Lots of people who are going into the royalty free music people ask this question. What are the most important parts for running a successful royalty free music business? If I had to pick just three, these would be the three. If I were you, I’d seriously take this advice to heart. And no, it’s not going to be what you would think. In fact, what you think is the last thing that’s really important.
We’ll do this countdown from three to one like they do on the music survey shows. Makes it more fun that way.
3) Number 3 is building a reputation. Why is this important? Well, let me ask you a question. Your car breaks down and you need to get it repaired. Who do you bring it to? Some guy who just opened up a shop and looks like he just got out of high school, or the number 1 rated car repair place in your area? Yeah, I know, a lot of times the reality is that number 1 place is so jam packed with work and so rushed that they end up doing a shoddy job and you end up having to bring the car back. That actually happened to me with my Honda and the Honda “specialist” I was told to go to. What a nightmare that was until the darn thing was finally fixed right.
But the perception by the public is going to be that the person with the reputation, and not the new guy, is going to be the one to go to for the job. Now, I know what you’re thinking. How do I build that reputation when I don’t have it? Won’t people not come to me for their music needs because I am new? Yep, that’s why you have to begin by giving your work away. I know this is a tough pill to swallow but it has to be done at the start. Once you’ve done enough jobs for people and have shown how good you are, the real paying jobs will start to come. But like everybody else, you have to start at the bottom by giving music away.
2) Number 2 is Management. I have seen some of the most promising businesses fail because of mismanagement. Okay, but what exactly do I mean by management and how do you manage a royalty free music business? What is there to actually manage?
Probably the most important thing is your time. At the start, this won’t be as difficult though heaven knows it’s going to be rough enough when you’re in the process of building your site. Yes, you need to get music up on it so people can hear your samples, but you also have to spend time in getting your name out there. A site with tons of music but no promotion isn’t going to do a darn thing. It’ll just sit there like a bump on a log.
After the promotion is done and the site begins to be popular and you actually start getting some work done, then comes the really hard management part. You’re going to, if you’re lucky, be flooded with requests for music. Like any other service based business there are only so many hours in the day. You will have to learn early on that you’re going to have to pick and choose your jobs and turn some people away. Either that or you’re going to have to tell them that you’re booked until such and such a date and ask them if that’s okay. If they really want your services, they’ll be fine with it. If not, they’ll go somewhere else. You’re not going to be able to please everybody so don’t try.
Most of all, you will need to learn to manage your time between your business life and your personal life. You need a personal life. Everybody does. If you spend all your time into your business you will eventually burn out. This is the biggest mistake new business owners make. Then think they have to spend all their time on their business. They don’t. I don’t. Friday night and Saturday afternoon I go out to play cards with my friends and Sunday I go to church. And two Wednesdays a month (except July and August) I go out with my wife.
Do NOT give up the rest of your life for your business.
1) And finally, the number 1 most important thing when it comes to your royalty free music business is, you guessed it, the music. Okay, I was teasing. It is what you think. Yes, the music is first and last. Quality is going to be everything. We live in an extremely competitive world. If you’re not good, you won’t get work. It’s that simple.
So what can you do in order to get good?
Well, for starters, study your craft constantly. You can never know it all, especially not if you’re writing for multiple genres. There are going to be some genres of music that you aren’t as comfortable with. You will need to listen to a lot of that music if you’re going to write it. Why bother? What if a potential client contacts you and asks for a score in that style? What are you going to do, tell him “Sorry, I can’t write that stuff” and let him go somewhere else?
Study your craft as often as you can.
You will also need to practice, a lot. Even if you don’t have any requests for a custom score you should be creating mock scores on your own. Get a hold of public domain videos and write a score to each one of them. Make believe it’s a real client. Create a portfolio of these and put them up on your site. This is a great way of building your reputation.
Like I said, we live in a very competitive world. If you want somebody to choose you for their project, you have to give them a darn good reason why they should choose you over John Doe. If you can’t do that, you’re going to get very few jobs and your business is going to have a rough time of it.
There you have it, the three most important things for your royalty free music business.
For The Love Of Music,
Steven “Wags” Wagenheim