Hi ,

 

I'm constantly out and about meeting new people.  A question that I get all the time and I'm sure you get as well, is "what do you do?".  Although I actually "do" a lot of things, I really consider myself a musician first and foremost.  It's what I most strongly identify with and so I simply tell people I'm a musician.  Almost invariably I get a response that goes something like this:  "That's really cool that you get to do what you love... But It must be really hard to make a living as a musician."  Usually I respond by saying something like this, "It can be a challenge, but for me it would be A LOT harder to make a living doing something I don't enjoy." 

 

The fact is that I make a very respectable salary as a musician and although I'm certainly not rich by any means (yet) I actually make well above the national average.  And if you're not already, you can too! Making a living as musician can be challenging, but if you love making music the rewards that come from waking up and doing what you love everyday will make it all worthwhile. 

 

If you're an independent musician, and if you're reading this I assume you are, one of the keys to creating a sustainable income is diversification.  For a number of years I taught guitar at a very successful retail music store.  The store that I worked at was an independently owned store that does well over a million dollars in business annually.  One of the owner's keys to success was creating several different revenue streams that together created a very nice income stream that has made the owner very wealthy and his employees well compensated.  The store has a great lesson program, multiple high end guitar lines and a strong internet presence.  The beauty of this is that if one of the revenue streams slows one of the other two streams tends to compensate and keep things running successfully.

 

You can utilize this same principle as a musician.  I have done a variety of things to make a living which include:  running this website and newsletter, teaching guitar, performing, writing music for local ad campaigns, selling CDs and writing songs for TV shows.  It's been the combination of these endeavors that has allowed me to flourish.  But of all the things I've accomplished it's probably been hearing my music on TV that has been the most exciting.  There's just something about knowing that music you created is being heard in millions of homes that's very rewarding.

 

There are a lot of opportunities to have your music placed in TV shows.  My cable package has over 100 channels, and ALL of them are using independent music in one way or another.  The production quality of music for TV needs to be what is considered "broadcast quality".  This means better than a demo but not necessarily as good as a record.  Music supervisors are typically looking for music that they can place as is, without re-editing.  All of the music I have had placed over the last few years was recorded in home studios, usually using Pro Tools.

 

Do you have high quality recordings of your music that aren't generating income?  Why not put those songs to work for you and start earning money from what your passion?  Get the new 2008 Directory and How To Program and start submitting your songs today.  The directory is a comprehensive list of supervisors, publishers, video game developers and licensing houses who are all looking for original music. This is a great resource because it's really important that you submit your music to A LOT of different places.  Don't expect to just send your music to one place and start making money!  You might, but the more places you submit your music to the greater the chance that it will actually be used. The directory also comes with a "how to" audio program that explains all the technical aspects of the music licensing business.  I walk you through all the steps I took to get started in the business and show you how you can do the same.  Learn more...

 

Do you need help getting started in the TV/Film music business? I'm offering my coaching services to a handful of musicians each month to help them get started.  I'll work with you to develop a SPECIFIC plan to follow to get started that is based on where you are and what style of music you make.  If you'r interested in learning more about how I can help you visit my coaching page. 

 

Until Next Time....Happy Songwriting!

Aaron Davison
How To License Your Music.com

 

PS - You can access all my products and services by visiting my website: