It's been a fun-filled couple of weeks or so since my last entry, time to get everyone caught up on what's been going on. Before I get into the music updates, I had a chance to go to my 20 year high school reunion at the end of August. I had such a great time getting to see so many old friends, many of which I hadn't seen since graduation day. I ended up getting the award for "Most Changed Male" while I was there. Needless to say, I look a bit different now than I did 20 years ago :-) Hard to believe it's been 20 years! On to the music...
I was sad to see both Proving Ground and Surprise Homecoming come to a close over the last couple of weeks. I ended up having 65 placements in Proving Ground and 9 in Surprise Homecoming. I'm not sure if either will be having a second season but I'm grateful for the opportunities that I got with both shows.
Since my last entry, I've signed three new deals with some music libraries. The first deal came as a result of a TAXI forward. The company signed 5 acoustic guitar tracks in the singer-songwriter style, kind of like Ryan Adams. You can hear them all by clicking this link. I heard from him yesterday and all 5 tracks were sent to MTV for possible use in the Teen Mom series. Not sure if they'll get used or not yet but he told me that if he hears good news, then I'll hear good news, which means you'll hear good news too :-)
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Showing posts with label mtv. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mtv. Show all posts
Placement on MTV's Pete Wentz: EMOgul
I found out earlier today that I had a track placed on MTV's Pete Wentz: EMOgul show and I was able to find the clip online.
You can view it at the following link: http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/451732/ema-2009-pete-wentz-emogul.jhtml My track is used from around the 0:13 - 0:39 mark. It's one of my pop-punk tracks. Blog Contest Week 1 - Getting Mentally Prepared As I mentioned in my last entry, I've entered myself into a blogging contest for Ariel Hyatt's book Music Success In Nine Weeks. I'll be doing a total of nine entries, one for each chapter, over the next nine weeks.The first week is about "Getting Mentally Prepared." One of the things that Ariel talks about in this chapter to help get you mentally prepared is the concept of setting goals, both short term (daily) and long term (year from now, lifetime). I'll be honest. This chapter has been a bit of a challenge for me, mostly because it's forcing me to "dream" a bit. Let me explain that a bit. I joined a company called TAXI in January of 2008 with a long term goal of getting some of my music placed in film and television. Well, honestly, when I first joined, I was hoping that it would be a "short" term goal, but I quickly learned that, for the most part, the music business, especially film and TV, is a very slow moving process. Back to that goal... I spent the first year really learning the ropes so to speak. Figuring out how to improve my recording and production skills. Then this past year, all of the blood, sweat and tears that I had been putting in started to pay off. My songs started getting signed to different music libraries. I had some placements on MTV. I scored the music for part of an indie documentary film. I landed a spot as a composer for a daytime talk show. And most recently signed an exclusive deal with a publisher overseas. And while all of those things were part of my "generic" goals, none of them were things that I would have written down as specific goals (with the possible exception of MTV). Which brings me back to the book. Part of the "homework" in this book involves writing down five successes that we hope to accomplish each day, but not all of them will be music related. They can be something as simple as doing laundry to something a bit more involved like composing an orchestral piece. The key is to get in the habit of doing something positive each day and not to focus on the negative. I'm a pretty even-keeled person, so not focusing on the negative isn't really that much of a challenge for me. But one thing that I think I'll benefit from by doing "The Daily 5" will be to help me keep a bit of balance in my life. When I put my mind to something, I go for it at maximum velocity with every bit of energy that I've got. And while that can definitely be a good thing, it also means that sometimes I might neglect other aspects of my life that need tending to. When I got focused on something, I just block out any distractions that might get in the way, whether they're an actual "distraction" or not because I am focused on the end result, and I'm too stubborn (thanks Granddad!) to quit or give up. The next section of the chapter deals with setting some actual Goals, and not just strictly music related goals, but also goals for your life in general, some of which are for the upcoming year, and some are for your entire lifetime. While I won't bore you with my "Daily 5" lists, I will however, present some of my music goals for your reading enjoyment. If, for no other reason, then to have them there for accountability. So with no more adieu and no further gilding of the lily, I present you Big Blue's Six Music Goals for 2010, Edition 1:
I'll be sure to include an update on my progress when I post the entry for the next chapter. And for those of you that know me, you won't be surprised to hear that a "lifetime" goal is to have one of my tracks used during the broadcast of a Kentucky basketball game (or highlight package) on ESPN or CBS. That, quite honestly, would be a dream come true. Well, that's all for this week. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and I'll be back soon with my report on Chapter 2! Until next time, - Big Blue MTV Placements
Earlier today I had my first ever music placements on a TV show. I didn't know that the episode of the show with our music was airing so I didn't get to actually see it when it first aired. Maybe I'll catch a replay one day.
The show was Parental Control on MTV, Season 6 Episode 53. There were actually two songs used in the episode, "Everybody" and "Hidden Beauty", both of which were co-writes with my best friend Joel Shoemake. We're both pretty happy to say the least! My 10 Step Plan to Success
About a week or so ago I made a post on a forum that I'm a member of and I thought I'd copy it over to here and make a blog entry out of it. The context of the post is that I had been notified by one of my music libraries that I had at least 2 tracks placed in an episode of MTV's Parental Control.
So here is what I called Big Blue's 10 Step Plan to Success 1) Join TAXI 2) LEARN as much as you can about where your skill sets and ability levels are at. Be realistic, drop your ego and LISTEN. 3) Write material that falls squarely in your realm of expertise, and produce that material at the highest quality level that you possibly can 4) Submit that material to the appropriate listings 5) Don't wait around to see if you get forwarded or returned and immediately begin to repeat steps 2 - 4 6) When you get a forward, immediately repeat steps 2 - 4 7) When you get a return, immediately repeat steps 2 - 4, but pay special attention to step 2 8) When you get a deal, be polite, courteous, and professional with the client, ask them if you could send them more material and then repeat steps 2 - 4 9) When you get your first placement, scream like a little kid, jump up and down in your kitchen, make a fool of yourself in front of your wife, then repeat steps 2 - 4 10) When you get your royalty statements, don't focus on the numbers to the left of the decimal point, be grateful that there even IS a decimal point, then repeat steps 2 - 4 I'm sure there are other methods and plans you can use to find success for getting your songs placed in Film/TV but this one worked for me. But just like with any weight loss program you may try, individual results may vary. But I'm fairly certain that if you follow those steps and work hard, you'll see the same results. Until next time... - Big Blue
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