Demos, Reels, and Projects: What you put out is what you take in

A lot of the fundamental skills of composing music are easily transferable to lots of different applications in the industry, with a few minor tweaks. Scoring films, video games, and commercials all work with writing music to picture. Writing library music is the same thing but without a picture to write to. Trailer music too, but has a particular structure to it. Museum exhibits, sonic logos, and more - again, same set of skills. Or maybe you write primarily orchestral music but you want to start doing synth based horror scores. Writing music in a DAW and figuring out the conventions of each of these areas isn’t the hard part, the hard part is landing the gig and breaking into a new slice of the industry. The skills are easy, breaking in is hard.

First Steps

Let’s say you are already somewhat established in one niche of the industry but you want to start spreading into more. The very first thing you should think about is “what you put out is what you take in”. If you are putting out music that sounds like dread personified, you will have a far easier time landing gigs in a horror based context than a cheesy hallmark rom-com. If you want to work on a particular type or project or a specific niche, you need to have your demos and reels cater to that niche. It is totally possible to land a gig in a different niche than the one you “present” in, but having material that is already in line with what the people you want to work with are looking for is a far easier sell than trying to convince them otherwise.

Self Selection

If we step back for a minute from reels and demos and think of this in terms of natural human behavior, this might make more sense. Imagine you go to a giant conference with everybody in the world with the only direction being “do what interests you”. You may go to a variety of events with specific panelists and lectures, mixer events for a niche you’re passionate about, and screenings for movies you’ve always wanted to see. As you go from event to event, you may start seeing the same people alongside you over and over again. They may not be at all of the same events as you, but if they have similar interests you will find yourself in their sphere over and over again. People naturally self select their groups based on their interests.

We see this time and time again, not even in a professional context. In the school yard, the kids interested in Pokemon hang out while the kids interested in sports do their own thing. People interested in fitness go to the gym or run club and filmmakers attend film festivals. If you want to be part of a particular niche, you need to be a part of that particular niche’s culture.

Putting this in Context (breaking into a new niche)

People are allowed to have multiple interests. Someone who is a serious athlete can also do clay sculptures and play Minecraft on the weekends. A songwriter can enjoy baking cookies and a barista might have an interest in geography. We don’t need to lock ourselves into a “bubble” and live within one niche, unless that is something we are really passionate about. Instead, use what you know and are interested in as a means of connecting with others.

For example, you write primarily a blend of heavy metal and electronic music with some aleatoric orchestral textures blended in for good taste. You work primarily for the movies, but you want to get into doing sound installations for art galleries. You understand and know all the tech but don’t know exactly where to begin.

Even if you don’t understand all of the “norms” of the industry, we can build an MVP  or ghost demo and start attending mixers/networking events at art galleries or wherever else you think you can meet people in this niche. In a way, this is actually a very similar process to landing your first gig as a composer, but it can feel actually more frustrating because you have experience and credibility in a separate (but related) niche. Your career capital is a lot lower in this industry than it would be in your main field and it can feel like you’re starting from scratch.

So in a sense, breaking into a new niche is a lot like learning a new language, the more you do it and understand the process the easier it gets.

A Roadmap to a new Niche:

The general road map looks like:

1. Build your Knowledge: understand the area you want to work in. Learn about the culture, the norms, and the language. This doesn’t need to be super deep at this stage, but definitely have an interest and be able to hold a conversation around the topics you want to work - be it a specific genre, a particular type of client, or industry
   

2. Build your network: start connecting with people in that niche! Don’t “sell” yourself to them. Just connect. Follow them on social, attend mixer events (finding events in a new niche can be a whole process itself, but that’s an article for another day), comment on their posts, and really just get familiar with “Who” these people are and what they’re actually looking for (if anything).
   

3. Proof of ability: Start building demos/MVPs and put out content about it! These don’t need to be “Super polished” (well, polish is certaintly a good goal!) instead, you can frame these as experiments. Maybe you mention you’re interested in trying more work in this particular genre or niche and you’re just sharing as you go. You can think of these almost as “Soft asks”. There’s always a chance someone will see it and want to bring you onto a project! Don’t write off social media.

   
   

4. Proof of Trust: Now that you have some “proof” of your ability, keep connecting with people but also do some more actual research and look for “low hanging fruits”. You want to find a low stakes project to start building credibility. Ghost demos are good, but real collaborations and credits can be immensely more fruitful - especially as it breaks you into a whole new network! And if you’re working with someone in the niche you want to work in, they likely have a whole network of people in that niche too who they can share your work and even refer you too. Not every gig needs to “pay off” in the sense of finance. Access to these networks can be far more valuable when starting out in a new niche than a few hundred dollars here or there.
   

5. Go deeper and repeat! You’ve gotten your first credit, you have a portfolio, and are building a network the only thing you need to do now is get deeper. Do more research, meet more people, do more and more music in this new niche and style. How deep you go now is up to you, but the deeper you get into a niche the more rewarding the work will become. So go get em Tiger!

If you enjoyed this article, I have a youtube video where I breakdown how to land your first gig that you may find helpful!

ScoringTech.Net is operated by Joe Chris as a means of trying to give back to the composer community. Consider joining the monthly mailing list to have these articles sent to your inbox on the first of every month! Follow me on instagram @Joe_Chris_ , youtube, or Join our free discord community where we host bi-weekly composition challenges!