Corporate Music Method

8/19/2019 Corporate Music Method

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Copyright © 2016 Erwin Steijlen

All Rights Reserved

No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise – without written

permission from the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of theinformation contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation

of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions.Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information

contained herein.First Printing, 2016

ISBN 978-90-9029596-1

Contact information:

[email protected]

www.erwinsteijlen.com

www.corporatemusicmethod.com

mailto:[email protected]://www.corporatemusicmethod.com/http://www.erwinsteijlen.com/mailto:[email protected]


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Content

Prolog ue: How To read This Book / About the author

Chapter 1: Are You A Crazy Talented 17 Year Old?

Chapter 2: How To Make Money With Music

Chapter 3: Go Corporate with the Corporate Music Method!

Chapter 4: Go Global!

Chapter 5: 25 Rules To Be Successful With Your Music In The Corporate World

Rule #1 The Plan

Rule #2 The Folder

Rule #3 Buy Time

Rule #4 Be Intuitive

Rule #5 Keyword Writing

Rule #6 No Demo’s Please

Rule #7 Less Is More

R ule #8 How To Get Client FocusR ule #9 The Stems Approach

Rule #10 Contracts, What Do You Need Them For?

R ule #11 Hours Or Project? (More Dough Please)

Rule #12 Never Say No To A Job

Rule #13 Life Is A Stage

Rule #14 Always Make Your Deadline

Rule #15 Learn To Read Feedback

Rule #16 Writing For Corporate World is Different From Film Scoring

Rule #17 How To Host Your Show

Rule #18 Everybody Wants To Rule The World

Rule #19 More Than Words

Rule #20 Don’t Get The “One Word” Feedback

Rule #21 Get a Chance!


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Rule #22 Real over MIDI

Rule #23 Difficult Mix?

Rule #24 Musical Rules (& Tips)

Rule #25 Plugins Rule

Chapter 6: How To Find Clients

Chapter 7: What About Synching?!

Chapter 8: Music Rights and Wrongs

Chapter 9: The Mix, a Great Bronze Medal Winner

Chapter 10: Interviews With Creative Entrepreneurs

Mr. Lee Johnson. Executive VP AudiosparxMr. Rob de Vries. Founder & CEO of De Vries&Partners Germany and DvP Group

International

Mr. Jordan Passman. Founder & CEO Score A Score

Mr. Henk Bout. Founder & CEO United and Wisseloord Studios

Chapter 11: Make A Business Plan

Chapter 12: Creative and Concept Thinking

Chapter 13: Some Examples, Some Ideas

Chapter 14: Food for Champions


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How to Read This Book

This is a book for songwriters, composers and artists who write, and record their own music. The purpose of this book is to inspire and inform those who want to become a creativeentrepreneur and make a great living writing music for corporate clients, tv, films, events,shows and commercials.

Chapter 1 to 4 is about the music market and how much this market has changed in the last

couple of years. These chapters explain why and how the Corporate Music Method works.

Chapter 5 to 9 are about the “25 Rules to Become a Successful Corporate Music Writer”, with

musical tips and mixing tricks, examples and everything you need to know about royalties,

rights and synching.

Chapter 10 and 11 feature inter views with successful entrepreneurs, so we can learn from the

people who started a creati ve business and succeeded.

In Chapter 12 to 14 we’ll dive deep into important things like mindset, creative- and concept

thinking and how to really achieve success as a creative businessman.

For those who read the paper version; all the music and video’s that are mentioned can be

found on

www.erwinsteijlen.com

soundcloud.com/erwin-steijlen

www.youtube.com/user/erwinsteijlen

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/user/erwinsteijlenhttp://soundcloud.com/erwin-steijlenhttp://www.youtube.com/user/erwinsteijlenhttp://soundcloud.com/erwin-steijlenhttp://www.erwinsteijlen.com/


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About the Author

Erwin started out as a talented guitar player and songwriter, playing with the best Dutchartists, live and in the studio. His career took off when he started recording his own music.Now he has 15 years of experience as a corporate music writer, composing for brands, shows,events, tv series and films with clients in over 40 countries. Companies like VW and BMW

have been using his music and his skills as a musical director for all of their product launchesall over the the world for years. After writing hundreds and hundreds of epic music tracks forthe world’s biggest clients, Erwin can now probably say he is the #1 product launchcomposer in the world.

Some highlights are his work for the Beijing Olympics in 2008, his collaboration with Cirquedu Soleil and DJ Fedde LeGrand, the inauguration of the biggest ship ever built “Pioneering Spirit” and his shows with Shakira and Pink!

Brands like Verizon Fios, LG, Ford, Liberty Global, Time Warner, Bentley, Shell, Philips, Nikeand many more love using his music for their commercials and branding. In 2014 alone,Erwin had 30 commercials on American TV, which he realized using the Corporate MusicMethod. Also, hit TV series such as The Mentalist, Pretty Little Liars, Parenthood and Ben &Kate have built scenes to his songs.

Besides being a songwriter, composer and producer, Erwin teaches Songwriting and MediaComposing at ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in the Netherlands.


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Chapter 1 Are You A Crazy Talented 17 Year Old?

If you are reading this you’re most likely an artist such as a songwriter or a composer, just likeme. If you are reading this you are probably a musician, maybe playing in a band, just like meand a million others around the world. Maybe you’re a music student or a teacher at a localmusic school. You may be all of the above, but I’m absolutely sure you are recording your

own music or planning to.

In any case, you love music and you would love it even more if you could make a decentliving out of it. You’ll watch and listen to your heroes on records, radio, YouTube and Spotify,you’ll go see your favorite acts live and you wish you could live that kind of life too. Maybeyou’re living it but it’s hard to get recognition and even harder to get enough money to call it a‘real job’.

But let’s be honest here.

Are you good enough? Do you live in the right country, preferably UK or US? Do you know people who can help you become famous? Do you have a record deal? A worldwide recorddeal? Do radio stations play your songs? Do the big stars want to record your songs? Do theHollywood filmmakers fight over your music? Are you scoring the big pictures? Are royaltiespaying your bills?

If the answers to the last couple of questions are a “yes”, then you belong to a very smallpercentage of people who are lucky enough to step into the music business with a goodchance of making it big, if you haven’t already. If you can add a gorgeous body, long hair, a

voice capable of singing 6 octaves and you can dance like Beyonce.. I’m positive you WILLmake it in this cut-throat industry.

But if you are, just like me once, one of those millions struggling to survive as a singer,musician, songwriter, composer or artist… I might have a solution for you.

First, let’s be clear about what you want and where you are at this very moment.

Have you really tried everything possible to get somewhere in the music bizz?

Have you really given it all you got?

Are you really working as hard as you can?

Have you tried all the possibilities?

Chances are you have not. Not yet at least.

Now, as long as we are being honest; do you have a slightly romantic idea about being a promusician? Do you still think that you will get noticed in the local club even though you arenot a crazy talented 17 year old? Is your highest goal getting on a tv show like The Voice, orplaying at a local rock festival? Or do you want to be on YouTube and Spotify just for your

friends and family? In other words; do you want to be a pro, or stay an amateur? What is yourgoal? Are you really serious about your music and the idea of making a living with it? and areyou good enough to be a pro? If the answers to last two sentences are “yes” then the MethodI think, will be interesting to you.


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Help me get Famous!

True, getting famous or scoring a worldwide hit is the ultimate goal for almost all artists, butit’s a long shot too, hard to realize and luck is an important ingredient here.

In these modern times, where Spotify, Apple and YouTube rule the music scene, especially money wise, old-school record companies are desperately looking for new ways to make

money, radio stations are slowly being overtaken by internet radio, and tv is for old folk because kids want series on-demand like what is offered on Netflix and HBO. In these fastchanging times it is even harder to create steady income with your own music. At times it canseem practically impossible for a creative person to make any money at all with his or her art.In the next chapter we will go deeper into the ways how Spotify and YouTube earn theirmoney, and what this means for you. But the most important thing you need to realize is this:

It is perfectly possible to make a great living as a composer or songwriter, without the

help of managers, record companies or publishers!

I’m not talking about a lucky shot to score a hit, but a long term career in music by getting your own business, making a steady income with your own music, making a living andsupporting your family with your self-recorded tracks. Be an entrepreneur besides being acreative person; a creative businessman. Build your business with returning, paying clients andassignments, and be self supporting and free to make your own decisions.

I’m talking about writing and recording for the corporate world.

This can be done in various ways, the most obvious of which would be to write music forcommercials. Contact ad agencies if you want to write these 20 second music tracks. But that

market is pretty crowded in most countries or taken by big the players. This is because of theroyalties these tracks make, every second on television is paid so writing these commercialsaccount for a nice dollar figure on your bank statement. Another way is to write radio jinglesand packages for radio stations. I know a lot of people who do this kind of work.

If you get a chance to compose a nice tv commercial, do it! But also try and look at itdifferently, try and find a niche that’s not so crowded. What about contacting brands andcompanies directly? What about events, shows and product launches? What about the big corporate market for video’s? What about getting your music in TV series and films through

synching? What about a collaboration with clothing designers or starting filmmakers?Musically it’s more interesting to write an epic piece for a product launch, a whole song or anorchestral track for a show or a film, than to make 20 second commercials where the music,most of the time, has to sound like something you already know (but it does pay the bills of course). Mixing it all up keeps things interesting.

Collaboration in new territories is key here, think about who you know and who can help you.

What about the artists that did make it? Can they still live just from record deals and touring?It is known that 91 percent of all the artists in the world are completely undiscovered, and of

the other 9 percent not everyone can make a living. The stars we hear and see on tv, internetand radio all day, are a very small percentage of what is available. Are they really the best orare other factors playing a role here too?


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An American example from The Huffington Post: “Today, the only way to make money inthe music business is to turn an artist into a brand, and then do everything in your power tomaximize that brand’s value. The first step on this path still involves music. Songs make amusic artist famous in the first place and allow the artist to define his or her brand. Touring can also be lucrative; spending on concerts in North America surpassed spending onrecorded music in 2009, and stood at $9.5 billion in 2011, up almost 20 percent from four

years before. But tours are also expensive to produce, so they aren’t necessarily as profitablefor the artist as they initially appear. For that reason, artists have become increasingly creative with their business ventures. “Ten years ago, if you had a hit song on the radio, and you had agreat tour, you’d sell a million records, two million records. That’s not necessarily the caseanymore.

Today, if you have a hit song and you have a sold-out tour, then other ancillary opportunitiesare available to you: sponsorships, endorsements, TV, movie, animated features … alldifferent types of things. Recording an album really has become like a promotional tool, so

once an artist becomes popular through music, the four members of his or her managementteam (agent, manager, lawyer, business manager) work to turn fans’ goodwill into revenue. They secure deals for music-merchandise manufacturers to sell keychains with their clients’faces on them, get their clients lucrative judging positions on reality TV shows, and helpbroker clothing-design jobs with apparel companies. Some artists have made more with thesekinds of deals than they would have in the golden age of the CD. Taylor Swift, for example,collaborated with Elizabeth Arden to release a perfume that was predicted to generate $50million in the year after its release. Swift, of course, also sells millions of records but musicmanager Allen Kovac said that it’s possible even for moderately successful artists to start

lucrative businesses. Kovac cited his client Nikki Sixx, who has parlayed his position as thebassist of Motley Crue into a clothing line, several book deals and a radio talkshow. Sixx isalso in talks to start a talk show on cable. “He’s making more money now as an individualthan he did in Motley Crue,” Kovac said”.

So the famous artists are looking for new business models too. They have to!

The big companies are too slow in changing their business models and the market today istoo fragmented for the way they used to work. From Forbes Entrepreneurs: “In today’s musicscene there are multiple subgenres and blogs catering to niche audiences on the Internet,thousands of cable channels, satellite- and internet radio channels etc. Massive corporationsare not built for this type of promotions, but smaller record labels, smaller marketing firms ormotivated artists are. To meet these market needs, a new and exciting business model hasemerged where entrepreneurs and small businesses supply needs that the major companiescannot. These companies handle promotions, distribution and marketing for independentlabels and artists. They provide services so independent labels don’t have to do everything in-house, allowing these labels to compete through services that were once only available by signing exclusive deals with major-label conglomerates”. So there are opportunities for

independent artists as long as you see your music as a product, and yourself as a creativebusinessman.

But are you good enough for market demands?


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The drawing of the little circle stands for the evolution that, in my opinion, every musician,songwriter and composer needs to go through. You’ll want to become just as good as yourheroes and your competition, and in the meantime discover your own “unique selling point”. The market demands a certain quality and getting up to that standard is hard enough. But what makes you different from the rest? Why should people buy your music? Why wouldclients be interested in hiring you? So you need to go “around the world”, learn and complete

the circle, be just as good as your competitors, and then find that “One” different spot!Because that’s what makes you different and helps you to stand out from the rest. First try hard to be just as good as your heroes and put as much of yourself into the journey aspossible. Then you will need to find the part where you are different and can make thedifference. “One” different and step “One” beyond from what the rest is offering. This is very important, so much more on this later in the book.


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Chapter 2: How To Make Money With Music

Fact: it’s getting harder and harder to make a living in music. Music is free almost everywhere. With YouTube, Spotify, Deezer, your kids will never, ever pay for a song. That’s old school!Music is free in the minds of the young. Nobody will be able to return to the old times.

Money and “ a living” can only be made in other ways, not by selling tracks anymore. Sure,there is iTunes and it will be here for as while, but since artists put their music up for free on YouTube and the majority of the people, especially young people, are online 24 hours a day,sales will go down there also. It’s just a matter of time. My own kids tell me: “dad, why should we pay for a song?, it’s all for free on YT”!

Let’s talk about selling music, songs. Here are some financial facts; The Guardian march 2015:“Daft Punk’s Get Lucky was streamed 78.6 million times through its Play 50 chart, earning upto £660,000, which would be split between record label, publishers, collecting societies andthe French duo”. A record deal is 360 degrees these days, meaning that record companies want a share of everything an artist earns money with. These companies cannot live fromsales anymore so they have to. Artists with record deals get between 19% and 24 %,depending on the deal they make. So, even a worldwide hit does not make you rich, as you seein the above example. Not with streams anyway. You would have expected these guys to gainmillions with a worldwide hit, but from streams they will not become millionaires, that’s forsure.

The Guardian: “Spotify says that it’s average payout for a stream to labels and publishers isbetween $0.006 and $0.0084 but “Information Is Beautiful” suggests that the average

payment to an artist from the label portion of that is $0.001128 – this being what a signedartist receives after the label’s share”.

First this: YouTube is a great place to build a brand, but a bad place to build abusiness!

This is a great quote and very true. Anybody can use YouTube to become famous or sell hisproduct. But, there is little money to be made! You would need 1,000.000 views to earn 2,000dollars. But then you have to pay taxes, and your costs for making the vids and music. Andsigned artists need to share with record company and publishing. But if you do get millionsof views on your channel you have a big chance of being approached by brands andcompanies who want you to review their products for money. Most vloggers make a living that way claiming they always can write whatever they want, but I suspect that realindependence does not benefit from being paid by the brands they are reviewing.

Spotify then…..the math:

Spotify has 15 million paying customers and 60 million users overall. These 45 million freeusers take the ads for granted. Nobody really knows how much Spotify makes on these ads.

To make minimum wages, meaning 1200 dollars a month a signed artist needs 1,117,021streams and an unsigned artist needs 230,326 plays. Here is a clearer view of what earningsare on Spotify and YouTube:


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source: http://thetrichordist.com/2014/11/12/the-streaming-price-bible-spotify-youtube-and-what-1-

million-playsmeans-to-you/

Adding more subscribers also adds more plays. This means that there is less paid per play asthe service scales in size. This means that Spotify and YT retain their margin, while the artist’smargin is reduced! In the above example the 3,000,000 plays ad up to $ 7,802.00 of totalrevenue You can make the same amount by selling 1125 albums on iTunes…. (However, if you were to sell 3,000,000 tracks on iTunes you would earn 2,100,000 dollars!.. Wow! but

these days are long gone..) A couple of years ago most people thought that the Internet would bring a whole new middleclass of independent artists, composers, painters, musicians, creative people, etc… But, inreality, it brought us a whole generation of amateurs, hobbyists and semi-pro’s. Only the big companies like Apple, Spotify, Google and YouTube, make serious money. Artists are poorerthan ever… That’s just the plain truth.

Geoff Barrow of Portishead tweeted in dec 2015: 34 million streams, my income after tax=£1700. Thank U @apple @YouTube @Spotify for selling our music so cheap. Another clear example

of a bad deal..I did a little investigation with a song of mine to see for myself what the revenues would be,and it turned it was even less than the above example! I put the song on Spotify and iTunesthrough “Music Kickup”. You need a publisher or a service like Music Kickup or Catapult toget your music on iTunes, Spotify, Deezer, Google Play etc. Catapult is an official distributorfor iTunes, but there are more companies offering this kind of service for a small fee.

http://thetrichordist.com/2014/11/12/the-streaming-price-bible-spotify-youtube-and-what-1-million-playsmeans-to-you/


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Here are the results:

As you can see I got 5016 streams on Spotify for this track earning me 17.42 dollars. Thismeans I got only 0,00347 per stream. I also got 19 iTunes sales, for which I received 13,49dollars. This is 0,71 per sale.

So, if i had sold 5016 tracks on iTunes, I would have earned 3561.36 dollars. This is not

entirely fair because not every stream would have been a sale (some listeners may have playedthe song ten times but would have to buy it only once of course).

But in this simple example it is also pretty clear, you need massive streams to make any kindof living.

Another example of how bad it can be:

Kevin Kadish, who wrote “All About That Bass”, says he made just $5,679 (£3,700) from 178million streams of the song.

“For a song like All About That Bass, that I wrote, which had 178 million streams. I mean$5,679?

That’s my share,” he is quoted as saying in a report from The Tennessean.

“That’s as big a song as a songwriter can have in their career. It became number one in 78countries, and you’re making $5,600? He definitely made a bad deal with his record company.But on the other hand, he wouldn’t have had such a big hit without this company, and theradio royalties should make him rich anyway. But now you’ll understand artists like TaylorSwift, AC/DC, The Beatles and Garth Brooks a bit better when they don’t want to be onSpotify.


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Here’s what Taylor Swift says about her choice not te be on Spotify anymore:

“Ms Swift says that the argument about fair compensation isn’t really about her. She can

support herself, her band, crew, and entire management team by playing live shows: at lastcount, her “1989” tour had grossed over $86m. The real problem is for those whose star-power is more modest than that of Ms Swift’s supernova. Despite technology that puts morepower into the hands of musicians to make websites, sell merchandise, book their own showsand connect with fans, many continue to sign old-fashioned, complex paper contractsregarding the rights to their music. These play to the strengths of lawyers and accountants,not lyricists and tunesmiths, ensuring that more money flows to handlers than to creators.”(The Economist)

So, what can you do to make a living from music as a creator? As a songwriter, composer or writing artist? Here are the answers:

1 Be on the radio all day, and be on all radio’s worldwide. That would bring you loads of royalty money… But, it would take a while getting it. It can take somewhere between 1 and 3years. And, you would have to share with publishing, the record company and collecting societies like ASCAP. But, depending on where you are signed, which has a lot to do with where you live and work, most of the time you will only get on national radio. You will needto be a signed artist with a worldwide record deal to get on all these radio stations worldwide.

That’s the way most radio stations work, they get new music from record companiespromoting new artists. So, first, you would need a great deal. I know of a great singer whocan write well, but every time she records a single she signs this pretty useless distributiondeal with a record company. They haven’t even managed to get her on national radio, not


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even once! But she did sign their publishing contract, meaning she lost all control over herown music and recording. No shopping around and no synching with this track, no morefreedom to do what she wants with her song, and for what? There are thousands of artiststhat keep signing these bad paper contracts just because it sounds so great: “I’ve got a recorddeal”, “I’ve signed with this great, big publisher”, but the truth is that 90% of the times, it won’t get them anywhere. Got a great deal? Sign! If not, remain free and work it yourself, or

work with smaller companies who understand how the new “music to business” ways work.

If you’re good, the big ones will come back for you anyway. About the deal from my singerfriend: That record company put no effort into her song at all. They didn’t pay for therecordings, and these days singles aren’t even hardware, anymore, only digital. So, no costs atall. None. They need to use their distribution and marketing system, but if they’re not totally behind you, or you aren’t a well known artist already, this deal will be of no use. Also, it willalways only be national. So find a company that believes in you. Even better if it’s smaller andknows how modern day marketing works. Stay away from the big companies unless they can

offer you a great (worldwide) deal. Otherwise, do it yourself and use the Method. Get yourmusic on films, commercials or tv series and built it up from there.

DJ Martin Garrix left his record company Spinnin’ records and management in august 2015,after failing to get his Intellectual Property Rights back. He signed a “bad” deal when he was very young and trying to change it did not work. He cut his losses, left the company and now only concentrates on new music and he is currently (as I write at least,) available for a new label and a new (better) contract. We all know about the struggles of George Michael andPrince with their companies, but we also all know of artists who don’t live in the UK or US,

who can only have national success. The road to success is a one-way street; going from theUK and US to the rest of the world. You’re not allowed to enter the street from the otherside! This is how old-school record companies work and it’s about time this changed!

What’s the second way to make a living from music?

2 Gig! Tour! Play live, play, play, play.. Most musicians pay their bills with touring, playing live! Play as much as you can and ask decent money for your live appearance. That’s what allthe big acts are doing. They tour and earn a lot of money with it. That’s why all the old actsare touring again. No more record sales, so they have to. Build a loyal following and keep on

playing and touring…. (Coldplay costs 1 million for a show I’ve heard). Costs for touring canbe high though and health problems from an important band member could mean no money at all for the whole crew when a show has to be cancelled.

3 Teaching is the third answer. Many musicians have a teaching job, or had one at somepoint in their lives. For songwriters and composers this happens less often, but it’sincreasingly becoming a subject at music schools and conservatories. But be honest.. doesanswer 1 and 2 really apply to you? If you’re a songwriter or composer, but not a performer,you won’t make much money by playing live. And the only way to earn royalties would be to

write that hit song, or get your tracks on TV shows. My guess is that, for most musicians,composers, songwriters and bands, the above answers would probably not apply at all.

For media composers, another troublesome thing is happening right now. In a crowdedmarket, which advertising is, and where many composers are offering their services, the


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following happens more and more. A normal working situation for a media composer writing tunes, jingles, radio and tv commercials would be to get paid for the work; the writing andrecording for a commercial. After that, the commercial would appear on tv and the composershould get 66% of the royalties (34% for the publisher when there is one). That’s how it’sagreed upon by law.

In the real world, however, the following two situations are often occurring:

The agent or advertising agency writes it’s name on the music, pretending to be a co-writer,and thus getting 33% of the writer’s part, leaving the composer with only 33% of the

royalties. So the ad agency director brings in the lead, negotiates the fee and get’s most of themoney for making the spot. Then negotiates a fee with the composer where he also uses theroyalties as a negotiating tool. So, suddenly, getting backend is not a right anymore. The clientgoes like: hey, you will get royalties, so why do you need a fee for writing at all? This fake co- writer now earns most of the money that’s being paid for the commercial, and he also takes33% of the royalties


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It’s almost the same with getting your song on a “Rihanna” album or a similar hot artist; every other producer that’s in her “team”“ wants his name on your track too, because only thesingles sell. Kids do not buy the rest of the album, but only the hits. So you sign that deal andshare your writing credits or your song won’t appear on the album at all. That’s the reason somany names appear in the song credits.

It gets even worse for the modern media composer when broadcasting companies turn intopublishers themselves (which they do often enough) and besides getting 34% as a publisherthey want up to 80% of the leftover 66% writer’s share. The composer won’t get the job if hedoesn’t agree to pay back these 80% of the royalties to the broadcaster. This is done in papercontracts and composers are so scared of saying no, and losing clients and income, that they agree.


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This really is a cut throat business…

These kickback contract’s are a frequently occurring problem nowadays, and as long ascomposers sign these contracts it will only get worse. But when this is your only income, I canimagine it’s hard to say no. Especially when there are 100+ other composers capable and

willing to take over these 20 second tracks and take your money. So you need a lawyer onevery deal, it seems, but my guess is that this won’t change a thing. Maybe the entire royalty system as we know it, will end in a couple of years, because when young people stop watching TV, they will also stop watching at commercials and the payment of backend mightstop too.

So, in my opinion, there will definitely will be changes in royalty payments in the future.

So, what’s the answer then? What’s the solution? What can you do to make a decent living as asongwriter or composer? What can you do to make a life for your family and yourself with

your own music? I’m not saying to give up on all your goals. Do try to write a worldwide hit,be on every radio station, play gigs everywhere, be a film composer…. but I am suggesting that you should learn more about the market, what the market needs, and where the money is…. and then take advantage of this knowledge. So, again, what can you do to make a decent


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living or even a great living with your music? My answer is, as you probably will have guessedalready…


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Chapter 3: Go Corporate!

Films, tv series, commercials, games, corporate video’s, brands, events, product launches…they all need great music! They need songs that have the same quality as the ones that areplayed on radio, they need great orchestral music that’s just as good as the music in movies,they need dubstep, rock, singer-songwriter songs, EDM you name it.. There’s a market and

this market pays well. This market needs music! Don’t think this is an easy market, though! The stock music days are long behind us. You need to be really good! Don’t think that thesemedia composers only do 10 second jingles or 20 second commercials. These people, theclients and brands really need top notch tracks and real music. Music that is now, music thatrocks… It needs to be up there with the best. It needs to be like the music your clients listento in their cars when driving to work. These brands work hard and spend a fortune ondeveloping their products, so the music for these products needs to be great too.

The market needs epic tracks, instrumentals and songs in all styles, from dramatic to dance

and from rock to singer-songwriter.

There are 2 ways to make a great income with your music in the corporate way:

1 Write directly for brands or via event and advertising agencies. It will get you paid for your writing and the use of your music. (many times there will also be royalties)

2 Synching.

Synch your music to tv series, films, commercials. It will pay you license money and royalties.

Questions you now might have:

Can I do this too? How do I get clients? How do I write for such a client?

How much time do I have when i get a composing job?

How much money can I ask?

How does it work with music rights?

How do I get synched?

Is my music good enough?

What kind of music do they need?

I don’t have clients, what am I doing wrong?

Can I make money too? And how can I make money too?

What should I be able to do musically?

What do brands like BMW, Philips, LG or Nike really want?

What’s it like working with film or ballet, a choreographer, advertising or event agencies?

What do I need to know in order to pull it off ? What’s it like?

In the following chapters I will give answer to the above questions and more.


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But first:

What is the Corporate Music Method and what can it do for you?

Over the past 15 years I have been working hard as a one man company. I have seen my company grow and get big opportunities and assignments. I’ve had great successes based onthe Method. I found there are ways to make a great living with your own music, without

sailing the same routes as most others do. It’s not easy and for sure the Method is not foreveryone, but it can be done, and the journey is an exciting one!

Getting clients who are loyal, getting assignments that are out of the ordinary, the worldwidetrips I’ve made, the cities I’ve visited and the musical friends I’ve made. The music I’ve hadthe chance to write, music I would never have written otherwise. It made me a much bettercomposer and songwriter, and it also gave me great insights into how corporations andbusinesses work and think. When I decided to share what I’ve learned, a feeling of coming home fell over me, kind of like reaching the harbour of your hometown after a long and

adventurous journey. And since we’re already in the nautical world; The Corporate MusicMethod is based on 4 anchors.

You will need all 4 anchors to work in order to get your “boat” safely into harbour. If oneanchor doesn’t work or is broken, your boat could go adrift.

These anchors are: Create, Learn, Market and Earn.

Create: This work is all about passion for music and being creative. Corporate brands want

and expect the best, so you have to write as much as you can and be the best you

can. It’s all about creativity and your music, your creations. This first anchor is themost important one because your know how, professionalism and out-of-the-box

thinking, is what your new business is all about, and can’t do without.

Learn: Learn from your mistakes, because that’s the only way to grow and get better. Learn

from teachers and from friends, learn by reading and watching tutorials. Learn from

how your customers respond and from the feedback you get. Make sure your

creativity grows and flourishes. The learning never stops, and neither should your

creativity. This is a “do it to learn it” business and you can only become successfulif you keep on practising and work hard.

Market: View your music and your work as a product, a product that is needed by a huge

market. Be open-minded and never say no to a job. Bring your creativity and

knowledge and go out shopping for gigs, assignments, synchs and clients. “To

succeed you have to compete”, meaning that you have to keep your costs low and

make the profit come to you and your company, and nobody else. You need to be

creative, not only with your music and words, but also with production, mix, masterand as a businessman.

Earn: Once your first 3 anchors have been dropped well the earning will start. You will land


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writing jobs and you will start making money with synchs. Release your own music

and become an authority who clients will want to rely on. Investigate what the

market needs and find out where your opportunities lie.

Be creative, keep on learning, market well and expand your network, then earnings

will come!

I am proud that our online course “Corporate Music Method” is now also an official minor (asubject earning 15 EC’s) at the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts, Netherland’s biggestconservatory. Music students from all over the world can follow these lessons and earn valuable Course credits. All other music writers can follow the course via our website. What’smost special and unique about this course is that real clients and music supervisors are partof the course! “School meets market” and students get network and a chance to earn money.Participants will meet, write for and sell music to the corporate market within this course. This has never been done before, and really is the missing link between music education and

the market. You can find more info on the Corporate Music Method course on our websiteCorporateMusicMethod.com

http://corporatemusicmethod.com/


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Chapter 4: Go Global

Be aware of the fact that music, like money, is a global thing. It seems like a logical thing tosay but most schools, musicians and even record companies don’t work this way, or are,themselves, even aware of it. They mostly work locally or at the most, nationally. It’s how they constructed their business models in a time when there was no internet and our world was

much smaller.

Money really is global and music? Well, music is even bigger… it’s universal. Everyone canrelate and respond to music, a song, it doesn’t have boundaries. So why only promote your work, your music, locally or nationally? Look at it this way:

The world is your marketplace and little dots of success on the globe can give great success,and make great income for your family and yourself. It buys freedom! You decide what to do with your life, and nobody tells you what to do. That is a great feeling and, although it’s notthe easiest way to choose to live your life, it’s very rewarding and can give a great sense of fulfillment.

Stop thinking small and start thinking big!

Schools all around the world are now discovering that this is the new way to reach students,and more and more online education is available. Schools like Harvard and Berklee are working hard on this, thus making their great programs available to students all over the world.

We need education to build our world, and, even more, we need creative people to change the

world. Global thinking is indispensable in these modern times.

So, how can you use this new way of thinking?

If you want to be a successful entrepreneur and run a creative business you will need bothlocal and international clients, and both local and international success to keep building andgrowing your business. The market you’re getting into does not see borders, the internet hasmade sure there are no borders where music is concerned. Learn to think global and big, see where the opportunities are, and use these opportunities. Send your music to potential clients,send it to libraries, send it to music supervisors, directors, show callers, ad agencies, event

agencies, publishers, record companies, clothing designers, website designers, videocompanies, film directors, creative schools, but don’t stop at the border of your country!Make sure you get these little dots of success all around the globe, and keep building yourbusiness. Be someone the market wants, and be someone the market needs.

These days an independent artist needs to be an independent businessman, too!

It really is perfectly possible, without a record company or publisher, to become a

self-supporting composer or songwriter, and make a great living out of it. But you’ve

got to Think Global!


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Chapter 5: 25 rules to be successful with your music in the corporate

world.

In order to be able to write for my clients and make the deadlines over and over again, I havedevelopment rules which I live and work by. I want to share these little “secrets” with younow and hope you’ll use at least a couple of them, to improve your workflow and your writing.

I’m sure you’ll find many tips to be useful, while you may find others to be controversial. They work for me and they can, and will work for you too.

Enjoy, let me start off with a great quote from Goethe because it says it all:

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it… Boldness has genius, power, and

magic in it..”

He was right, just begin, just do it, action/reaction. Starting is the hardest part, but it’s abeautiful thing when you get response, and your dreams start to build in real life….


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Rule #1 The Plan

“I love it when a plan comes together..”

Hannibal from the A-team knew it, you need a plan and preparations before an importantjob. Always make sure you have a plan the night before you start working!

Start the next day early, make room in your agenda and make sure you are able to work without getting disturbed. This may seem like an obvious statement but in my experience notmany people work this way. “The night before”, you force yourself to make a plan. Get abasic idea of what you what you want to write and record. In my case, this is usually working for a client. But the creative process works the same when you want to write something new for yourself, a release, an assignment for school, whatever.

Get into the right mindset before going to sleep and tell yourself that tomorrow is the day when it will all happen. Since this is a business with deadlines, often tight deadlines, thepressure is on your shoulders and the idea of focus and the feeling of having control is very

important and reassuring. You need to tell yourself “tomorrow I will write something great”and you will. Just believe in it.

The mindset, focus and taking the time to think about your upcoming work makes all thedifference between a useful, creative day and a long, tiring, not so creative, fighting againstdeadlines kind of day. Here’s what you do: Think of the client, the product, event,commercial, film, song whatever you will be working on. Usually, in my case, I’m leading, which means that all the other disciplines are waiting for me. This makes the weight on my shoulders even bigger.

So, film, choreography, sound guys and, of course, clients (and agents) are all waiting on whatyou will come up with. The Plan is simple; write what fits best for the client, the show and theclient’s wishes. In the corporate world information from the client or agency may not be very musical so you will probably need to figure out yourself what fits best. Most of the time thekeywords you get are very vague. This is a thing you must get used to.

Use your own imagination and experience to do the job. Do Google searches on the brand,for instance. Make sure you get a feeling for what and who they are. Whatever you do, youhave to make sure you have a Plan before starting up your DAW the next day.

Have the Plan ready the night before, sleep on it and start early the next day! You can writethe Plan on paper or type keywords into an email to yourself, or you can do it all inside yourhead.

The planning gets easier when you do a lot of (corporate) jobs, but the one thing you alwaysneed to do in order to help the creative process and get the plan together is explained in thenext chapter.


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Rule #2 The Folder!

Your place for inspiration

The Folder is very important! It’s going to be your source of inspiration and the one reliablething you can fall back to whenever things go wrong during the writing process. When writing under a deadline it is important to have a goal and not have hours of “uncreativeness”. The

Folder will keep you going in the right direction, the Folder will be your little source of extrainspiration.

So what do I mean by The Folder?

Make a folder on your desktop and put in all the material you find inspiring for this particularjob. Be intuitive here; it can be a kick drum, a special synth sound, it can be a chordprogression you wrote a while ago, it can be the way a song on the radio is mixed, a YouTubelink, older music you’ve written, new music from an artist you started listening to, a groove,an instrument, the way a vocal is recorded. It can be anything at all as long as it’s inspiring and

has something (think intuitive!) to do with the music you have to write the following day.

After a while, when you put material and music into this folder, an idea will begin to form inyour head, your imagination will start working and put things together. Something that willlink the product, brand, event or show to your music. You will become inspired to writesomething special and these intuitively chosen tracks, sounds, words, images, chords will helpyou write it.

An example of an assignment I got in early 2015; the launch of the new BMW X5 Hybrid. It was clear to me that this is a bold car, but also a beautiful one, it can drive on electricity butalso on fuel. A mix of old and new and I also got a strong “Beauty&the Beast” feeling aboutthis product. Not the musical of course, I mean the pretty looks and the brutal motor, themix of aesthetics and raw power. So, the music should represent that. Besides that, I knew that there were to be live dancers and even flying dancers/acrobats planned in that launch,and that it would be in Shanghai, China. The film was being shot at the same moment as I was writing so I was leading and I had to write the music without film. The film would be cutto my music. In the corporate world this is pretty standard and in that way different from themovie world. So, what do we have here; hybrid, beauty versus beast, dance/ choreography,

flying acrobats and the “Wow” moment at the end when the product, in this case the new car,is introduced to the audience, the world press, the world. I also know that these pressconferences and Product Launches are very, very important for companies. The whole worldpress will be there, all the big shot CEO’s and the competition are watching too!

Now listen to what I came up with:

https://soundcloud.com/erwin-steijlen/music-for-bmw-x5-hybrid

Electronic music, dramatic but “now” sounding but there’s also a live violin, heavy beats butalso pretty strings and some real drums, heavy bass synths in dubstep style but also a greatbuilding chord progression. (I also added a lot of sound fx, because film guys usually lovethese to edit to).

When all is ready and the client has approved I usually do one more session adding fx at

http://soundcloud.com/erwin-steijlen/music-for-bmw-x5-hybrid


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special moments in the film. This makes it more interactive and more powerful.

You can see the final result here, although it’s only filmed with an iPhone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoWxoFTb8H0

Whenever you get stuck in the writing process, you go back to the Folder. Listen to what is inthere and get instant inspiration that steers you in the right direction again. A small sound or

the way another track is mixed will give new ideas you can use in your new track. This hashelped me greatly over the past years and it can help you.

Composing can be a lonely job, working alone under the pressure of a deadline and peoplecalling you every 2 hours asking when the music will be ready.. so you need something to fallback on. The Folder is your chosen path, the way you think your music should sound for thisparticular job. The Folder will help you every time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mowxoftb8h0


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Rule #3 Buy Time

Time; the one thing you have never enough of

What is the worst thing that can happen when you’re working hard in your studio?

Besides ProTools crashing of course… It’s being disturbed time after time!

It kills your creativity and especially when you get stressed people on the phone it totally changes the mood you’re in. This ends your creative moment in a bad way and it’s hard to getback into it again. When you work alone like me and don’t have an assistant it’s hard to findthe peace of mind to compose while still running your business. You have to pick up thephone because it can be an important message or a new job. So what’s the answer here?

It’s “buy yourself time”!

To buy time I start working really early.

At 6 or 7 in the morning I’m in the studio. I’ve discovered that I’m really creative andproductive at that time. I always manage to write and record a nice track by the time it’s 1 inthe afternoon.

Clients won’t start calling before 10 or 11 in the morning, which means at least 4 hours of quiet quality time in my studio. Grab a cup of coffee and start working… this could work foryou too!

Get in early the night before and you’ll see that you’re more creative when you’re notdisturbed. I’m actually creatively at my best in the early morning, very focussed.

Prepare like we discussed in rule # 1 and #2, have a Plan and make a Folder, then go to bedearly and make sure to set your alarm clock! Try it, you’ll be surprised how much calmer you’llfeel, despite the pressure of a tight deadline. You’ll start with fresh ears and a long day aheadof you. This feeling of having a long day to work will give you a feeling of control and arelaxed mindset, which will make you write better and be more creative. I often have jobs thatrequire me to write, record, mix and master a whole song in 2 days. It can be done, but youneed these days to be very creative and fruitful. I know most of you out there are used tomaking long nights without sleep, but I firmly believe that with fresh ears and starting early instead, you will get much better musical results.

Try it, buy yourself time!


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Rule #4 Be intuitive!

Intuitive Music Writing 2.0

This is a very important one! Like with rule# 2 the Folder, you need to trust your firstemotion, your gut feeling. Whenever writing chords or a theme, making a sound, mixing, writing lyrics etc…. be intuitive. Trust your musicality. Rest assured that you will know what is

the best musical decision immediately.

99% of the time your initial idea will be the best, changing it against that first feeling willresult into long hours of unsatisfied feelings and struggle. If you trust these intuitive feelings,you will know which things need to be better and which to leave alone. After the intuitivechoices, the hard work of finding that better chord, sound or voice… will start. But again, when you find it.. you will know and you have to stick with it immediately! I’ve tested someextreme “Intuitive Music Writing” a while ago and called it: Intuitive Music Writing 2.0

Being in the business that I am, I’ve learned to trust my musical “gut”. Being able to write,

record, mix and master a song, including the lyrics, in a short amount of time, and have ahappy client, is part of the daily life of a corporate composer. Looking back on how I startedand what I’ve learned, it all comes down to musical knowledge, taste or sometimes being ableto adjust my own taste to that of the customer, the right mindset and trusting my musical“guts”. Maybe a better words for “gut” would be “intuition”, musical intuition! Being intuitive when you write and trusting you first instinct. Your initial ideas are almost always the best. Wesometimes lose these initial ideas by overthinking or by going into detail too soon.

You might argue that all your music is done intuitive, but hear me out, i’m going to take it a

few steps further……

Pitfalls!

Regarding going into detail too soon; I see this a lot with my students and a conversationduring class might go something like this: Student: “listen to that bass drum, I have layered 10kicks!” Me; “Eh, well yeah, the kick sounds nice but your song sucks!”..“But, I’ve used 20synths for this chorus part!”, “eh yeah, but your song still sucks…” (And I say this with asmile, of course).

Another pitfall can be the use of plugins when you just keep searching for a sound, going through hundreds of presets and lose many hours on that. Picking sounds should be intuitivetoo! Don’t waste time on all these presets. Decide fast if you need piano, strings, or whatever,and when finished, record or bounce these tracks to an audiotrack. Then “kill” the plugin soyou won’t be able to go back easily. Again, trust you instincts, be intuitive. It will save hugeamounts of time, but more importantly it will keep the creative process alive. Learn to mix while you write, make the right choices and pick the right sounds. Do it, be intuitive!

Be Intuitive 2.0

So, I took my “be intuitive” workflow even further. Trusting my own musical intuition when working alone is great, but what about working with other musicians in the same way?

Could this be done? Usually when I hire musicians like horn players, cellists, violinists,


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drummers or bass players my track is pretty much ready and it just needs that live feel of areally good musician. (Real instruments always win from plugins and midi stuff imo. It ismore difficult to get the sound right, but it immediately becomes your “own” sound, wherethe plugin sound is being used by many, many others). The musicians I am lucky to work withare very talented, but i always have the feeling I am not using their talent to the full extent. SoI tried something new. I asked two wonderful musicians and long-time friends of mine into

my studio, a world-class drummer and an amazing bass player. I set up some nice mics and wemade sure everything sounded great. The kit was miced with 8 mics (kick, snare, tom1, tom2,stereo OH, room mic about 2 mtrs in front of the kit) and the bass player had his pedalboard with a couple of effects and a DI. I played guitar and keys myself. All went into my UA Apollo and Protools and we were ready to go… But, this time we had no chords, no plan, nolyrics, nothing!

Pic of us three recording intuitively

All I did was call out some keywords before we started; words like “indie”, “up”, “positive vibe”, “Brit- poppish” etc….. and a Key to play in of course. Immediately, we started playing and…recording! Yes, the first time we improvised a song in that particular style weimmediately recorded bass, drums and guitars! I cannot tell you in words how well this worked. It was simply magic! Unbelievable! We wrote 9 songs in one afternoon and I lovethem all. The groove, the feeling, the freshness, the excitement, it’s all there. What a greatexperience. Very, very inspiring indeed! So, all these tracks where one-takers! We had to writesongs so we kept it simple and basic, sometimes we called out chords while playing, butotherwise it was pure intuitive writing.


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Pic: Rogier playing through his pedalboard

KeywordsI used keywords or we listened to some tracks for inspiration in a particular style.

For instance, I like the Black Keys very much, so we listened to some tracks of theirs very shortly. The drummer starting retuning his kit and the bass player picked up an appropriatebass and changed his pedals to get a gritty sound. And off we went… within 5 minutes agroove, a riff, some chords were found and I started up ProTools.. That’s it! Done. Puremusic and emotion. Creating the sound right at the beginning, before recording, is very, very important! When you’re finished recording, you won’t need EQ or lots of extra time to get

the sound right in the mix. So if, for instance, you want to sound like the sixties orseventies… don’t use a high pitched snare or a 6-string bass. This may seem obvious, but it’sactually one of the most common mistakes I see my students make in the recording process.Most of the songs we recorded were over 5 minutes in length, so later on I cut the best bitsinto a shorter version of 3:30 to 4 minutes max. Then, I used the same intuitive writing toolsto write the lyrics. I just started singing.. again, no plan, just me singing and improvising. Ibelieve that, when you get into the music, your mind is set. Then the right words just comeout, intuitively pushing you in the right direction, the direction the song needs! After that, I sitdown with a cup of coffee and finish 90% of the lyrics within an hour. Remember; this is allabout being intuitive and believing that your mindset and musical ability are at their best whenchallenged. This is what I truly believe! It will make you productive and happy. It’s like playing live with a great band. Sometimes the magic just happens. I want to be able to recall thesemagic moments at any time. I’ll explain how to write using key words in your every-day life asa composer for clients in rule #5.

Deadlines…………..

I love deadlines, I need them to perform effectively, I need the pressure to help me make

decisions. I write music! The mindset to write, perform and do the best you can at that very moment. Being so focused on purely creating is a beautiful thing. Addictive even.. So giveyourself a deadline, make a deal with a fellow musician, make a promise and keep it. Forceyourself into writing and finish at that agreed


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Pic: Dave playing an “unknown” kit…

SOUNDCLOUD!

I’ve put some snippets of the tracks we recorded on that magical day up on Soundcloud.

The first Soundcloud link is of the unmixed ideas, straight after we recorded them. All thedrums, bass parts and guitars are one-takers done without a chord sheet. It really is the firstand only time we played these notes together. I hope I inspired some of you out there to try this also. My guess is you’ll be amazed on how much useable material will come out of it. It

gives us back an old school band feel and, mixed with the modern day DAW’s, you get thebest of both worlds.

Links to SoundCloud:

Music examples Intuitive Writing

https://soundcloud.com/erwin-steijlen/music-examples-for-my-blog-nr-2

And the finished songs (which can also be purchased on iTunes)

http://www.erwinsteijlen.com/until-mars/

What do you need to start:

a (home) studio or a room where you can record live instruments

some mics, a DAW and some headphones.. Basic knowledge on how to record drums,

bass, guitar and keys

a couple of good musicians who understand the what you are trying to achieve

key words or an idea for the musical direction

no ego’s! It’s all about the songs, not difficult fills, solo’s, etc.. These can be added later if needed, but only after the vocals are there!

you can also have a singer present who can record his ideas immediately, along with your

http://www.erwinsteijlen.com/until-mars/http://soundcloud.com/erwin-steijlen/music-examples-for-my-blog-nr-2


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jam

Pic of the album cover of Until Mars on iTunes


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Rule #5 Keyword Writing

How to do it and how to use it

In this rule we’ll talk about how to read keywords and how to use them. There will beexamples of keywords I have been given for assignments over the years and you can listen tohow the music turned out in the end. Reading the given keywords well for a job is not always

easy, but very important. Sometimes the client has no idea what they want, but usually there will be some directions and words that hint towards what they want and like or how they feelabout their brand musically. It’s your job to make these directions and keywords audible in themusic, to turn these keywords into real music. The client needs to feel like he or she somehow “wrote it” with you. When I get pitches from music supervisors, the keywords are alwaysclear and musical. But from some not-so-musical businessmen it can be hard to see and feel what they want. Sometimes it feels like you have to write exactly what’s in a client’s head without being given any useful information. This can be tough, if not impossible.

Some years ago I needed to save the day for a friend of mine, who has a great video company and does amazing work in 3D. It was a job for KLM/AirFrance, the Royal Dutch Airline. Acouple of other composers seemed to have failed and now there were only a few days leftbefore the unveiling of “a new way of flying business class with KLM” was to take place. There were seven levels of “interference” between KLM (the client) and myself! Seven! AndI call it interference because all it really is sometimes is “noise” that needs to be cancelled out.Seven levels means seven agencies, like advertising, event, food, film and video agencies thatall had their own thoughts on how this unveiling should be done, and worse; what it shouldsound like.

When I said “yes” to this assignment, it was almost weekend. I knew I wouldn’t be getting much sleep, but that it was going to be as difficult as it was, I had not anticipated. All thesedifferent agencies are scared to trust somebody they don’t know and they all think they know best what the client wants and needs. Better than I do. Taste, however, is a difficult sense andkeywords can be interpreted in many ways. These hip ad agencies can have a tendency of overrating their own taste and abilities, and that was certainly the case this time. They wantedthe music to be like the “White Stripes” or something underground grungy, unshaven, a dirty-t-shirt kind of festival track. But to me this didn’t fit at all! Look at KLM’s logo, it’s a swan for

crying out loud! This is a huge airplane company that has millions of customers and wants toattract the richest people on earth with this new service. So it should seem obvious thatalternative rock is not what came to mind when I started writing.

I made my first version of what I thought should be the direction and sent it as an mp3. These advertising guys were “so busy” that they could only listen on their iPhones!? They didn’t like my direction and kept hammering on their on style of choice. They refused to letthe client decide, so KLM didn’t have the chance to listen to what I had come up with.

To make a long story short; after 5 different tries they still couldn’t make up their minds and I

pulled the plug. I quit this gig. It’s no use when there are too many “decision makers” onboard who have no trust in the composer.

However, my friend send my first draft to KLM and - what do you know - they loved it! So, in


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the end my first version was used and the reveal was a huge success. I never heard a thing from those hipsters, of course…. This is a no-compliments business, so you had better getused to it.

Now, what about those keywords. Here are some examples:

For an assignment I received for the new BMW M4 GTS, a seriously fast supercar, I received

these keywords:Bold, heavy, grungy, powerful.

As usual, I was leading and the film came after the music. This show was in Tokio, Japan andmusic had to be delivered asap.

This is what I came up with:

https://soundcloud.com/erwin-steijlen/m-4-launch

I am usually careful not to go over the edge or to be too extreme, because most of the time

clients don’t like that (unfortunately). So the M4 music is a bold mix of orchestral withmodern electronic and dance sounds, mixed all quite heftily. But, my music was turned down.

Why? Here’s the feedback I got:

“I like this track. However I was expecting something different. I think the tempo is too slow and it should be more heavy and wild right from the start. It should fit to the fast driving sequences (without seeing this material until now). It’s too sublime and majestic for me, itshould be more extroverted and “rude”. I would also love a hint of Japan in the music, sincethis launch is in Tokio.

I love the dark bass in this track, please keep it!”

Pretty good to get such musical feedback. Unfortunately for me he didn’t like my first track,but it’s not often that I get positive or musical feedback, so I became inspired to write a new one.

Here’s what I came up with. It is unusual for a company like BMW to accept this kind of music, but they liked it. I also enjoyed making a heavy rock track like this.

Important: I used “Anime” and “Manga” movies as the inspiration for the ‘hint of Japan’!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd0Lc4TAIGw

Here’s the final feedback I got:

“Great! Love it! Let’s do it like this. It turned out really cool!”

It’s pretty unusual to receive a compliment, but I got one this time and that’s nice! After all, usmusicians need some applause every once in a while.

A nice job I got this summer was to write the Anthem for a newly-built horse riding stadium,

the Champions League of horse jumping. A Global Tour for world’s best riders was to beheld here and this event would be witnessed by the rich and famous, including BruceSpringsteen and Elton John. Apparently the first composers did not do well, so they came tome with only 4 days left. I took the assignment after a nice phone call and here are the

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd0lc4taigwhttp://soundcloud.com/erwin-steijlen/m-4-launch


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keywords and briefing I received:

We need an “anthem” for this new stadium and our show idea is “DJ meets Orchestra”.

It must grow from small to big, have a great melody line and can be sturdy, cool and a little bold. These horses

and their drivers are tough and sometimes rough. They want energy in the music, but nothing too much “boom,

boom, boom”. It must sound like ‘now’, but no loud house music.

I also knew that 2 days in Wisseloord Studios were booked for recordings. I love that greatstudio and was happy to work there again! (there’s an interview with the CEO and Founderof the re-vitalised Wisseloord Studios later on in the book).

I had recorded my theme song for the Tour The France at Wisseloord in 2010 and knew it would be a pleasure recording there again.

About 100 musicians and artists were booked for this show, including string players, hornplayers, percussionists, singers and dancers, and all should have a part in the Anthem. Here’sthe final music:

https://soundcloud.com/erwin-steijlen/dj-meets-orchestra-opening-stadium-stal-tops

Here are some keywords I got for a VW show in Brazil.

Together Family Friends Dreams Ideas a spark Inspiration Innovation Future Technology Responsible

dynamic driving Passion shaping dreams

Nice words that give a feeling and are pretty useful for writing music.

Another example I from a while back from a client who needed 3 tracks:

Music 1: minimal, rippling, little bit emotional, piano maybe

Music 2: optimistic, happy, bright feeling, bubbling

Music 3: industrial-techno

What do you think, could you pull it off?

The strangest keywords I have been given over the years were for Philips and their Ambilighttv’s. The show was in Berlin with a very modern and, well, “different” dance group that hadto perform inside a building with hundreds of tv screens. All the info I received for the music

was colors: green, red, purple, blue and yellow.It came out nicely too, client liked my purple music especially ;-)

A good example is the music I wrote for BMW’s concept car presentation in Beijing, China.

A modern choreography by Joost Vrouenraets with ropes and lights and classical balletdancers. I used piano, cello and electronics for this piece. However, I had a hard timeconvincing the responsible BMW person of my musical choices and I ended up (quitefrustratedly) sending her this letter:

“Dear …,First of all I would like to point out that it is absolutely necessary to listen on good speakers or headphones to

ive good feedback. A laptop just won’t do! Furthermore one must look at the bigger picture and not just focus

in on small sounds or let one’s own personal taste prevail. It’s my job to write music that fits the brand,

http://soundcloud.com/erwin-steijlen/dj-meets-orchestra-opening-stadium-stal-tops


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choreography, film, event, ambience and audience, all at the same time. So I will make decisions that would not

necessarily be my own taste, but are the right ones to bind all the above factors together. Concerning the opening

and reveal I would rather go more minimal, arty and daring. Make a statement, just like the car does.

However, when my keywords and briefing tell me otherwise, I oblige. Reveal: This piece is based on a triplet

eel, as the piano starts with triplets and these, over the next 3 minutes, grow and grow. We go from one little

iano on the high notes all the way to a big orchestra with modern beats, real drums and percussion in the end.

From small to really big.

Part 1, for me, represents the turning parts of the car. The wheels, the parts in the engine. Everything that is

hidden and constantly moving, allowing the car to drive smoothly and allowing for a superb driving experience.

So these triplets are the base of everything in the car and thus also my music. Taking them out would be like

removing the engine from the car. As for changes: Over 30 seconds have been cut out of part one. Also the

high notes don’t play anymore in the track, except for part one, but have been made much lower in volume.

The really high notes are played on glass to give a brilliant and fresh sound, but maybe these are the ones the

client doesn’t like. I can adjust these easily. The first 7 seconds (15 in V1) are there to make a transition

between movie and dance. Also, they give the dancers time to assume their position on stage. At 7 seconds the other piano comes in, giving warmth and lowering tension. At 22 seconds, a live drummer has played drums

and percussion and you can hear him start to playing cymbals and hi-hat very clearly. These weren’t there in

V1. The build in this part 1 V2 is much faster. Also, mix adjustments where made all over, constantly

improving the sound, but you will need to listen over a good set of speakers! The piano triplets are also very

ood for classical ballet and widely used by composers all over the world. They speak for classy, classical,

beauty, tension (something is about to happen, the start of something) all at the same time. In part 2, the cello

starts. I find the stop where the strings fade and the solo snaredrum plays very beautiful and strong (40 sec).

The dancers need points in the music which they can respond to, moments things that stand out rythmically or

with sound fx or hits. This is one of those moments which dancers need and can respond to very well. Somaking this change more smoothly is not what I would advice. Keep it strong, like it is. Like holding one’s

breath, one moment of silence before touching the accelerator and a beautiful drive through the countryside and

woods starts. Tomorrow I will record a real cello and this will make a big difference. One has to be able to

listen through this, it is a work in progress, after all. From 1:13 the real drums start playing. This gives alot

more depth and reallness to the music. More movement and colour. Human feel in combination with machines

and technical devices. Just like the car. Part 2, for me, is about the beauty of the car, the cello plays lyrical

lines, gives emotion and feeling. But, in the background there still is the engine working smoothly with it’s

triplets. Part 3. I have to make another 20 seconds of music there. It will have more build, but first I want torecord the cello and see how that inspires. This part 3 is about ‘now’, the modern high-tech times. Combining

old with new, cello with beats, real drums with synths and orchestra with samples and dance music. At around

2 minutes the real drums kick in again, giving more life and movement. Try and see the 12 dancers moving,

look at the total result of what’s happening. Strong music combined with strong dancers, film, the car. All

together it will be a great and strong statement. We have to go for the edge, not the middle of the road imo.

That is not what this car is about and not what this music should be about. Emotion is what people

remember, it’s what people talk about, what moves them. That is what I do my utmost best for to achieve. I

have to say that asking me to write music that has to fit other music but that I’am not allowed to hear is an

impossible task. So the only thing I can do is write the best I can, given the keywords, feedback, time and budget. In my opinion, that’s exactly what I did and what I’m doing.

Best, Erwin Steijlen”


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I got no reply, but the music was accepted and the event a big success. When you work hardat your music, and you have really thought about what is right, you sometimes have to make astand. It can go both ways, depending on the who you’re addressing.

Have a listen to the end result:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVe1WL1C34Q

I get many pitches from music supervisors looking for music to synch. Songs andinstrumentals for commercials, tv and film.

Here’s what they look like:

“We have a briefing in from a music supervision firm for an undisclosed (but very

recognizable) client in the mobile industry. They are seeking a sexy R&B track.

Looking for songs with vocals only for this one.

From client:

• Keywords: R&B, sexiness, swagger, self-confident, party poppin’!

• Overall, we want a track with a modern R&B/hip-hop feel that has some some self-congratulating swagger to it. Think Genuine, R. Kelly, etc. Music that is ironically

fantastic. A “bedroom” track that has energy, impact and confidence and is not

sleepy. Think R. Kelly “Ignition” and not Barry White.

• Track could be from a current/emerging artist or something from the 90’s when thisgenre reigned supreme (but must fit within budget!).

• Should have a great beat, not sleepy.• A track to match our lead character’s confidence and attitude. He thinks he’s theshit and we want something that would be the first track on one of his playlists.

• Lyrical connection pertaining to: meeting you, loving you, I found you, come to me,sexiness, party popping, optimism, just got paid, confidence, popping champagne,

looking good, feeling good, getting ready for a party or to have fun.”

Terms / usage: Global Digital 1 yr. Broadcast 3-6 months (limited to US, Brazil,

India). No Retail. Industrial 1 yr. Material is 1 x :45 with cut-downs and revisions forterritory. Budget: $25K to you (max).

Good info here and a nice budget. Most of these pitches are pretty short notice, max 2 daysand usually even shorter. This means it’s hard, if not impossible to write, record, mix andmaster something entirely new. You can, however, send in anything that fits.

Another one looked like this:

We have a cool new search in from a MAJOR music supervision firm. This is for a

Motorola spot. The spot is already live right now in some markets with the track in

the video, and they are working on replacing this music.

Here’s some information from the client on exactly what they’re looking for: “We are

looking for an up-tempo, colorful, worldly track with modern pop/dance influence. It

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can toy with modern/electronic beats or breakbeats but SHOULDN’T be

predominantly electronic or bassy. Track needs to have a great, consistent beat to

drive visuals. It should be an exciting and fun track. Again, not too bass-heavy or

clubby and not overly electronic. The music is going to replace an existing track on a

spot which is already released in some markets. The client likes the spot and wants to

do more with it. That includes revving up the music to see what else might fit. Please

refer to this only for the visual reference, but apply the creative direction included inthis brief. (SEE ABOVE FOR LINK TO SPOT.)

KEYWORDS: uptempo, worldly vibe, modern pop/dance influence, consistent, up-

beat, exciting, fun, colorful.

ARTIST REFERENCES: Robyn, (the lighter/tropical side of) Major Lazer, Little

Boots.” Terms / usage: 1 x :30 ad (unlimited lifts, edits, tags and versions for

localization); Broadcast TV (Brazil only), internet and industrial, worldwide, 6

months (In perpetuity for social media with respect to posts occurring within the

allotted term)

Budget: $30K all-in to you.

And another example:

We’re working on an AWESOME search for some BADASS music for a CARL’S JR.

spot. The product being advertised is the Mushroom and Swiss All-Natural Burger.

Here’s some specific music direction from our client:“This track needs to be… Bad

ass. It wouldn’t surprise you to see this track played as a Victoria’s Secret model

crushes the runway or a beautiful pole-dancing model seduces poor little businessmen. Slowly-paced. The visuals of the spot are slow moving vignettes of sexy images,

so the music needs to reflect this. The instrumentation is sparse and not overdone.

Masculine. It shouldn’t feel cute, or whimsical in any way at all. That said, we’re still

open to female vocals (as well as male).

Minimal Vocals. We need this to be an instrumental, or very sparse vocals.

We will have a VO in conjunction with it. If vocals are present, female is preferred.

Contemporary. We would like a piece of music that feels fresh and current. Even if

it’s a rock track, it feels like something you’d hear at Coachella, and not from the ‘90sarena rock tour ‘Lyrically Relevant’. This is an all-natural burger, which means it has

no antibiotics, steroids or hormones. As an added bonus (but not entirely essential) it

would be great if some of the vocals had themes of going all natural, wanting “it”,

taking it off, etc. It’s okay if it skews naughty and sexually suggestive. Again, we

know this is a big ask, so it’s a “nice-to-have”. For directional purposes, some early

tracks we are liking are:

• The Black Keys - She’s Long Gone (Lyrically, this doesn’t fit, but we like the raw,

sexy blues riffs, and the pacing)• Beyonce - Partition (This captures the mysterious, dark, sexiness we are looking for)

• Banks - Begging For Thread (The dark instrumentation is what we gravitated


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towards)

• Peaches - Mud (we like the sexy, distressed, slowly paced, sexy instrumentation)

• Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know (Seriously cool walking riff)”

Terms / usage:Materials: 1x:30 & 1x:15 (with edits, and versions, etc)Terms: 6 months

TV, 1 year Internet, Industrial & PR.Territory: North America (includes Mexico and

Canada), New Zealand, Costa Rica, Panama. Worldwide with respect to the Internet.Media: TV, Internet,

Industrial, PR

Budget: $22,500 to you.

All very clear on what they need, great pitches to work on.

Let me tell you a little about some tracks I sold through synching.

Eco Pop; This little instrumental did well for me. Originally written for a Seat corporate

video. When I later sent it to some music supervisors, it got used by Delta Airlines, VW andfor US tv commercials by Verizon Fios, Clairol and Time Warner. (The piano I manipulated with Waves H-Delay by turning the feedback knob and recording it’s random effects. Peoplelike this “different” use of the piano and it’s one of the reasons this track was used so much).

https://soundcloud.com/erwin-steijlen/eco-pop

This Unstoppable Fire; a track I call my ‘ode to U2’, since I love their simple but effectiveuse of chords and fantastic delayed guitar sounds. I first made this for a VW corporate film inFrance, but it was later used by LG, Hitachi, Siemens, Honda, Delta Airlines and many more.(Have a listen also to the amazing bass lick by Rogier Wegberg at 1:21 min)

https://soundcloud.com/erwin-steijlen/this-unstoppable-fire

Walk The Line; a song I originally wrote for Wrangler who did an MTV commercial with itand a fashion show. Later I did a complete re-recording and it was used in US tv seriesParenthood. The instrumental version was used by Jaguar for their XF car commercial and agame called Hazard Ops. Link to Jaguar commercial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS0jKcJAvPM

Link to Hazard Ops trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvyHjFQ_odk

Here’s the hard rocking song:

https://soundcloud.com/erwin-steijlen/walk-the-line

Makin’ Me Dance: this happy song was used in US tv series Ben & Kate, The Mentalist andPretty Little Liars:

https://soundcloud.com/erwin-steijlen/makin-me-dance

One thing you can discover in all these tracks is that they are a little bit ‘out of the ordinary’.Remember the drawing of the circle stating you should be just as good as your heroes, but try

http://soundcloud.com/erwin-steijlen/makin-me-dancehttp://soundcloud.com/erwin-steijlen/walk-the-linehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvyhjfq_odkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws0jkcjavpmhttp://soundcloud.com/erwin-steijlen/this-unstoppable-firehttp://soundcloud.com/erwin-steijlen/eco-pop


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Rule #6 No Demo’s Please

Never send your client a ‘demo’!

The corporate world is full of pros, but they’re not musicians! Most of the time they’re noteven musical! They are busy people who build and sell products and they have absolutely noidea how hard it is to write and record music in a short period of time (and make it sound like

their favorite cd). But that happens to be exactly what they want and expect from you! Youneed to deliver a track and a sound which they can relate to. So sending them a demo ( “eh, now ou hear an acoustic guitar but that’s gonna be an orchestra, and me singing um,um,um that’s gonna be a

standing bass…” ) is the same as throwing your idea or track away. They won’t get it and you will lose all the time you spent working on it. Every time you send in an unfinished track you will get turned down and you’ll lose all of your work. The client wants to hear something great asap, your agent will need to hear something great asap, the director, the film crew, thechoreographer and so on.. They all want to hear your music and they will all tell you that they can listen to a rough demo. They will all tell you that they understand how it works and that

they can �

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Corporate Music Method