Jason – Composer Interview

[Art Munson]

1.) Your name?

Publication name on MLR: Jason

2.) Any credits you care to mention?

I’ve been producing electronic music as an artist for approximately 10 years and have worked with famous record labels in the scene, made remixes for well-known DJs and do a lot of ghost writing works for other artists. For Film & TV I have not been into the game for too long, but until now I have around 200 tracks signed to several libraries, so some good credits should come up soon.

3.) How long have you been writing music?

I started to produce electronic music in the late 90’s/early 2000’s as a young teenager, playing around with the first music production software programs like music maker. So that’s something between 10-15 years.

4.) How did you get started?

I’ve always loved and played music since I was a child. Started playing drums very early and always wanted to create my own music, which was finally possible when I got my first computer.

5.) How long have you been writing library/production music?

I started 2 years ago, when I decided to follow a safer route (compared to the electronic DJ/producer scene). Since then I’m making music for a living and I love my life more than ever before. I still do a lot of electronic music and I love how I can decide from day to day which kind of music I want to make, sometimes concentrating more on the electronic artist thing, sometimes I focus on the library stuff. It’s all fun!

6.) Are you making a living wage writing library/production music?

At the moment it’s about 50% from libraries and 50% from my DJ/edm stuff.

7.) Do you care to give any general figures of annual earnings (low/mid/high 5, 6, 7 figures)?

Low to mid 5 figures.

8.) Are you self-taught or have you studied formally?

All self-taught, but had friends doing similar stuff and we helped each other a lot.

9.)Do you work through music libraries?

Yes.

9a.) If so are they exclusive and/or non-exclusive libraries?

Both, around 50/50! Still trying out what works best for me, but I’m quite sure that I’ll keep it like this.

10.) Do you contact music supervisors, music editors or TV production companies directly?

No. Sometimes I’m thinking about that, but then I come back to the idea that I want to spend my time making music and let other companies do the business work. 🙂

10a.) If so how do you approach them?

11.) How do you deal with rejection?

Quite easy. There’s always another use the track, which is one of the best parts of the whole game in my opinion.

12.) How do you feel about re-titling?

Didn’t have to deal with this yet and I think this topic will come to an end soon because of the new technologies like Tunesat etc.

13.) What do you have the most success with, royalty free sites or back end PRO royalties?

At the moment it’s the RF stuff, but that’s just because I haven’t got PRO Royalties for most of the placements yet. (I got my first TV placements last year) – As I work with 2-3 big and successful TV libraries, I’m quite sure the PRO money will make up leeway very soon.

14.) Any tips about writing descriptions, keywords and/or metadata?

I’m not an expert on this, but I think it’s always good to think in pictures rather than technical terms. Also, I prefer to keep it short and to the point, rather specific than universal.

15.) Any trends you would like to comment on (YouTube Content ID, Internet Royalties)?

I don’t use to worry about or fight against any trends. You can always follow another route and find out what works for you.

16.) What sort of advice would you give to someone just entering the library/production music world?

If you really enjoy the process of making music and it’s the thing you want to do every day, then go for it! Save up some money first, because you’ll need at least 1-2 years to get the first serious income from libraries. Write as much as you can, be organized, be efficient. Most of all: Have fun!

And finally!

17.) If you were not writing music what would you be doing?

Djing, playing drums, just something else with music. But let’s forget that thought!

[Author]

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