How to Write Music and Earn A Living: 7 Simple Steps
Who doesn’t want to earn money doing what they love? Writing music can be a very lucrative and fulfilling way to earn a living. While there is no quick way to get to this point, I packed my experience from almost 2 decades as a composer and music producer into these 7 simple to follow steps to earn a living with writing music.
How to Get Started
I assume you already know how to write and produce music with your DAW of choice. The best thing you can do right now is to write music. Sounds obvious, yes! But I know many, many composers, songwriters, and producers that just don’t do it. They wait for the right opportunity to come their way to finally try out the new plugin they bought. But, sorry, waiting for that call that will change your life forever probably won’t ever come. Don’t waste your time, use it wisely. Produce music, finish it. Write music, finish it. This is how you get good at things, through practice. So, practice.
Work in Adjacent Fields
One of the things where I learned the most about how music is used in film, TV and commercials is by working at an advertising agency. First as an intern, later as an editor and account manager. Don't think for a minute that this is a waste of time. It is probably the most valuable thing regarding my music career that I could have done.
A couple of very powerful things you can learn when you work in an adjacent field:
- You have an insider understanding of how music is discussed and decided on by your future clients.
- You experience the needs and problems that occur within a production. That's pure gold in regards to your upcoming marketing strategy.
- You know who the decision-makers are, who to talk to when it comes to music and learn the post-production process.
Write Music You Want To Write
This one, I terribly neglected for a long time. But after taking the step to actually think about what kind of music I wanted to write, this opened up many doors for me.
Not only couldn't I've been prouder to finally have something out there that is my own. But also it helped me get to know myself better and what kind of music didn't wanna write anymore. This gave a new perspective on my goals as a composer and producer and on my career in general.
Make Friends
That is probably something most of you heard 100s of times. Make some friends and you'll get a job. Yeah, I don't think like that.
Friendships aren't about what can I get from it. Not even in a business setting is a friendship about that.
I built my relationships under the premise of win-win.
Develop A Valuable Network
Networks can be built in many different forms these days.
There are social networks, networking groups, people you get introduced to. You get the idea. When you start building your network, it's important to plan for the long run. Do not only build a network of peers or heroes. Build relationships that will get you closer to the goal of earning a living. Namely potential clients and fans.
Social networks like Facebook or Instagram are good tools for initial contact, but I don't recommend to put all your eggs in one basket and take it a step further, and starting an email list. This way you own the contact information rather than one of the big tech companies.
Hands-on, Real Projects
I am all for believing in yourself and being confident in your art and skill. But it's very hard to show to a producer, director, Agency executive or collaborator that you have these skills. What are you gonna show these potential clients of yours? Music alone most of the time doens’t really cut it. The most important skill for a composer is to be able to tell a story with music. And what directors and executives want to see is, if you are able to tell a story and with that enhance their film. So the best way to show them is the music that you created for a film. How, you ask? There are 100s of student films produced every semester. Go to your local film school, get to know some of the filmmakers there, producers and directors and editors alike, and offer to score their project for free. Put your pro face on, and take them serious in their efforts, even if you might see certain weaknesses in their project. Do your very best to make their project even better.
Get Down To Business
There is no money being made without the business aspect of film music. A few tips I have for you here:
- Don’t be afraid to talk about money. Rather be the first to mention it.
- Do not underestimate your value.
- Be reasonable in your pricing. Factor in your experience, your clients budget, the value outside of money this project could bring you
- Lead with the benefits why the work with you would be a great fit (only if it is for you)
Now that you know how to get to a point to start making money, the question now is: How to turn all this progress into actual money-making.
So, now let's check out:
7 Ways to Make Money as a composer
1. Commissioned Work
This is probably the quickest way to earn substantial income from writing music. If you've taken every one of the 7 steps above, it shouldn't be hard to find commissioned work. For sure there will be some pitches involved. But custom music for commercials or short or corporate films can easily earn between around $2000-$7000.
2. Royalties
To earn performance and mechanical royalties for the use of your music in audio-visual works, you need to become a member of a PRO or Performance Rights Organization. In the US there is BMI and ASCAP, Germany's is called GEMA and almost every country has it's own PRO. So, go to your countries PRO's website and fill out the application. It's that simple.
3. Licensing
Licensing has become a huge part of my yearly income. The one tip I can give you on this: Start writing for publishers and libraries today. This is a matter of quantity (and quality of course). But in my case, of the 1200 tracks that are registered with my PRO, only about 5 percent make 80% of my royalty income.
4. Micro-Licensing
This is an area that many composers ask me about. In my opinion, it's a bit of a grey area as far as I'm concerned.
I saw many Micro Licensing companies having not very clear guidelines of usage of a track that was downloaded from them, and some of them just rip you off and taking 60 or more percent of the licensing fee. And that in some cases means 8 bucks for you and 12 for the company. And you don’t even know who it is that downloaded it and royalties aren't paid in most cases. There might be some great Micro Licensing companies out there. Just be aware and read their terms carefully.
5. Collaboration
This might be a great opportunity for you if you have the opportunity to work with and/or for an up-and-coming composer and you either get paid for "ghost-writing" or you get exposed to your collaborator’s network. This of course works also both ways. If you are friends with a composer that can help you with a commissioned work or a production music album, don't hesitate. Make sure you talk terms beforehand and agree on a reasonable fee.
6. Producing
You have all the producing skills and gear. So why not use it for, right, producing tracks for someone else. This can fall also under the collaboration part of this list. Or, you can just offer services to maybe singers, songwriters, or musicians that need demos, want to make an EP, or just need some creative input. If you've, over the course of your preparation phase, developed a certain skill, like great lyrical string quartet arrangements, or epic drum programming skills, offer that as well.
7. Performance
With the rise of film music concerts and the online possibilities to stream content to Youtube and your fans being super easy right now, offer exclusive streams of your performing your music.