So after years of lugging your instruments around the country, playing show after show for hardly any reward and a crowd which thins out when its too far for your friends to make it, its understandable to think to yourself “Why haven’t I/we made it?”.
From experience of being in bands which have been on the cusp of something really great it became quite clear that in the music industry there is something that most musicians forget or don’t quite understand (and rightly so as music creation should be the prime focus for any up and coming artists).
Your music is a BRAND…
What is a Brand?
A brand is a set of marketing and communication methods that help to distinguish a company from competitors and create a lasting impression in the minds of customers.
In a market where musicians and labels are fighting to be heard, you need to create content that makes your music stand out from the crowd.
To put it into perspective, your band decides its time to send that demo you’ve spent time, money and effort recording in a top notch studio over to the big industry execs. You have asked your mate Steve to craft you a logo in Microsoft Paint and have slapped it onto a low resolution image you found on google images and printed it using your Mom’s printer before you slide it into a plastic cd case you picked up from Tesco’s a week earlier (We’ve all done it).
Your EP arrives at the offices and gets put into a pile of 350 other demos that have been received over the past couple of days.
On average your music will get 20 seconds before its thrown into the rejection pile. SO FIRST IMPRESSIONS MATTER!
Unfortunately, in the digital age we live in it’s not all about the music – you need to have the “Look”.
What can you do?
Figure out your target demographic
Get a Logo professionally designed (either by a friend or a music centric design agency).
Decide on a colour palette and typographical style to use in all collateral. Consistency is Key.
Make sure your social media is consistent, keep the imagery the same on all platforms.
Don’t scrimp on getting your CD artwork created, this is one of the only things that is a physical representation of your music. So make sure you are super happy with the artwork and the print.
If you are ready to submit your music to agencies, labels, publishers etc then get a professionally designed press pack! You will no doubt stand out from the 100’s of CV like word documents that they receive, standing you in good stead for your music to spend a little bit more time in the cd player…
Buy a domain and GET A PERSONALISED EMAIL ADDRESS! There is nothing worse than receiving an email from myfirstband1234@hotmail.co.uk.
Get professional photos taken.
Finally, I know I keep banging on about it but CONSISTENCY IS KEY!
Written by Alex and Adam from music industry design company, Archetype.
Alex and Adam are musicians themselves, having spent 10 years in a band together, but now focus on delivering high quality branding to musicians, labels, management agencies and other companies/people in the music industry. From their experience as a band, they realised just how important branding is to an artist’s success in the industry and want to pass on some wise words of advice!
You can find more information about Archetype on their website and see them featured in our opportunities newsletter in November where they are offering an exclusive discount for their services to our subscribers.
Pay-to-Play gigs are becoming less and less common (thankfully!) but they do still exist. Essentially they are deals made between the gig promoter and the unsigned band/artist wanting to play at the gig. The band/artist pays the promoter and also pay to sell tickets for the gig and all the money goes back to the promoter – the band/artist only gets money after they reach a certain level or once the promoter has covered a certain amount of costs. This level often doesn’t get reached, and when bands/artists are already incurring costs in order to play the gig (travel, accommodation, time out from work etc.) having to also pay to actually play there just adds to this!
There are some examples we have heard of where an opening act on a tour paid £2000 PER SHOW and all of this money went back to the promoter, not the act. Another band paid £50,000 to join a major band on a UK tour.
In theory, having the chance to support a major artist on tour is one that we all dream of (except being the major artist yourself, obviously!). You have the chance to perform to a huge number of people who have likely never heard of you so this gives you a chance to get some new fans. Right?
Well, how many times have you been to a gig where you haven’t really been bothered about the support act? Or thought “this act isn’t even in the same genre as the main act”? For example, I went to see Muse perform and Dizzee Rascal was the support act… weird! Bands and artists too often pay for a slot on a tour or at a gig where the audience isn’t even their target audience, so it is highly unlikely they will convert these people into fans of their own and in turn monetise these fans in order to one day make back the money they paid to perform the gig in the first place.
There are also competitions that bands and artists pay to compete in as they give them the chance to perform in bigger venues than they may normally have the chance to perform in. For example, the Live and Unsigned Competition in the UK provides this opportunity. Often, acts pay to be in the competition but they aren’t actually ready to be performing such large venues so the opportunity is completely wasted!
No, pay-to-play gigs aren’t all bad. If no band or artist ever benefitted from them then they would’ve stopped doing it and these kinds of gigs would’ve been extinct a long time ago. The truth is, there is a reason promoters and competitions feel they can charge… because they normally provide an opportunity that unsigned acts would never normally be able to get on their own. But there are some questions you need to ask yourself before considering chasing these opportunities, and if any of your answers reflect the ones given below then you need to seriously consider whether the gig is worthwhile:
How much is the promoter wanting you to pay? Probably more than we can afford or an amount that would take us a long time to make back.
What type of audience will be at the gig? Does this reflect your target audience? No it doesn’t, the act we are supporting/playing alongside is from a different genre.
Is the size of the venue reflective of the ones you already perform in/larger than normal but a manageable progression? Or is it a lot bigger than you normally play e.g. you normally play to 100 but the venue it 1000 capacity? It is a lot bigger than we are used to, we would struggle to fill it.
What are you wanting to get out of the gig? Is it possible to achieve this through performing at this specific gig? I’m not sure what we want to achieve or ’m not sure we can achieve what we want to.
If your answers are the total opposite to the ones above and you feel confident and happy about going ahead with the gig, then good for you! Grab it with both hands and milk the opportunity.
As with anything you do with your career, do your research, way up your options and make sure you are knowledgeable about what you are entering into before taking the leap – otherwise it is very easy to get scammed and taken advantage of!
Influencers are individuals or companies in the industry that are considered tastemakers. They look out for new music and blog/tweet/post/discuss and basically talk about what they think of this music or at least give it some exposure. They are (usually) trusted names in the blogosphere or across social media and people look to them for guidance on what music to listen to. If you get picked up by an influencer, this can obviously do you some favours!
The first influencers were the fanzines of the 1980s such as The Sounds, NME and Melody Maker. Music fans found new music from printed publications such as these. Now, in the digital age, most of this has moved online in the form of blogs and social media. But, contrary to popular belief, being an influencer doesn’t necessarily mean having a large number of followers, it’s to do with having an engaged and relevant audience that interact and appreciate the opinions of the influencer.
Soundcloud
Accounts on SoundCloud that repost songs from new artists are an example of a modern day influencer. There are many accounts that do this but the key is to find the ones that aren’t too spammy. On some accounts, all they do is repost and you can see that even though these accounts may have a large number of followers, there actually isn’t that much engagement with the reposts because people just get bored of seeing them being posted all the time. The accounts worth targeting are the ones who are more selective of what they repost and therefore have a higher engagement rate. Even if they have a lot less followers than other accounts, if the engagement is there then it is a lot more worthwhile to try to contact these accounts and negotiate a repost. This article gives you an in-depth analysis on SoundCloud reposts and their value.
Twitter and Facebook
People on Twitter and Facebook who post about the music industry and about new music are another example. Direct message these accounts and see if you can get a dedicated post. Even better, analyse who they normally talk about and see if you can figure out where they are finding these bands. If you can present yourself in a way that is similar to what they already seem interested in then you are more likely to get exposure from them.
Blogs
Dedicated music blogs are another obvious influencer. For example, Digital Music News posted a list of the Top 20 Most Influential Music Blogs, all of which post about new music and have a loyal and active following. A lot of blogs are genre specific or at least have a certain type of audience, style or feel about them. Most also focus on the particular country in which they are based so check where they are from before contacting them… there’s no point approaching a company in Australia if you live in the UK (unless you’ve found them posting about artists internationally). Research into what you think is most relevant to you and target these blogs for exposure. A good way of doing this is to find out who the specific writers are behind the blogs and reach out to them individually via social media or email rather than the general blog accounts. Your message is probably more likely to be read and considered.
When you are reaching out to anyone in the industry, you need to make sure you are prepared and ready to take advantage of the opportunity. You could get some A&R attention if you manage to get exposure from an influencer, so if you are not ready to receive that attention then it’s a waste of all that effort and it will take a long time for you to be featured again. By then, the momentum will have passed. Check out the blog I did for Music Gateway on what you must prepare before approaching anyone in the industry.
Music used for adverts covers every possible genre. There are no rules, and the types of sync vary from a simple musical ‘ident’ to a full-on bombastic orchestral piece.
If I were to say ‘McDonalds’ you can instantly hear the five note whistled theme. That’s right – just five notes! Consider also ‘We Buy Any Car dot com’, which originally was a sung phrase, which then became just a series of seven identical notes in a rhythm of the original song. Un-mistakable now that it has been ingrained in our minds. Another even simpler musical jingle for a product would be the four-note (with harmony this time) ‘Intel’ theme. We all know it.
These are all still musical compositions, no matter how simple.
Now compare these to, for instance, your average action film or game trailer, which is after all, also an advert. Often, trailers will be incredibly complicated and HUGE in terms of sound and musical content.
While the type of music required is varied, the reasons why a particular piece of music makes the cut can be just as complicated and varied.
Take, for instance, a brief I pitched some music to a while back. This was for a well-known furniture retailer. The ad agency (also the ad production company) sent out a brief including the following types of phrases: ‘Yummy Mummy’, ‘Sophisticated’, ‘Grown Up’, ‘Chillout’, ‘Zero 7 – type instrumental’, ‘cool laid-back vibe’… etc. The idea was that this would form a backdrop for a smooth voice-over throughout the entire ad. When the ad was broadcast, the sync chosen was what can only be described as a gospel choir type cover (not instrumental) version of a 1970s classic rock song. The music chosen was very different to the original brief, which is in the advertising world, very common.
This can be because there are many more decision makers involved in an advert than a film or TV sync placement. Think ‘Chinese Whispers’. The client may be totally non-musical, and conveys their idea to the ad agency, who interpret this in a certain way, and send out a brief. When music pitches come in and they are auditioned, there may be ten people who are all acting as ‘music supervisor’ along the way – even the client’s wife or neighbour’s cousin may have a say. Who can say which of these opinions really matter..?
These are the phrases you will hear constantly (also sometimes in the TV world):
‘We will know it when we hear it’,
‘Just come up with something catchy’,
and, my favourite:
‘There’s no budget for the music’.
The first two are simply a non-musical person unable to really put across an idea to a musician or composer, which is forgivable. In these cases ask for references, maybe, so you can narrow it down. Try to show willing to get to the kind of thing needed. Most people know the difference between Led Zeppelin and The Beatles, so communicate in terms they understand.
The last quote (‘There’s no budget for the music’) is simply not true. It is so important that we all stand firm in the idea that music is crucial for the effectiveness of the media it is synced to, and therefore has a value. ‘There’s no budget for the music’ means ‘It has no value’ which is quite simply not the case.
I recently visited a wedding industry event, which had a ‘cat walk’ fashion show, showcasing wedding dresses. This was very professional, slick and impressive to watch. The lights bounced off a million gems and sequins, the choreography was beautiful, and jaws were dropping at the incredible ‘loveliness’ of it all. The music was a compilation of very emotive songs and instrumental syncs. One thing is for absolute certain, though. Without the music, the impact would be less than 10% of what it was. I mean, imagine models walking up and down a catwalk to silence. That would be a joke.
General Hints for Writing Music for Adverts
If this was 2005, I’d say ‘Learn to play the Ukulele!!’
It’s amazing that simple Ukulele strums combined with non-lyrical phrases like whistles or ‘Hey’, or claps and snaps are still being used for adverts for banks, washing powders, whatever.
This is to do with the mood that this type of music portrays. In a nutshell, products or brands want to be associated with feeling of happiness, positivity, confidence, strength and well-being. We will not buy into a product which gives us the feeling of mistrust or unease. Adverts are selling a lifestyle or a dream usually, along with the actual product. The general pitch is ‘buy this product and your life will be better’.
For the more ‘cool’ campaigns, such as aftershave or the more ‘thinking person’s bank account’ type ads, the use of COVER VERSIONS are very effective. These are those dark, moody, emotive stripped-back covers of previously massive hits. Here’s a good example:
We hear it, and some of us know the music already and it resonates with us. This is no coincidence. This is a song that the over 40s will recognise as ‘Mad World’ by Tears for Fears from 1982. For the younger ones, it’s the song ‘Mad World’ by Gary Jules and Michael Andrews from the 2001 film ‘Donnie Darko’. Or perhaps, it’s the song ‘Mad World’ that Adam Lambert performed so amazingly on ‘American Idol’.
Obviously, it’s all of them. Written by Roland Orzabal (one half of ‘Tears for Fears’). Lucky old Roland, eh?
The Lloyds Bank advert is a piano instrumental version by Jennifer Ann.
On the face of it, it’s a recognisable tune under a bank advert, but the whole point goes much deeper. The advert has the voiceover ‘This is real life, but none of us are standing still. We are all about to take the next step’. It features the iconic black horse galloping through the various ‘next steps’ taking place in the foreground. You could say that the horse is steadily guiding us through this ‘Mad World’ so we needn’t be afraid. Hopefully this demonstrates to you the thought and attention that goes into the process of choosing sync for adverts. When you are advertising a multi billion dollar industry, and paying this much attention, therefore, to the details, you better believe that THERE IS BUDGET FOR THE MUSIC!
An important thing to think about is that publishers are aggressively pitching to sync opportunities with their back-catalogue. These catalogues often include well-known songs. They are most likely, therefore, happy to get their catalogue synced, even if it’s a cover version of one of their songs. I’ve recently had cover versions requested by publishers. There’s obviously no worries when it comes to getting the publisher’s permission to allow a song to be synced if it’s the publisher who is doing the pitching for you. The down side is that they would probably want to ‘buy-out’ the master rights to your version.
Just as a footnote to the cover versions market, I’d just remind readers that a cover version means that you would receive no PRO (PRS) royalties form this type of sync, but hopefully you own some or all of the ‘Master Rights’ to your version, or will received a buy-out fee you are happy with from the publisher.
All that said, obviously there is a place for a very sad or emotive sync for adverts for, say, charities, and that is just not my area of experience, and cannot advise on that at all.
Writing for Corporate Video
This should prove to be an altogether simpler deal.
Usually, you will be liaising with just one or two people who will have a more definite idea of what is needed to enhance the video or web presentation etc.
The great thing about corporate video is that there are video production companies all over the place, and as I’ve mentioned previously, it’s amazing how film-makers are happy just to find someone who can give them the music they want with no copyright issues. Always offer your services for a simple fee, and keep 100% of the music (unless they are willing to pay a substantial amount). Make it clear that you are licensing your music to them non-exclusively for a specific use, and you retain 100% ownership of the music, and will collect all performance royalties and also are free to pitch the music or license the music elsewhere. Generally, video makers, especially small independent ones, will be happy with that. They just want music with no complications.
Writing for Trailers
As with adverts, film trailer music, especially lately, is becoming more song based. Trailers are often in three or four ‘movements’ or ‘chapters’, so they will need a few different songs or pieces of music. There are no rules.
Action film and game trailers are usually orchestral hybrid pieces. The key words here are ‘Authentic’ and ‘Bombastic’. This is a notoriously difficult niche to get success at. This is a business where it seems a few of the top composers are getting most of the syncs.
This is down to a few things:
If you are going to pitch these big orchestral hybrid trailer pieces, you MUST be able to make your music sound like a real orchestral in every possible way. People choosing these sync know their music, and they know what an authentic sounding orchestral piece sounds like. They can sometimes even recognise the various orchestral sample libraries used just by listening. Your music has to be as good, if not better than those pieces already out there in this market. Your ‘hybrid’ elements should be interesting and unique. The same old slamming drums are sounding tired now. Throw in some risers, synths, pulses, whatever, but make it different.
I met a very successful trailer composer a few weeks ago at a networking event. We talked a lot of ‘techie stuff’ about sample libraries and DAWs, but his simple answer as to why his music gets used is that he can ‘do what no-one else can do’. That is probably the most important piece of advice to anyone pitching music. If your music is the same as everyone else’s, then it’s a lottery. If it rises above else’s because it has that extra 10 or 15%, the odds are at least looking better.
(Just as an aside, he doesn’t use Logic, Cubase, Protools, Studio One, or Ableton Live, but favours a much less popular DAW just because it works for him. He does, however, spend at least 100 hours on a composition to make sure it is head and shoulders above the competition.)
Trailer music will come under a different agreement to syncs for the actual film or game, since it is advertising. This is why the music in a trailer will usually be different from that in the film. If a piece from the film is used in a trailer, there will be a separate sync fee for each – and usually a higher fee for the trailer.
Keep in Mind
In general, Trailers and Adverts will require a much faster turnaround than film and television. You may submit music to a brief and the advert is broadcast 48 hours later. I’ve recently recorded a vocal for an advert, which was broadcast before any paperwork was signed – within a couple of days of sending over the vocal stems. It can be that fast.
Whatever you’re pitching to, keep listening to what is out there. Listen, listen and listen again to adverts, TV and film. Don’t seek to emulate, but seek to take it to the next level. Imagine what the syncs will be 6 months from now.
Lastly, remember all music has a real value. We’re in a difficult stage in the business where the industry is desperately trying to keep up with and keep track of technology, which is running away with and running down the value of music if we let it.
Just because our music is sometimes stolen, that’s no reason to give it away. It’s your music. Value it and keep it safe.
Gary White is an Independent Music Producer, Composer and Songwriter 1994-present. He plays guitar, bass, keys, drums, whistle, banjo.
For the ‘Techies’, I use Protools, Studio One 3, Logic Pro X, and Cubase 8 – depending on the client’s preferences, Studio One 3 being my ‘go-to’ DAW.
Producer and Writer (Mainstream Pop) credits include Cheryl Cole, Emma Bunton, Gareth Gates, S Club 8.
Production and Composing (Film, TV and Music Library) credits include BBC, Renegade Pictures, Countdown Media, Aston Martin, Red Slate Pictures, Red 90, Hens Teeth.
BAFTA nominated for ‘Best Original Music’ (BBC Documentary)
Gary White is an Independent Music Producer, Composer and Songwriter 1994-present. He plays guitar, bass, keys, drums, whistle, banjo.