guide for freelance musician

7/28/2019 Guide for Freelance Musician

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An Introduction to Custom Work, And Getting Your Foot On The Ladder

by Gareth Coker

with welcome contributions from other Audiojungle users

FOREWORD

These notes don't guarantee success (or failure!), but they sure do improve your chances. As always, everyone might

have different experiences, but these notes are designed to be a guide to HELP users, and not 'the definitive guide to

the music business.'

This PDF is a more ordered version of the results of a very good thread started by Andy Slatter at Audiojungle.net

This does not apply to everyone but parts of it should apply to most people.

I'll try and add any useful additional info to this from time to time.

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CONTENTS:

Improving your chances of getting custom work. p.2

So you got the gig, now what? p.3

Pricing p.3

Establishing what you're doing p.5

Contracts p.5

Things to remember during and after the job. p.8

Observations on working for free. p.9

Final thoughts on 'The Ladder'. p.10


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IMPROVING YOUR CHANCES OF GETTING CUSTOM WORK IN THE FIRST PLACE

Before anything else, make sure your music is of excellent quality.

If you want to have a lasting career getting paid lots of money for custom work, and to have a legacy of people liking

your music and other composers respecting your work, you need to have high quality music at least in the

film/tv/game world. That means constantly comparing yourself to what the top composers are doing and trying tomatch that level of quality with your own spin on things. This may seem obvious, but theres a reason that there are

only about 15-20 composers working regularly at the VERY highest level.

This may seem obvious, but if you want music to be your career, and not just a hobby, then you have to do this.

Don't treat everyone you meet as a potential business contact.

You will get way more work if you make friends first. People are far more likely to give you a job anyway if you're

friends with them. If they can't give you a job themselves, it's quite likely that they know someone who can.

This applies even at game conventions / film festivals, where the purpose is networking. Treat these people as human

beings! Not Business Entities For Exploitation!!!

It's human nature that people you are friends with WILL pay you more money whenever they possibly can.

Be cool, don't hide.

This is something I've struggled with early on but have gradually improved and made it one of my strongest assets.

(Perhaps it helps that the Americans love my British accent...)

You HAVE to be a good hang. If you're fun, you will get more work. Do NOT hide behind the internet (unless you're

happy with working from the internet). If you want to actually have a long and successful career, you will have to

remove yourself from your online domain and get into the real world. Then you will have a CHANCE of getting the

career that you aspire for. Sure, there are a lot of success stories of internet-only artists, but I've always believed in

long-term gains. It may seem hard to believe, but even the internet will become obsolete one day, and then what will

you do? : ) Your greatest power as a human being is yourself.

(That sounds like a load of philosophical nonsense, but honestly it really does apply to music and especially getting

work.)

Social Networking

This is all part of 'communication' which will be mentioned throughout this guide, but having Twitter / Facebook /

Soundcloud / Tumblr / a blog....etc... can all POSSIBLY lead to a gig or at least a meeting.

The same applies for online forums.

That said, if people contact you as a result of this, you should bend over backwards to try and meet them in person or

at least call them.

Website

Absolutely essential. Your website must be awesome. The irony is, that when you are an established composer, you will

almost certainly never need a website again! Your phone will be constantly ringing.

Working for free

This will be discussed this more later, but working for free can certainly help. Just be careful about what you work on.

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SO YOU GOT OFFERED A GIG, NOW WHAT?

Panic? Go on holiday? Get a fancy meal? No, none of those.

The key to everything is COMMUNICATION. It is so unbelievably important. If you communicate often and well with

the people you work for, your life will be so much easier. Make yourself available at all times.

You then have to establish pricing, and what exactly you will be supplying, this can be through an

agreement/contract of just an eMail, but it needs to be established.

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ESTABLISHING PRICING

There is no correct way to price yourself, but from the thread at AJ some common themes came up and some good

ideas. Here they are:

Establish whether the project is commercial or not, where the agency who asks for your music will earn a

lot of money from their customer.

Examples: Advertisements (particularly for clothing, perfume, car, sports brands, and so on)

Do you have to deliver the soundtrack exclusively and on a flat rate basis?

If you are giving your music to one company individually do NOT get ripped off. If a film is going to use your music

exclusively they should be paying you a LOT of money. If it's a low budget film, then you should ask that you be

allowed to use the music elsewhere after a period of (for example) 6 months. This means that your hard work will not

go to waste.

Now if on the other hand, someone is offering you $100,000 for a film score, you should probably do whatever they

want ;)

Also establish with your client if there will be just one lump-sum payment, or (as is common in video-games) various

'milestone' payments.

Do they credit you in their final work?

If you're not getting credited, ask for more. If you are, ask for less.

Are they a returning customer?

If yes, best not to raise your price for 12-18 months (and potentially offer them a discount). If no, see below....

Start high, then negotiate lower.

ALWAYS start high in negotiations, no matter your experience. A great strategy is to start with DOUBLE what you would

be happy working for. If you get lucky, you will get paid that amount, if not, you offer them 50% off (which is your

original rate that you would be happy with) and everyone wins. ** A high salary will give the impression that you are

unobtainable. This is a great impression to give. People always want things that are unobtainable, as it's human

nature.

NOTE: This strategy works a lot better if your music really kicks ass.....

BUT HOW DO I KNOW WHAT I WOULD BE HAPPY WORKING FOR?

Yes, the key question, here goes....


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You have to take into account some or all of the following:

Your education. (more education, higher cost)

Your experience. (more experience, higher cost)

Your overheads / cost of equipment. (more gear, higher cost)

What people have paid for your music in the past. (depends...)

Whether you actually like the project. (the more you like it, lower your cost)

How much the project will benefit your career. (if it's early on in your career, lower your cost)

These things vary from project to project, but you will eventually establish a rate of pay at which you are happy with,

and can use as a starting point.

NEVER ASK FOR YOUR CLIENT'S BUDGET AT FIRST

As soon as you do this, you're putting them in control of the negotiation. If in the event, they have more money than

what you asked for (unlikely), well, you'll learn from it charge higher the next time!

One other note, if you are working with a first-time client AND/OR someone over the internet, you should consider

for security purposes asking for a payment of 30-50% up front.

IN SUMMARY......

Taking ALL of the above into account and evaluating regularly will help you work out a decent price.

And remember, COMMUNICATE with your employer often, it'll help clarify the pricing situation for you more easily. If

you communicate often, your employer will feel more comfortable with you, just don't overdo it!

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5/10

ESTABLISHING WHAT YOU ARE ACTUALLY DOING

The following are worth talking about with your employer for any/every job, free or otherwise:

Exact requirement of the job.

Length, style, edits, etc....

Deadlines

Delivery of the first draft, delivery of final product.

Payment and payment time.

Amount of money, and WHEN the client will pay.

Credit

How and where credit will be given (or not). If you are not being given credit, address it in the compensation.

License

How and where the client can use the music you must be very specific.

TIP: For small projects where you're not being paid much, make sure you try to sell your music non-exclusively so you

can re-use it. If you're going to sell your music exclusively for a small project (like a trailer), then you should be getting

paid a lot of money (or you're very foolish.....)

CONTRACTS

**RULE NUMBER 1 IF IN DOUBT GET A LAWYER**

**RULE NUMBER 2 IF IN DOUBT GET ANOTHER LAWYER**

Money spent now will save you money later. Trust me I've been there and done it and worn the T-shirt.

For games/film/TV, a contract should be put together on a project-by-project basis. I generally include the following things

in my contract though which forms a template for everything else:

1. Description of Services

A description of the services that the Composer will supply. (Usually, composition, arranging, orchestrating, conducting,

etc)

Most deals are package deals these days, so the composer will be given a lump sum of money to make the music

happen. There are also deals where the studio pays for everything up to a certain point, and just passes across a creative

fee to the composer, but these are not so common these days. Most composers creative fees come out of the cost of the

music.

2. Disposition of Score.

You should include this for your employers benefit. Its a phrase that says that your employer reserves the right NOT to

use the music as provided by the composer. It also should state that the director reserves the right to request changes.


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3. Delivery.

Should state the following:

When the employer will give the composer the final film, or an alpha of the game, etc. so that they can start

working. Basically, whatever the composer needs to start working.

Whether mock-ups will be needed.

A deadline.

Sub-deadlines if necessary.

Specifications of the format of the audio files.

4. Compensation.

Should state the following:

Whatever the up front fee is (if anything)

Any post-sale royalties. Any bonuses (common in video-games, if the game sells 100,000 copies, the composer will get another $10,000

just an example)

5. Screen Credit.

As stated before, this is super important. You need to specify exactly how you want your name to appear on the project.

6. Music Publishing and Performing Rights Royalties.

Get an entertainment lawyer to sort this out for you. It s complicated!

It specifies who is the writer and who is the publisher for your project. Its common for the composer to keep the

writer share, and the production company to keep the publisher share. But it varies.

7. Ownership of Sound Recordings

Specifiying who owns the final sound recordings. VERY important.

8. Copyright and Originality.

This confirms that the composers work is all 100% original. VERY important.

9. Synchronization and Master Licenses.

Youll need to supply these to your producer/employer. Otherwise they will not be able to use your music

10. Advertising.

You need to make a clause that says where possible, that your name (the composer) should appear in al l advertisements

for the project. This is particularly applicable for movie posters and trailer credit blocks.

11. Name And Likeness

Boring stuff now, but you need to grant your employer the right to use your name and likeness.


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12. Warranty and Certificate of Authorship

You need to certify that you have the full legal right to execute the agreement.

13. Other legal stuff.

You need to specify how the agreement can be changed if it needs to be changed.

You also need to specify under which laws the agreement will be governed by.

.....................

There will be other things that you need to do as well, but a lot of these are general clauses that can be attached to any

major project. You dont need to do all this stuff, but for big projects, you probably should. For people youre working

with for the first time, make an effort to get to know them, and if you dont have a good feeling, get them to sign an

agreement. If they refuse, then they werent worth working for anyway.

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8/10

THINGS TO REMEMBER DURING AND AFTER THE JOB (customer service.....)

If something goes wrong, COMMUNICATE! Your employer will be happy that you are communicating.

Make notes constantly. Do not ask your employer the same thing twice. It gets really annoying.

If you are working on a film or a game, or a TV show, you should hopefully have built up a good relationship with

the director. If not, youre very foolish!!! You should also build up a relationship with as many people on the

crew as possible.

For films and TV, this means: Assistant Directors, Editors, Music Supervisors, Producers

For games, this means: Audio Leads, Game Directors, Producers.

If you finish a project youre working on for a long time, i.e. a film or a game, buy the person who originally

employed you on that project a special gift, i.e. something unique to that person. It makes a HUGE difference. It's not

bribery!

If youre working in the film / TV / game world, you have to remember this:

You are providing a SERVICE for someone else. You answer to them. They will allow you creative input, but ultimately

your decision will not be the final one. You should bend over backwards to accommodate your director. The very best

composers (Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, Hans Zimmer) are renowned for not just being wonderful musicians, but

for also, when it mattered, being able to be utterly charming and accommodating to the people they worked for.

You should ALWAYS be willing to make changes, no matter how annoying it is. You should assume this before

you even start.

The definition of custom work, means that you are customizing your work until the person/company who hired you is

satisfied. If youre good at your job and you communicate well, you should get through most custom work with not

many changes. This can lead to some projects that drag on and on, but this happens at all levels of the business. You

will also get projects that get finished in 2 days.

Be on time, and be professional. You're ahead of 90% of the competition if you can do this.

There is ALWAYS another composer ready to take your place if you are not capable of being on time, and

being professional, and providing a quality product.

If in doubt, watermark your files. If you trust your customer, don't :)

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9/10

OBSERVATIONS ON WORKING FOR FREE

PROS

Your music gets out there. The more people that hear your quality music, the better chance you have of

getting a job.

New relationships.

More creative freedom.

Helps flesh out your credit list.

CONS

No money.

No real short-term benefits.

You set a precedent of working for free (this isnt usually a problem in my experience though, if your work is

good). If your employer wants you to continue working for free in the future, then theyre probably not worth working for

again. Good stuff doesnt come cheap.

Unless youre lucky, the end quality of the project might not be that good.

WHEN SHOULD YOU WORK FOR FREE ?

If you are passionate about the project.

Michael Giacchino said to me once, that he would work with J.J.Abrams on a toilet commercial for free, because and

these are his exact words It would be a fun, and interesting and creatively challenging toilet commercial. Look at his

IMDB and every so often you will see passion projects mixed in with the big blockbusters.

If you think the people on the project (or the project itself) are going somewhere.

This is a lottery, so you should just use your instincts. If theyre good, roll with it!

WHEN SHOULDN T YOU WORK FOR FREE ?

If you are not passionate about the project.

Theres no point. If you're not feeling it, dont bother. It will be a waste of everyones time. In the music industry, you cant

really afford to phone in your work.

If the demands being made of you are going to be unreasonable.

Ive seen posts on Mandy.com that say We want 90 minutes of music with a live band for $300....... Are you kidding me?

Hopefully you see my point.

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10/10

FINAL THOUGHTS ON 'THE LADDER'

The more quality music you have out there, the better your chances.

Cold-calling works for custom work. It really does. I have friends who have gotten feature films just from cold-

calling!

Go to game conventions / film festivals, but remember, the people there are human beings, not business

contacts!

Try to keep the complaining about people who you work for to a minimum. I know we all like a good bitch and

moan sometimes and I'm sure we all have awful stories to tell, but... the composer community is VERY small in

general, and you do not want to be known as the negative guy.

Don't dwell too long on a project. FINISH things. People appreciate finished products far more. The amount ofcomposers I know who are always 'working' on something but I never see a finished result is quite...depressing.

Finally....

If the person who is about to employ you thinks youre awesome before youve

even signed the deal, youve already won.

Christopher Young's (a noted and highly respected horror music composer) studio is filled with pumpkins, lanterns,

skulls. If I'm a horror movie director, I'm already having the time of my life before I've even listened to a note of music.IMPRESSIONS ARE EVERYTHING. Thus, the above applies. Make friends first, and then the business will come

automatically.

Oh, and make sure your music is up to scratch........

Hope this was useful :)

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