Marketing Justification

Why is an e portfolio important?

An e portfolio is important for a Freelance musician as it enables you to promote yourself in a way that you do not have to do too much work. An e portfolio allows you to link all of your promotional tools into one big

promotional tool

saving you time and effort when trying to spread the word around about your music. For example; on an e portfolio you could include a widget which links to your Facebook, Twitter, SoundCloud and YouTube pages- so that anyone who enters your page can immediately access your social networking sites and your music rather than relying on a search engine to do this. An e portfolio could also be used as a CV as it will usually include all of your gig information and gives the person the chance to really look into your work and talent.

One example of a good e portfolio is; http://www.jessiejofficial.com/ Jessie J’s official website. The reason why this more than fits the criteria for being a good e portfolio is because it has the following features;

·         Jessie J’s logo is clearly visible on the website so that her fans are able to immediately recognise it and know that this is her website.

·         She has clear links to her tour dates, biography, music, videos, recent news and a direct link to buying her music- so that people are informed of her story, where she is going to be next and any trends she is keeping up. This keeps people interested.

·         As you enter the site she immediately advertises her new album ‘Sweet Talker’ by having the album cover as her background. The album is the first thing you see which encouragers her fans or anyone entering the site to have a listen and buy.

·         The image you encounter when you first enter the site is appealing and demonstrated what sort of an artist she is by what she is wearing, her facial expressions and the clarity of the image.

·         The layout of the site is simple and easy to get around as when you click on a link it doesn’t direct you to a new page it just scrolls down to the section you are looking for- saving time for the person browsing the site as they do not have to wait for a new page to load.

·         There is also a direct link to her YouTube VEVO account which is in the same format as her website so that you know that this is her YouTube account and no one else’s. 

Jessie J’s blog has inspired me to alter the appearance of my own blog as it is clear, concise, appealing to the eye and does what it is intended to do- inform her fans. The theme of her blog matches the theme for her new album and includes links to her other social networking sites- which makes it easier for her fans to find her on places like Twitter and Facebook. Therefore, I decided to change the theme of my blog to match the colour theme for my E.P ready for when I release it, I also added widgets linking to my Facebook, Twitter, SoundCloud and YouTube accounts. These are just the small changes that I can make to the blog now however, I plan to have a logo made so that I can feature this on my blog and I hope to advertise my E.P by having the cover as my background when I release it. I’ve found that this has made my blog more informative and my social networking sites more accessible.

Some of the content featured on my blog helps to promote me as an artist as it draws other musicians to the blog. This is because I have included examples of what a session musician’s CV should look like, health and safety tips for musicians and I have also posted up a vocal warm up video for other singers to use as guidance. Other artists may use my blog posts as a guideline and consequently be attracted to my music links. A lot of the time people’s music is discovered because other people will accidently come across them when looking for something related but correspondingly dissimilar. In my case I have offered guidance for other musicians when writing up the posts on my blog which will then lead to them witnessing the links to my social networking sites and YouTube and SoundCloud channels. However, one problem that I may encounter when attempting to gain views and interest on my music is lack of interest in my tutorial video featured on the blog. This is because the quality of my tutorial video isn’t to a standard that other people’s tutorial videos are at. Some things that I could improve when looking at gaining more interest in the video are; improving the visual quality by using a better recording device, improving the sound quality using a microphone and improving the overall rating of the video by using better examples of vocal warm ups and spending longer demonstrating them.

The CV I have included on my page is predominantly suitable for Session Musicians as this is the path I would like to take when looking for a career in music. Features of my CV that stand out and make my CV suitable for Session Musicians are; the Recordings section and the picture of myself in the top right hand corner. Including recordings in your

CV

is vital for a session musician as employers often want to see some of your work (much like a portfolio) as they will want to know how you sound regardless of how many qualifications you have in music. The picture is also a good thing to include as employers may want to know that you are appealing to a particular audience. However, this all depends on the job you are going for as not all jobs require you to look a certain way. Including a picture of yourself could also backfire on you as the employer may already decide that you are not right for the job before witnessing some of your work and seeing how talented you are.

One other thing that I include in my blog is an acoustic cover of a song. This is a great marketing tool as it enables me to show my viewers what sort of an artist I am, how I can cope in an environment without microphones and how I sound. It allows the viewers to make a decision about whether or not they like my music, this means that the people who actually search for my music are likely to be people who will watch it the whole way through rather than brush it off without having properly listened to it. This helps me with my YouTube membership as I am more likely to hold a featured slot if people are actually engaged in my channel. My acoustic cover video could be improved by using a better recording device to make the visual and sound quality better and by colour coordinating with the people performing with me so that we look like we are putting on a performance as a group and aren’t just play as individuals.

  

Industry Organisation

Music Union

The Music Union is a union which much like the teacher’s union or the plumber’s union- is there to represent worker’s rights. The union is formed of a group of people who fight for the rights of musicians, negotiate standard pay rates, offer legal guidance to members, hold conferences discussing trade issues and voice the concerns of a trade to political powers (as high up in the government as necessary.) The Music Union offers public liability insurance of up to £10 million (much more than you would ever need), instrumental insurance of up to £2000, legal assistance for  negotiating contracts or helping to claim money for a musical job or unpaid fees, it helps with copyright protection and gives career and business advice and networking opportunities. The cost of membership is £201 per year or just £20 a year for students. Use of services are unlimited whilst you are a member- so you could make use of their lawyers as much as you wanted in that time without having to pay extra lawyer’s fees. If you pay for membership as a student for the year- you will not need to pay more money again if you stop being a student. You will only need to provide the proof that you are in full time education the one time when you are signing up. For this reason it is wise to sign up whilst you are still a student as you are still entitled to all of the same rights as someone who has paid £201 for the year. One example of a case where the Music Union fought for musicians rights is quite recently when they found that British Airways was charging £300 to bring a cello onto their planes- sometimes more for larger instruments. Previously airline companies would allow passengers to bring instruments onto their planes as hand luggage and free of charge providing they had space. Considering it costs on average £200 to buy a cello- the union found that it would be cheaper to buy a new cello when musicians got to their destinations than bring their own onto a plane. The outcome of this was that the Music Union wrote letters to all of the major airlines who had put this rule into place and are still fighting the case. It is important as a musician that you invest your money in the MU as there are many benefits for you. It is a whole lot cheaper to insure your content and hold public liability insurance through the MU than it is to do it separately- if someone were to trip and fall during one of your lessons the chances are you would be paying out way more than a small fee of £201 a year. The MU will also provide you with legal advice whenever you need it and if you were to find yourself in front of a contract ready to sign it you may need a lawyer who specialises in music to look into this for you before you touch pen to paper. For session musicians it is especially important that you are signed up to the Music Union. One of the main reasons why this is the case is because as a session musician you will find yourself travelling to various places for studio sessions, gigs and other live performances- and the majority of the time you are taking any work you can get without looking too closely into how legitimate the company may be. Often when this happens musicians find themselves not being paid for the work they have done. It is then very difficult to claim the money you are owed. If you are signed up to the Music Union this shouldn’t happen as not only are you able to ask the Union to look into how legitimate the company/venue is for you- you are also able to hire a lawyer free of charge to take these people to court and get you the money you are owed. Another issue that you may encounter as a session musician when travelling is; damage done to your instruments. If you are signed up to the Music Union you are guaranteed to be given at least the minimum required to fix or replace your instrument. This saves you emptying your own pockets to pay for it yourself.

PRS

“PRS is a UK copyrighting collection society and performance rights organisation undertaking collective rights management for musical works.”

PRS for Music collects loyalty points for the person whose music was played by another party holding a PRS licence. Some examples of places that hold PRS licences are; pubs, clubs, party venues, advertising agencies, shops, restaurants, radios stations…etc. The venues are all required to buy a license before music can be played (both from a recording and live). PRS organises the money collected from these places and distributes it to the artists accordingly. It is only £50 a year to sign up to PRS and this gives you unlimited access to the service and unlimited use of songs. PRS for music is seen to be successful as in 2013 they were reported to have made £665.7 million. For a musician paying the £50 a year fee it is a good investment as you are guaranteed to more than make back your money if you happen to release a hit and it is played by lots of different radio stations and venues. This is important for session musicians particularly though as well as all musicians in general as you as an artist may have composed a song and without signing up to PRS you are unable to receive the loyalty points and recognition for it being played by a second party. The consequences of this is that you miss out on making money off of your music. Also, by uploading your music onto PRS and announcing that it is your track you are also copyrighting your music. This saves you paying out money each time you want to copyright a track. Many musicians don’t know where to start when copyrighting their tracks and therefore don’t bother copyrighting them at all with the hope that no one will steal their song. At least if you are signed up to PRS you are covered by something. However, the consequence of not signing up to PRS is that if someone does decide to steal your song you have nothing to fall back on and could potentially lose yourself a great hit and a lot of money.  In order to perform covers/record a cover of a song you will need to hold a PRS license. If you don’t do this you could get into a lot of trouble with the person who holds the copyright to the song and be made to pay out a lot of money. For session musicians this is vital as often when being asked to perform at various venues they ask that you perform covers of songs that the audiences will be familiar with- for more exposure you may also need to upload covers onto YouTube, Sound Cloud and other major music sites. In order to do this however, you need to hold a PRS licence.

Up to date CV

Having an up to date CV is extremely important when wanting to be a session musician or even when taking a career in music as it makes finding employment a whole lot easier. If you were to have gaps in employment on your CV or you didn’t include all of the music jobs/gigs/performances you have had- then the employer would think that you are not serious about music and you could therefore miss out on great job opportunities. A CV not only demonstrates your skills, it also shows the employer how experienced you are. Therefore, you need to ensure that you include all of the best work you have had as you are looking to impress the employer. However, you don’t want to overload your CV with your experience and so you should stick to only including your most significant jobs- if you have far too many to write up. When looking for session musicians employers are looking for the best! Therefore you need to make sure that your CV also includes your highest graded exam in your main instrument, references from people who are well known and respected in the industry (if you have any) and details of courses you have taken/colleges you have attended providing they are relevant to music and the job. (Don’t include irrelevant information such as; I attended Barnfield South Academy and studied English, Dance, History and Geography. Only include this information if you attended well known performance schools/colleges such as; BRIT school or Sylvia Young Theatre School and studied music.)

Networking and Communicating

Networking is also equally as important as having an up to date CV as you need to network in order to find those job opportunities. Networking is mostly important for people taking a career as a session musician as the jobs you will be mostly aiming for are; paid gigs, live performances and studio sessions. In order to gain these you need to expose your talent through networking at jam nights, unpaid gigs, live performances and social networking sites. Networking is the basis for your career. You need to meet new people in order to find new opportunities and you need to promote yourself in order to gain exposure. As a freelance musician you need to meet as many contacts as possible and advertise your brand. This is easy for a session musician as you will naturally be meeting people and networking whilst gigging and travelling. However, it can be difficult if you’re working on an album or EP as you’ll solely be in the studio. You may need promoters and a manager to do the work for you. These days’ social networking sites are packed full of promotion and are how most musician promote their music and meet new people working within the industry. Not only is it important to get your music out there, it is equally as important to meet new people with aligning interests as they may just have that power to push your career that one step further. Social Networking is a necessity when getting your music out there as you need as many people as possible to take an interest in your talent and this is the most efficient way. Facebook and Twitter are just a few social networking sites that people use to promote their music and these are often seen to be the best as they attract billions of people to their sites every day! Another way in which you can make important contacts is through gigging and jam nights. Often musicians will meet their future manager or future band member through doing gigs and jam nights. It is important that you take up the opportunity to perform at these mini events as producers and managers will often branch out to these places in the hope of finding fresh talent and you could be the person they approach! There are many examples of this happening in the industry. The famous Adele was spotted performing with her old guitar at an open mic night and now she is a multi-millionaire and has sold millions of records. This can happen to anyone. If you don’t take up opportunities like these you won’t be spotted.

Career Development Plan

My long term career aspiration is to make ‘big money’ from my music- around £6 million a year as an R’n’B artist. This is a career development plan which will highlight my strategies for progress over the next 10 years.

Short Term Goal (1 year)

In one year I will have left full time education and taken with me the following relevant skills; a grade 4 drum certificate, a level 3 in Music BTEC (Practice) Performance and an AS in Music Technology. As well as an A level in Health and Social Care which I could use to get myself a full time job. I will have enrolled on a part time (1 day a week) Music Tech course at Barnfield College to help with the development of my recording and mixing skills- this is useful for me as knowing how to record and mix my own tracks will save me money in the long run. On one hand I could save myself a lot of money as I wouldn’t be paying out for recording sessions, however, on the other hand I would need to invest in some decent equipment in order to record myself.

As well as enrolling onto a part time Music Tech course I will have found myself a full time job to pay the bills and continue to pay for my music i.e. recording sessions, music videos, music union and PRS memberships… etc. (This won’t necessarily be related to music as either way I will urgently need a job to pay the bills.) The disadvantage of this is not having as much time to promote my music and gig as promoting my music will take up a good three hours of my day every day- if not longer. I may also be called out in the evening to do a gig or cover a band- and this could be an issue for me if I don’t have a plan and don’t manage my time well. Therefore I will have to hope that I am able to find myself a job with 9-5 hours or at least a job with flexible hours and an employer who recognises that I am also working on my music.

By the end of January next year I will have also released my first EP which is a great promotional tool. This will have led to; me gigging every weekend to promote my EP and improve my performance skills and releasing my own material should have drawn attention to my music, appearing on all of the local radio stations (including BBC introducing) to help further my music and I will have hopefully sold up to 5000 copies of my EP as well as having over 10,000 views on my music video which will have also been released at the same time as my EP. I will do this through social networking sites and by using the fans of the rapper I will be collaborating with on my EP. I will also use my other friends in the industry and have them push my EP so that more people buy it. I will sell my music through online stores such as; ITunes and Spotify which my current manager will help me to start up and I will also sell hard copies which will allow me to keep all of the profits which I can put into my music fund.

I also will have gained more knowledge on how the music industry works through experience and will have met contacts from surrounding areas through jam nights and gigs. Networking with these people will lead to me finding paid gigs in and around these areas (not just in Luton.) It wouldn’t be good if I just stayed in Luton as I wouldn’t be able to build up a very big fan base for myself without branching out to other places with new people and a fresh scenery. Gigging will also help me to get over any stage fright I have and help me to improve as a performer by learning about my audience and what they like to see and hear when I am performing. This could also help me when building up a fan base. Becoming a backing singer for another group or artist could help get me noticed through their management too and could also get me used to singing harmonies and adlibs (I will need this skill to apply to my own tracks.)

Medium Term Goal (3-5 year)

Following on from networking with various producers, musicians, talent scouts and managers- in three years’ time I hope to have found myself; a good manager who will find me well paid gigs and push my music, a set of musicians who can tour with me and accompany me as well as play the instrumental parts which will form my beats and to have found a good producer who can record and mix my music to a standard that I am pleased with as well as create my beats so that I don’t need to worry about buying the full rights to other people beats. This way I can be completely original with my music. It will also save me time, money and stress as my manager will take on all of the organisation for me, I won’t have to run around to find session musicians all of the time and I will know that I will always be content with the standard of my music.

I also hope to have released an album within three to five years’ time with at least one of the tracks on my album reaching number one in the charts. If all goes to plan I won’t have a problem writing for this album as I will have session musicians to create the music for me and a good studio engineer who can create my idea. I will have to dedicate a lot of my time to writing for this album though as the songs will be completely original and will need to be recorded from scratch. Therefore I will need to manage my time well and ensure that I am making money from my music as well as a job so that I won’t need to dedicate most of my time working to pay the bills and I can take some inspiration from my music jobs.

In this time I also hope to have signed to a decent and known label. The disadvantages of this could be that there are often clauses in contracts and it could lead me to being stuck to that label therefore, I would need to read through the contract carefully. I could do this with a lawyer who I can find for free through the Music Union providing I have paid my fees. However, the advantages of this are; I won’t have to pay to record my music or use the session musicians as the label will cover this for me and if I make it big so does the label. If I do not manage to get signed to a decent label I will make use of crowd funding on sites such as; kick starter to pay for my album. In order to be successful at this I will need to have built up a strong fan base through touring and gigging around the country. I also will have needed to take singing lessons to help strengthen my voice and improve my skills as a singer.

In five years I also hope to have achieved a few goals. One of these is to have performed one of my hits from my album on a show like the X Factor. To do this I would have had to have been spotted by talent scouts for the company and to have had enough of a musical achievement. Therefore I would also like to have won at least one major music award such as a; BRIT award or a Grammy and sold a couple million records. This is difficult to achieve so I will need to rely on my song writing, touring and releasing of music as well as networking to do this. I would like to ideally be earning £3 million a year from this by the end of the 5 years. In order to get better at my song writing I will need to continue to practice writing songs and maybe look into taking up a class in song writing. Being able to write decent songs is important when trying to attract other artists to collaborate with as they won’t want to collaborate with someone if they are having to do all of the work. I will also need to look into taking dance classes so that I am able to put on a performance and not just sing.

Long Term Goal (10 years)

Leading on from all of this- in 10 years’ time I hope to be making big money from my music- approximately £6 million a year. I hope to have released a couple of albums in this time, had several number one hits and moved on to a bigger label such as; Sony Records. To do this I will need to follow my plans for my short term and medium term goals closely. 

Acoustic Cover

Music CV

Article on Health and Safety

In this article I will be discussing 10 very important Health and Safety Issues and how to prevent them. I have placed them in order of what I think to be least important to the most important. I have chosen to discuss these specific Health and Safety issues as I feel that these are things that us as musicians get wrong the most and the majority of the time choose to ignore.

10. Tuning Your Instrument Properly

One thing that many instrumentalists get wrong is tuning their instruments with care. Have you ever noticed that you get through packets of guitar strings every other month? Or that you’re constantly having to re-tune your instrument? That would be down to the quality of your tuning. If you want to waste your time and money on buying new guitar strings and retuning your guitar that’s fine, but the real issue here is the fact that your guitar strings are pinging from your guitar and are often hitting you in the face or the person next to you. This can actually cause blindness if it catches you in the eye and the least it can do is really hurt! Prince Edward could tell you exactly how painful this is- that’s if he can remember! As a youngster Prince Charles had been showing off playing his Cello and managed to break a string causing it to ping into Edward’s eye. If the royals can do it anyone can! If this is happening to you I suggest you take a lesson in tuning your instrument properly! Knowing how to tune instruments properly is especially important for a session musician as you tend to tour around the country and travel to different places to take on musical jobs. Not only would you look unprofessional to your employers if your instrument was constantly going out of tune, it would also waste a lot of your time where you could be making money rather than sitting around tuning your instruments.

9. Look After Your Voice!

Along with your hearing, if you’re a vocalist taking good care of your voice is extremely important! Without your voice where would you be? One thing that stands out is the amount of singers who smoke. It’s like these people are trying to destroy their vocal chords! Not only are you affecting your lungs and your capability of holding notes for longer periods of time, you’re ripping your vocal chords to shreds! Another thing I have noticed is the amount of singers who will go out raving and drinking! Screaming at the top of your lungs is only going to cause vocal strain and for you to wake up in the morning with an extremely sore throat and no voice at all. As for drinking alcohol- this is dangerous for every part of your body so why do you think your voice is an exception? Fizzy drinks are also a ‘no no’ if you want to keep those vocal chords in tip top condition! It’s okay if you want to go out to a rave every now and again or even drink, but be aware of how you are treating your voice when you are doing this! Try not speaking when you’re partying hard you don’t need to use your voice when you’re dancing, and if you’re going to drink do it in moderation and be aware that you’re only mistreating your voice when you’re doing this. Stay away from fizzy drinks, overly acidic foods and drink plenty of water before and during long performances. Also make sure you warm up properly! Treat your voice like it’s your baby! It would be especially dangerous for singers who are performing for long periods of time (i.e. in a musical or doing a road show) to not warm up properly and to not take care of their voice as they are required to use their voice for sometimes hours a day every day- rehearsing and performing. If they did not take the right precautions they could end up losing their voice for good or having to retire from their job as they are unable to sing.

8. Protecting Your Ears!

Often when playing music, we musicians will turn up the amps and BLAST IT OUT without taking a second thought to our hearing. It is the same with drummers, we’ll spend half of our time playing as loudly as we possibly can without thinking about the damage we are doing to those ‘ear drums’! See what I did there? ;) Take the Who’s Pete Townshend for instance. He was the Who’s bass player for over 30 years and has been playing with them for over 50 years! He spent so much of his time stood next to an amp on full blast that he eventually lost his hearing and is now partially deaf as well as suffering from the condition tinnitus (a constant high pitched ringing in the ears). If you want to blast out your music that’s okay but you NEED to protect your ears if you’re going to do this! The best thing you could do for your hearing is to buy yourself a pair of ear protectors, and if you don’t want to pay out for these then you can always turn the levels down! Ear protectors are especially important for drummers as they tend to have to play loudly in order to fit nicely below the rest of the performers- or when recording a drum part in the studio in order for the microphones to pick up the clarity of the sound. Whilst doing this drummers tend to forget about their ears and how these loud sounds are affecting their hearing. When wearing ear protectors drummers are able to play as loudly as they need to whilst doing minimal damage to their ear drums.

7. Food and Drink

It’s only human to feel a bit peckish or even ravenous whilst rehearsing for long periods of time, it’s also very normal for vocalists to want a drink by them to lubricate their throats whilst they’re singing. However, it is far from wise to do any of these things near expensive musical equipment! This is not only dangerous if something goes wrong, it is also costly. What happens when liquid hits an electricity powered piece of equipment? It blows up right? And if it doesn’t blow up? It stops working. What about when bits of food get caught inside your amps or guitars? Mouldy food? Faulty equipment? Insects and rodents? I don’t need to say anymore. Unless you have the money to keep replacing equipment and a super human body that can’t get damaged by explosions, electric shocks and fire DON’T DO IT! This is important for all performers using instruments and electrical equipment! Most musicians require a physical instrument (unless you’re a singer) therefore, all musicians need to be aware of the dangers of eating and drinking in musical environments.

6. Special Effect

Everyone likes to incorporate special effect into their performances. It intrigues the audience and gives you as an artist a good image. Some may even think it to be clever. However, it’s not so clever when balls of fire are flying out of control, the smoke machine is fogging up the room to the point where no one can see where they’re going and you’ve managed to set the whole venue and the people in it on fire! Nothing that extreme has ever been reported but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen to you! Everyone likes a nice visual to go with their performance but overdoing it will only lead to disaster! If you plan to have special effects in your live performances keep it to a safe level and make sure someone has it under control at all times! Performers, singers shooting music videos and people putting on stage shows mostly need to take this into account as these are the people who tend to get over excited about these things- especially without the correct guidance. Every band/performer/artist want to show off and intrigue their audiences by putting on the best performance/shooting the best music video, however, they need to be aware of how much is too much- and of the safety precautions that they will need to take in order to keep themselves and everyone involved safe.

5. Act professionally!

Everyone likes to mess around and show off with their instruments. Especially if it’s going to impress someone special. ;) However, is it really wise to swing back and forth on your chair whilst rocking out on an electric guitar or jump from amp to amp whilst belting out your favourite song? I think NOT! You would have thought something like that is pretty obvious right? Apparently not! Sid Wilson from Slipknot has been known to injure himself in almost every live performance he has had. He’s gone from breaking legs to setting himself on fire! In one performance he leapt off of a piece of equipment and landed so hard on his heels that he shattered them both and ended up in a wheelchair for the rest of his tour! I’ll say this once and once only. If you don’t want to injure yourself and your equipment DON’T DO IT!

Guitarists and singers in bands need to take note of this as they are the ones who tend to pull off stunts thinking that they’ll make the audience like them a whole lot more. Session musicians don’t tend to do this as they are paid to do what they are asked to do and are not always there to impress their audience with what they can do. However, all individual performers need to remember that their safety and the safety of their audience comes first before their attempts to impress. Rather than showing off doing something they aren’t completely confident they can do- they should focus on exciting their audience with their musical talent.

4. Avoid a Feedback Loop

Have you ever noticed this continuous sound coming from your amp that starts off very low and gets higher and higher until it’s deafening to listen to? That is called feedback and it is caused when either the equaliser is too high, or the treble is turned up too high on the PA. This is extremely dangerous as the high pitch can actually deafen people and cause them to suffer from tinnitus. If it is not stopped before it gets to an unsafe level the feedback can actually go on forever! The best ways to avoid this would be to make sure that all levels are turned down before you plug leads into amps or the PA head, the equaliser is turned down, you have someone close to the PA at all times ready to turn down the master volume if feedback occurs and that all microphones face away from the speakers. This is something that all studio engineers, technicians and musicians using amps and P.A heads should know as they need to be able to stop the feedback as soon as it occurs. It could be very dangerous for them and the people surrounding them if they did not know how to handle a problem like this. This would be one of the very first things that a professional studio engineer or technician would learn and thus would be a very basic problem for them to resolve. If someone is looking to use an amp or P.A and is not aware of how to stop feedback when it occurs, it would be wise for them to take a short course in music technology.

3. Move Equipment Safely

No one likes to drop heavy things on themselves. It’s extremely painful, often causes broken bones and can leave you scared to lift heavy things again! If anyone has ever pulled a muscle in their back from heavy lifting they’ll also know how agonising this is. This is why you need to take extra precaution when carrying equipment and instruments! As a Freelance Musician there are going to be plenty of opportunities for you to put this into practice however, you need to know how to do this right before these opportunities come as you don’t want to end up in A&E the night of your performance. First thing’s first; you need to ensure that you are lifting your amps properly especially if you’re not the strongest of people. To do this you would need to squat down keeping your back straight and slowly stand up again lifting the amp with you. This way you don’t strain the muscles and nerves in your back and you can get more of a grip on the amp. It’s no good just yanking at the handle and swinging it up, as the likelihood is that you won’t be expecting the weight of it and you’ll end up dropping it on yours or someone else’s foot. Don’t over-do it either! If something is too heavy or you’re carrying too much there’s no shame in asking someone else to take some of the load off of you. This is going to be something that a session musician or bands will come across on a weekly- sometimes daily basis as they will be touring around often bringing their own instruments and equipment with them. Therefore, it would also be wise for them to learn the basics on how to lift heavy objects before attempting to do it daily.

2. Maintain the Safety of Your Equipment

Ensuring that your equipment is safe to use is just as important as making sure you don’t overload power supplies! Often musicians will either use a piece of equipment with a faulty fuse or use something that looks completely safe but hasn’t been PAT tested and is in fact one use away from blowing up. It is extremely important that broken wires and faulty fuses are fixed or replaced before being used and that old equipment is tested to ensure that it is still safe to use. Make sure that you have all of your equipment PAT tested AT LEAST once a year! It is extremely reckless and stupid to use something that you know looks dangerous! This is a point that all musicians seriously need to take into account, especially those who teach other people how to play instruments as this could lead to them having to pay out a lot of money in insurance when a piece of equipment blows up and hurts their student. If something doesn’t look right- avoid using your instrument and get it checked out as soon as you can.

1. Overloading Electrical Circuits

Using numerous amps, equipment and electricity powered instruments at one time requires several power sources. Sometimes there aren’t enough of these in the space being used or they are all too spaced out, so people tend to resort to overloading adapters and extension cables. The worst thing you could possibly do is overload extension cables with high voltage equipment! Think about it. You have for example three amps, a keyboard and a PA head all plugged into one extension cable with the capability of releasing 2400 watts. One amp requires an average of 700 watts and a PA head alone requires on average about 1000 watts. Already you’ve taken up over half of the electricity coming out of this extension cable. Do the math. Over working a power source is extremely dangerous and can cause fires, electric shocks and the overloading on an extension cable has been known to cause fatalities. The solution to this is double up on amps, put up with spreading out a little for your rehearsals or simply go without amplifying the sound. Your safety as a musician is the most important thing! Bands are the worst when it comes to this as they tend to use a lot of electrical equipment and each band member wants to be heard. A lot of the time they haven’t taken any sort of music course and so they are not aware of the dangers of overloading power supplies.

Basic Vocal Warm Ups

Financial and Management Issues

This article is about some of the Financial and Management issues you may encounter as a freelance musician. It is important that you are aware of these issues as you will need to know how to work around them/tackle them when they cross your path. The three issues I have chosen to talk about are; Networking, Funding and Invoices. I feel that these three are the most important issues for people who are new to the industry as they are often something that people get wrong.

Networking:

Networking is an extremely important thing to consider when looking into becoming a freelance musician. Networking is the basis for your career. These days’ social networking sites are packed full of promotion and are how most musician promote their music and meet new people working within the industry. Not only is it important to get your music out there, it is equally as important to meet new people with aligning interests as they may just have that power to push your career that one step further. Social Networking is a necessity when getting your music out there as you need as many people as possible to take an interest in your talent and this is the most efficient way. Facebook and Twitter are just a few social networking sites that people use to promote their music and these are often seen to be the best as they attract billions of people to their sites every day! Here is an example of a Facebook and Twitter page used to promote music; 

My Facebook page allows me to;

·         Gain likes

·         Share my work with the people who have liked my page

·         Send messages through the page (this is useful when contacting agencies and managers.)

·         Upload a biography for people to read

When promoting your music you need to ensure that you have provided basic information stating who you are, what you do, where you’re from and how you can be contacted. By doing this people will be drawn to your page and will want to know more about you and your talents. You also need to ensure that you have some professional pictures on show as this shows the people viewing your page that you are serious about your music and are professional. This is the best way to attract producers and other possible future employers.

Another way in which you can make important contacts is through gigging and jam nights. Often musicians will meet their future manager or future band member through doing gigs and jam nights. It is important that you take up the opportunity to perform at these mini events as producers and managers will often branch out to these places in the hope of finding fresh talent and you could be the person they approach! There are many examples of this happening in the industry. The famous Adele was spotted performing with her old guitar at an open mic night and now she is a multi-millionaire and has sold millions of records. This can happen to anyone. If you don’t take up opportunities like these you won’t be spotted.

Funding:

Funding is something every musician should be looking into applying for when thinking about going freelance. It is all well and good coming up with the money yourself to pay for the occasional gig and studio time however, touring is something that is very important when building up a fan base and those things don’t come cheap! The arts council and the BBC arts trust are good places to start as they usually have schemes where they will give away £5,000-£15,000 a year to bands and artists developing their career for things like tours, gigs, equipment and studio time. You can download an application form from http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/ the application is very time consuming as it entails lots of questions about you as a person and how exactly you would use the money. You need to write to impress as the funding is very competitive and they want to know that they are giving it to the right people.

Another great way of making money for tours and gigs is https://www.kickstarter.com/learn?ref=hero by signing up to this site you rely on the money from other people who may have taken an interest in your project. For example, if you signed up and proposed a tour for your band you would need to hope that other people using the site or friends and family who you have shown the site to could each put enough money in to make the tour happen. This is called crowd funding. If however, people invested their money into your tour and it didn’t take place they would be given a full refund.

The best thing about getting hold of funding to tour the country is that the more places you go and the more attention you capture, the bigger your fan base becomes and more people will be willing to invest their time and money into you.

Invoices:

An invoice is a receipt/bill that you as a freelancer would write out for your employer. This is especially handy when doing cash in hand jobs or any one off jobs where you don’t receive a payslip as it enables you to have something on record to prove how much you have been paid and can also provide the evidence you need if an employer decides not to pay you. An invoice also includes your details so that the employer can pay you or get hold of you if there is a problem. This is an example  of an invoice;

You would need to write an invoice like this for any event you are performing at such as; a wedding, a gig or a music festival. If you begin to receive regular work or are signed to a label or company whose work involves a contract you won’t have to write out as many invoices. On the other hand if you are making a lot of money from doing gigs and other paid work that involves you writing up lots of invoices you may be able to afford an accountant who can take care of this for you.

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