Creating a Demo
Put a demo together to sell directly to companies or apply for positions. You do not need to put a demo together if you use a digital licensing agency, but you will need one to market your music directly and apply for contract work. A demo refers to a set of several songs intended to showcase your talent. It basically serves as a portfolio for musicians, and gives potential clients and employers a sense for what your style and abilities are. You will also need a demo if you ever want to apply to full-time in-house soundtrack positions.
Choose 5-10 original songs to showcase your skills. Do not select any covers or unoriginal arrangements for your demo. Pick songs that you have created from scratch. Select 5-10 of your best pieces to record for your demo. If you sing, feel free to include a few tracks with vocals in them, but include a few instrumental tracks as well. If you have already recorded a lot of your music, skip this step If you’re an electronic artist, stick with stock or cleared sounds. Do not use any samples. So long as your lyrics don’t include swearing or sexual innuendos, it can be used in a commercial. All types of lyrics get used in commercials today, so don’t overthink the lyrics. It’s fine if you don’t sing.
Select songs across a wide range of styles and genres. Commercials use all types of music, so proving that you can play a variety of tunes will demonstrate your ability to be flexible. Include songs with a variety of moods to prove you can make happy, sad, upbeat, or hopeful music. If you play multiple instruments, choose songs that incorporate as many instruments as possible. Add songs in the pop, hip hop, rock, and jazz genres based on your personal ability.Tip: The more range you can demonstrate, the better. However, you should try to stick with genres that are commonly-used in commercials. Pop music is everywhere in TV advertisements, but you don’t hear much polka!
Record your songs at a studio and have them professionally engineered. If you haven’t recorded before, rent out a studio for a day and hire an audio engineer. Bring your instruments and a backing band as needed. Explain to the engineer that you’re putting a demo together. Record your songs and work with the engineer to mix and master the songs once you’ve finished. This will typically cost $500-1,000 depending on the studio and engineer that you choose to work with. Save a copy of all of the individual tracks in case a studio wants you to remove the vocals, cut a guitar track, or mix some of the layers differently.
Add your recorded songs to a single audio track in a DAW. DAW is an acronym for digital audio workspace. It’s basically a recording program that you can use to edit or mix music. Take your 5-10 songs and upload them into a single project. If you don’t want to pay for a professional DAW, download Audacity or Adobe Audition 3. They’re free DAWs and they’re pretty easy to use. Apple computers come pre-loaded with Garage Band, another DAW.
Cut your songs into a demo tape that is less than 5 minutes in length. Choose interesting sections of each song and cut or trim them down to be a total of 5 minutes in length, or less. Drag your clips together so that they play like one continuous song. Once they’re trimmed and put together in a single track, export the songs as a file and burn it to a disc or put it on a flash drive. You can ask the engineer to do this for you, but as a musician you should learn the basics of a DAW anyway. In the program, drag the slider at the top right or left of every track and pull it away from the place you made the cut to fade each track in or out. This will give your demo an added layer of professionalism. You can pay the engineer at the studio to do this for you if you prefer.
Working Directly with Companies
Look online to find advertising agencies looking for songs. A simple online search will reveal thousands of advertising firms. Look specifically for agencies that specialize in television advertising and email them. Write a few lines explaining that you’re looking to sell some music for commercial use, royalty-free. Leave your name and contact information, and upload your demo as an attachment.Tip: You won’t sell anything if you demand royalties on commercial music. The only music that gets used in commercials is royalty-free. A royalty is basically a payment that is made to the original artist every time their music is played for commercial purposes. The songs used in commercials are typically purchased for a one-time flat price. It may be time consuming, but the more agencies you can send your music to, the better.
Send your music to TV stations to get it used in bumpers and programming. TV stations, especially local stations, hire third-party musicians to make music for their bumpers and original programming. Search a TV station’s website to find their email address. Write a few lines explaining that you’re trying to get into commercial music. Upload your demo as an attachment and wait for them to respond. Again, you must include a note that your music is royalty-free. Bumpers are the small graphics and music that gets played on the way in or out of a commercial break.
Apply for contract positions online and submit applications for commercial music. Search job boards and look online to find contract positions for commercial musicians. Compose a resume that highlights your past work experience and include any musical accomplishments at the bottom. Upload a copy of your demo tape along with your resume to apply for contract positions. Contract work has a fixed start and finish date. Begin looking for new contract positions towards the end of each contract that you’re hired for. These positions often involve making custom songs for unique commercials or productions.
Post your services on freelance sites like Fiverr and Upwork. Fiverr and Upwork are the 2 most popular freelance sites for voice actors, contract writers, and commercial musicians. Sign up for each site and upload a copy of your resume. Create a link to your demo or personal website and advertise your services to companies and agencies looking for custom music.
Using a Licensing Platform
Join licensing platforms to sell music while working on other projects. A licensing platform is a website that sells royalty-free music to anyone that wants to pay for it. For each song that you sell, a small percentage goes to the licensing platform and you keep the remainder of the profits. Selling your music on licensing platforms while you pursue contract work and other positions is a great way to supplement your income. Unless your music is truly unique or you’re incredibly lucky, it is highly unlikely that you will make a full-time living from selling music through a licensing platform. Most of these songs sell for $10-100, but you won’t sell a lot of them at once unless an buyer really likes your music. These platforms are typically free to join.
Sign up for as many licensing platforms as you can. There are dozens of licensing platforms, but many of them require an initial application to vet your music and confirm your identity. Some of the platforms may turn you down, which is why it’s important to apply for as many as possible. Enter your personal information, create a profile, and submit some songs to apply for each platform you choose.
Upload your music, but pay attention to the terms of use for each site. Once you are allowed to sign up to a platform, upload the tunes that you’re looking to sell. You’d be surprised what gets used in film, radio, and television, so don’t hold back on songs that sound too unique or strange. Be sure to check whether each platform allows cross-listing a song on another site, since some platforms will ban you if you try to sell a song on multiple licensing platforms. Tip: If you have a choice between saving a song to cross-list it on multiple platforms or uploading it to the exclusive site, choose the exclusive site unless there is a limit on how many songs you can upload. The exclusive sites tend to get more web traffic, and you’re more likely to sell a song there. Premium Beat is an exclusive site that will not allow cross-listing. Many of the other popular platforms allow cross-listing under the condition that you remove a song if it is sold somewhere else.
Sit back and wait for your profits to come in. Once a song is purchased, you will receive a direct deposit payment for the song. The rate at which your music is purchased may vary wildly, so you may not sell at all for some time. However, if your music becomes popular for commercials, expect to earn some extra money regularly! You can earn $10-200 a song depending on how unique it is and where it is going to get used.
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