[Fmpro] concerns/ideas for submitDIRECT

[TheOrchsVoice@aol.com]

As many of you know, I've a heart  (and voice, hands and feet) for film 
composers/ orchestrators and  continue to serve them professionally and personally 
in many diverse  ways. I've "walked the talk" when it comes to showing I truly 
care for them  and am always looking for new ways in which I can help them 
achieve their career  goals. In my spare time, I also mentor many young U.S.  
and international film composers as well as several USC film score  program 
students/graduates. I want them to succeed. I've  also learned how hard it is for 
even the most talented people to  catch a break in this business. Having 
previously worked for or with 7  of the top film music agents in the world, I have 
some questions about the new  submitDIRECT service. I'd like to think the 
service can be of  benefit to all composers but especially those without  agents. 
   
Fee issues and the ease of uploading aside, what about the other aspects of  
submitting for music jobs, including one of the most crucial in regards to  
film scoring jobs - the listing of a composer's credits. Will those be  
available online for the music-buyer (director, producer, music supervisor,  music 
editor, studio exec, etc.) to read along with the mp3? Let's put  ourselves in 
that decision-maker's shoes and think about what he needs to  know to justify 
hiring a particular composer to  his company's superiors. If there are no 
professional  qualifications required of submitDIRECT's music submitters, other than 
 paying a fee, then anyone, including high school kids with a music  setup in 
their bedroom can upload his mp3's. Music buyers have told  me they've often 
received 300 or more CDs by snail mail for one job.  With the immediacy and 
convenience of uploading to the Internet, they  undoubtedly receive more than 
that these days. That's a lot  of music to wade through. And without credits or 
other info about  the composer, how can the job-poster know whether the 
creator actually  has the necessary experience, training, technical know-how or 
mental,  physical and emotional stamina to handle the many challenges of a good  
paying scoring job, its high stress and the pressure of short  deadlines? If I 
were a job-poster, I wouldn't want to spend my time  listening to tons of 
music just to find out later that while the person  was talented enough to write a 
great cue, he had no real world  experience with the demands of the film 
scoring process. The music might be  terrific but what about the rest of the job's 
qualifications? If the  quality of the music was all that mattered, the 
process would be easy as there's  tons of talented people around, but 
unfortunately, that's not all it takes. 
 
>From what I've read so far, like an agency, FMN's submitDIRECT  service will 
be presenting music tracks for job consideration,  but unlike an agency, it 
will not be an official, legal  representative of those music-makers. FMN's 
service will not  have researched any of its submitters nor be able to assure a 
music  buyer of a composer's level of professionalism, their track  record, 
previous working relationships with directors, ability to be  "creative on demand" 
or deliver a product on time and within budget, etc.  From my experience in 
the film music business for the last 8 years, those things  are considered just 
as important, if not more so, than the actual music  itself. With the scoring 
process being in the last phase of a film's  production, there's usually a 
very short window of time for decisions to  be made about music. That's why the 
majority of those "juicy  jobs" are brokered through agents who've already 
done the necessary  homework on a composer for the music buyer. It would be great 
to find  one of those "juicy jobs" posted on the FMN's service but perhaps we 
should ask  ourselves - Why would a producer of such a job choose the  
submitDIRECT service to find his composer instead of simply using an  agency? 
Agencies don't charge the music-buyer anything. They receive a  commission from the 
selected composer for the contract they  negotiate. While they might not offer 
a music buyer hundreds of  composers to choose from, the ones they do offer 
have built  a reputation in the industry. While competing with agencies &  
their represented clients for music jobs may not be submitDIRECT's official  
intention, it will essentially be doing that. To make the service more  valuable, 
faster and convenient to music-buyers, I suggest that  submitDIRECT offer more 
info on its submitters. If the service  doesn't want to make the time to list 
or upload each composer's  credits with his mp3's, perhaps it could at least 
include a link to  the composer's own website. That would certainly help the  
music-buyer make a more informed decision quicker. Anyway, those are some  of 
my thoughts. I look forward to hearing yours.
 
Bettie Robertson, webmistress - The Orchestrator's Voice 
owner/photographer - Candlelight Eyes photoart
http://members.aol.com/cephotoart/cep.html