The Portfolio Composer

Cited as a “modern day master” by AXS.com and the “highlight of the program” by The New York Times, New York City-based composer Robert Paterson has won awards for his music in virtually every classical genre, including Composer of The Year from the Classical Recording Foundation. Upcoming premieres include Three Way, an opera in three acts, with librettist David Cote, to be premiered by Nashville Opera in January 2017 and at BAM in June 2017.

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Composer, and American Modern Ensemble co-founder, Robert Paterson returns for another interview discussing selling ourselves, being authentic, and creating your brand.

Rob's previous The Portfolio Composer (formerly called Composer on Fire) interview can be found here: Ep 2-Robert Paterson and Simplicity

Topics discussed in this episode:

• American Modern Ensemble
• Getting new concertgoers in the door
• Need to learn how to market yourself
• Titles of pieces
• Using stories
• Being approachable
• Being ourselves
• Selling yourself
• Learning from the pop/rock world
• Must Read: Fascinate by Sally Hogshead
• Finding unusual things
• Eric Whitacre
• See situations from different perspectives
• Find happiness within
• You're the master of your own destiny
• Enjoy your successes
• The myth of youthful success
• Getting commissions
• Go after ensembles you are in alignment with
• Asking them how they want to receive your music
• Negotiating other things than money
• Making the ask
• Offering a guarantee
• Assure them you are on the same page

Website:

• www.robertpaterson.com

Recommended Listening:

• Robert Paterson, Six Mallet Marimba
• Igor Stravinsky, Rite of Spring
• Bela Bartok, String Quartets
• Johann Sebastian Bach, Goldberg Variations
• Gustav Mahler, Symphonies

Recommended Reading:

• Stephen King, On Writing

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A coaching short on (not) competing on price.

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When we market ourselves based on price we turn our music—the service we provide and the commodity we create—into a commodity. Commodities are fungible, which means he enter into a race to the bottom. Instead we should market our music based on the value we add to the music in the connections we make and how we help our audience achieve their goals and desires.

Links:

• Seth Godin (Ep 66)
• Seth's blog post "Sort by Price"
• Must Read Episode: Seth Godin's Linchpin (Ep 104
• Christopher Tin (Ep 101)

Click here to see a list of all the Coaching Short episodes.

American composer, conductor, orchestrator, pianist and producer Dan Redfeld has had his music and arrangements performed internationally from the concert hall to the musical theatre stage to the recording studio. He attended New England Conservatory before transferring to UCLA where he received his degree in composition with an emphasis in conducting. He and his wife, violinist Elizabeth Hedman, make their home in Sherman Oaks, CA, where he still works at the piano with pencil and paper.

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In this episode composer and conductor Dan Redfeld shares what you need to know to be a viable composer today and how he created his new album, A Hopeful Place.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Being a producer
• Licensing
• Harry Fox Agency
• Residual income (royalty income)
• Orphaned works
• Bruce Broughton
• Using union musicians
• Recording in the U.S.A.
• Package deals
• Sacrificing your salary for the project
• Music publishing
• ASCAP
• Bear McCreary
• A Hopeful Place
• Kristy Holden
• Bob Lord
• Funding the recording
• Hiring the best people for the job
• You have to ask for things
• Believing in your work
• Learn how to market yourself
• Know how to write music
• Learn how to arrange
• Be technologically savvy
• Listen to a lot of music

Website:

• www.danredfeld.com

Recommended Listening:

• Dan Redfeld, A Hopeful Place
• Harold Arlen, Somewhere Over the Rainbow
• John Williams, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
• Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 5
• Serge Rachmaninov, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

Recommended Reading:

• Fred Karlin and Rayburn Wright, On the Track: A Guide to Contemporary Film Scoring
• Fred Karlin, Listening to Movies: The Film Lover's Guide to Film Music
• Gardner Read, Music Notation: A Manual of Modern Practice

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Anthony Joseph Lanman is an active and passionate musician that divides his time between composing, performing, teaching and advocacy for new classical music. As a composer, Anthony creates music that reaches general audiences as well as new music connoisseurs. Embracing influences that range from progressive rock and metal, to medieval and renaissance music, to jazz, to new classical, Anthony strives to create a sound that is his own. He has written for ensembles and soloists around the world.

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In this episode guitarist and composer Anthony Joseph Lanman discusses amassing over 400,000 SoundCloud plays, teaching adjunct, and mistakes made along the way.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Kronos Quartet, Black Angels
• SoundCloud.com
• Generating 400,000 plays and not getting paid by SoundCloud (blog post)
• PROs (Performance Rights Organization)
• Kevin Kelly (Ep 82)
• We should get paid for our music
• Not getting an academic job
• Teaching adjunct
• Using all your skills
• Lessons Learned (blog post)
• Getting permission to set text
• Get the permission in writing
• You have to hustle
• You have the ability to shape your career
• Writing music for yourself to perform
• Coming face-to-face with your weaknesses
• Relating to performers as a composer/performer
• All the Cool Parts (podcast)
• 1 Track (podcast)

Website:

• anthonyjosephlanman.com

Recommended Listening:

• Kronos Quartet, Black Angels
• Eric Whitacre, Water Night

Recommended Reading:

• Matthew Hinsley, Creativity to Community: Arts Nonprofit Success One Coffee at a Time
• Twila Tharp, The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life

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A review of the Linchpin: Are  You Indispensable? by Seth Godin.

The challenge of becoming a linchpin solely based on your skill at plying a craft or doing a task or playing a sport is that the market can find other people with that skill with surprising ease. Plenty of people can play the flute as well as you can, clean a house as well as you can, program in Python as well as you can. If all you can do is the task and you're not in a league of your own at doing the task, you're not indispensable.

Statistics are a dangerous deal, because statistics make it strikingly clear that you're only a little better than the other guy. Or perhaps not better at all.

When you start down the path of beating the competition based on something that can be easily measured, you're betting that with practice and determination, you can do better than Len Hutton or Jack Hobbs did at cricket. Not a little better, but Don Bradman better.

And you can't.

Being as charming as Julia Roberts or as direct as Marlon Brando or as provocative as Danny Boyle—that's way easier than playing cricket better than anyone who ever lived.

What does it mean to be indispensable and how does one become indispensable? Godin discusses the importance of shipping your art, the role of education, the meaning of art (and being an artist, and how to become a linchpin. How to be indispensable in a world without maps—without direction and a "how to" manual.

Website:

• sethgodin.com

Purchase Linchpin by Seth Godin on Amazon.com here.

You can find all the Must Read episodes here.

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The O'Neill Brothers have sold over 10 million copies of their piano music and have released 50 CDs of their relaxing, signature piano style all on their own, without the help of a major record label. Tim & Ryan have performed for several governors, US Presidents and have toured with pop superstar Deborah Gibson, as well as Katie McMahon, the original voice of Riverdance. They continue to shift their business to keep up with the ever-changing opportunities in the music industry.

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In this episode pianist and composer Tim O'Neill discusses how he and his brother have been able to sell millions of records.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Getting a business degree
• Being passionate about what you do
• Selling your music
• Finding your audience
• Selling to your audience
• Placing player pianos in department stores
• Scaling your business
• Figuring out what's working
• Having your own record label
• Finding help & outsourcing
• Going to your audience
• Not expecting your audience to come to you
• Giving & being generous
• Everything has a timeframe
• Knowing you can make it
• Residual income
• Finding your love
• Finding your audience
• Reducing the risk for your audience
• Building partnerships
• Being enthusiastic & optimistic

Website:

• pianobrothers.com

Recommended Listening:

• Ennio Morricone, The Mission

Recommended Reading:

• Chris Anderson, The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More

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Jessie Montgomery enjoys an active career as a composer and violinist, with a steady stream of premieres scheduled in the upcoming season, most notably by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Young People's Chorus of New York in fall 2016. As a violinist, she performs regularly with Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble, and maintains a presence within the freelance chamber music scene in New York City. Her music is being performed throughout the country in live performance and radio.

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In this episode composer and violinist Jessie Montgomery shares how she's built a career writing chamber music.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Yo-Yo Ma
• Silk Road Ensemble
• Records from a Vanishing City
• Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
• Self-publishing
• Negotiating Commission Fees
• Alex Shapiro Episodes (Part 1, and Part 2)
• Getting commissions
• Sphinx Organization
• Catalyst Quartet
• Promoting Your Music
• Keeping the dialogue open
• Being available

Website:

• jessiemontgomery.com

Recommended Listening:

• Bela Bartok, Concerto for Orchestra

Recommended Reading:

• John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces

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Christopher Tin is a two-time Grammy-winning concert, film, and video game composer.  His works have been performed at Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Disney Concert Hall, and many other venues.  The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra recently presented a sold-out concert of his works, which he largely conducted himself.  His albums have peaked at #1 on the Billboard Classical Charts, and he was collaborated with a wide range of artists from numerous genres, from Lang Lang to BT.

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In this episode two-time Grammy winner Christopher Tin discusses how he networked, broke into the industry, and created his own opportunities.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Being curious
• Making things happen
• Going for it
• Breaking into the industry
• Mentorship
• Making it as easy as possible
• Trying
• Being a fan
• Developing relationships
• Being constantly present
• Audio quality of demos
• The Drop That Contained The Sea
• Baba Yetu
• Establishing yourself as a brand
  • "You need to be a brand & not a commodity."
• Creating your own product

Website:

• christophertin.com

Recommended Listening:

• Christopher Tin, Calling All Dawns
• Christopher Tin, The Drop That Contained the Sea
• Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 5

Recommended Reading:

• Donald S. Passman, All You Need to Know About the Music Business: Ninth Ed

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Achievement unlocked!

I've made it to Ep 100 of the podcast. It's been a long journey and I've learned a lot on the way.

This podcast is made for you, dear listener. And in celebration of reaching this milestone I want to feature five listeners of the podcast. These guests share the music they write, the audiences they serve, and how the podcast has helped or inspired them with the business of composition.

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The featured composers/fans of the podcast are:

Mark J. Connor

Mark J. Connor is a composer, educator, and conductor with works for concert band published by RWS Music and Grand Mesa Music. He has been commissioned to write music for numerous organizations and has taught at all levels from junior high school through postgraduate. He currently teaches at McKendree University and Maryville University of St. Louis.

Website:

• www.markjconnor.com

Sakari Dixon

Sakari Dixon is a composer and violist from Redlands, CA. As one who is dedicated to community outreach, she performs in the Redlands Community Orchestra, which often premiers works by local composers. Her passion for music education drives her to perform new music for K-12 students in San Bernardino, where she began to learn violin. Sakari holds a BM in Composition from the University of Redlands, and she has been commissioned by musicians such as Kelsey Broersma and Spencer Baldwin.

Website:

• www.sakaridixon.com

Margaret Anne Schedel

Margaret Anne Schedel is a composer and cellist specializing in the creation and performance of ferociously interactive media whose works have been performed throughout the United States and abroad. As an Associate Professor of Music at Stony Brook University, she serves as Co-Director of Computer Music and is the Director of cDACT, the consortium for digital arts, culture and technology.

Website:

• www.schedel.net

Samson Y. Hiss

Samson Y Hiss is a circus composer, organ pumper and unicycle rider. His first gig, after selling snake oil to a mute child, was arming himself with a bass drum and wig, and marching past the authorities to the open road. Realizing the elusive power of this composed charade he began conjuring up grander musical schemes. Hiss currently composes music for circus acts, small ensembles, and brass bands; but keeps one eye on the Big Top and possibly theatre—if people promise to bloody scream.

Website:

• www.samsonyhiss.com

Jon Mattox

Jon Mattox is a Los Angeles based composer, and his music and sound design have been featured in movie trailers, tv shows, films, games, and advertising. In addition to composing, Jon has had a wide range of experience and skills in the music industry which he credits to his success including: Studio musician, songwriter, music producer, sound designer, mixing engineer, record label owner, and virtual instrument builder (or as his wife Melinda calls it “Maker of of cool sounds”).

Website:

• jonmattox.com

 

Dennis Tobenski is a composer of acoustic new music whose work has been described by Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times as “distinctive and engaging”. Dennis also hosts the Music Publishing Podcast, a weekly hour-long show exploring the business and practical aspects of being a concert musician in the 21st Century. The podcast comes out of The Composer’s Guide to Doing Business, a blog series that he wrote from 2012 to 2015, and can be read on Dennis’ website. He lives in New York City with his husband Darien Scott Shulman and their cats Pistachio and D’Artagnan.

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In this episode composer and podcaster Dennis Tobenski discusses contracts and why we need to be good musical citizens.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Tobenski Music Press
• Contracts
• Making expectations known
• Repercussions for breaking the contract
• Items to include in your contracts:
  • Scope of the project
  • Instrumentation
  • Timeline
  • Expectations
  • How to deal with problems
  • Payments and installmnets
• Dealing with friends
• The Music Publishing Podcast
• Musical citizenship
• The Composer's Guide to Doing Business
• Ethical marketing
• Garrett Hope's interview on MPP
• Finding your audience
• Make sure you have a contract
• Freelance survival guide
• Don't be afraid to put yourself out there.

Websites:

• dennistobenski.com
• musicpublishingpodcast.com

Recommended Listening:

• Aaron Copland, Appalachian Spring
• Aaron Copland, Piano Variations

Recommended Reading:

• Kristine Kathryne Rusch, Freelancer's Survival Guide
• David Cutler, The Savvy Musician: Building a Career, Earning a Living & Making a Difference
• Angela Myles Beeching, Beyond Talent: Creating a Successful Career in Music

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