The 7 Essential Things You Need to Succeed In Our Business.
What does it take to break in, survive and succeed as a musician making music for brands?
After thinking about my own career and chatting with my industry peers - I came up with a list of 7 essential things (and traits) that succesful musicians in our industry have in common.
Anyone thinking about a life as a musical craftsperson working on commissioned projects for brand campaigns and content would be wise to be mindful of these 7 essentials and make it a priority to score well on each of them.
Here are the 7 essentials:
0:50 - 1. World Class Skills 💪
Check sites like adsoftheworld.com or tommyzee.co to see what brands are doing with music, see where your skillset fits in, reverse engineer what you have to improve upon to match the work that you see in the marketplace. 🎬
2:38 - 2. Well Stocked, Fresh, Up-to-Date Sounds 🎧
The last thing you want is to be perceived as dated and stale with your sound selection. Brands can't afford to lose their credibility - they want to be curators of what's "cool"....to maximize your chances of staying relevant - keep your tolls sharp, keep your sounds fresh! 🌻
5:22 - 3. Sensibility 😎
This is a big one. A word that contains many other little words that beasically define who you are and how you work. In the creative business, people choose to work with people with great sensibility...what does this mean? I recommend you listen + digest to this one carefully. 🧐 9:22 - 4. Showcase 🖥 🤝
What good is having great skills and sensibility when no one knows about it? You have to learn how to sell yourself to the market - how to showcase your superpowers to potential clients. Great craftspeople have great portfolios - always ready to share. They also have simple, sleek and compelling websites that showcase their superpowers instantly / irresistibly.
12:56 - 5. Speed 🚗
In the world of making music for brands - deadlines can be deadly. So what if you're a genius but it takes you a week to put something together? To be viable in our industry - you need speed. The best composers in our business work incredibly fast - they know their sounds, they know their tools, they know their craft...
14:49 - 6. Stamina ⚡️
The life of a busy music craftsperson is not easy. We deal with difficulties, rejection, silence, and sometimes nearly impossible client feedback. To be able to create inspired magic in the studio, we have to learn how to be resilient, how to work gracefully under pressure, how to overcome the biggest enemy in the room which is: ourselves, our ego, our negative emotions....
17:20 - 7. The Surprise Factor 🤩
There are a lot of great musicians in our industry. A lot of competition. And if you plan on just doing what is expected - on not going the extra mile - creatively, logistically, professionally.....you're going to make it even more difficult than just going that extra mile.
To stand out from the crowd and to be remembered as the craftsperson who others can count on for delightful music / creative problem solving - always surprise your clients with more / better / faster.
Where 2 musicians are equal in skill, I will always choose the one that always strives to go above and beyond what is asked.
Hope this inspires + informs those of you who are on their way!