How to get Music Comissions

Hi everyone,

My first thread. :D

I hope I'm doing it right :blush:!

Does anyone know how to get commissions for musical works?

Networking.

Showing completed, polished works to the right people.

Networking.

Knowing people who get as excited about your works as you are.

Networking.

Being professional, approachable, and, for lack of a better word, not be a dick.

Networking.

These things might not get you commissions by themselves, but they open the door.

Oh,

Posting in forums is sure a lot of help!

(what Flint says actually)

Well, the first step is to work with someone you like for their work and teaching style and approach (the latter is especially important, if you like a teacher to be very strict and extremely direct, seek that. If you do better with a more gentl open approach seek that. Just be sure to listen to the teachers students and talk to them).

Whereever and whomever you study with be sure opportunities to hear your music are available! After a certain point in your study this will be extremely important.

Then discuss you goal to submit works with your teacher, your friends, musicians you work with, offer to write for free, etc.

Be professional - that means answering phone calls promptly (eg do not wait over 36 hours to get back to a caller who wants to hear your music!), answergin calls politely - eg, don't just leave on your cell - "leave a number at the beep, peace" -- greeting, name, and promise you will get back to that person quickly. Professional also means responding to e-mails promptly and with correct spelling and proper sentence structure. This also applies to serious post you put on places like YC (esp more professional ones) - if your postings and e-mails sound like you had partaken of the wacky weed a few too many times, you will be ignored. Finally when meeting in person just look neat - I am not saying put on an Armani suit, Brooks Brothers tie and Ferragamo shoes, but make sure you dress properly for the occassion and venue.

I went off a little on the above because composers and artists still have a reputation for being "out there" which, in a way, is fun to purport but very self-defeating. Here is a (true) example of being unprofessional -

Your piece has been selected in the top 3 for performance at a music festival. One of the judges send an e-mail asking you post your piece on your website so the judges out West can hear it again. You e-mail back:

"I don't remember which piece I sent to you. I have been very busy."

Regards,

VSC (for Very Stupid Composer)

This composer was lucky, the judged fumed but gave the composer a break: "Hey I understand but if you want to be considered any further put up piece x - Sincerely Head Judge"

So, please be professional!

As has been said now repeatedly, it has a lot to do with contacts. Specifically to performers, as they tend to be the ones that commission most music, or at least give recommendations. If performers like playing your pieces that's the best thing that can happen to you, really, in terms of getting more commissions. It actually tends to make much a greater difference than the audience liking to hear your pieces.

That's a bit the problem with electroacoustic music, really. It's relatively easy to get into the "circle of electroacoustic composers", which is a nice, self-supporting circle, but it's rather closed. You very often just have "concerts from and for electroacoustic composers" there and it can be very hard to break out of that, if you don't also write music with actual performers who may "carry you along" to other stuff.

Being friends with music critics of newspapers doesn't hurt either :P

Also: Go to concerts of other contemporary composers. If you show interest in what others do, others also might be more inclined to show interest in what you do.

Networking.

Showing completed, polished works to the right people.

Networking.

Knowing people who get as excited about your works as you are.

Networking.

Being professional, approachable, and, for lack of a better word, not be a dick.

Networking.

These things might not get you commissions by themselves, but they open the door.

:angry:

Composer283: WTF?!?!?!? Flint gave you the best advice you could get and you're annoyed, by what??!?!?!?

Yeah dude, flint's right. Meet people, meet people, talk to people, meet people. I'm sure there are a number of books, I know there are for pop composers. Check your local library.

It's literally a "who you know" world.

There is the slight detail of "how you meet those you know".

But this is a whole lot different chapter which deals with education, personality, carma, luck, etc... (and who you are of course).

People are born into certain circles, but they can also enter some. Not only the son/daughter of a certain composer will make it.

We keep forgetting that networking is flirting, is a little of a challenge, is a great thing. If you want to sit in your home and see who will knock on your door, do so, but you will fail I can promise that. If you want to meet people, then do so. If you already know people then show them what you can do and who you are. etc... ;)

Get played.

Pay people to play you.

The more people HEAR your music and realize THEY want their own piece of yours, the more you will receive commissions.

A couple of fellow composers and myself formed a sort of "collective". We have basically become "concert promoters. We pay for the event, pay the venue costs, etc.. The performers get to play (for free) in concert and get exposure. The one catch? They have to perform our music along with the rest of their concert programme.

How is this beneficial?

Well, the performer WANTS the chance to be heard in public.

They don't have to pay the hall, or wait for someone to invite them to play.

And YOU, the composer, are not asking THEM, the performer, for a "favour" (ie "play my music, please, please, please").

The important thing is that playing your music has to be beneficial to the performer!

It must NEVER look like your asking for a favour from the musicians.

And thus enters the "art of making other believe they need you".

Out of this, comes requests for new compositions. The horn player of a quintet I recently promoted in this fashion has commissioned a horn sonata from me.

I offered to do this sort of deal with a chorus, and they skipped right over the "me promoting them" part... they went right to "we love your music and want to play it". And this actually lead to a second commission for a brief choral work to be taken on tour, recorded on CD, and used in a competition.

Get chummy with musicians. It can happen, one of THEM might be well-placed to get you performed as happened for both Nikolas and myself over the past year in Seattle. Both of us got performed by an orchestra there, and in my case, I was very lucky that it also lead to a commission for a larger work for a different group. (P.S. Niko, Johan LOVED your piece! We had a LOOONG chat on the phone the other night, he wanted me to let you know. I suspect it will find its way onto a concert programme with his orchestra in B.C. as well).

Get heard, get played (for free), or pay people to play your stuff... it all eventually leads to "if your music is good, people will want new pieces by you, and be willing to pay for it".

But there is no "easy" or "fast" road to getting commissions.

You have to be the best.

No one commissions works from people they think are 2nd rate.

The people who commission from you have to believe in you.

Which means you have to work your donkey off to BE the best at what you are doing.

Get played.

Pay people to play you.

The more people HEAR your music and realize THEY want their own piece of yours, the more you will receive commissions.

Nothing to add, that's all anyone needs to know about it. Regardless of where you are, you have to work with what you have and try to meet more people and expose them to your work and see what sticks, all the while being flexible to accommodate for things that may come up.

Be practical and straight forward, scout for opportunities to get even a tiny piece in any type of concert, solo or whatever it may be. Even if it's just filler, any chance is worthwhile working for. So, it obviously means you need to know people and it helps to have a bunch of friends too that play or other composers you can organize things with.

It's always easier to start off with the help of others if it's possible, but if you're on your own you still need other people to get your stuff out, so sooner or later be prepared to be working with people and, again, always shoot for performances so long as you can put out something you're really sure is representative of your skill or artistic vision... Or simply what you're being asked to do, do it the best you can.

Look out for stuff like short films, soundtracks, whatever it is that can serve as a vehicle for your work. Each has its own quirks and perks, but that shouldn't be a problem.

Another good advice is to have a portfolio with a good group of pieces which really speak for you as an artist, regardless of what they are. The more commercially sound approach is to of course showcase flexibility and being able to work with all sorts of configurations/circumstances, etc etc, but not everyone really has that from the get-go so it's something to slowly build over time. But it's prudent that before you start hunting for places to get your stuff played or venues where you can get your first "pro" setting concert, etc etc, you should have a good portfolio already because nobody cares about someone who goes up and asks for scraggy empty-handed. This is one of the good things you get out of an education, by the way, it builds up your portfolio (If you're happy with the stuff you did anyways) or it can give you lots of chances to write up your own thing that you can later present as being something you want people to remember you by.

Or you can just be really lucky (or rich) and study with someone important and get commissions by default, which obviously goes a long way in helping and getting you in the "circle."

But yea, fight fight fight and fight some more; nobody cares about a composer who is not willing to go all the way to get his music out and heard (of course, if you really WANT others to listen to your music or not that's your deal, but since this is about commissions I assume you do.)

Nothing to add

Guess you changed your mind. ;)

But yea, fight fight fight and fight some more; nobody cares about a composer who is not willing to go all the way to get his music out and heard

This is true. Certainly it takes more effort than that required to post an angry face.

:angry:

:D

Guess you changed your mind. ;)

I guess I just figured I could add something anyways, but it's entirely optional to read it. :>

I'll offer you my experience to assist anyone else. I am not at QC's or Nikolas' professional stage of development but you will see it isn't that different from what these guys do (ps, forming a collective is an excellent method!):

First, I started getting performances when I took a course where I met performers who sight read our sketches. Note, these people were PAID for this.

The first time, it was a performer who was ALWAYS looking for new music to program. He liked my ideas and said if I work on it in advance for his spring recital he would perform it. I ran a little behind but made sure I go it to him by the end of January. This was good because he asked for revisions at the end of February. I gave him the final score in the first week of March.

The second time, it was a piece for this class but the player who I choose to work with sight read another work of mine (and not such a great one). Reason? Well, I needed help writing one part of the solo work because I wanted to use an unusual technique. I paid him for his consultations. After awhile he liked the piece enough that he said he would look at it while on summer vacation. Upon his return we had 2 short consultations - which he didn't charge me. I came very well prepared to these and kept them under 30 minutes. He loved the final version and I paid him as much as I could to record the piece and gave him a copy of the recording for his portfolio [Note - performers love this]. I hired a decent, affordable recording guy whom the solist knew.

Also, I decided to have another piece - a violin duo recorded because the players were quite generous with their time for the reading. I paid them for their time - just 15 minutes of work.

My next steps in "networking" are to seek performers at the school and outside it and maintain my relationships with two excellent solo performers>. To do the latter, attend their concerts, let them know of any performance opportunities I hear and check in if they need a new work for an occasion, go for a drink once a blue moon with them. To do the former, attend new music groups concerts, look into forming a collective, check-out competitions, and, most important, study and practice my craft - there is ALWAYS something to learn.

I hope my story helps those who are somewhere in between those still not quite ready to present their work and those already on the professional path.

PS. Hate to say this but you need SOME MONEY to get things performed. Not alot to start though. Even if you perform your own works, eventually you need money to rent a hall or performing space. If you are a choral composer with a church choir, you will be putting more in than what you get compensated. So, even here there are hidden costs.

Another angle:

A great way to get people to commission something from you, is to first commission something yourself, from them. You gain a reputation as one who supports his colleagues, who will in-turn think of you when the need arises....

Composer283: WTF?!?!?!? Flint gave you the best advice you could get and you're annoyed, by what??!?!?!?

Sorry, in the moment I wasn't thinking and I thought he called me a dick.

Didn't read it right.

Were you expecting to post on YC and then receive 10 commissions in the mail?

Knowing how to spell comMission might also help

Oh.. heh heh

That one always gets me!:D

Were you expecting to post on YC and then receive 10 commissions in the mail?

Knowing how to spell comMission might also help

Networking.

Showing completed, polished works to the right people.

Networking.

Knowing people who get as excited about your works as you are.

Networking.

Being professional, approachable, and, for lack of a better word, not be a dick.

Networking.

These things might not get you commissions by themselves, but they open the door.

Sorry!

-unless you were calling me a dick...

Sorry!

-unless you were calling me a dick...

That line is in reference to the people I've worked with who, while amazing, brilliant musicians, are unable to land jobs because they've burned all their bridges by being dicks - either in the studio, on gigs, on the telephone, online, etc., etc., etc.

Amazing talent/ability might get you a few jobs. But your personality will ultimately decide if you get any more.

PS. Hate to say this but you need SOME MONEY to get things performed. Not alot to start though. Even if you perform your own works, eventually you need money to rent a hall or performing space.

That's true in many cases, but if you study composition you might get many opportunities through your university. Particularly studying in a music department means you get to know many music students who may actually be willing to play your music for free if you ask them nicely enough. A personal "trick" I have is accompanying lots of instrumentalists on the piano for concerts and competitions for free, which gains me their favour which I can later ask for :P

Or you go more for "team-work pieces" where it's not just a composer asking for a service from a performer, but an actual collaboration towards a common goal that you organize and work on together. This may be a very fruitful experience, since if you work closely together with performers they will generally feel to be taken more seriously and therefore also take your piece more seriously. The one downside to this method is that any sort of team-work requires the readiness to make compromises, so if you create a piece together with your performers, it might not come out quite as radically and focused as if you were writing a piece first and then approached a performer. I guess every composer has to find their own preferred working style there. In any case: Creating a musical group that works together as composers and performers is a very efficient way of getting played repeatedly, maybe even in the long term. As long as you get along and the performers actually like playing your music, of course.

Places of music education usually have concert halls too, which you might get access to for free. Not even to mention that your composition department might organize concerts for the composition classes or pass over commissions to students. (And even if you pay for a concert hall, you might get the money back with entrance fees.) Since I began studying music three years ago I have got everything I've written performed (some things more than once) and I haven't paid anything (and actually could get some money out of commissions).

Of course I realize that the hard time begins the moment I'm finished studying and suddenly am standing on the road without any institution to assist me. With good luck you have enough contacts by that time to continue like that, but that's also dependent on you staying in more or less the same place, which obviously many don't want to. So yeah, I guess there are times for almost every composer when it seems hard to get opportunities to get played, in which case the willingness to spend some money is certainly advisable.

i think composer283 is mad cus he thought Flint was calling him a dick by telling him not to be one.

or he just clicked on the wrong emoticon.