Breaking Into The Film/Tv Music Markets

As with everything in music, business is driven by relationships. So first, think of all the people you know or know of, even remotely connected to the film and TV industries.

Start networking with these people: this means reaching out with polite, purposeful letters, emails, faxes and phone calls. Ask questions, read online and offline, and respond.

Have your presentation (message, business identity, demo tapes, etc.) ready for the asking. TV and film producers need both songs and instrumental music.

Source these people. How? Where? An excellent directory is "The Film/TV Music Guide," published by SRS Publishing (800-377-7411). Here you'll find full contact information on Music Supervisors, Music Publishers specializing in film and tv placement, and record label personnel involved in the same. You can also get leads by asking around the industry, reading the trades ("Hollywood Reporter", "Variety" and "Billboard", for sure), and watching the credits at the end of a TV program or film.

Always present yourself as someone with something of great value to the prospect. You or your artist is the gifted source of music, they (hopefully) are the gifted source of business and marketing. The combined result of this should be profit for all and, ideally, long-term alliance.

Peter Spellman is Director of Career Development at Berklee College of Music, Boston, and author of The Self-Promoting Musician: Do-it-Yourself Strategies for Independent Music Success (Berklee Press). You can find him at Music Business Solutions.