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.