The year was 2002.  My band of three years had just split up, rather abruptly and unexpectedly.   I was feeling pretty disillusioned about music and the music business.  It felt like three years of time, energy and effort was all for nothing.  At this point I had been out of college about five years and was still struggling to make a living from music.  I had just started teaching guitar at this point and I was able to support myself, but I wasn’t exactly doing what I wanted to do, or imagined I would be doing when I set out to study music at Berklee College of music seven years earlier.

It was around this time that I remembered the whole music licensing/music publishing thing that my former songwriting teacher at Berklee, Barbara Jordan, introduced our class to.  When I was studying songwriting with Barbara she would sometimes come into our class and tell us about different projects and shows she was working with at the time.   Occasionally she would ask us if we wanted to submit music to her that she would pitch on our behalf.  I would pitch anything relevant I had and would sometimes even record brand new custom pieces for her.  Nothing ever happened with these tracks and after Berklee I sort of forgot about the whole licensing thing for a few years as I pursed playing live and performing in bands.

Fast forward about seven years, I was contemplating what to do next after my band had broken up and I decided to re-visit the whole music licensing thing.  I contacted Barbara, who had by then formed a full fledged music licensing and music publishing firm, and asked if I could submit some of my tracks for consideration.  It took a few emails back and forth before she remembered who I was, but eventually she welcomed my submission.

To make a long story short.  The first few tunes I sent her didn’t work and she passed on them.  I sent a few more and eventually there was something I sent that she was really excited about.  She sent me a contract in the mail, which I promptly sent back to her, and within about three weeks I had my first national television placement on an episode of The Young & The Restless, a show that I still have my music placed on regularly.  

After that initial placement, I got super excited and started working on more material to send to her.  It took a few months, but eventually I got another placement, and then a few months later another and so on.  The first couple years the placements sort of trickled in.  A couple the first year.  A few more the next and over time I racked up hundreds and hundreds of placements.

Music licensing came into my life at just the right time and I often think had I not re-discovered music licensing, there’s a chance I would’ve become so disillusioned that I would have quit music altogether.  It’s hard to say, maybe something else would have given me the confidence to keep going, but all I know is that initial success I had encouraged me to keep writing and recording music and honing my skills and I’m forever grateful to Barbara and those initial placements she helped me secure. 

What about you?  Have you gone through periods of disillusionment with music?  Maybe you’re going through a period like that now or you have recently.  I think most musicians have been there at some point.   The good news is that there are ways to make money and succeed in music, but it might take breaking out of your comfort zone and trying something different in order to discover your niche.  Like I said, I had sort of all but forgotten about music licensing in 2002, when I decided to give it another shot.  And I’m so glad I did, because it completely changed the direction of the path I was on and gave me something new to get excited about and focus my energy on.

Would you like to learn how to license your music in tv, films and ads?  The last few years I’ve dedicated much of my time and energy to teaching other musicians how to have success in this field.  It’s a labor of love and it’s something that brings me a lot of joy; showing fellow musicians how monetize their art and reach a bigger audience.

On Monday, March 16, I’m launching “The 30 Day Music Licensing Deep Dive”.   This is a 30 day long course that combines licensing leads, daily lessons and assignments, as well as 30 Days of access to our member site, HTLYM Premium, with even more training, content and leads.

All for just $47.00.

Register between now and March 15 here:

https://www.htlympremium.com/30-day-licensing-deep-dive.html