 With the work of creating and releasing my latest course, How To Be A Full Time TV Composer, behind me, I thought I’d get back to exploring some topics that are a little broader and applicable to all of us, regardless of what kind of music we make or what are specific niche is. According to the self-help guru and motivational rock star, Tony Robbins, two of the most fundamental needs we have as humans, is the need for both certainty and variety. We long for things like comfort, security and stability. But when things get too predictable, we tend to get bored and crave variety and excitement. I can relate to these two, seemingly, contradictory needs a lot. I’ve felt this dynamic at work in all aspects of my life; relationships, work, music, business and more. At times, it seems like life is a tug of war between these two opposing ends of the need spectrum. We need and long for stability, but we also need and desire a certain amount of variety and newness to keep things interesting and fresh. When my income from licensing my music and making money online combined was enough that I was able to quit my job as a guitar teacher, one of the first things I did with my new-found freedom was to start travelling abroad. Travelling helped me scratch the itch I felt for variety and excitement, at a time when my life was starting to feel very monotonous and uninspired. My first extended trip was to Costa Rica. Then to Nicaragua. Then to Panama and Colombia. Then to Guatemala. Then to Mexico and Peru. Then to the Dominican Republic. I became sort of addicted to the feeling of freedom and adventure that travelling gave me. There’s something about going to a new culture that you’ve never been to before, where you don’t really know anyone, that is extremely invigorating. There’s a heightened sense of self that comes to the surface when you put yourself in a new, unfamiliar environment. You’re forced to pay more attention to your surroundings and you feel more alive. Travelling to me is a bit like a drug, which is why so many people are drawn to it. It’s intoxicating.  Playing guitar with the locals. Granada, Nicaragua. 2008. But, like with drugs, the high you get from travelling eventually wears off. The novelty of being in a new place eventually fades to the point that you’re simply yourself, in a foreign environment. “Wherever you go there you are” as the saying goes. New place, new people, new sights and sounds, but ultimately, the same you, (albeit with new experiences). Eventually I decided to settle down and get back to leading a more conventional life. I realized that as much as I love travelling and having new experiences, I was travelling so much that it was starting to feel at odds with other, larger goals I had. Things like running a business and writing and recording music are much easier to do if you’re established in one place. Even simple things like going to the gym on a regular basis and eating well can be challenging to maintain when you’re traveling from place to place. It’s much easier to establish a day to day routine when you’re in one place. It’s also a lot less expensive. Travelling is a great experience, and I grew a lot during the period in my life where I traveled extensively, but like with all things, there’s a trade-off to traveling a lot. So, for the last few years I’ve settled into a routine of working and recording music on a regular basis. My day to day life isn’t quite as stimulating as it was when I was travelling around Latin America and the Caribbean, but I’m much more productive and I’m able to chip away at my goals much more quickly and regularly. That doesn’t feel quite as exhilarating on a day to day basis as my life of a digital nomad did, but there’s a sense of long term satisfaction and pride that I have now that I didn’t have when I was more focused on having fun and living in the moment. From time to time though, I long for the feeling that travelling used to give me. I long for the heightened sense of self that comes with discovering new places and new people. Because, even though I realized that traveling extensively isn’t really conducive to the kind of life I want to lead, it was a blast! I have so many fond memories from that period of my life and I have no regrets about spending my time the way I did. I’ve realized though, that you don’t necessarily need to jump on a plane and fly half way around the world to get that feeling. You can, with the right mindset and attitude, capture that feeling today, right now, regardless of where you live. You can take the feeling and inspiration that experiences like travel brings, and apply it to your daily life, regardless of where you live. I think the great thing about travelling, is that it forces you outside of your comfort zone. By leaving your comfort zone and exploring uncharted territory, there’s a sense of expansion and growth. That’s what’s exhilarating about travelling. You feel more alive, because in some weird way, you are. You’re forced to be more in the moment and aware of your immediate surroundings. Travelling takes you out of your head and forces you to pay attention to what’s happening right now. It’s all too easy in life to get locked into boring, monotonous, day to day routines, where every day is more or less the same thing. You work at the same place, on the same projects, with the same people. I don’t care how much you love what you do, if you’re doing the exact same thing day after day, year after year, that’s going to get old. It starts to feel like the movie “Groundhog Day” where you’re trapped in the same day, every day. You long for something different and less monotonous. But, do you really need to get on a plane and go to a foreign country to meet new people? Do you really need to go to another country to try new food from a different culture? Do you really need to travel to another country to try new things? Of course not. There is a world out there, waiting to be discovered, in your own backyard. People you’ve never talked to, places you ‘ve never gone, cafes you’ve never checked out and classes you’ve never taken. They’re all there, just waiting to be discovered. Recently I started to feel like my life had become a bit too routine oriented again, and so I made a few simple changes that have alleviated that feeling. The first thing I did is that I rented a co-working space a few blocks from my apartment, so I’m forced to leave where I live every day and interact with new people. That move alone, has done wonders for my psyche. Working for yourself is great, but it can get pretty lonely and isolating if you’re not careful. The other thing I’ve started to do is go to a new café by my place every morning before I start my day. Again, it’s such a small thing, but my mood has been lifted dramatically by simply going to a new place, interacting with new people and starting my day a little differently than before. Sometimes, small changes in our day to day routine can have a huge impact on the way we feel. I like to think of this approach to life as having a “vacation mindset”. Instead of waiting for that one or two weeks a year where you go sit on a beach somewhere drinking Pina Coladas to escape your life, adopt a “vacation mindset” right now. Talk to new people. Go to new places. Seek out new experiences right where you are. Shake your life up! Pretend like you’re on vacation, even though you’re not. Take that same sense of seeking adventure and playfulness and apply it to your day to day life. Right now. Wherever you are. Then, take that same mindset and apply it your music. Write different kinds of songs than you normally do. Take risks that force you to grow. Start interacting with new people in the music business you may have been overlooking. Start taking chances that are both exciting and a little scary at the same time. Straddle the line between stability and uncertainty more and more. That’s where the growth is! When you live your life in a way that’s fulfilling and meaningful you’ll be having so much fun, you won’t want or need to take a vacation. And if you decide to take one anyway, you’ll find yourself, sitting on a beach somewhere in the Caribbean, with a mojito in your hand, staring off into the sunset, bored out of your mind and longing to get back to the exciting life you’ve created.
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 “Do what you love and the money will follow”. That’s a mantra I heard over and over growing up. The idea being that if you just, in the words of Joseph Campbell, “follow your bliss”, that will somehow magically lead to a life that unfolds magically and will result in a blissful life filled with money, accolades and everything your heart desires.
It’s a great idea. But, at least in my experience, it’s simply not true. I know tons of people “doing what they love” who are broke and one or two pay checks away from being on the street. In my own experience, I’ve followed this idea to a large extent, and although at this stage in my life I’m fairly comfortable, it took me a long time to get here and my success hasn’t been nearly as simple as just “doing what I love” and waiting for money to pour into my account. Don’t get me wrong, I love my life, but it’s not all easy. I’ve worked really hard to get where I am now, and I still have a long way to go. Now, don’t get me wrong, life isn’t about just money. I’m sure as musicians we can all agree on that. But, money is important, and if you’ve ever been in a position where you start to run out of it, you realize quickly just how big of a role, for better or worse, money play in all our lives. In my experience, learning how to make money, in both the music business and business in general, has required actually doing a lot of things I don’t love at all and learning how to have a good attitude about doing them anyway. Everything I do for money these days has started with some sort of initial passion, but in the end, every single road I’ve walked down that has actually worked, has involved a fair amount of doing things I really don’t feel like doing or particularly enjoy. It hasn’t been all bliss. I’ll give you a few examples Music Licensing – My desire to license music and make money started with a passion for writing songs. I still maintain my passion for making music and I love it as much as ever. However, the reality of making money licensing music involves a lot of things that aren’t necessarily fun or particularly enjoyable. Things like doing metadata, uploading music, aggressively emailing and calling people, networking and so on, aren’t really my idea of a great time. But, they have to be done in order to achieve my desired result of successfully licensing my music. Running my website – The idea to create an internet business around my passion for music and music licensing was born out of a desire to work for myself, and focus on a subject that I love, writing songs and licensing music. I get a lot of satisfaction out of my work and it’s definitely a better way to make money than any of my previous “day jobs” I’ve held. But, again, running my business requires doing a ton of things that aren’t particularly fun. Things like editing podcasts, writing ad copy, doing accounting and so on, aren’t my favorite things to do, but they’re part of running my business and it’s work that has to be done. Hosting Retreats – This has been a new venture for me, and with only two under my belt this year, I don’t have a ton of experience. But, again, although the overall process of hosting a live event was extremely rewarding, there was a ton of preparation leading up to the event that was fairly stressful and not really fun, per se. Things like creating websites, running marketing campaigns and so on were all a lot of work and not that exciting. Even the event itself was somewhat stressful and a lot of hard work. In the end, it was very rewarding, but it wasn’t all fun. I could go on and on with examples like this, but I’m sure you get the point. I don’t think there’s a profession in existence that is all fun, all the time. Most successful people have to endure a certain amount of stress and pushing through resistance in terms of doing things they don’t feel like doing to achieve their goals. So, where does this idea of “do what you love and the money will follow” come from? Well, it’s a nice idea and like many clichés, there is an element of truth to it. I think it’s an idea that can actually push you in the right direction, it’s just that it’s overly simplistic. Let’s face it, most people probably aren’t cut out to work themselves, which is why most people don’t work for themselves. Only about 6% of the population is self-employed. The majority of people don’t have the “kahunas” to really follow their passion and make their dreams a reality. The majority of people work for someone else and I don’t think this number is a coincidence. Working for yourself, in any capacity, is hard. Creating a career as an independent musician is hard. Starting a business that becomes a viable, profitable business is hard. There’s a reason most people choose to just get a job working for someone else. It’s a lot easier and in many ways, less stressful. It’s probably not as rewarding, for most people, but it’s definitely easier and less stressful, which is why the majority of people go this route. But, since it is so hard for most people to get a business or project off the ground, it can be a huge advantage if you actually enjoy and believe in what you’re trying to do. If your passion is great enough, it can help you find the strength to keep going in the beginning, when times are tough and you feel like giving up. Doing what you love and are passionate about can be a huge advantage in terms of making money, if, and this is a huge if, there’s actually demand for what you’re selling or trying to do. If there’s zero interest or demand in your music, widget, service, or whatever it is you’re trying to sell, no amount of passion is going to allow you to become successful. If, however, there’s some interest and you have a massive amount of passion, that could lead to making something that otherwise would have failed, or been mildly successful at best, becoming massively successful. Passion and love for what you’re doing, could be the tipping point that pushes you towards success, but there has to be interest in what you’re doing to begin with. If you have no passion or interest in whatever it is you’re trying to do to make money, chances are you’ll probably just throw in the towel when the going gets tough. But if you really believe in what you’re doing, you’ll be much more motivated to stick with it and overcome the challenges that inevitably arise. Do what you love and the money will follow? Yes, if what you love overlaps with something there is an actual demand for and you work really, really hard, overcoming the barrage of obstacles and setbacks that are sure to come your way. So, go ahead, follow your bliss, just don’t expect life to always be blissful.  I’ve been posting a lot of content lately strictly related to licensing, so I thought I’d take a moment to write a blog post about a slightly broader topic that’s been on my mind lately. It’s not directly related to music licensing or the music business, per se, but it’s a mindset that’s applicable to anything you do in life, including, of course, making music and pursuing a career in music, if that’s your thing.
This is a concept that author and entrepreneur Seth Godin introduced me to, and it’s the idea that in business, and life in general, we have a tendency to take things personally when things don’t go our way. If our music or business venture fails, we feel like it’s somehow a reflection of our value. If the market rejects our ideas or music, we feel like they’re rejecting us, as people. We have a tendency to take our success or failure very personally. Godin likens the process of starting a business or launching a new venture as being a bit like playing Monopoly. Only, instead of just playing with several people, it’s a game that we’re playing with several billion people. Every move anyone makes affects everyone else’s position on the board. But, like in the game of Monopoly, if you don’t land on Park Place, or you’re not the first one to buy up all the utilities, you shouldn’t really take it personally. After all, it’s just a game. Of course, it’s easy to look at life and business this way when you’re sitting comfortably atop your multi-million dollar empire, as someone like Godin is. But, what about when you’re starting out, or when you’re still struggling to “make it” in your chosen profession? Like the game of Monopoly, the game of life is a game you get to keep playing. If you lose at Monopoly today, you probably aren’t going to take it personally, throw the game away and refuse to every play again. Unless you’re like 4 years old. Maybe you got a few bad rolls of the dice and perhaps you made a few strategical errors. But, you still can play the game again tomorrow and you could still win again tomorrow. The game of life is a lot like Monopoly. Just because you didn’t make the moves you wanted to make and haven’t arrived where you hoped you’d arrive, doesn’t mean the game is over. You get to play again, every single day you’re alive. Your past doesn’t define you and you can always make different moves today. It’s not a perfect metaphor. After all, this is real life and our success or failure has real, tangible consequences. But, in a way, it’s a pretty accurate way of looking at the situation. Just look at the winners and losers in the music industry. It’s pretty clear that those who have “made it” commercially are not somehow inherently better people than those who haven’t. They might be better players, but even that isn’t necessarily true. I think we can all agree that the Justin Biebers and Katy Perry’s of the world are just people who happen to have the right combination of looks, talent, hard work and timing. It’s a game and they got a lucky roll of the dice. That’s it. It doesn’t mean they’re better than you, or more talented than you, or even smarter than you. They just rolled the dice and landed on Park Place before you did. Of course, like in all games, some people are more driven to win than others. Some players practice more and study the game better than others. Some players spend more time playing and get better than their opponents. Some players come to the realization that the game isn’t even worth playing and find a new game to play. But the most important realization, regardless of whether you win or lose, continue to play or quit playing, is that, in the end, it’s just a game.  Day 2 of the "Caifornia Dreaming" production/licensing retreat with music supervisor, Jody Friedman (bearded). I just finished spending two weeks in the LA area for the licensing/production retreats I co-hosted with my producer, Gary Gray. It was an amazing two weeks. It was so great to meet so many people that I’ve worked with online and on Skype, in person. In addition to meeting all the musicians who attended the retreats, I finally got to meet one of my “star students”, Eddie Grey. Eddie has taken several of my courses and has gone on to parlay the information I teach, as well as what Gary Gray teaches about music production, into a thriving career as a TV composer. I had a chance to go to Eddie’s home studio in Sherman Oaks and see what he does in action. It was really cool to see him working behind the scenes. He’s a super hard working guy who is crushing it right now with licensing and syncs. I’ll be bringing him back on my podcast soon to share what he’s up to. In addition to the retreats I hosted, I also managed to record three new tracks with Gary, meet up with five different people in the industry who I previously connected with via my podcast and had a chance to meet several new music supervisors and publishers. It was a jam-packed two weeks of working, recording and networking. I left LA with a renewed sense of focus both about the business aspects of what I do related to running my website, as well as a new sense of purpose and direction related to the music I make and license. I probably learned more about the music licensing business and music business in the last two weeks than I have in the previous two years. It was really that great of a trip. As excited as I am about my trip and as excited as I am about the future, there were some slightly discouraging conclusions I came to about the music business as well during this trip. Some of these conclusions aren’t necessarily new, but were simply reaffirmed based on different things I was told and heard during my recent trip. One of the great things about connecting with people in person is they tend to open up and give you a more unfiltered take on things. Although I was super inspired from most of the people I met and connected with, there were some people I met in the industry that were more than happy to share some of the darker sides of the music business with myself and Gary. Most industries have a dark side and a certain element of corruption and politics if you dig deep enough, but the music industry, due I suppose to the nature and economics of the industry, has a particularly high degree of corruption, shady people and pitfalls to watch out for. I won’t name names, but I spoke with a well connected and respected publisher who told Gary and I numerous horror stories about behind the scenes deals between supervisors, elements of payola in the licensing industry, stories of artists buying spotify streams and youtube views to artificially boost their popularity and on and on. Of course, none of this is really that surprising to me, but it can be a bit depressing to hear about if it catches you off guard. Here we are, in this already incredibly difficult and competitive industry and then come to find out, it’s not even a fair or level playing field. WTF?! We pour our hearts, emotions and money into our music and yet there are people out there willing to take advantage of us if we’re not careful. Life can be so cruel. But, then again, is it really surprising? I wasn’t born yesterday. I’ve been around the block a few times. I get that life isn’t always fair and that not everyone has our best interests in mind. This isn’t really news to me and I doubt it’s news to you either. So, what do we do about it? Well, here I go about to get all philosophical again…. There is a yin and yang to life. There is a bright side and a dark side. But, we get to choose where we shine our light and what we focus on. We get to choose where we direct our energy. We get to choose what direction we go in. We get to choose which doors we open and which doors we close. Don’t like what’s behind door #1? Turn around, close it and open another door. It’s incredibly easy to be cynical about the music business right now. There are plenty of things to get down about. It’s incredibly competitive, it’s not fair, there are shady people, there are elements of corruption and on and on and on. If this is all you focused on, it would be very easy to quit making music out of frustration. Sometimes I ask myself, why I am even working in the music business. That, by the way, is a really good question to ask yourself. When I see so many obstacles in front of me, I sometimes have to step back and remind myself why I’m doing this in the first place. For me, the reason I make music is really, really simple. I. Love. Music. That’s it. That’s why I do this. I love it and I prefer to do things I love, as opposed to things I don’t love. It’s a simple life philosophy that makes decision making extraordinarily simple. Of course, I don’t love everything about the music business and there are plenty of things about the music business not to love. But, back to the yin and yang idea, there are plenty of things I do love about the business. That’s where I choose to focus.  Left to right, Gary Gray, Jimmy Dunne, Aaron Davison. There were some depressing behind the scenes stories about the music business I heard over the past couple weeks. But there were even more inspiring and encouraging things I heard and experienced. I met and connected with so many writers, publishers and producers all excited about the industry. I connected with people more than willing and eager to share what they know and who wanted to help in any way they could. For example, I emailed six recent guests on my podcast based in LA, before I came out, asking if we could meet up. Five of the six said yes. There was a schedule conflict with the other person. I met great, talented people working in the industry willing to share their contacts and expertise and help in anyway they could. For example, I spent almost two hours with songwriter Jimmy Dunne (Whitney Houston, Kenny Rogers, Take 6) at his beach club cabana in Pacific Palasiedes. Throughout the conversation I could feel Jimmy trying to find ways he could help me. It was as if he was searching for information he could impart that would help me. I walked away with several great ideas based on the conversation we had and what he shared. I stayed for free for two weeks at my producer Gary’s house. Gary drove me around LA from meeting to meeting and place to place. He never even asked for gas money! I made friendships and connections I hope will last for years to come. I met an amazing singer and vocalist named Elza who gave me one of the best vocal lessons I’ve ever had, for free! I could go on and on with stories like this. The conclusion I came to and the point I’m trying to make is this: There are plenty of things about the music business to get down about if you want, but there are an equal amount (if not more) of great things about the music business and the people working in the music business to get excited and inspired about. Both are true, the good and bad things, but you get to decide which you focus on and where you shine your light. I’m not sure about you, but I choose to shine my light on the bright side. 
Day 2 Of The 1st California Dreaming Retreat With Erin Dillon from Songtrdr, in Gary's home studio.
This past weekend my producer Gary and I finished the first of two weekend long retreats we’re hosting here in Tustin, CA. It was a long, but extremely rewarding weekend. We had a small group of just six people for this first one, but the small size of the group allowed us to spend a lot of one on one time with all of the participants and really dig in deep with everyone who attended the retreat.
During part of the retreat, the participants who attended collaborated on an original track they wrote on the spot and we ended up recording the song at the end of the first day of the retreat in Master Recording Studios, a multi-million dollar recording studio here in Tustin. We’re actually going to be shopping the track to a few different supervisors in the coming weeks and if we end up licensing it, everyone will get a cut! My favorite part of the retreat though, was listening to music supervisor and current creative director for Songtrdr, Erin Dillion, do a real time music screening session, during which she screened three tracks from each of the participants. Erin informed us that for her job at Songtrdr she listens to, on average, 2,000 tracks a day! We were all a bit shocked by this number. I have heard of supervisors being sent up to 1,000 submissions a day, but wow, 2,000 tracks is intense! Of course, Erin said, she doesn’t have to actually listen to all 2,000 tracks in their entirety, so she has become super efficient in determining very quickly whether or not she wants to keep listening to a track. She said the song has to grab her within the first 5 or 10 seconds, or she’s on to the next one. I know that might seem harsh, but that’s the reality of the industry. There’s a ton of music out there, it’s not all ready to be licensed, and so supervisors and executives like Erin have to cut to the chase very quickly simply due to time constraints. During the listening sessions, it was great to see Erin’s reaction to everyone’s music. She really loved a few of the tracks, a few she was pretty neutral about, and a few others she was more critical of. One of the points she stressed is that she doesn’t really even know production lingo or how to articulate when things are off, production wise. She’s not a producer and if even if she was she wouldn’t have time to articulate to everyone why she doesn’t like their tracks or why she thinks they’re not right for licensing. Erin’s job is more intuitive. She has a sort of sixth sense about music and what songs will work right for different projects. Her job is to find great music for the projects she’s working on, not to instruct people about how to write and record those songs. Not that she didn’t have great tips for everyone about what works and what doesn’t, but she made it clear that on a day to day basis she simply doesn’t have the time to get into why songs don’t’ work. Here's an example of a song that Erin heard during the retreated and loved immediately and thought would work great for licensing. This one is called “Who Can Mend A Broken Heart” by Travis Nilan. Here’s another one that visibly moved Erin, that she also loved and thought would work in the context of licensing. This one is an instrumental guitar track from Paul Armendariz called “Sparkle Hour”. Erin had an immediate, positive reaction to this one! 
Day 1 of The California Dreaming Retreat at Master Recording Studios. Gary Gray dropping knowledge!
One of my biggest takeaways from the weekend is that in order to succeed in licensing you need to do your own research. You need to attend industry events, meet people, study the market and of course write great songs. When you’re on the outside looking in, it can be frustrating if you’re not getting the success you’re seeking. But when you learn how the business works, by listening to and meeting the people working within the music business, it all starts to make sense. When you realize the sheer amount of music industry insiders are listening to and screening on a daily basis, all the rejection and frustration musicians go through is seen in the proper context. A healthy dose of perspective goes a long way. During the retreat, Erin shared with us a great tip about how to break through the noise and reach people like her in the business. This particular tidbit of information was a huge aha moment for me. What is it? Well, I can’t tell you…. exactly. That wouldn’t really be fair to the people who paid good money to come to our retreat and took the time and effort to be there. But what I can tell you, and this is really the gist of her message, is that you need to think outside the box. The majority of writers trying to break into the business are all doing more or less the same thing; sending more or less the same un-inspired emails, writing the same homogenized songs and trying to market them more or less the same way. Erin said at the end of the retreat that now that we know her and have made a personal connection with her that now we can email her directly and she’ll check out our music. The more face to face networking you do, the more you’ll develop connections with peole that will be open and willing to listen to music you send them. More importantly, they’ll also tend to be willing to give you valuable feedback, that you most likely wouldn’t get if there wasn’t a personal connection. My trips to LA and experience hosting this retreat this past weekend have reaffirmed what I’ve known all along, which is that networking and making personal connections is vital in this industry. There are a ton of musicians vying for a finite amount of licensing opportunities. But, there is a much smaller pool of musicians who are going above and beyond and putting in the real work, in terms of networking, cultivating relationships and so forth. There are two ways to approach this business: you can be half in, or all in. Which approach best describes you?  The last few days have been a blur of answering emails, screening and pitching music to various projects, editing podcasts, making youtube videos and getting ready for the two upcoming retreats I’m co-hosting next month in California. This morning I was starting to feel a little burned out from all the work I’m doing so I decided to take a break and have a little impromptu songwriting session.
I write music on a regular basis, but from time to time I just stop whatever I’m doing and have a mid-morning or mid-day songwriting session. I have the luxury of doing that since I work for myself and without fail it leaves me feeling rejuvenated and recharged, ready to face the rest of the day with more clarity and purpose. I like to think of songwriting as going to a place, that I can go to almost anytime I want, that’s removed from the world of capitalism, paying bills, work and all the stress that goes along with day to day life in 2017. For me, it feels a bit like accessing a meditative space where, when things are going well, I get totally absorbed in what I’m doing to the point that I completely forget about any “problems” or issues I’m dealing with, for a while at least. Sometimes it only lasts a few minutes. Other times it lasts a few hours. But the deeper I go, the better songs I’m able to extract, harness and channel. One of the more refreshing take-aways I’ve gotten this year from hosting my podcast is the idea that at a certain point, you need to forget about all the rules and ideas you have for what you think makes a marketable song, and just write music from the heart. This has been the consensus of the vast majority of songwriters, publishers and supervisors I’ve interviewed. This isn’t to say that you can’t try to write something you think might be more marketable and have some success with it. If you throw enough crap against the wall, I’m sure a certain percentage of it will stick. One of the things that concerns me about the current state of the music business, is that since it’s become harder to monetize music, musicians more than ever, seemed to be more concerned with figuring out how to make money from their music. I get it. We all have bills to pay and need to figure out how to get compensated for the work we do. My goal with my website, podcast and so on, is to help you figure out how to do that. But… I think it’s important that, as artists, we strive to keep focused on the deeper reason we make art and music in the first place. There are easier ways to survive than making music. If the only way we can make money from music is to reduce it to a sort of commodity and product that we have to force into a narrowly defined, pre-conceived set of parameters that’s been defined by some executive at a corporation or a “suit” at a TV network, I fail to see how that’s much different than any other job in “corporate” America. However, I don’t think it has to be this way. The light at the end of the tunnel, is that I think great songs still have a place and there’s a still a demand for inspiring and moving music. Even if it’s in the context of an ad campaign or a corporate backed TV show. I truly believe there’s a point where great music and corporate interests intersect. Your job as a songwriter and composer, is to write great music that you actually believe in, and then look for places where your music is needed. If you reverse this, and simply try to write music you think will make money, then I fail to see how this is different than any other “job”. In fact, I think in many ways it’s actually worse, in the sense that you’re taking something that you’re presumably passionate about and forcing it into something you think the market will have a demand for, a much more difficult task than simply getting a "day job". Something I heard the other day, and I’m drawing a blank on where I heard it, is that great art doesn’t follow culture, great art creates culture. Do you think Dylan or The Beatles would have worried about whether their songs worked in the context of a car commercial or a soap commercial? Do you think Hendrix gave a shit about whether his guitar solos were “in fashion”? Well, I can’t speak for these artists, but I’m pretty confident that in all cases there was something more “pure” happening than simply trying to make a few bucks from their little “ditties”. Now, I get it. We live in different times. For better and worse. The music business has changed dramatically since the days of The Beatles, Hendrix, etc. Despite the tone of this article, I’m actually quite optimistic about the future of the music business. I think things are getting better and I think they will continue to improve. However, in the meantime, the challenge we face as artists is to stay true to our muse and not lose sight of what making music is really all about. Which, in my opinion, is about a lot more than simply trying to help advertisers sell cars or help tv shows sell advertising space. When I’m deep in one of my songwriting sessions, the last thing I’m thinking about is trying to make money or figure out what tv show my music might fit into. I’m just writing music that I feel inspired to write and I’m writing about things I’m inspired to write about. Then, after I’ve written a song, then and only then, do I worry or think about where to try and sell it or license it. To be honest, I’ve licensed music of mine that I think sucks and I’ve licensed music that I love and I’m super passionate about. I’m a lot more proud of the latter.  Originally I had planned on calling this blog post, "reconciling the conflict of art and commerce". But the more I dug into the topic and really thought about balancing these two, seemingly contradictory ends of the spectrum (art - commerce) of being a professional musician, the more I realized there was something more profound and meaningful, albeit slightly more subtle, to discuss. I realized, upon closer investigation, that these two different aspects of being a musician aren't so much diametrically opposed as they are intricately connected. They're connected in the same way that night is connected to day, good to evil, up to down and so on. I like to think of art and commerce as being the yin and yang of the music business. For better or worse, they depend on each other. Without an audience, music doesn't have nearly as much impact and without getting paid, musicians have a hard time eating. Hence, the existence of the music business. In The Beginning... Let's start with what I'm assuming is the primary reason the vast majority of us were drawn to being a musician in the first place: making music. Whether your passion is performing live or sitting in your bedroom and getting into that blissed out zone where great songs emanate from, I think it's safe to say that the vast majority of professional musicians are drawn to the music business out of a deep love and passion for making music. Makes sense right? If you love doing something, a logical extension of that is to try and make a life out of it. It's not necessarily the easiest life plan to execute, but it's a hell of a lot more inspiring and motivating than trying to make a life out of something you have no interest in doing. Most musicians probably start with pretty pure intentions and a sincere desire to create something unique and beautiful to contribute to the world. Sure, there's most likely a healthy dose of some level of desiring to acquire fame and fortune in the mix for a lot of musicians. But the vast majority of musicians I meet and interact with seem to have a true passion and love for making music. I think we all desire success on a certain level, but most musicians don't stay in the game very long if they don't truly love music and making music first and foremost. However, as anyone who has been a musician for more than a minute can attest to, the music business, isn't always a bed of roses. Making a business out of music is a much, much different experience than just playing music for fun in your spare time. Turning your love of making music into a viable career path is a journey that can be so challenging and so treacherous that it can potentially undermine and destroy your love and passion for making music. I've seen musicians go from having an absolute, unabashed love and joy for making music to simply not wanting anything to do with it, in the span of just a few short years, as a result of the music industry's cutthroat and heartless nature. And even if you are one of the few who do succeed at "making it" in the music business, well that's no guarantee that your life is going to be a happy, care free and joyous life anyway. One needs to look no further than the recent suicides of Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell, or the long line of musicians throughout history who have died tragically young due to substance abuse and mental health issues (Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin, Elvis, Prince, Michael Jackson, Hendrix, etc) to see that it's pretty clear that "making it" in the music business doesn't automatically equate to a happy or "successful" life. Obviously correlation is not causation, and there are, I'm sure, many happy and well adjusted musicians, successful and otherwise. But from the outside looking in, it doesn't really seem like success in the music business, in and of itself, is a very dependable way to attain happiness. The more I think about and break down the distinction between the art and commerce aspects of the music business, the more I realize that the music business is simply a microcosm of life. At the risk of getting a little too philosophical, life is both tragic and beautiful, simple and profound, sad and happy, up and down and [insert your own cliche pair of opposites here], regardless of what profession you choose. No life path is a guarantee for happiness. I've met absolutely miserable people who are obnoxiously wealthy and ultra successful by societal standards, and I've met entirely happy and content people living in third world countries who make less than ten dollars a day, and vice versa. The music business just seems to magnify aspects of humanity that are prevalent in all our lives. At its worst, the music business is comprised of greedy, egotistical, maniacal and power hungry executives (and in some cases musicians) who will stop at nothing to increase their bottom line and further their power and dominance without regard to things like artistic merit, integrity and talent. Conversely, there are tons of musicians out there who want nothing more than to simply make beautiful music, share it with the world, and hopefully earn enough to lead a comfortable, sustainable life at the same time. The music business isn't one or the other, it's both. Just like life, it's not really possible to reduce it to some sort of easily quantifiable box or category or thing. Achieving Balance - The Zen Of Being A Musician On an individual level, as musicians, the "zen" part of being a musician is about maintaining balance and having a healthy perspective. You need to have thick skin to deal with the inevitable ups and downs that come with the path of being a musician. The music business is hard for a variety of reasons, many of which I've addressed on this blog and in my newsletter ad nauseam over the years. Without going into the obvious reasons why the music business is so challenging, let's just say it isn't for the faint of heart. What's allowed me to forge ahead after all these years and still deeply enjoy music and to a certain extent, the music business, is the realization that "making it", at least as traditionally defined, isn't really the goal to begin with. What you talking about Aaron?! You're sounding crazy! How could that not be "the" goal?? Think about it, it's pretty clear that making it in the music business doesn't automatically lead to a happier and more fulfilling life (see above). I mean, I'm sure there are plenty of examples where it has, but there are clearly an abundance of examples where it hasn't. So, I'm not overly concerned with stressing myself out about reaching some sort of arbitrary goal of "making it" in the music business that would seem to, at best, give me about a 50/50 chance of happiness and fulfillment, and could actually reduce my life expectancy by as much as 25 years. But, then again, sitting around and wasting your days away doing nothing or doing things you don't care about isn't exactly a great recipe for a fulfilling life either. At least not for me. For me, the sweet spot is in the middle, where you're actively engaged in life and pursuing things that are important and meaningful to you (like music), but you're not so attached to the outcome that you hinge your happiness on achieving or not achieving certain goals. Even goals related to your music career. It's sort of like when you want to be with someone, romantically, so much that you scare them away. If you cling to hard, you risk squeezing the life, and fun, out of the relationship. It's the same with music. If you take it too seriously, it's all too easy to turn your music career into something that's just another, run of the mill, stress provoking attempt to make money. I think Gandhi summed up this idea well, when he said “Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.” When I think about this quote as it relates to being a musician, it really helps put things in perspective. It means, to me at least, that in the grand scheme of things it probably doesn't matter whether you or I or anyone else make it in the music business, but it's important that we try. It's important that we're engaged with and enjoying our lives and contributing to humanity to the best of our ability. But don't take any particular goal or endeavor so seriously that you squeeze the life and joy out of it. I know, I know, it's a bit of a paradox. "You should pursue your goals but not care if you achieve them? Is that what you're telling me Aaron?" Well, not exactly. A better way of saying it is you should pursue your goals as passionately and joyfully as possible but don't let your emotional well being depend on any particular outcome. I know, it's deep, but I didn't call this post "Zen And The Art Of Being A Musician" for nothing! Think of it this way... True freedom is pursuing and doing that which we love, but being comfortable enough to let the chips fall where they may, because ultimately they're going to anyway, whether you like it or not. Related Videos
 I’ve been getting a lot of questions about my plans for my first ever digital music compilation that I’ll be releasing this fall. Since most of the questions have been more or less the same, I thought the easiest thing to do would be to address them all in a blog post.
Here goes… Why are you doing this compilation? What’s the point? Well, the simplest answer is that I want to help promote some of the amazing music that is out there that isn’t being heard. As a part of my “job”, I have the great fortune of listening to a lot of indie music, and there is an enormous amount of really great music out there that isn’t really being heard. I want to do my part to help promote some of the great artists out there that deserve recognition but aren’t really getting it. What styles of music are you looking for? I envision this first release as being fairly eclectic, with a wide range of styles. I’m really open to anything as long as it’s great and well done. With that said, I’m leaning towards songs with a modern and fresh sound with vocals. However, if the right instrumental track or track comes my way, I’m open to including that as well. The main thing I’m looking for is great music, regardless of the genre. Is there a deadline for submitting? There’s not a specific deadline per se. I’m going to keep accepting submissions until I find a collection of tracks that I feel strongly about. With that said, my plan is to release the compilation in the Fall, so I’m hoping to wrap things up in a month or so. Are you doing this to make money? I hope this project makes money, but I’m not doing it primarily with that motivation. I’m well aware of the challenges of monetizing recorded music, so I’m going into this with eyes wide open. With that said, I want to be as transparent as possible at the outset of this project and let everyone know that any money that is potentially made will be split equally with everyone who contributes to the project. If there ends up being ten people involved (including me), the money will be split ten ways. It’s as simple as that. I have some really unique ideas in terms of how to promote the project that I’ll be sharing with everyone a little further down the road. For now, just realize, this project is free to participate in and everyone involved will get an equal share of any money made. Will I keep the rights to my music? Yes, 100 percent. By participating in this release you won’t be giving up any of your rights to your music. You’ll still own your tracks and can continue to license them, sell them and give them away elsewhere as you see fit. This won’t be like a traditional record deal/record label where you give up the master/publishing to your music. Our deal will be completely non-exclusive and you can work with other people and companies concurrently if you choose to do so. Where will the release be distributed? Spotify, Itunes, Amazon, Youtube, etc. Wherever digital music is bought and sold. When is the release date? I don’t have an exact date. It depends on how long the process of screening, selecting and compiling music takes. I plan to release it, tentatively, sometime in early Fall 2017. When will you notify the artists you’re interested in working with? I’m going to start contacting artists that I’m interested in later this week. My plan is to Skype with everyone I'm interested in initially to go over details of the project and to make sure we're on the same page about my vision for the release. If we are, then I’ll send a short contract that outlines the details of our arrangement (see above). What about your licensing courses? Will you still offer those? I’ve been running How To License Your Music.com for nine years now and have put together an extensive collection of courses and products related to the music licensing niche. I’ll be continuing to offer my courses on my website and will continue to offer training programs with coaching, like the 90 and 180 Day Music Licensing Challenge, as my schedule permits. If you’d like to submit your music for consideration, you can do that here. Let me know if you have any more questions or comments, in the comments!  This summer I’m going to be launching a brand new project, unlike anything I've ever done before. I’m looking for great songs that I’m going to release as a part of a compilation that will be distributed far and wide on platforms like Itunes, Spotify, Youtube, My podcast and much, much more. If your music is selected, being included on this release will cost you nothing. In fact, there’s a really good chance that this release will make money. That’s the goal. If that happens, and I'm confident it will, I’ll share it with everyone who’s involved equally. I can’t share the exact details of the release yet, but if your music is accepted as a part of the release, I’ll give you all the details as well as a short and sweet, 100% non -exclusive contract. What I can say, is that this is going to be a very innovative release and a unique project unlike anything you’ve ever heard of. If all goes as planned, we’ll all be getting major press and attention for this project. Seriously. Sound interesting? Apply below and if I think you’re a good fit, I’ll give you all the details. Please fill out as many of the fields below as possible, as they will all factor into your being accepted or not.  It’s good to have goals. As musicians, having goals gives us something to aim for in our lives and careers. The right goal can motivate us to grow and push us towards new heights as musicians that we would most likely fail to reach if we had no goals at all. Having goals give us a direction to orient ourselves towards. It gives us something to do and strive for every day when we get up. Without goals, it’s all too easy to wander aimlessly, with no real direction or purpose at all as it relates to our music and life in general. One day maybe we dabble in jazz, the next day we try to write a fugue, the next day we go to the beach because we’re not feeling it and so on. Of course, having a freedom and playfulness to our lives can be liberating at times, but without any goals at all, we zig and zag a lot, often times not really getting anywhere. The problem with goals though, is when we’re so attached to a specific outcome, that we neglect the process and journey of getting there. Or, we get discouraged when we don’t hit the milestones we set for ourselves and stop trying or even give up. This could because we’re not setting the right goals, or we’re simply not motivated enough to do what it takes to make our goals a reality. Having really big goals gives us something to dream about and work towards. I think they’re mainly positive. Goals become a negative when we set such big goals for ourselves that we become discouraged and depressed if we don’t reach them. Or even worse, maybe we do reach them, but they fail to satisfy us the way we imagined they would. Or we find we’re not quite ready psychologically to deal with the sort of attention and pressure that success brings. (I’ve known people personally who have experienced both of these scenarios). I made a video recently where I talk about setting goals as musicians, and how to set goals that serve to motivate and inspire us, and how to avoid setting goals that cause us to end up feeling more discouraged and disillusioned than we did before our goals. Check it out here: 
In my latest podcast, I speak with filmmaker and musician, Chip Miller. Miller has produced 195 MTV/VH-1/BET & CMT music videos, national commercials, award-winning documentaries, a Disney TV weekly kids series, PBS TV Pledge Specials, an HBO concert, and several indie feature films. Previous to DCAM/Winmill, Miller was an Art Director, a film Producer, Editor, Music Supervisor, Screenwriter, and Director, on dozens of movies, many television programs and made for tv movies.
In this podcast, Chip and I discuss: -Chip's latest recording project, Old Sand Mill, featuring Brian Wilson, Paul Simon, The Punch Bros and more. -How The Music Business Has Changed Over The Last Several Decades -Chip's career making music videos for artists like The Cars, The Rolling Stones, Linkin Park and more. -Balancing art and commerce as a modern day musician. -How to get your music in films and what supervisors look for. -And much more Check out the podcast below:  I’ve been hosting my podcast, Music, Money And Life for over three years now. My podcast started as an irregular way of connecting with people in the music business and sharing what I learn with my readers, in an effort to expand the content I create. The first couple years of doing my podcast I had no regular schedule. I would sometimes do a couple podcasts a month. Sometimes I would get busy and skip a month or two. To be honest, it wasn’t something I took very seriously in the beginning. I looked at it as a fun way to promote my business and connect with people in the industry at the same time, but my approach to doing it was inconsistent. Last year I had the realization that I should put more work into my podcast and step things up. The main reason I came to this conclusion is that I really enjoy doing it. It’s a lot of fun. It’s sort of like having my own little radio show. I’ve always wanted to have my own radio show. Actually, truth be told, I’ve never wanted to have my own radio show, but it’s pretty cool when I think about it! The fact that we live in a time where we all have the ability to connect with other people and share that information around the world for free is truly incredible. In addition to simply enjoying my podcast, it’s an amazing and pretty painless way of connecting with people in the music industry. I get to connect and have an in depth conversation with at least one person working in the music business every week! How cool is that? Before my podcast I could barely get people in the music business on the phone, now I get to talk to them for up to an hour and pick their brains, asking them whatever questions I want. The other day I talked to film maker and musician Chip Miller, who has toured and worked with Paul Simon, Brian Wilson and many more, in addition to having made over 190 music videos for bands like The Cars, Linkin Park and many more. Last week I interviewed one of the top music supervisors in Canada that syncs music to many of the most high profile ad campaigns in Canada. Yesterday I interviewed Portia Sabin, the owner of the label Kill Rock Stars (The Decemberists, Deerhoof, Elliot Smith). I’m getting a world class education in the music industry and I don’t even have to pay for it. All I do is ask people, politely, to come on my podcast, and a large percentage of the time they say yes. Just Ask Doing my podcast has been a real lesson in the importance of simply taking action and making things happen. In my experience, there are tons of people in the music business more than willing to contribute and help out by way of giving advice, answering questions and so on, if you simply take the initiative and ask them. I came across a video recently of Steve Jobs where he discussed how one of the common traits that separates those who do, from those who just dream about doing, is simply taking action. He tells a great story about how when he was 12 he called up Bill Hewlett (Hewlett-Packard) and was offered a job simply for having the courage to just call him up and making the effort to get his help. Watch the video: The Power Of Reciprocity Another takeaway from podcasting has been that more often than not people are willing to help you if you ask them and IF, and this is a big if, you have something to bring to the table. I think the main reason so many people are willing to come on my podcast and share their expertise is that they also get something in return; more exposure for their brands, a platform to share their knowledge and look smart, and so on. It’s really just human nature. People feel obliged to reciprocate those that help them. In Robert Cialdini’s classic book, Influence: They Psychology Of Persuasion, Cialdini lists reciprocity as the first rule of persuasion. The idea of reciprocity says that people by nature feel obliged to provide either help or concessions to others if they’ve received favors from those others. Think about how this applies to something like the music business or trying to get your music licensed. Most supervisors, publishers and so on are inundated with emails and phone calls from musicians that want something from them. Whether it’s a musician looking to land the next big placement, get a record deal, or somehow move his career forward, most musicians are looking to get something out of the people they’re contacting and reaching out to. Think about this, and be really honest with yourself, when you reach out to people with your music, are you really concerned about them and their needs? Or do you just want someone, anyone, to help you make money with your music? Do you put the needs of those you’re contacting first? Or do you really just want someone to give you a break and help you out already? You might be thinking, yeah, but I’m offering my music to people I’m contacting, so isn’t that an equal exchange? Well, it could be, but it really depends on your music and how you approach people in the business. Have you done the research to know whether or not the person you’re contacting needs the kind of music you make? Are you sure what you’re bringing to the table has real value? Are you sure the music you’re submitting is the kind of music the person you’re sending your music to wants or needs? Are you really trying to make a genuine connection that is mutually beneficial? Or are you just blindly throwing your music out there to see what will stick? Try to make a real connection to those you’re trying to connect with. The thing that I love the most about doing my podcast is I’m able to make a genuine connection with my guests that go beyond just exchanging a few anonymous emails. I don’t keep in touch with everyone that I’ve had on my podcast, but I do with many and I’ve forged several meaningful and lasting connections as a direct result of getting to know them on my podcast first. Doing a podcast isn’t for everybody and I don’t expect you to all go and start your own podcasts, websites and blogs, although you could if you feel drawn to doing that. But regardless of how you go about it, try to make real connections with people that are beyond just business and wanting to get something from someone. Try to get to know the person behind the job description that you’re reaching out to. Portia Sabin, the owner of the record label Kill Rock Stars, was a recent guest on my podcast and one of the things she stressed is that she needs to feel a connection to the artists she works with, in addition to loving their music. She said that signing artists is based on a combination of loving and believing in their music and resonating with artists as people. It’s not a surprise, but she wants to work with people she connects with. As we all know, the music business is all about connections. But it’s not just about who you know and who knows you. It’s about who you resonate with and who resonates with you. It’s about people. 
In my latest podcast, I speak with the Toronto based music supervisor, David Hayman. David is the founder of a music supervision agency called Supergroup. David and Supergroup have placed music with the following brands/projects: -Coors -Logitech -Duracell -Virgn -VW -Vice -Mazda -Netflix -Amazon -Jack Daniel's -ICF Film's -Vice Land -Kraft -Heinz -Vice Land -And many more... In our podcast, David and I discuss: -How supervisors like David find music -The types of artists and bands that supervisors prefer to work with -How much you get paid for a variety of projects -Why indie artists get more supervisor love than "big" artists -How to get your music to supervisors like David -and more... Check out this week's podcast with David here: 
In my latest podcast, I speak with Mexico City based composer Milo Coello about his career writing music for tv and films. Milo is a Berklee graduate who spent several years in LA making connections in the industry, before eventually returning to his home city of Mexico City where he currently resides and writes music for tv and films full time. Milo's music has been heard on NBC, Discovery, Food Channel, Discovery, Bravo, National Geographic, CBS, ABC, Fox, VH1, Lifetime, A&E, BBC, TBS, UFC, Universal and much more. In this podcast, Milo and I discuss: -How to break into the world of writing songs for tv/films -The Pros and cons of being based in LA as a musician -How to thrive in less competitive markets -Playing Live VS working as a composer -How competition can inspire us to work harder and achieve our goals -and much more. Listen to the podcast here: Learn more about Milo here: http://www.milocoello.com/ Subscribe to Music, Money And Life On Itunes. 
In episode #65 of Music, Money & Life, I speak with London based composer, Claire Batchelor, about her career as a composer in the UK. Claire writes custom music for film and television and has been sustaining herself as a full time musician since 2009.
In my podcast with Claire, we discuss
One of my favorite things about being involved in music licensing, is that it gives me a very clear objective in terms of my music and songwriting.
In a general sense, I strive to just write the best songs I'm capable of writing, but having something like licensing as a goal, motivates me to push myself to write better and better songs, or at least to try. I find that when I have clear, very definable goals, that's when I do my best work. Like when I have a live show coming up; I practice more and I rehearse and I do everything I can to be as prepared as possible when my gig comes. It's the same with licensing. Knowing that I have people in the industry that will listen to new songs whenever I finish them and will pitch them to and potentially place them in tv shows, films and ads, motivates me to write the best music I'm capable of writing. It gives me something very concrete to shoot for. The truth is, there are only so many ways to monetize original music these days. You can play live, you can license music, you can sell your music (to the extent that still works) and you can write music for other artists. That's about it. It should come as no surprise, that during periods in my life when I wasn't actively pursuing any particular goal related to music, that I didn't accomplish as much. I still wrote music during these periods, but I wasn't as prolific and I wasn't really pushing myself to grow in the same way that I am now. I didn't have a clear goal to latch on to, and so I wandered. When you have goals and objectives related to your music, it makes your days much easier to navigate. When you know where you want to go, it's much easier to figure out what direction you need to move in. Speaking of goals and music, here's my latest track, called "You And I". I'm certain I would have never written this song if I didn't have the momentum with licensing and creating tracks with my producer, Gary Gray, that I have right now.
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AuthorThe blog of musician and thinker of deep thoughts, Aaron Davison. Archives
January 2019
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