Your Music Heard by 19 Million People?

Dear Passengers,

I feel like I'm getting to know you better as the years roll on.

We had a booth at the ASCAP Expo last weekend, and I had the pleasure of meeting a couple of dozen people on this list during the time that I was there. I walked away with a couple of observations:

1) You come in many different shapes and sizes.

2) Film and TV placements could very well be the ONE thing you could all have in common, but many of you don't know it.

Some clarification — by different shapes and sizes, I'm NOT talking about your physical shape. I'm referring to where you live, how old you are, and what you want to accomplish in the music industry.

The Film and TV part will become apparent in a minute, so keep reading.

I met a guy named Bob from Madison, Wisconsin. Bob is 54, and a huge Bob Seger fan. Bob's music sounds like a really good clone of Bob Seger's music — not much of a surprise in that Bob looked like he just jumped off the Seger tour bus. Bob was kind of stuck in the late '70s, but not so horribly that you'd make fun of him.

I grew up in the Midwest, so I "got" Bob.

But Bob wants a record deal. Now you're starting to chuckle, right? A 54 year old guy with long hair, balding on top, a tummy that looks like it has consumed some six-packs, rather than being flat like one. You get the idea. Bob probably isn't signable as an artist, yet in his mind, he IS.

I told Bob to consider pitching his music for Film and TV opportunities that ask for Classic Rock material that sounds like the '70s. He scoffed! "But I want to get a record deal!"

"Yes Bob, I know, but why not make several grand a year along the way?" I asked.

"No, I want to stay focused on a record deal."

"One doesn't preclude the other, Bob!" I exclaimed.

"I don't know anything about doing movie music. Hell, I don't know the difference between a viola and a fiddle!" Bob exhorted. We both walked away frustrated from the encounter.

Ten minutes later, I met Amy. She was twenty-something, tall, dark hair, sultry, and looked like a Jazz or Cabaret singer. I was right. Amy played Jazz piano, and earned her living by teaching piano, playing piano bars, and playing at Nordstrom's department store on the first floor, near the base of the escalator. She had a finished CD she pressed at Disc Makers, and she sold it at her gigs. She sells more than a thousand a year.

Amy wants to be the next Norah Jones. She lives in Washington state — not exactly a plethora of A&R execs to bump into there. Maybe a few, but not a lot.

I asked her how she planned on getting signed. "I've been thinking about joining TAXI for the last couple of years, but other than that, I don't know. You guys don't have a lot of listings for artists like Norah Jones."

"Have you ever thought of licensing your music for Film and TV use?" I queried.

"Yeah, but I'd rather get a record deal." she responded.

"Why?"

"Because I want people to hear my music." she said with a 'Don't you know?' look on her face.

"Amy, if you DO get signed, and your record DOES go Platinum, that means a million people will hear your music. Even if you get tons of radio play, it could take a year or more to reach the 19 million people that would hear you on the 'O.C'., next week alone!"

She grimaced, "Yeah, but I don't know how to score a big orchestral piece for TV."

"You don't need to! They could probably use one or more of the tracks from your CD in scenes where somebody is in a restaurant or bar and there's some light Jazz playing in the background. And I think you stand a greater chance of being 'discovered' by an A&R person watching TV than you do having them 'discover' you while you're playing near the escalator at Nordstrom's, don't you?"

"Maybe, but I only recorded this stuff on three tracks of an old ADAT machine. Your listings always ask for broadcast quality. My CD was done with two tracks for the stereo piano, and one track for my vocal," she responded.

I listened to a little bit of her CD. It was TOTALLY fine for broadcast!

I asked Amy if she read the series I did on Film and TV music a couple of months ago. She didn't! I was shocked!! Don't you guys read EVERYTHING I write? ;-)

Just in case you didn't read it, here's a link to it. I got hundreds of e-mails from people who thought it was valuable information that they had never heard before. Could the same be true for you?

Whether you decide to join TAXI, or do the heavy lifting yourself (finding the contacts, calling them, and asking for permission to send them a sampler of your work), the opportunities ARE out there, and you might be missing them.

How?

By not realizing that the material you're sitting on may be just what the doctor ordered.

I understand that for many of you, a record deal is the Holy Grail, but please don't pass up opportunities to turn your tracks in to cash. Virtually everybody has SOMETHING that's just PERFECT for a scene somewhere. If nobody ever hears it, it's a lot like the proverbial tree falling in the forest.

Talk to you next week,

Michael