Composing : 9 Effective Networking Tips for Composers by Brandi Thomas

Very interesting article. A good read. Thanks for posting this. I think for many "creatives", especially musicians, composers, arrangers, singers all spend so many days/hours/years working on your craft until you're consumed with being the best that you can. But at the cost of isolating yourself from the world while you perfect your art as a composer and etc. So many artists can come off as "strange" sometimes, or introverts, and networking/talking to people doesn't seem as comfortable as you just "making music". Socializing is definitely a must have skill if you want to come off as "normal" and approachable by potential film directors & etc.

100% agree with you, Dana. A creative career has two sides: the business/administrative side and the creative side. You have to find a balance between the two or you won't get very far. And to add to your comments about networking comfortably - practice makes perfect! I don't necessarily agree that it's about coming across as "normal." I do agree it's important to be approachable, but I think more important than that is just being yourself/not putting on an act.

Being yourself is absolutely essential. People can pick up a phony eventually, if not sometimes immediately. Certainly when you're dealing with film directors or marketing execs to provide musical content for their product, they usually don't appear or behave the way other fellow "musicians" behave. And it may come as a little surprise to musicians that have spent so many years of their life just being around other musicians, but not around people that don't have a passion for music that's now a potential employee. There is a balance, but the most important thing is to present yourself in a relaxed way, instead of feeling like you have to act rehearsed, or like someone else. Besides, if you're aspiring to compose for films, it seems like it would be obvious to me that you should not only like film music, but should like films. Or if you want to score video games, you at least have heard of Activision or Electronic Arts. Those things kind of stick out as obvious to others.

Knowing what is going on in the industry not only helps you stay relevant, but it also helps keep the conversation flowing with those outside the composing realm!

The nine tips are good for anybody. I agree with you Dana, music composing takes a lot of time. I don't know if your experience is anything like mine--you never know when the 'muse' is going to show up--when the music seems to come easily, and naturally. There are other times, that it's a struggle and it's tedious, trying to 'put things together;--but, you have to do one to have the other. The harder you work and the more time you spend, the more inspired moments you get. It is isolating to some extent though- especially when it involves computer processing and mixing- it's just time consuming on top of everything else. I think one has to make the time to get out once in a while and do something else--although it's hard when you are compelled to do your art. Even 'networking' is still time spent on the computer. Have you ever wondered how composers did it back in the day before recording devices? Mind boggling- we have it easy today in so many ways.

Yeah you're right Al, it's a struggle sometimes to balance bein a "normal" person & being an "artist". The funny thing is, a few years back, I thought about the exact same thing you just mentioned. And IMO, I think we actually have it a little harder than composers centuries ago had it. Please don't think in any way am I saying that what we do is comparable to Brahms or Ravel. But, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, & Chopin all studied music, eventually wrote music, and transcribed it for musicians to play. Nowadays if you want to be a composer, you HAVE to know a lot of what Brahms knew; and you have to learn a DAW WELL, and you have to know audio engineering principals WELL, and you have to understand something about computers in general, and you have to understand the differences in sample libraries compared to how the real acoustic instruments sound. On top of knowing how to network and talk to people that aren't musicians. Crazy...

"stepping out of the comfort of your studio"... that's exactly it ;-) Thanks for posting!

What about managers, publishers, agents etc. I mean, I'm not good in socialising, but I'm good in composing. Someone else is good in networking, not in composing. So, let's do it together. Cheers.

It is an option that will lead to failure, but yes, it is an option. Managers and agents are not career fairies who will swoop in and fix everything. They have multiple clients to focus on, so while they will help you, you will still have to make some connections on your own.