Music Licensing Tips - The Power of Building a Network
In a recent article, I talked about the importance of building a network of friends and colleagues who are all working towards mutually related goals.
Today I want to expand on the idea and give you a couple personal examples of how networking has helped me to both achieve many of my music business related goals as well as helped others achieve their own related goals.
Hopefully this will help you generate some ideas for ways you can build a more powerful network as well that will help both you and your network move forward more easily.
When I first started recording songs with the specific goal of licensing them for use in TV and Film I was broke.
I was in my late twenties and I definitely fit the stereotype of the struggling artist.
I was making enough to get by but I had very little extra money to spend on things like gear, recording equipment or studio time.
My perceived lack of resources held me back for quite awhile.
But it was actually the person who ended up becoming my publisher, and a mentor of sorts, that helped me think about my situation differently.
She encouraged me to develop relationships with other people who had what I lacked in order to help each other move forward.
For example I met several people who were willing to help me record and produce my songs for free in exchange for a percentage of future money I earned from the songs.
This helped the producers earn extra money and one of them in particular ended up getting his own publishing deal through the connection he ended up making with my publisher.
Through our relationship and working together, I got free studio time, he earned extra money, he got a deal with my publisher and my publisher found an extra songwriter to work with.
This is what Stephen Covey, the author of the "Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People' describes as a win-win relationship.
I have worked out similar deals with background vocalists and lead vocalists as well who were willing to sing on my recordings in exchange for building their resume and a very nominal back end percentage.
There are many different ways to be resourceful to get things done.
I have met many of the people I've worked with and have become friends with over the years by simply posting or responding to ads on Craigslist.
If you live in or near any decent size city you will find that there are no shortage of people who are also looking to make connections and collaborate.
Today I want to expand on the idea and give you a couple personal examples of how networking has helped me to both achieve many of my music business related goals as well as helped others achieve their own related goals.
Hopefully this will help you generate some ideas for ways you can build a more powerful network as well that will help both you and your network move forward more easily.
When I first started recording songs with the specific goal of licensing them for use in TV and Film I was broke.
I was in my late twenties and I definitely fit the stereotype of the struggling artist.
I was making enough to get by but I had very little extra money to spend on things like gear, recording equipment or studio time.
My perceived lack of resources held me back for quite awhile.
But it was actually the person who ended up becoming my publisher, and a mentor of sorts, that helped me think about my situation differently.
She encouraged me to develop relationships with other people who had what I lacked in order to help each other move forward.
For example I met several people who were willing to help me record and produce my songs for free in exchange for a percentage of future money I earned from the songs.
This helped the producers earn extra money and one of them in particular ended up getting his own publishing deal through the connection he ended up making with my publisher.
Through our relationship and working together, I got free studio time, he earned extra money, he got a deal with my publisher and my publisher found an extra songwriter to work with.
This is what Stephen Covey, the author of the "Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People' describes as a win-win relationship.
I have worked out similar deals with background vocalists and lead vocalists as well who were willing to sing on my recordings in exchange for building their resume and a very nominal back end percentage.
There are many different ways to be resourceful to get things done.
I have met many of the people I've worked with and have become friends with over the years by simply posting or responding to ads on Craigslist.
If you live in or near any decent size city you will find that there are no shortage of people who are also looking to make connections and collaborate.
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