Re: How do I make people aware of my services?

First of all, it takes a certain class of video production to have the budget for custom music. The overwhelming majority of corporate/industrial level videos use stock music because few clients care enough to pay for custom soundtracks. So when you say none of your local companies are responding to inquiries about "needing a composer" the reason is probably that they are dealing with much smaller jobs. "Composer" implies custom -- you'd probably be better off just pointing them to your web site of stock music and perhaps even offering a locals discount or something.

Secondly, all of your music is only available in MP3 format, which is not going to cut it at all. You simply must deliver full quality 48khz WAVs and AIFFs for any video production company to take it seriously. For one thing, most video-related software (like Final Cut Pro) does not play well with MP3s at all, and require the artist/editor to jump into iTunes to convert the file to WAV/AIFF. Video producers need full quality audio, and MP3 isn't going to deliver. Understanding your client's needs will help a lot in getting more sales, and if you do nothing else I suggest you simply MUST fix this issue or your sales will never take off in the video production space.

Your website could stand an update as you pointed out. Even finding a web site template that you buy for $10 that feels more like a legit online store will help, because people are hesitant to buy from sites that don't look and feel totally professional, secure and legit. Yes, it all routes through Paypal, but nothing about your site gives one the impression that there will be any customer service etc. should they need it. You are to be commended for learning enough HTML to make your own site, but it is going to cost you business.

I am not going to comment on your actual music (which seems good) because that's purely a taste issue, but I will say your prices are way out of line with what most places charge. Bear in mind that all stock music was created by someone, so you don't have much of an angle in terms of saying "yes, but this is custom-created music that I made." To a paying customer, all they care about is whether it is appropriate for their production and how much it costs. Shockwave Sound has 1,000s of tracks to choose from for 1/3rd your asking price, and disc bundles like Digital Juice come in at probably 1/10 that cost per track. Neither has stringent limitations on broadcast use, I should add. If you want to make money, you will have to be competitive. I know it's your art and you've worked hard on it, but the realities of the market just are what they are. If you want to make more money, looking for work as a composer is the way to go, not overcharging for stock product.

And finally, once you've made some adjustments try using Google Adwords to land some sales. It's the easiest way to hit a national/international audience, you only pay when someone actually clicks through to your site, and you can set an ad budget that you are comfortable with and still get some good sales out of the deal. The notion of getting publicity or other forms of marketing are not going to be anywhere near as effective, especially if you have a small library of tracks.

Best of luck, and hopefully this all comes off as the constructive criticism that it is meant to be. Business is hard, selling your art is harder, and hearing people tell you that you're doing it wrong is the worst!



Brendan Coots

Splitvision Digital

www.splitvisiondigital.com