Today's message is brought to you courtesy of How To License Your Music dot com's resident producer, Gary Gray. Gary and I will be hosting two weekend long retreats next month on
how to produce and pitch tracks for licensing opportunities. A few slots remain for the weekend of September 16 and 17 (Sept 23rd & 24th is sold out).
Today is the last day to register AND get mine and Gary's complete catalog of courses related to music licensing and music production ($500.00 value).
Register here: http://www.californiadreamingretreat.com/
Over to you Gary...
One of the reasons Aaron Davison and I have been planning for more than a year to hold a retreat in California for a select number of serious musician/composer/producers who want to see their music getting licensed, is that the music business is basically a people
business.
It’s fueled by Creatives. Artists. Craftsman.
It’s supported and assisted by Entrepreneurs, Executives, Music Supervisors and Publishers.
People.
We sometimes lose sight of that fact while toiling away alone, staring into our DAW and our
email inbox. It’s easy to forget that at the other end of that email is a real-life human person.
It’s important to venture outside our nest and meet like-minded people. Networking is like breathing. Without it, good luck surviving.
Musicians who succeed at licensing tend to
a) Find good mentors, learn the
craft of production and the business of licensing, and
b) Effectively network.
I myself live (or die) by this motto: “I’m Either Networking or Notworking!” And boy, is it true.
Aaron and I, in between creating and releasing courses, books, blogs, vlogs, podcasts and educational materials designed to help people like you get your
music licensed, also get our music licensed.
We decided to pull the trigger now on our plan to offer a live retreat in California, in order to celebrate several placements of our own and many by our students. These include one of Aaron’s singles, “Falling Down (You Went Away),” which was placed in the Emmy Award-Winning Hit TV Series “The Young & The Restless.” Watch the Anatomy of a Licensed Mix video, featuring “Falling Down (You
Went Away),” for tips and tricks on how to produce your tracks so they will get licensed.
Below is the original response Aaron received from his publisher, when he forwarded them “Falling Down.” Looking back, Aaron and I realized that part of getting this track placed was networking while Aaron was in LA on his last trip. We set an appointment to meet face-to-face with the publisher, got in our car, and conquered the LA traffic to get
some very effective networking done.
Speaking of networking, we’re excited to teach you everything we know, face-to-face, at the upcoming California Dreaming Retreat to help you increase your odds of music licensing success! In order to put your networking on steroids, part of the California
Dreaming Retreat is an opportunity for you to pitch three of your own tracks, face-to-face, to a top LA Music Supervisor, and to hear critiques from that same supervisor, to your fellow attendees. There is nothing that can replace the value of such a trip to the mecca of music production and licensing.
Here’s the response to “Falling Down” from Aaron’s Publisher, one of the top publishers in LA:
“Hi Aaron –
This is a classic adult contemporary “Hall and Oats” kind of sound. I could hear this in a reflective scene in a Ben Stiller movie in the “boy loses girl” portion of the movie.
Very well produced and I love the strings, percussive elements and relaxed quality. It does feel like a vacation song, but with sad lyrics. For film and TV, it
would be an older 40’s man reflecting on the loss of his wife or girlfriend. Very scene specific, but I still love it.
Well done on the vocals and production. Do you want to add this to your HH Repertoire? If so, it is a scene specific song, but I think the easy-going quality, along with good forward push and its soothing harmonies could make the song work as unobtrusive BG as well.
Let us know how you wish to proceed.”
We want you to receive similar responses.
After receiving the email above, one thing led to another, and recently, we found out that the song was placed in “The Young & The Restless.” After hearing the good news, getting several other placements (A&E, Fox, etc), and receiving a boatload of success stories
regarding placements from our students internationally. We decided to put our retreat plans into practice.
The response to the California Dreaming Retreat has been nothing short of 100% positive, with one of two retreats already sold out and people coming from all around the globe including
Australia, England and many other countries. There are still several spots available for the weekend of September 16th & 17th.
To get some great production tips and techniques that you can start using right now, and to get more information about the retreat, watch the video below:
