotional materials — you never know when you’ll get asked for them.

Seek out new contacts and build relationships; plan ahead, refine your business systems, identify potential new opportunities in the making, and then go after them.

5. Invest in your business
Invest time in your education, your experience, and in building relationships with potential clients.

Invest money in equipment — the right tool for the right job — and, again, in your education, both in your skills and in running a business.

Invest energy: this isn’t a job you can just fall into. It takes focus, motivation, persistence and courage. Get on and do it already.

Invest in your team and build support networks for streams of advice and leads on sources of work, and identify potential assistants and colleagues that can bring complementary skills when you might need them. Build your team in advance to save essential writing time when that call finally does come through.

6. Take responsibility

• Be responsible for your business; you know you’ve no-one to hold accountable but yourself.
• Act professionally: deliver on time; be courteous, civilised, and amiable to work with, yet focused; be prepared for any and all contingencies you reasonably can be; learn from past mistakes and plan for future successes.

So whilst being paid for a gig defines you in the moment as a ‘Pro’, being a Pro will more importantly get you to that point and give you the best shot at staying Pro!

There’s been lots of useful, insider’s info about how spotting sessions apply in the world of big-budget, LA Studio films – but the principles are equally applicable to micro-budget, small-scale, shorts, documentaries, commercials, multimedia and web applications, games… even wedding videos! Hey, you gotta get experience somewhere.

On, say, shorts and low-budget documentaries, or on projects where the schedule is ongoing, you may be tempted not to do a spotting session. You want to just dive in and play it by ear.

The director may ask you for your overall opinion on the style and tone of the film then just want to leave you to it.

The creative team may have even been with the film so long that they’re completely fed up with it, and just want it finished!

If you’ve been brought on to the production very late in the day, the director (and others like the producer, editor, executives) may have made all the creative decisions already and could be extremely specific about the musical quality of each scene, even presenting you with a cue plot of sorts.

You can see this as a good thing – they care about the film and the effect of the music on the story. Remember, however, your role as musical expert, your opinion is valid and your objective pair of eyes may be the breath of fresh air the project needs to take it to the next level.

Worst case scenario: they may send you the film with the temp score and tell you to follow it precisely for position, style and tone, relegating you, in effect, to the level of technician rather than the creative equal that you signed on to be.

But it is just as important to treat these lower-budget or short films with the same respect as their bigger-budget counterparts – not only for the experience you gain that will put you in good stead for more expensive projects – but to make the best possible music for this film.

Hopefully preliminary meetings will have meant that you and the director have developed a common vocabulary, an understanding of each others creative styles and an appreciation for the unique qualities that each will be bringing to the table.

In preparation you will have seen the film and already developed your ideas and questions about the overall piece and individual scenes, even moments.

The spotting session may indeed be the first time you’ve actually met in person, and if you’re in with a newbie or inexperienced director it’s important to spell out the plan of attack for this meeting, what you need from the director to proceed, to enable them to ask questions and really have a creative dialogue as equals. Outline the agenda to make sure that the meeting is both efficient, thorough and effective.

Steer the conversation towards tone, pace and emotional journey and away from musical specifics such as key, musical themes and instrumentation.

If you really can’t get the director in the room with you for whatever reason (or on Skype, so you can see his facial expressions and body language), do the spotting session yourself as a backup/contingency/plan of last resort and get approval for every cue from the director by sending your beautifully organised cue plot and asking for notes if necessary on each one.

Flag up any different options for each scene if they exist – and they will – and then schedule a phone call so that you can discuss and thrash out the specifics.

Once the meeting has been had and all parties have come to an agreement on how the music will enhance, elaborate, advance or even juxtapose every onscreen element, get those notes typed up as soon as possible and emailed to every interested party (could just be the director, but it is also worth adding in the editor(s) and the producer)

Keeping everyone in sync and in the loop allows all parties to relax in the knowledge that you’re organized, efficient and including all of their creative input in your musical creations. Nobody has to mind-read or worry that you’re going off in a bizarre direction. It’s all down on paper.

But it’s also so important for your peace of mind. The cue plot is a clear framework – your road map – to creating the best score you can. You don’t need to worry that you’re wandering down musical blind alleys or dead-ends.

It’s also a clear agreement between you and the director – if minds are changed later down the line as to the direction or purpose of a cue, you’re now in a solid position to think about renegotiating your schedule, fee, or whatever form of compensation you’re receiving.

Without it, you’re stuck with the original timeframe for delivery, you’re at the mercy of the director changing his mind on a whim, and you’re stealing time from composing other cues to correct these ‘mistakes’.

This will inevitably lead to a sub-par score, the creative disappointment and stress you’ll experience, the poor word-of-mouth that will inevitably transpire. A complete waste of time.

Don’t put yourself through this. Do a spotting session. And do it right.

__________________________________________

Based in the North of England in the UK,HEATHER FENOUGHTY is an award-winning freelance composer and sound designer. She has scored several feature films and documentaries for the BBC and ITV, and her credits also include nearly 100 short films including a BAFTA-nominated drama (Nits, 2004). She has composed music and sound designed corporate advertisements for Nissan and other multi-national companies, with clients based all around the world. She also creates soundscapes for cutting-edge contemporary theatre, and her scores have played on the West End and off Broadway. You can find her SCOREcast bio (and links to her other sites) here.

1. Find a niche – style? medium? geography? – differentiate yourself. Embrace your unique qualities. What can you offer that no-one else can? Why on earth should they pick you for the gig?

That’s not to say that had I been based in one of these aforementioned media cities I wouldn’t have made it into the business, but I’m sure I’d be at a very different stage right now. Could have been better, or could have been much worse!

2. Get over yourself. Think about it – put yourself in the mindset of a director. Who would you want to work with to create the music to your latest masterpiece film? The guy with an ego the size of Alaska, delusions of grandeur, who bangs on and on about themselves and how awesome their music is or how no-one can possibly understand the torment of their genius… or the chap that will really listen to what you have to say, feels the same passion as you for your project and has a sense of humour to boot?

Headshots with you in your shades looking deadly serious in moody black and white may not be the kind of image you want to project. Whilst I’ve no doubt you’re an awesome composer, there’ll always be someone better (but with the same reasoning, there are plenty of people who are worse, chin up!). Projecting an image of quietly confident professionalism and approachability will get you much further with media clientele.

Offer to demo for free. Go above and beyond the call of duty. If they just don’t like it though, this is a prime opportunity to develop a thick skin and remain objective… don’t take it personally when you don’t get the gig. Learn your lesson and move on to the next assault. There’s plenty more fish in the sea.

In fact, this happened to me only this last week – the executives for a feature I had pencilled in to score later in the year decided they wanted classical Indian music score rather than my line of tunage. The director was very apologetic. But even though it’s a bit of a bump in the road, I don’t mind. It’s happened before and I know it might happen again. The same way I know I’m still going to have the busiest year workwise on the most exciting projects I’ve done yet. How am I so sure? Because I’m going to make it happen (by following these tips ).

3. Get Networking – It’s not who you know, it’s what you know. Going to a networking event? Prep your elevator pitch. You will most definitely be asked what you do, so get it summed up short and sweet. This is tricky and it really is worth rehearsing this in advance. You’ve got thirty seconds tops before the person opposite will get bored and zone out.

Then shut up and listen Be approachable. Friendly. Smile! Ask questions, see if you can make connections, introduce and match-make, rather than constantly banging on about yourself, your music, your latest piece of gear (unless of course they ask! ). If you make a great contact, follow up after the event with an email or phone call. If you made no obvious contacts, don’t worry, sometimes these things are a slow burn and the chap you gave your business card to at the bar may know someone who needs your services down the line…

(Oh, and wear something red or brightly coloured. You’ll get remembered.)

Need to find networking opportunities? Google your town or city for production meetups/networking events, or if you’re in the UK your local film council office will probably run them or at least have relevant information for you.

Online networking opportunities are becoming more and more viable by the day. Get into Twitter to see if you like the format (hey, I got this awesome ScoreCast gig through Twitter!), and online forums may lead you to newbie director who may become the next big thing.

All of which should be leading you to…

4. Cultivate relationships

– with decision makers – directors, producers, execs
– with the troops – editors, animators, post-production supervisors, assistants, runners
– with everyone and everyone, you never know who in your family or circle of friends knows someone who knows someone…

Every conversation is an opportunity

5. Broaden your horizons – short films, indie projects, computer games, music libraries, wedding videos… Get creative with options, do some detective work on what’s in production locally or nationally. Google is your best friend to start this search. Get digging. Once you’ve found your dream job that’s currently in production…

6. Be precise with your marketing – tailor your showreel and/or pitch package to the project you’re going after. The horror film director couldn’t care less about the romantic comedy short you just scored, no matter how lush the string samples. Get specific.

7. Have an online portfolio or presence, either your own site or hosted on any of the many and varied dedicated sites for this, with music and clips, a list of credits – always drawing attention to the best ones! You haven’t got any credits? Put up your music samples then work for free on student films to get showreel fodder, and it’s good experience. Attach a blog to your site, have opinions, share your knowledge. You never know who’s reading.

8. Don’t give up your day job just yet… You gotta pay for the roof over your head, and (more importantly) your studio . Plus your music’ll really stink if you’re starving cos can’t afford to eat. You get my drift. You’ll know when you’re ready to take the plunge, when the income from composing overtakes the rest of your revenue streams. ‘Til that point, stay focussed on your dream but keep your feet planted squarely on the ground. Don’t be an idiot.

9. Don’t give up your dreams, if they are what you truly desire. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, and the one thing that differentiates those that compose for a living from the others that will never make the grade is, simply, persistence.

The singlemost important tip I could possibly give you is to keep the unwavering faith and vision of the goal that drives your passion – to make this crazy business of media music a way of life.

Be persistent, but not pushy. There’s a fine line and you only Eternal Optimism is the greatest weapon in your arsenal (that and the latest string sample set from EWQL, of course).

10. I know I said there’d be ten tips… but here’s YOUR opportunity fellow SCOREcasters – share the love around! Insert your own gems of advice from your own experience in the COMMENTS below!

_____________

Based in the North of England in the UK, HEATHER FENOUGHTY is an award-winning freelance composer and sound designer. She has scored several feature films and documentaries for the BBC and ITV, and her credits also include nearly 100 short films including a BAFTA-nominated drama (Nits, 2004). She has composed music and sound designed corporate advertisements for Nissan and other multi-national companies, with clients based all around the world. She also creates soundscapes for cutting-edge contemporary theatre, and her scores have played on the West End and off Broadway. You can find her SCOREcast bio (and links to her other sites) here.

I thought Logic 9 was 64-bit until it was pointed out to me on Twitter that it wasn’t. I didn’t care though. It still runs lovely and fast. And on Snow Leopard too, which is a shock because I thought I was being a little risky upgrading when I did… but so far so good. In fact better than good, to be fair.

Just so long as the equipment serves the higher function to create music as easily, quickly, efficiently and intuitively as possible, then I’m a happy bunny.

Let me explain… right after the jump…
I just wish I had an interface like Tom Cruise had in “Minority Report”. Imagine how much fun that would be. And you’d get a workout at the same time, none of this sore-arse-fat-belly-tired-eyes that sitting staring at an itty-bitty monitor does to one who chooses to follow our particular line of work.

Based in the North of England in the UK, HEATHER FENOUGHTY is an award-winning freelance composer and sound designer. She has scored several feature films and documentaries for the BBC and ITV, and her credits also include nearly 100 short films including a BAFTA-nominated drama (Nits, 2004). She has composed music and sound designed corporate advertisements for Nissan and other multi-national companies, with clients based all around the world. She also creates soundscapes for cutting-edge contemporary theatre, and her scores have played on the West End and off Broadway. To learn more about Heather and her music, visit www.heather-fenoughty.com.

Up until now, I’ve written primarily for the UK market. I’ve scored one-off hour-long documentary ‘specials’, licensed pre-written music for documentaries, and composed scores for television documentary movies.

Not a lot of drama in there. Ah well, the docs were still pretty dramatic in places!

Rather than discuss the process of composing music for documentary (which, for all intents and purposes, is actually pretty similar to composing for drama), I thought it might be more useful to talk about the ways my naive younger self navigated the turbulent waters of the royalty system.

Royalties – The Holy Grail
Royalties are the reason that we, as composers, rather like writing for television broadcast products. So long as you don’t sign all those lovely copyrights away (and, seriously now, you really shouldn’t. Ever.), every broadcasted minute of your music should return actual hard cash into your pocket. Just for being aired. You didn’t have to do anything to get it (except write it in the first place, of course). It’s your right. How very lovely, eh? Which is a relief because the upfront fee one gets paid for these broadcast products is usually a bit rubbish.

Useful links:
PRS for Music
ASCAP
BMI

Please post any more useful links in the COMMENTS

In the last six months I have been inundated with composing and sound design work for film and theatre and I am constantly thanking my lucky stars. This is exactly what I wanted when I started out many years ago.

Isn’t it?

Stay sane in the midst of chaos!

Just kidding – of course it is, but on a day-to-day basis it can be a little bit of a challenge to keep the many, many minutes of music flowing, pouring out your heart and soul on demand, whilst maintaining a vague level of sanity.

It’s really, truly and utterly important not to take on too much work. The amount that will make all of your creative efforts suffer and, inevitably, life miserable (plus you’ll likely get a rep and your success’ll be pretty short-lived).

But short of that, I’ve never turned composing work down that I honestly believe I have the time and the skills to work on. This strategy hasn’t failed me yet

Variety

The variety of having multiple composing projects on the go is fantastic, and I really do enjoy it. In a way, having several very different works in progress keeps the interest going and staves off staleness. If you do hit a brick wall and are seriously not in the right mindset for one project there’s always the option of switching around your schedule to work on another.

Figure out how best you work…

If you’re built this way, you can always ‘flit’ between tasks, as suggested as a way of working in Lee Sanders’ post ‘To Flit or Not to Flit’.

However, I’m a lot more like Joe Trapenese in his comment below the aforementioned post – compartmentalized. I’m a firm believer that, once the task for the day has been chosen, then being completely immersed in that project and that project alone gets the best music out there.

Getting the music out there on time, to schedule, up to standard, requires focus. 100% concentration on the project at hand. I’ve found that, without that focus, the work suffers. Turn twitter and email off. If you really need to churn out the notes, turn off your mobile phone (sorry, US readers, cellphone!). Ignore the landline phone, turn off the ringer if you can. Stick a note on your door, ‘no interruptions on pain of death!’ And so on, and so on.

Organize Your Time

Be ruthlessly organized. Take a little time to plot your schedule realistically. Because I know I work compartmentally, I group specific projects into days, or better still into weeks.

What time of day are you most productive? Are you an early bird or a night owl? Schedule your creative and admin tasks accordingly.

Prioritize
What tasks have you to do that are important (seriously, though, what’s more important than writing music? ok, ok, family, exercise, blah blah blah )? What’s urgent? What’s neither (then why is it on the list? Come on, you gotta write five minutes of music today!)?

Here’s a useful post by a chap who’s struggling with prioritising his tasks. Though it’s geared towards more general Startup Entrepeneur types, there’s a lot of relevant points for us busy composers.

You can be seriously anal with this sort of organization if that floats your boat. Back in uni, one of my lecturers recommended that you decide specifically which cues you’ll compose on which day during your schedule right after the spotting session. You work on that cue on that day until it’s finished, no matter how long it takes. Conversely, as a reward for finishing a cue earlier than expected, instead of carrying on with the next scheduled cue early, stop work for the day.

Personally, I like to set myself a specific duration of music which has to be written by the end of the working day rather than specific cues. Which allows me the freedom to do a sort of flitting, I suppose, between similar cues, without being completely restricted.

Task switching

One thing I’ve discovered is that it’s really tricky to switch between composing projects quickly during the same day. Mike Carey, fabulous novel and comic author of various titles for Hellblazer amongst others says that, ideally, sticking to one project-per-day is the ideal formula, and from experience this year I would have to agree. Read his comment here.

While it takes maybe 15 minutes or so to get into that ‘flow’ state of pure concentration when starting the first composing task of the day, it can take anywhere up to an hour or more to get my head into gear if I have to switch between projects during that same day; the tunes in my head are still from the first project. And that’s a couple of hours we can ill-afford to waste if there’s a way around it, by careful planning and blocking of time to ensure the project-per-day rule.

‘Gateway’ Activity

But if you’re really stuffed for time, Mike Carey suggests creating an intentional ‘gateway’ activity to switch between projects: re-reading (or listening) to previous completed project-specific work, listening to a piece of music that puts you in the right moodstate, that sort of thing.

Heck – go for a walk or take a nap and really delineate the time between the two projects definitively. This is great, practical, common-sense stuff that really does work.

I’ve recently found leaving a cue deliberately half-finished for the next time I start to work on that project is rather a sneaky way of getting the brain into gear without having to start from that initially difficult ‘blank-page’ scenario. I’ll write a note in a marker on the timeline to myself – ‘fix timing here’, ‘check instrumentation’, etc. Because that cue appeared to take less time to write than it would have if it had been started from scratch in one sitting, it’ll have a positive feedback affect and seems to create momentum to push me into the next cue a little bit more easily than had I not gone through this process.

Get a Head Start

As much as possible, be involved in the project as early as possible.

This is easier said than done as often, as composers, we have no say in how late in the day we’re approached to work on a film or other media project. I’m a firm believer that the subconscious is a much more useful creativity tool than it’s given credit for, and that the longer I can give it the task to come up with themes and sounds and palettes and tones for a given project the better, without necessarily actually writing a note until final cut.

Which segues nicely onto a sticky subject… composing to picture before it is locked off.

Love it or hate it, this is generally the reality now: a necessity in these days of dwindling time-scales for post-production sound. All I can say is that, whilst this is a less than ideal scenario, it’s something to accept, to get used to and try to work to your advantage.

Keep the cues as fluid as possible, simplify your orchestration so that you can keep all the cues in one arrangement file for as long as possible before the computer starts to grind to a halt, and you have to save cues to separate files, and keep in touch with the editor and director to see which edits are likely to remain into the locked cut.

Delegate

Spread the love! Dish out the lower-level tasks such as basic sound design, recording (even the cleaning) etc., to someone that costs less for you to pay in terms of money than it would cost for you in time. Deane Ogden’s post here gives way more useful information on this than ever I could!

In Conclusion…

I realise that getting the work through the door is often a tricky enough prospect without worrying about how to juggle several projects at once. However, once you’re in that situation it’ll be very useful to have a couple of strategies in place to stay in control… and still enjoy the process!

And don’t forget to turn your phone, email and Tweetdeck back on when your done. There may be another project lined up just waiting for you to accept it

Image by the awesome Tom Jones

Admittedly this is my point of view, a conclusion drawn of my life experiences so far. They may change in the next ten years. But, hey, so far being a bit of a ‘One-Man-Band’ has worked for me, so it might just work for you

FOCUS

Focusing on music and composition, and film music in particular, has never really been a problem for me. In fact, it’s practically borderline obsession. I cannot remember a time when I didn’t want to write or be involved somehow with the music of film.
This led me to learn various instruments and then onto two music degrees, the latter in scoring picture, an invaluable experience, as it was here where I learned the similarities between composing music pieces and sound designing an entire soundtrack, using found or recorded sound to augment music or even be the basis for it.
I took my narrow focus on just scoring film to the wider possibilities of, and the fun to be had with, film sound.
After university I found even more so that diversifying my skill set led on to more contacts and opportunities. Recording sound on low budget short film sets led to an appreciation of well-recorded sound when I then brought them into the post-production studio… and also the necessity of learning ways of cleaning up less than optimal sound (that I vowed to record better the next time!).
Using organizational and basic office skills as a production assistant in a local, small production office meant I also ended up being first choice for the recording and post-production sound, simply out of convenience for the producers, and they could pay me as a package deal, probably ending up cheaper for them than sourcing it out to separate facility houses.

SKILLS

Even if your office skills are pretty limited, the fact that you’re a composing for film means that you’ve got a pretty broad skillset in other areas as it is. In the beginning it’s vital to use them all to get you to that holy grail of composing for film (or theatre, television, commercials, whatever floats your boat).
You’re probably pretty good with computers and related kit – get work in kit hire, and find out about all the films that are hiring kit perhaps by making friends with your regular clients.
If you’ve been freelance or self-employed for any length of time, you’ll develop some pretty awesome motivational and organizational skills (if you don’t you won’t be in work very long!). How might you put those to good use in some line of work that may put you in the line of fire for a composing role? Or even pay the bills so you have enough free time to compose music and build up your credits?
I found that working in music sequencers and timelines actually translates well to working in Macromedia Flash, which led to designing my own fancy website and then a few more for friends and friends of friends. After realizing that Flash websites get no love from search engines, some of the coding skills used in Flash translate over to working in html etc., which led to a little more web design. Maybe you could design websites to fund your addiction to writing music for film?
You probably play at least one instrument. Whether it’s through teaching or playing at functions, there’s easy cash to be made there, with very little time investment involved. You’ve already put in all the hard work learning to play the damn thing…
Honestly… at the very least being able to offer not only composition but sound design, foley, and mixes on short films and contemporary theatre really has gotten me more work. If I can offer it as a package, I save the client hassle and quite a bit of dosh. It’s gotten me more credits, more contacts and lots more word-of-mouth recommendations than if all I could do was crank out the tunes.
Or at the very least, it’s kept the roof over my head. And, let’s face it, more importantly, my studio.

JACK OF ALL TRADES?

Does diversifying mean you become a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’? This really depends on you: how far are you willing to go to get the opportunities to put your foot on the ladder, or even later down the line, to continue to work in the industry when the credit crunch finally hits your neck of the woods (though this has yet to happen in mine, and I’m keeping fingers crossed it’ll continue this way. However, you never know what the future may bring – it’s always good to have contingencies!)?
The trick is to not worry too much about being the greatest in the world at every single one of the skills you offer, but instead aim to be the best you can be at the ones you love and at least pretty competent at the ones that pay.
Face it, even if you work only on composition, out of the billions of people on the planet there will always be someone who’s better than you, after all!
Embrace this knowledge, work hard at getting better and enjoy the journey.
Focus 100% on your role in the project at hand, learn everything you can from the experience, give it all you’ve got and you’ll come away from the experience better at that role than you were before. You may also come away feeling like you never want to do it again… but that’s a whole other post waiting to be written…
FULL CIRCLE

It’s even got to the point now where I have so much work on, I’m able to outsource a little of the basic stuff like tracklaying and simple foley… which means I have more time to focus on the music, the sound design, the experimentation, the fun stuff, and so the client still gets more bang for their buck.
Which (hopefully!) leads to even more word-of-mouth recommendations!
I started with composition and will probably end my career there, for that’s where my true passion lies, but I would never have got there had I not diversified and got as much mileage out of the associated skills as I have.
And I certainly wouldn’t have had as much fun along the way. Variety is, after all, the spice of life.
Sometimes it’s good to be a one-man-band.