Dear Mr. Laskow,

I'm a fan of your e-mails and articles. They're very motivational.

In that spirit, I would like to know what steps you would take to become successful in the music marketplace today if you were in my shoes. I'm in my late thirties. I have a small but decent home studio. I play guitar and keyboards. I'm a so-so vocalist but I can't tour because I'm married with kids and have a good day job. With the way the economy is today, I want to start making money with my music as a backup plan in case things get worse. What would you do if you were in my shoes?

D. B. Longbine

Hi D.B.,

As the weak economy continues to linger, I'm getting this question more and more often.

The best answer is to watch more TV. I know I sound like a broken record, but the easiest, most realistic way for somebody who isn't 19–years–old — and can't tour in support of his or her self-released CD — is licensing music for TV shows, films, and commercials.

The big misconception is that you have to be into scoring to make money with your music in that market. That's SO not true!

I'm answering your letter on my laptop in bed. It's 8:44 a.m. on a Friday morning, and I just heard a music bed under a voice over in a commercial. It only had a ukulele in it and it was so basic that virtually anybody could have played it. A few plucked notes, a couple of basic chords strummed as accents... not a whole lot to it.

But the reason its creator got paid is that he or she had studied what the market needed and delivered a piece that would fit in. Watch TV, make notes as to what you hear, then begin writing and producing. Have a plan and some targets.

If you took three hours each evening and sat in your studio with nothing more than a ukulele, a decent microphone, and the intent to record three different "mood" pieces, couldn't you do it?

Make the first one a mysterious, 60-second piece of finger-plucked minor chords — almost like pizzicato chords you'd hear plucked on a violin. Something you might hear while watching a kid peek around the corner at the apple pie his mom just put on the kitchen counter. The kid has muddy shoes. He waits for his mom to leave the kitchen, makes a mad dash for the pie, leaving a trail of mud on the floor. The mom walks back in, gives a sigh, pulls out the Mr. Clean, and a few happy little swipes later, the mud is all gone. What does that sound like? Does it resolve to major chords being plucked to signify a happy ending? Yes! Could you double those last few chords with a glockenspiel sample? Think of the notes that are the sonic logo for Intel — dah, dum, dum dah!

There... you've done it! You just created a track that might be perfect for a production music library. How long did that take? An hour at most? Can you think of two more scenarios you could do with a ukulele (or many other instruments)?

If you recorded three per night (not all on the ukulele, obviously) and did that 200 nights per year, you'd end up with 600 tracks. If you got 20 percent picked up in a year of pitching, you'd have 120 tracks in the marketplace that could make you money.

If you went with that plan for 10 years, you'd have TWELVE HUNDRED tracks in several different production music libraries, and you would certainly be making money. I would estimate that you'd be making a healthy five or six figure income by that time.

Yes, you can record more sophisticated tracks with more instruments. But start out with simple tracks that only use one or two instruments to get a feel for the process. Teach yourself about creating moods instead of worrying about impressing other musicians or creating tracks that are so complex that achieving perfection will take a great deal of time.

I'm certain that you could keep yourself very busy with a keyboard and some great sounding samples, an acoustic guitar, a banjo, a mandolin, a ukulele, a harmonica, a Jew's harp, a piano, and a few percussion toys. The trick is to study what you hear on TV, take notes, make a plan and stick with it. Shoot for achievable goals and build up your chops over time.

TAXI member Bob Mete just had a SOLO piano piece picked up by a major fragrance company. They plan on using his track as their sonic signature for the next year in TV spots, ringtones, web marketing, and everywhere else they need music.

Bob split the $15,000 license fee with his publisher (that he met through TAXI), and will get half of the performance royalties coming in from numerous domestic and international usages over the next year. I would guess that he could easily make an additional $10,000 to $30,000 from this one placement before it's all said and done. Maybe more!

I'm telling you D.B., it's time to start seriously watching your TV and taking notes as to what kind of tracks you hear. They are your road map to making money with your music.

Good luck,
Michael