So... I don't really know much about it but, from what I hear, getting your music used in film a fairly lucrative. The reason I'm sitting here writing about this is that cdbaby has added a way to make your music available to filmmakers. Has anyone had any experience working with filmmakers in this way?
If you don't know about cdbaby I highly recommend it, it's a nice easy way to get distribution online (iTunes, Rhapsody, and Amazon to name a few) with no crappy reoccurring fees.
I digress, as far as music for film goes. I think that the benefits from the increased exposure far outweighs the initial monetary benefit. For 3 reasons:
- You have someone else pouring money into promotion of the end product.
- The listeners are much less likely to get distracted and ignore your music.
- When someone buys the soundtrack, you get to be bundled in (see: more free exposure)
PS - does anyone know if there are musicians who specifically write songs on each album with film in mind?
2 comments:
Regarding your PS, yes there are. Although it doesn't always happen that way (sometimes already existing songs just fit the bill perfectly) it's easy for writers to get an idea of what the film industry is looking for by subscribing to a pitch sheet/website. Writing for tv/film is something I've become very interested in over the past year. A teacher of mine has spent a lot of time greatly emphasizing the benefits of having your songs licensed for tv/film. One of our class focuses revolved around choosing movies we liked and then writing songs for specific scenes, the end credits, as well as general "theme songs." The rest of the class acted as directors and would say whether or not they thought the song fit the film. It was interesting. I've been trying to get some licensing gigs through sonicbids (a great resource for writers/musicians) but no bites yet. It's definitely something to think about as a writer. As you said, while it can be lucrative the exposure alone seems reward enough. A great example as well as someone awesome to check out is Jonathan Clay: http://www.myspace.com/jonathanclay
Though he's an independent artist he has garnered a lot of success by having his songs played on hit MTV shows such as The Real World and The Hills.
Anyway, that's my piece for now.
wow, I know this is an old post, but I am trying to get myself out there to write music for film. I have numorous pieces written, but not a good contact in the industry to present them to. Any suggestions?
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