Stuart Duffield – Composer Interview

[Art Munson]

1.) Your name?

Stuart Duffield

2.) Any credits you care to mention?

I’ve written music for a few video games, and have now started to get my music used on TV and Radio. A notable recent credit is that one of my tracks was used by Disney.

3.) How long have you been writing music?

I’ve been writing professionally for around 17 years.

4.) How did you get started?

I started out by writing on the guitar and recording to a 4-track tape recorder. I then began messing around with computer-based sequencers and samplers. When I got my first version of Cubase I was hooked.

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

I’ve been writing full-time for libraries now since 2008.

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

I’m making enough now to pay a few of the monthly bills. It’s not paying all the bills yet, but I’m still working on it!

7.) Do you care to give any general figures of earnings (low/mid/high 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 figures)?

Annual earnings are 4 figures.

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

It’s a bit of both. I learned guitar when I was young, and learned everything I could from friends and also taught myself other things. Later I studied music composition and theory, and also taught myself by analyzing and mimicking musical techniques and styles.

9.) Do you work through music libraries?

Yes.

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

They’re all non-exclusive right now.

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

No

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

N/A

11.) How do you deal with rejection?

I try and take it on the chin and learn from it. I’m always trying to improve what I do, and if any criticism of a track specifies any particular area I will try and do it better next time.

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

I understand the practice when a library is securing the publishers rights. However, re-titling and claiming exclusivity is just ridiculous, and obviously not a good idea from a legal standpoint.

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

I’d have to say Royalty Free sites so far, I’m hoping that the backend PRO royalties will increase over time…

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

Simply to put in the effort to make them the best possible fit for the music track – it really is worth spending that extra time, as the description and keywords are what will get your track to appear in a search. Also, take a look at what successful writers are doing and try to emulate that.

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

YouTube is great for the viewers but not so good for writers and copyright owners. The whole internet royalty area is a complex problem to solve.

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

The competition is fierce, so keep the quality levels as high as possible, even if this means extra time or cost. Other than that it pays to be versatile, but if there is composition style that is your strong point then make the most of that!

And finally!

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

I’d be performing in a band – I tried guitar, drums and vocals in different bands and loved playing gigs. If that wasn’t paying the bills, I’d probably have a job washing-up somewhere…

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