It’s a strange and peculiar process, which I’ve been thinking about a lot recently. In a job where nobody is going to tell you what to do or notice if you fail (since failure is just.. not doing the job ever), it’s always important to look at what you’re doing and regularly assess it, so that you know you’re doing the right thing. This is especially true for something which you are required to do often. In my first set of posts on the subject I want to talk about some of the different types of pitching opportunities, and give my opinions into the bargain.
Pitching dominates a fair amount of my working time. I would say that about half of all my working time so far has been creating the music and supporting material for pitches. And I work plenty of hours! Before I began as a composer I really didn’t know that this would be the case, and recently I’ve been thinking that it shouldn’t have to be. But, because of the way the industry works, if your system for securing new jobs is based on pitching then you’ll be doing a lot of it. This is because of the low probability of getting the job each time, and because it's hard to turn down any pitch opportunity when it comes in. The mental aspect of how a pitch always seems to demand priority is something that I will cover in an upcoming post.
What pitching is…
It’s just one of many ways to try and get a job! The basic idea is that somebody needs, or may need music, so you’re going to learn about them and their work and come up with at least two well-considered, researched and produced pieces of music, on no budget, demonstrating how you might score their project. I also always write the equivalent of a cover letter proclaiming my enthusiasm for the project, explaining why I wrote what I wrote and how I thought about the whole thing etc. Though I sound a bit cynical there I genuinely am always enthusiastic, but I'm sure as with every job that there will be plenty of applicants who aren't particularly enthusiastic but just want the work. It’s a motivation too, I suppose. The process varies, but that’s the basic idea.
Not all pitches are equal!
Those variations matter hugely. They can affect your chances of ultimately getting the job, and indeed of even having you music listened to at all. One such crucial aspect is how the opportunity to pitch came about. In the following posts I will discuss each variation of pitching independently and give you my experience and opinions on: unsolicited pitches, semi-solicited pitches, 'ambulance chasers (agencies), solicited pitch through an agent. I will be posting the next part on unsolicited pitches in a day or two.
If you want to know anything specific about the subject let me know and I will incorporate it!
Thanks for reading! If you find this stuff interesting please check out my Facebook page, Soundcloud and Twitter. It's great if you want to get involved, and start a conversation:
+ specialise in one type or genre of music or one industry like game music? or are you simply capable enough to do everything? or do u NEED to be capable at everything? this is probably obvious to you but it might be something to talk about
+ put your songs on youtube? being a non-music person i go straight to someones youtube link rather than their soundcloud (which you don't have? o you have a soundcloud its just embedded in your website) or their personal website. could youtube be a better gateway to your website (or yourself) if you put musics on it?
On June 18 2015 00:07 FFGenerations wrote: do u think it wud be better to
+ specialise in one type or genre of music or one industry like game music? or are you simply capable enough to do everything? or do u NEED to be capable at everything? this is probably obvious to you but it might be something to talk about
+ put your songs on youtube? being a non-music person i go straight to someones youtube link rather than their soundcloud (which you don't have? o you have a soundcloud its just embedded in your website) or their personal website. could youtube be a better gateway to your website (or yourself) if you put musics on it?
For the first question, regarding working in multiple industries I think the answer lies in looking at the careers of composers working now. They tend to work in more than one industry, and mix'n match in all kinds of ways. Games and concert music, films and playing in a band, films and games etc. It's genuinely rewarding to apply your knowledge in different ways, and explore the opportunities to be differently creative. I used to see it as a bit flaky or discouraging, like someone couldn't just be a composer for games because they're not good enough to support themselves, or they're not that passionate about any one thing, but in reality different kinds of work can be differently rewarding.
For genre, I think it helps to be widely capable too. It just opens more possibilities to give a project what it really needs, otherwise you're always going to be creatively limited and might find you're wanting to do things in scores that you don't know how to, or that you're not comfortable with. It's important though not to try to be something you're not. For example, if I was scoring something which was set in Japan which has very recognisable musical traditions, I wouldn't try to score it in an authentically Japanese style. I would incorporate elements from the musical culture but would essentially be writing in my own voice. If an authentically Japanese score was really needed, I could never be the guy for the job because a Japanese master would be by far the best choice. Thinking of broader genres though like rock, classical, jazz etc it really helps to be able to create each within your own individual voice because otherwise you are going to be very limited. And I don't think you can even try to be a composer for media these days without a grasp of electronic music.
I will talk about this in its own right at some point, because it's an interesting subject which I have had to come to terms with.
YouTube is great, but putting music on YouTube comes with its own set of challenges. This largely comes with licensing, and not wanting to piss people off, put anyone in an awkward position or lose potential work through not keeping quiet. If I'm pitching for something and I've created a track which I think is great, I can't put it up there on Youtube no matter how much I want to. This is for many reasons. The project which I wrote it for may be under wraps, or they may not want me to associate myself with it when they haven't decided whether I get the job or not. It could be seen as trying to piggback of their publicity and profile. There could also be exclusivity and licensing issues. If you were making a film, would you want everyone to hear the music for the trailer three months before that trailer is released? Exclusivity is often important in this business.
I do intend to showcase music on YouTube, but only music which I'm sure is 100% ok to have in public view. This means probably not music which I'm pitching with, or which is for something not generally released yet just to name a couple of reasons.
EPT
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