In the TAXI community we have a saying, Write, Submit, Forget & Repeat. The “Forget” is the hard part. The point is, you have to write songs, submit them to opportunities and then move on to the next song/opportunity. You can’t waste time wondering and worrying about whether you get the placement or not. And this placement is a perfect example.
Years ago, I wrote this song, Boom Dynamite, with former Bad Boy producer Chucky Thompson. It was created for an artist that he was developing at the time. It was an exciting opportunity but it ultimately didn’t happen.
And now, years later, he’s working with Chinese R&B star Catina Mezereon and she ends up recording the song and it gets a major feature in choreographer Laurieann Gibson’s show: Beyond The Spotlight.
So, this is a reminder to myself – just keep writing, keep submitting. Then forget and repeat!!
The reaction to We Don’t Deserve Us has challenged me to stay in this creative space.
I actually love this challenge of creating something from scratch and have to do ALL the parts to bring it to fruition.
The process of getting this song complete required me to be a producer, songwriter, vocalist, vocal arranger, audio engineer, mastering engineer, video producer and video editor.
There are MANY people who can do all those things better than me. The only talent I will defend is my ability to write great songs. Everything else is just me trying to challenge myself.
I did all these parts in the week since dropping We Don’t Deserve Us.
Next week, I’m gonna try to do another one. I’ll just keep going for as long as this moves me. I don’t believe that we ever run out of ideas. Sometimes we just block up the flow. But I thank God that he has continually sent me ideas to work on. So, I’m just going to try to be faithful and keep them coming.
I appreciate every comment, share, like, message. Your comments, encouragment and even criticism means the world to me.
By the way, if you can’t tell, I’m very passionate about the creative process. I believe creativity is the God given right of every person – not just the especially talented. If you’ve been wanting to live a more creative life but aren’t sure how – leave a comment or message me.
I love building tracks around vocal samples. Or using a voice sample as the basis of an instrument. A lot of synths sounds the same but no one will ever come up with the same sounding vocal samples.
It helps ensure I end up with something unique sounding.
Made a quick trap beat just to try it out. It’s unfinished though. Need to add some transitions and a bunch more elements.
Music Producer? Want to do it FullTime?
Follow these Six Steps towards Six Figure Income
Presented by Eric J Campbell – Songwriter / Producer. My music has been placed on various TV shows (Greenleaf, Shameless, Love & Hip Hop, Revenge, MTV True Life, etc). I’ve also place music with recording artists including Musiq Soulchild, Bootsy Collins and Sara Stokes.
This is a detailed course with lots of info and no sales pitches. It’s just under 60 minutes and full of everything you need to start making money from your music production.
As I say in the video, this isn’t about overnight success. The total time to implement all of these steps is two to five years (depending on your current level). That may seem like a lot but if you knew you could walk away from your job in 2 to 5 years wouldn’t you? Well this plan will help you to do that. Of course, I can’t guarantee results and how much you ultimately make will be based on your talent and your hustle but these are the steps that have helped me and a numerous people, that I know personally, do music full time.
Watch the complete video and feel free to comment or message me if you have any questions. I hope you find it helpful!
Here are the six steps along with all the links mentioned in the video
For Guitar – Search Youtube – Guitar Lessons
For Piano – check out Easy Piano for Songwriters and Producers http://ericmakesmusic.com/easypiano
Step #3 – Study Other Genres (and steal from them)
Search Google “top music production tutorials”
Search Youtube “how to make {artist name} type beats”
Also on Youtube – search “EDM tutorials” and “Beat tutorials”
Step #4 – Get Songs or Choruses written to your tracks
It’s not because I haven’t been working. Quite the opposite.
Many of you follow me on social media so you know what’s been going on in my life. This year has somehow turned out to include both the most amazing AND the most terrible events of my life.
Of course, the absolute worst is my wife’s passing 6 months ago. I won’t dredge up all the details here but if you’re out of the loop you can
And the absolute best has been getting brought onto the music team of Oprah’s hit show Greenleaf (OWN network). I got to work with the cast as a vocal producer, help do vocal arrangements for the gospel songs featured on the show and wrote two original songs that were used multiple times through season 2 AND were included on the soundtrack. That soundtrack has recently so far received 2 nominations for a Stellar Award (gospel music’s highest honor) and is being considered for a Grammy nomination.
If you haven’t heard the soundtrack, you can check out my songs by clicking on the links below.
So, yeah, I’ve been working, dealing with life, and moving forward. I’ve just done a bad job of keeping some of you updated. That’s going to change.
I’ve got some major things happening and it’s going to require me to mobilize my online community. I’m actually excited. I get to build something great and I need my friends and followers to help me do it. More on that in the next day or two. I just wanted to reestablish communication.
So, on that note, if we haven’t talked in a long time, please reply and let me know what you’ve been up to.
About a month ago, I participated in an online course that taught participants how to make money licensing their music for film & television.
I just received a question via email from one of the participants. It’s such a great question, I want to share it with all of my readers. Take a look and hopefully, if you’ve had a similar question, then my answer will help shed some light for you.
Question.
I just listened to your webinar with Karen Mason and I had a question concerning music genre and where a good place would be for music placement. Our music is smooth jazz based with an urban groove. I am a member of several music supervisor sites (TAXI, Modernbeats.com, Beatstars.com and a couple others) I have had music selected on Modern Beats but still no official contact from the executives. However I seem to be hitting a flatline with TAXI. Everything I turn in has been rejected. My question for you what do you feel is a good direction to look in for instrumental urban smooth jazz music?
Thank you in advance for your time
Sincerely xxxxxxx
Answer
Hey xxxxxxx,
Honestly, I’m not sure what the best outlet for smooth jazz is. Seems like you’ve made some music and are trying to find a home for it. It’s actually hard to succeed that way in the licensing game. It’s better to find out what’s selling and then see if you can make it.
When I started with TAXI, I was doing just R&B. But at the time there were only a few listings for R&B songs. I noticed there were a lot more for Pop, Alt Rock, and EDM music. It took some time (I had to block off about 2 months where I didn’t do anything else but learn a new style of production) but I soon learned to do all three of those genres. I didn’t stick with EDM because those songs require a lot of effort but Alt Rock came easy for me. And my first placement through TAXI was an Alt Rock tune. I actually haven’t had any placements for my R&B stuff yet (although a couple have been picked up by a few publishers).
Point is, there may be some occasional jazz listings on the TAXI site but probably not too much. There are some though – although they may not be urban or contemporary. The more flexible you can be, the better your chances of getting a placement. If a listing comes out for be-bop or swing or big band, you might want to give it a try. And if your musicianship is strong enough to do smooth jazz then you might be able to quickly learn how to do instrumental cues which are in high demand like quirky cues, tension cues, urban quirky cues, trailer music, etc. I found that urban quirky cues were pretty easy for me since I have an orchestral background and I know hip hop so I spent a couple of weeks just learning how to make urban quirky cues. Ended up getting a bunch of them placed on MTV and Oxygen.
So, to summarize, see what’s in demand and then figure out how you can shift and make what they want. Don’t wait for the industry to come to you. Figure out what the industry wants and give it to them.
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