Students across the country are getting ready to walk across
stages and receive their diplomas. Shortly after, they will enter the first
stages of their professional lives. I have four tips to help make the transition
from student to professional:
1. Create a web presence.
In our ever-increasing digital age, composers have to establish a
web presence. Social media (i.e. Facebook and Twitter) should account for some
of your online activities; you can use SoundCloud and YouTube to post audio and
video of your pieces. More importantly, however, you must have your own
website. People need to be able to navigate to a site where they can listen to
your music, browse your list of works, read your biography, and contact you.
You might feel like you don’t have too much to put on a website yet, but you
can get creative with the content. For instance, have a blog in which you share
your musical adventures, post pictures of events you’re attending or of
landscapes you find interesting, or list any performing that you’re doing in
addition to your composition activities. Stephanie Boyd, Jonathan Hannau, and
Ed Frazier Davis are recent students of mine have put together some very nice
websites (click on their names to view).
2. Join a performance rights organization.
Getting paid for performances of your music will eventually become
an important revenue stream for you, so start registering your pieces now.
Performance organizations like ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC collect performance
royalties on behalf of composers and send you royalty checks. All three
organizations allow you to join as both a composer and as your own publisher,
which will earn you twice as much in royalties. As long as you self-publish
your works, you will retain the publishing portion of all royalties. Check out
all three organizations, learn what their similarities and differences are, and
then apply to join the organization that suits you best.
3. Get to know New Music USA and the American Composers Forum.
New Music USA and the American Composers Forum are organizations whose
mission is to help composers further their music and careers. Both offer numerous
resources and opportunities that are useful for composers. For instance, New
Music USA annually awards $1 million in grants for a wide range of projects,
from funding concerts, commissioning works, and making CDs to basically anything
project that you can imagine. New Music USA also publishes a digital magazine
called NewMusicBox that features interviews with composers, articles on topics
relevant to our field, and news within the music industry. The American Composers Forum maintains a fantastic list of opportunities that keeps
composers up to date on various competitions, grants, and residencies. There is
a fee to join the American Composers Forum, but it is worth the price of
membership to gain access to their offerings.
4. Kick up your in-person networking.
Last, but certainly not least, in-person networking and building long-term
relationships are vital to crafting and maintaining a career. Just as you’re creating a
virtual presence, you need to have a live presence too. Challenge yourself to
get out to a concert every week or two, and after each concert, shake hands
with a few new people before you leave. If you find that you’re drawn to a
particular performer or artist, follow up with them after the event, ask them
out for coffee (social media is great for connecting with people!), and start
brainstorming how you can collaborate together on a future project.
In the beginning stages of your career, no one will be better at
selling your music than yourself. So be your own salesperson! The more you let
people know who you are and what your music sounds like, the better your
chances are at building a lifelong, fulfilling career as a composer.
