[Fmpro] Day Jobs New Artist Recruiting

Wed Jul 30 06:28:17 GMT 2008

I would say 100k+ as a composer only is pretty high unless you are in a very
elite crowd. I plan to be there someday!

Here is candid info I will share on list. While I have been quite wealthy in
the past from programming it is a hard life money-wise for me now. But I am
not ashamed and I know in my heart that what I am doing is right and good
and my plan/goals are working, and I am still in the process of learning and
getting my chops together to be able to really be successful in composing
for media. So I will share with you my info ;-)

I am in just inside my 6th year as a full time composer. My first 1 1/2
years focusing on writing I made nothing and used up all my savings and then
me and my writing partner in LA started getting some nice worthy gigs and I
made like 60k per year for a few years after expenses. Last year I made
around 35k after business costs of paying for musicians, vocalists and
studio time. During the year I had 2 major projects involving stage theater,
1 medium project with a TV ad and like 8 trillion really small paying jobs,
some fun, some not. This year I have had it slow so far and have brought in
only around 15k. I am just now trying to get into the library circuit and
find ways to earn residual income from libraries. I am currently working
with 5 libraries and plan to work with a bunch more until I find a couple
that really bring in some money for me regularly. So the money isnt great,
but I am new to this still. Only 6 years of being serious about my career as
a composer, and in the middle of gaining motion and some nice jobs in L.A.
that would have guaranted me a spot in the happy composer club I moved to
Dayton for a few years, complicated story. 

But I plan to be back in LA in 2011 and I plan to break the 50k mark within
a year or 2 from now with continuing my focus and prep work, organizing my
process for library work and job applications and marketing, as well as
continuing to refine my craft process to find a better "cinematic" sound to
my mixes and compositions. I absolutely have a lot of work ahead and without
my girlfriend backing me up completely I would be back to computer
programming and a weekend warrior on my writing. 

But for now I am hanging in there, getting enough work to pay for keeping my
studio reasonably up to date and to keep me feeling that there is hope for
me as I work out my rough edges and learn how and where to market, what
types of processes I need to participate in this modern world of ugliness
for composers. I do a LOT of local work, radio ads, orchestrating for rock
bands, string arrangements for gospel choirs, etc etc. 

I have forced myself to keep it all in projects that I am writing original
music or orchestrating and turned down tons of hip hop production, vocal
coaching, all kinds of things that would lead me farther away from my goals.
Its SO easy to get pulled away and then why would I bother? If I just want
to make money and that is my goal I would be programming still for 6 figures
and massive stock options. So I try and always keep in mind my goals and
what work I can find that while it may be local-yokle, often lame jobs, it
must be soemthing that will let me continue to build my writing chops. If I
took all the other types of "in the industry but not composing jobs" I could
easily clear 50k in dayton or 80k in LA (like private lessons at $75/hr)

If you cannot afford to live on next to nothing for a while then you will
probably have to take all the gigs around composing as well as jumping on
the composing gigs. Either that or work at Starbucks and compose at night.
If you make enough money to own a home in LA in your first 10 years in the
business I will be surprised, but more power to ya and I wish it can be so
for you!
________________________________

Christopher Kennedy Alpiar
Cinematic Composer 
1280 Lytle Lane 
Dayton, OH 45409 
310.339.9603 (Los Angeles) 
937.294.0900 (Dayton)
877.294.0912 (Toll Free)
chris at alpiar.com
www.alpiar.com
________________________________

> -----Original Message-----
> From: fmpro-bounces+chris=alpiar.com at nxport.com 
> [mailto:fmpro-bounces+chris=alpiar.com at nxport.com] On Behalf 
> Of Brian Phraner
> Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 12:56 PM
> To: fmpro at nxport.com
> Subject: Re: [Fmpro] Day Jobs New Artist Recruiting
> 
> 
> Hi Les,
> It's not quite what I was looking for.  I would consider 
> "audio guy" a different job description than "film composer" 
> even though it can be very related and historically speaking 
> one of my more valuable skills.  I'm trying to take the 
> "other day job" factor out of the equation and evaluate what 
> is going on in the film scoring industry.  What I am looking 
> for is getting a feel for what the common expectations for 
> the average film composers are these days concerning their 
> earning potential when scoring films IS their day job.  I 
> know it's a variable number in reality, but basically, is it 
> a rare thing for a film composer to make more than 100K 
> annually?  Or is that an achievable goal?  What can the 
> average working guy expect to make?
>  
> I know starting a successful career in this business is just 
> as much about relationships and getting connected as it is 
> how good a composer you are and that it is a necessary 
> component of what a successful composer will have to have.  I 
> also understand that it can take a long time to get to that 
> place.  But it appears to be getting harder and harder for 
> composers to get paid what their worth.  I know the 
> competition is fierce and that has an effect in a free 
> market.  There are a lot of really great composers out there 
> and a finite number of gigs.  I'm just trying to find out 
> what composers that are trying to become part of this 
> industry should expect as to the current potential returns on 
> their effort.  Are the trends still going the wrong 
> direction?  Is the market value of music crashing?Brian Scott 
> Phranerfriends in the garden206-310-6395> From: 
> leshurdle at avradionet.com> Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2008 06:15:35 
> -0700> To: fmpro at nxport.com> Subject: Re: [Fmpro] [***SPAM*** 
> Score/Req!
>  : 07.2/5.0] Re: Day Jobs New Artist Recruiting> > Would this 
> include your day job as an audio guy since it is th same > 
> industry?> > L> > On Jul 26, 2008, at 9:44 PM, 
> scott at szabosoundandmusic.com wrote:> > > As an annual income, 
> what does the $100K benchmark represent for > > the working 
> film composer in this industry ?> > 
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