Haven't posted any news for a few weeks - nothing much happening in the world of mistrust, really. Been messing around with a few new tracks - hope to get them finished soon. Need some new stuff online. Everyone's probably bored with the old stuff.
Signed up with a few OMDs (music hosting sites) recently. LastFM, webjay, all pretty much do the same thing - exposure is the word. LastFM is powered by AudioScrobbler, a new legal music sharing site.
The MySpace profile I have seems to be doing ok. Nearly 100 friends but am I preaching to the converted? I set up a "music for film" profile which lets artists who make music for movies and games advertise what they do. Should be interesting.
An amateur film-maker wants to use "Never Alone remix" in one of his movies. Yes, I make music for movies, as the Deep Blue Open dvd proved. If anyone reads this and wants to use some of my tracks in their movies, please contact me and we'll sort something out.
My website and this blog need an overhaul.
Been reading about Sony BMG's attempt to copy-protect their CDs with some software that sits on your computer and allegedly is spyware. It's a rootkit, that sits there and basically hijacks your machine. The orginal article is by Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell. It's no wonder people are turning to downloading music rather than CDs.
Advice on music licensing............
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Since I licensed my tracks out to O'Neill Europe for the Deep Blue Open dvd, I've had a lot of people asking for some advice on how to get their music into film, tv etc. Obviously, I'm no expert, and I had a few people give me some pointers before I signed up with O'Neill, but here are some tips from me from what I've learned so far (but don't blame me if this method doesn't work!!!)
I was approached by a licensing company for them to use my tracks on an O'Neill surfing dvd and got some info from them about how to get my stuff into more films, etc and was advised to get a showreel together to prove to film makers and post-production people that my music fits in with the sort of thing they're looking for. One of the best ways to do that is to offer some of your tracks for low/no fee to build up a portfolio. Have a look at some of these for more info:
http://www.mandy.com
It's a site for film jobs - go to the Production Jobs section and check look through all the locations, eg Europe, then the Post-Production links. There's both paid and lo/no income jobs.
http://www.ukscreen.com
There's a forum on the site which lists people looking for music for films, mainly lo/no fee
http://www.raw42.com
A music licensing company- will only send your stuff out if it's good enough for their high standards, mainly for tv and adverts.
http://www.labelsound.com
Similar to raw42 but pay them £39 and they'll make all your tracks available for film and tv licensing.
http://niceup.com/misc/internet_music_licensing
An excellent article about how to get into the film music industry.
Google for things like music licensing companies, "indie movies", "music wanted" stuff like that. Check out indie movie forums - there's always indie film makers looking for cheap music and it gets you some footage for your showreel. Contact your local college or uni if they have a film or media school. Have a look on the unsigned band web forum - http://www.unsignedbandweb.com/forum-37.html for people advertising for music. There's always ads on there. There's a film makers fourm on Myspace.com, too. Why not send a demo to the company I dealt with. I'll pm the address and contact details, and tell them to look out for you.
Music licensing can be a bit of a closed shop to unsigned artists if film producers have got a massive music budget. They get the best composers and pay a fortune to people like Sony and BMG for tracks. If the budget isn't so big they want unsigned people like me and you. Usually for lo/no fee. Oh, and it looks good on your music CV if you've got film credits, whatever they are.
It's definitely worth going down the lo/no fee route, just to get known. I'll pm you with a list of some of the other sites I've been on for info. Make sure, though, that you get a proper contract. Well - 2 in fact - a Master Use and a Synchronisation contract.
BTW when you're dealing with these sort of people - licensing, post-production, etc., be prepared for a very long wait. The company I dealt with over the dvd was actually liaising with about 5 or 6 other companies, so I was the last to know anything. If the bloke said there's potential, try your music out on the sites I mentioned. Oh, and tell people you're a film composer, and say so on your website.
You never know - you might get your music used and get paid a lot of money for it.
Disclaimer: the opinions and advice given are just that: opinion. They do not constitute a contract between you and the companies mentioned, nor are they intended as adverts for those listed. Don't sue me if you don't get signed!
I was approached by a licensing company for them to use my tracks on an O'Neill surfing dvd and got some info from them about how to get my stuff into more films, etc and was advised to get a showreel together to prove to film makers and post-production people that my music fits in with the sort of thing they're looking for. One of the best ways to do that is to offer some of your tracks for low/no fee to build up a portfolio. Have a look at some of these for more info:
http://www.mandy.com
It's a site for film jobs - go to the Production Jobs section and check look through all the locations, eg Europe, then the Post-Production links. There's both paid and lo/no income jobs.
http://www.ukscreen.com
There's a forum on the site which lists people looking for music for films, mainly lo/no fee
http://www.raw42.com
A music licensing company- will only send your stuff out if it's good enough for their high standards, mainly for tv and adverts.
http://www.labelsound.com
Similar to raw42 but pay them £39 and they'll make all your tracks available for film and tv licensing.
http://niceup.com/misc/internet_music_licensing
An excellent article about how to get into the film music industry.
Google for things like music licensing companies, "indie movies", "music wanted" stuff like that. Check out indie movie forums - there's always indie film makers looking for cheap music and it gets you some footage for your showreel. Contact your local college or uni if they have a film or media school. Have a look on the unsigned band web forum - http://www.unsignedbandweb.com/forum-37.html for people advertising for music. There's always ads on there. There's a film makers fourm on Myspace.com, too. Why not send a demo to the company I dealt with. I'll pm the address and contact details, and tell them to look out for you.
Music licensing can be a bit of a closed shop to unsigned artists if film producers have got a massive music budget. They get the best composers and pay a fortune to people like Sony and BMG for tracks. If the budget isn't so big they want unsigned people like me and you. Usually for lo/no fee. Oh, and it looks good on your music CV if you've got film credits, whatever they are.
It's definitely worth going down the lo/no fee route, just to get known. I'll pm you with a list of some of the other sites I've been on for info. Make sure, though, that you get a proper contract. Well - 2 in fact - a Master Use and a Synchronisation contract.
BTW when you're dealing with these sort of people - licensing, post-production, etc., be prepared for a very long wait. The company I dealt with over the dvd was actually liaising with about 5 or 6 other companies, so I was the last to know anything. If the bloke said there's potential, try your music out on the sites I mentioned. Oh, and tell people you're a film composer, and say so on your website.
You never know - you might get your music used and get paid a lot of money for it.
Disclaimer: the opinions and advice given are just that: opinion. They do not constitute a contract between you and the companies mentioned, nor are they intended as adverts for those listed. Don't sue me if you don't get signed!
My popular website!!!
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I've just checked the stats for this little website of mine. 1300 hits during October - remarkable. Amazing. That makes about 15000 this year so far. Thanks to everyone who's been on the site and especially people who have listened to the music. Please let me know what you think of the tracks.
Don't forget to say hello on MySpace.com - be my friend!
Don't forget to say hello on MySpace.com - be my friend!
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