Ravi Krishnaswami is an award-winning composer and sound designer for media and games. As lead composer and co-owner of COPILOT Music, his credits include Super Bowl commercials, AAA video games, apps, retail installations, television themes and network IDs. Krishnaswami is a faculty member in the music composition MFA program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. He performs in The Sons & Heirs, NYC’s tribute to The Smiths, and will soon release a new album of indie-folk under the name Hybird.

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Composer and entrepreneur Ravi Krishnaswami discusses why you should build your career on relationships and how to get gigs composing for advertising.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Ravi's New Music Box Articles:
  • Stuff I Learned Writing Music for Advertising: The Evolving Ecosystem and Tearing Down Walls
  • Stuff I Learned Writing Music for Advertising: Problem Solver, Not Widget Maker
  • Some Stuff I've Learned Writing Music for Advertising: References, Briefs, and Conference Calls
  • Some Stuff I've Learned Writing Music for Advertising: Why I Keep Doing This
• Frank Oteri
• Studio vs freelance composing
• Breaking into the sync music scene
• There is more work out there now than before
• The power of networking
• Relationship building
• Be more than an email, be a person
• Being in the room & being present
• Starting COPILOT Music
• Developing trust
• Building a career is relationship building
• Writing Works for Hire
• Physical vs digital media
• Spending money carefully
• Thinking businessly about what you need & don't need
• Business is going small and light
• Be conservative & build up financially
• Professionalism
• Proofread emails
• Thinking about the entire project & context

Website:

• copilotmusic.com

Other links:

• Ravi's interview by Emily McMillan on VGMOnline.net (Video Game Music Online)
• Ravi's upcoming (April 22-23, 2017) AMAP Music Composition Workshops in NYC

Recommended Listening:

• Sufjan Stevens, Carrie & Lowell

Recommended Reading:

• Johnny Marr, Set the Boy Free: The Autobiography (guitarist and co-founder of The Smiths)

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