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Scoring The Next Gig

Originally published Summer 2016 in The Score, the quarterly journal of The Society of Composers & Lyricists, ASCAP We Create Music blog, and Designing Music Now. There are no guarantees in any culture in the world that art is going to be sustainable and provide you a good living. As a composer you might become well paid eventually, but you will never have a steady or predictable career path. Being highly skilled and highly experienced is not enough in the music industry. Instead of a corporate ladder, musicians have a huge rock face to climb. A resume is unlikely to help you as a composer, although a credits list may. Submitting demo reels is the composer’s equivalent to submitting a resume, but …

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Musicians: Networking The Right Way

The Ultimate Question: The question “How do I find work?” is one that can baffle even the most successful artists. The music industry has become extremely diverse and the work is spread out extremely widely, so Guerrilla tactics are needed more than ever before. Any industry relating to the arts is whimsical. Styles change, tastes change, the personalities of the creators and consumers change, and the arts themselves change. It can be very difficult to pinpoint a need and position yourself to fill that need. Even if you’re able to do that, it can still be difficult to monetize what you have done. The methods of finding work are constantly changing, and the type of music that sells is changing …