In parts I and II of this series we’ve discussed topics such as finding work, positioning yourself, cold contacts etc. Now I think it’s a good time we talk about a big headache for many composers: content.
In the modern era, it is almost impossible to be successful in a creative field without a social media presence. But questions like “what to post, how often, when? How do you showcase your music? What’s the most important thing to post? Should we have separate accounts for business and personal?” and so many more don’t just cause composers to hesitate, but actually prevent many from even starting to post! So before we get into it, as another perfectionist I’d like to share the life philosophy I’ve been living by lately:
“Anything worth doing is worth half-assing”
To many, this sounds sacrilegious. However, if you look at it deeper it is actually very great advice. Let’s step back from music: we can all agree brushing your teeth is important to do and worth doing, right? Do you think it’s better or worse to brush your teeth only once every other day or never at all? Most dentists would agree that half-assing dental hygiene is better than nothing. The same goes for content strategy.
Instead of worrying about maximizing algorithm potential, squeezing every single possible view and getting the most out of every single platform that exists, it is so much more important to just do the bare minimum: POST SOMETHING. Anything, it doesn’t matter what it is. Posting in general is better than non-posting. Even if it isn’t music related it’s a better option than not posting at all. Why? Because you may appear on the feed of an old friend or acquaintance that hasn’t had you on their mind in a while and remember you do music or might just want to reconnect as old pals.
So remember: every post has value and can be done for pretty much free. So you should totally post as much as possible. And for the record, I use “post” loosely. There are various types of content and so far we are talking about content in general - be it instagram posts, a podcast, a blog, a book, an EP, etc.
Along those lines, start to think of content as an “asset” rather than just content to put out there. Some assets are more valuable to others. A picture of you on the beach could have priceless value to you and your family, but a 300 page in depth book on music theory for the beginner could have a much lower value but to a much wider audience. Different types of content have different values for different audiences. They are all assets.
Another great thing with content, regardless of what it is, is that it acts as a bit of “Social proof” and a “paper trail” that you know what you are doing, do it consistently, and can do a wide variety of tasks surrounding it. For instance, if I want to be a composer in media and I don’t have any credits a director or game developer may choose me over somebody with similar levels of zero experience because they can see how much I know/hear how good my music is based on what I put out online. This doesn’t even need to be a creative endeavor either. Writing about tech on this blog landed me my first assistantship with Trevor Morris, because he was able to be confident that I knew what I was talking about despite never having assistant experience.
Before we go further, we should ask ourselves: “Who is it we are trying to reach?” The more specific the better. For example, “Film makers” is not as specific as “student filmmakers currently attending NYU” and “Composers” is not as specific as “Hollywood based film composers working in teams large enough to warrant an assistant, and could likely be hiring”. The more you identify your audience, the more you can tailor content specifically for them. For our example, let’s do a basic one “Indie Film makers looking to work with a composer for the first time”.
Now that we have identified a group we are trying to reach, how can we make our assets valuable to them? Well there is always “Talking head” content where we can chat about various issues that they might face and how you can offer a solution. What’s it like working with a composer? How does a spotting session go? Etc. This is a common approach for many composers looking to connect with directors, usually in the form of a youtube video, PDF document, or reels/tik toks. In fact, I’ve even done it (and may remake/do again). But there are other options too.
What if you were to demonstrate how your music is different from other composers? Maybe instead of relying on orchestral sample libraries, you build every one of your templates from scratch for a film. Or you do some really cool sound design things. Maybe you have a very different workflow that may jive better with a particular type of director. Whatever it is, highlight it. Post about WHO you are, not just the work you do. People hire you for you. Especially with AI on the horizon, there is a human element you bring to the table that can not be replaced. Amplify that.
In addition to identifying your audience, it can also be a good idea to identify your goals. What is it you are trying to achieve? Do you want it to function as a portfolio? Or would you rather it function as a funnel for leads? Maybe you are trying to use it as a platform for networking. There are a ton of different uses for content, so make sure you understand what you are trying to do with it.
Once you have that all figured out, a good exercise for this is to make a list and identify 10 categories of content you can make to help you achieve the goal with your intended niche.
So let’s go with “Connecting with Indie Film makers looking to work with a composer for the first time and possibly working with them on a project” as our goal.
I’d say these sort of people would be interested in a few things: typically a more “artistic” side of music than just wallpaper - an upgrade from royalty free tracks. They also may have questions about working with a composer, or some “Trust issues” on that. Also, how expensive is it to work with one? Do they believe that you need to be able to afford a full studio orchestra, engineers, etc? Your job now is to think on all of this and figure out what kind of content would best suit this crowd. Here’s what I came up with and why
Compositional Processes - showing how you work and create music can build trust that you can do the job
Finished Products (Tracks) - Show off your biggest flexes on what you can achieve musically
Gear reviews - even though not filmmaker specific, everybody loves a good gear review and showing what tools & toys you own/what you can use can help them ease the nerves about budget etc
Scoring Advice for Directors - show various ways music can make a scene better or how directors can use music more effectively
Tips, Tricks, & Tutorials - show off fun, creative ways to use your tools and do new things. Keep it interesting. They may not be musicians but many love cool musical ideas
Collaborations - work with other composers or musicians! Always helps get your name out more and who knows who will see
Demo Tracks/Ghost Demos - I personally love this one. Come up with a plot/scenario etc and write music based around that. Essentially scoring with your own situation you come up with. Show you can capture a specific mood.
Gig VLogs - Show off your process actually working on gigs and talk about what it was like to go through this
Experimentation - again, keeping things on the artsier side this could demonstrate you’re willing to bring an original sound to a project
Music Analysis - either super technical or you could do an analysis of how the music impacts the scene or hows its used functionally etc. Make it clear you know what you’re talking about to the directors
You can do this exercise with every niche/goal combo you identify, but the more “wide” your net the harder it can be to maintain a strong following. It really depends on your goals though - this is why some people split out their accounts. Personally, I feel splitting out your accounts doesn’t help much overall, at least in the beginning when you are trying to gain as much traction as possible. If you reach a level of success where you have multiple large audiences with not much overlap already - then it might make sense to split them. Otherwise, I find it useful to have it all under one roof so to speak.
But by doing this exercise, you’ll find out just how “little” content you’ve been making happen to actually achieve your goals. It can actually be hard to come up with 10 ideas that you think will help, even the above is stretching just how much this directly achieves that. However, if you look closely at them each one of those areas is a different "attack point" on building trust with a potential client. And once you have their trust it is a heck of a lot easier to land the gig. And that's the biggest thing about your content strategy: building trust in you, your brand, and your services through the content you create should be at least one of your goals. Regardless of how much engagement you receive, having that history of trust building content is such a valuable asset. If they google you or you reach on your social platform and they see all that and can start trusting you pre-working with you, that's so much stronger than being a no-name with no presence.
Anyway, I’m sure you came up with ideas that are better than what you’ve been doing, and in each one of the ideas listed above, I’m sure you can come up with 10-20 ideas for content to make. So that’s 100-200 pieces of content you can do, super cheaply, to promote yourself. Or to put it even better, that’s 100-200 new assets your brand owns now, that can generate future work for you.
Finally, once you create one piece of content, post it in as many places that are applicable! One reel can also be posted on youtube shorts and tik tok for instance. And just because it doesn’t do well on one platform, doesn’t mean it won’t on another. In fact, I’ve had a post that had less than 10 likes on instagram in a week but over 200 within an hour from posting on Tik Tok. All it took was just posting the same piece somewhere else and copying/pasting the caption: maybe 5 minutes of time? The more reach the better, "saturation" is the name of the game.
From all of this though, the bottom line is there is a lot of strategy that “can be” involved in content creation, but there’s nothing stopping you from just starting and figuring things out when you go. There is absolutely nothing to be afraid of and you definitely don’t need to be anywhere near perfect to start - just start!
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