Composing for a Living?

I think the best way to get exposed in today's world is to set up a website, one that looks professional and has all your music on it. That way, it's easy to just hand out business cards with your website address on it and people can instantly know everything they need to know.

Originally Posted by Justin Tokke

I think the best way to get exposed in today's world is to set up a website, one that looks professional and has all your music on it. That way, it's easy to just hand out business cards with your website address on it and people can instantly know everything they need to know.

Hmmmmmmm......
That is a REALLY good idea, and I'm sorta in "website making mode" after making most all the logos and helping my dad make a website for the high school band... so I might give that a try.


As for competitions, I ofund out that the "Grawemeyer Award" (if anyone has heard of it) is actually given away by the University of Louisville... which is the city i live in and is about 20 mins away from my house!
pretty schnazzy =P
EDIT: but i wouldn't win or anything 'cause it's an international thing, but it's cool that my hometown college is the one that gives it away

Ask around. Talk to people. Search the internet.

Originally Posted by Justin Tokke

I think the best way to get exposed in today's world is to set up a website, one that looks professional and has all your music on it. That way, it's easy to just hand out business cards with your website address on it and people can instantly know everything they need to know.

Websites are cheap...business cards are cheaper.

Win-win situation.

The trouble is finding people to give the damn things to...

My advice is get good, REAL good, at what ever you plan to do. AND let everyone know what it is that you do. Talk, yell, sing, hand out signs, and talk some more. (how else will people know who you are.)

Originally Posted by robinjessome

The trouble is finding people to give the damn things to...

Thats where drivng down main street throwing them out the windows (or off you bike) comes in handy...
considering you don't get caught and fined for littering... <_<...

I don't know. If I was a concert manager I wouldn't walk down the streets picking up every paper I find to discover new composers

You could always play in the NYC Subways as a fallback. With 600,000 people passing by you every day, and only 1% taking your card or throwing you a dollar, that's $6,000 in one day! Perhaps busking has it's merits!

i never thought so many people went through those subways!

6 grand a day, wow lol that's... uhm... 1.8 million a year! (but that's if you get 6 grand a day for 25 days out of the month, if you get it for 30 days [which is the average] then you would get 2.16 million XD)

First off, do you want to write music for television or film?
If that is how you want to "compose for a living" then that is where you should go. Go to where people make TV shows and movies.

Now, if you goal is to be performed by symphony orchestras... well, that's not where the money is.

I don't know if a lot of people here actually KNOW, but... when symphony orchestra plays your piece, they don't ALSO pay you for it.

This seems to be some sort of illusion many young composers have about how the world of concert music works.

Making music from writing concert music requires that people PAY you.
People will pay you to write them something when they think you are good.
To become "good", study hard, learn all you can.
Get performed as much as possible (and sorry, but, it's all gonna either be "for free" or you may even have to PAY to get performed).

And then, maybe, miraculously, one day, someone will comission you to write for them.

There are VERY few composers who make a living by only composing.
Most have the old "back up plan" in action... teacher, athlete, porn-star, etc... (well, it depends just HOW well you want to be living)

Even royalties from concerts has been reduced so much in recent years that it's nothing more than a pittance now. You would have to have literally hundereds of works being performed by professional ensembles, in professional contexts, every week, to live off of royalty cheques.

Remember, your friend performing your piece, with no ticket price, at a local venue... that isn't going to bring in ASCAP dollars.

QCC - You hit it on the nail w/ some additions and summation --

Addition to QCC's tv and film opportunities -

Another venue in the film and TV composition world is sound production. Now it isn't easy and many jobs are centered on the coasts (NYC and LA) but it is better than relying on composition

In sum, it is a matter of taking the following steps -

STEP I -

Get very good at what you do and EXPAND into others areas. And aside from your speciality be good at a few other things (that means, don't treat keyboard harmony, improv,ear training and dictation as things you must get through --- I recall applying to be an accompanist for an intense pre-school accompanist position. Guess what I was asked to do? Harmonize a melody, improvise to a given accompaniment, sight read mostly. I didn't do too well on some of these because I never took serious training in improv, harmonization etc until recently). Another thing about this, don't be a snob - I know of a singer who was asked by a very famous tv program to stay on to do vocal sound effects after doing one gig. Guess what she refused because she thought it "beneath" her training.


concurrent w/ STEP I, STEP II

Get to know yourself --- yes, for composer - pianist teaching piano may be a good fall back but if you don't like it you will be just as miserable if you were doing another job you hate - eg a law file clerk. Figure out your interests. You may be surprised that it may only be composing. This means you have to look outside music (just think of Charles Ives who a trailblazer in music AND insurance!).

STEP III (this can start as you are in the later stages of STEPS I and II, eg your skills are getting good and you have done some exploration, expirimentation which has given you 2 -3 roads to pursue)

Get yourself known. Go to concerts and workshops and have a business card ready. If you have a website fantastic --- but you tend to get more publicity if you treat it as a blog (I believe flint does this with his updates on his compositions). An excellent example is Roger Bourland's website where he is chair at UCLA's music school, writes for film, video and tv, an essayist and blogger.

Get yourself aligned with the people who can help you and be in an environment that will benefit your composition. Join composer/music licensing publishing organizations. Join ensembles or composer consortiums IN school. Assist with other composers concerts. Set up you own group. Contact charities, event planners, businesses etc for possible funding and performance/composition opportunities. BTW, moving to LA, NYC (or some of the large cultural centers in the rest of the world) for the opportunities is not possible for all (and not entirely necessary), but there are cities with large, active arts communities.

STEP IV

Get a life. Not in the perjorative sense, but depending on your temperament, it may mean just ensuring you spend time with friends, take a vacation, relax, or do something non-musical you enjoy. Also, take in stride the times you cannot spend as much with composing and, possibly, music.

Ok, this became a HUGE post (a good deal of the advice I need to follow much more). Sorry.