Marketing Tools for Creative Freelancers

This week I came across a short article entitled, “10 Useful Marketing Tools for Freelancers.” I thought this had a lot of interesting and helpful ideas for those of you out there, like myself, that are freelancers trying to get their name out there. What I really enjoy about this article is that it still allows you to be completely creative while making sure you are covering the self-marketing essentials. This is great since we’re in a creative industry and need more chances to show what we can do and stand out to potential clients and/or employers.

A big part of this article focuses on social media. While a lot of people may consider this more on the casual, unprofessional side, it is a reality that this type of media is a very strong influencer on people’s lives. That being said, with the abundance of sites out there like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogging sites, etc., Vuong mentions ping.fm as a free and simple way to update everything at once. It is a fantastic feature for those of you on the go.

Digital Marketing in the Entertainment Industry

For freelancers especially, digital marketing can be a key point in getting your name out there and helping your image. A lot of people, however, overlook the importance of it and miss out on a lot of opportunities. In an industry where impressions play such a huge role in ones career, it’s important that not only can people easily find you and that you are accessible, but that your online image stands out in a positive and professional way.

Bigger companies and more well-known people will always be one of the first results that show up if someone is Google-ing your service. If you’re a freelancer, this is why you should make sure you know how to get your name at the top of the searches, or at least find someone who knows how to do that for you. People rarely search beyond the first 2 pages. If your name is on one of those, imagine how that would positively affect your career!

"40 Years of Sound for Film" Overview

In the excitement of the Academy Awards, I stumbled upon an event they decided to host this year. The Academy’s Science and Technology Council hosted “40 Years of Sound for Film” March 6^th. Luckily, Oscars.org archived the event hosted by sound mixers, Tom Fleischman and Chris Newman. You may have heard Fleischman’s work in films like this year’s Oscar-winning film, Hugo, Marley & Me, Goodfellas, and The Departed. Newman is known for his audio work on film greats like The Godfather, The Silence of the Lambs, and The Exorcist.

The two professionals offer some great advice as they walk you through the process of how audio is made, chosen, and put into films. They call the initial sound recordings the foundation for the rest of the audio. Newman says, “It starts with me getting crew and my myself to decide where to put the microphones, what’s going to work best, what’s going to work best for the particular director, particular actor, particular location.” A lot of people don’t consider all the factors necessary to get a specific sound right for a certain shot or film. Sometimes you may feel it would make most sense for a sound to be a particular way, but the director wants it to be completely different. At that point you may have to sacrifice your creative input for the sake of direction.

Tormey's Legal Advice

This week I had the pleasure of speaking to entertainment attorney, John J. Tormey, III in New York. Tormey specializes in intellectual property, copyright and trademark, liabilities within the music, film, and television industries. He not only makes sure these liabilities are avoided for his clients, but also offers them legal advice if they are searching for professional services in their line of work.

Industry Liabilities

My focus this month is returning back to entertainment law pertaining to music editing. After reading about different ways to protect your intellectual property to ensure your creations aren’t stolen, I found some articles online that show what could go wrong that I’d like to share with you.

The first is about a small firm that met the reality of trying to confront the big names in the business. “Sounding Off: Tiny Firm Accuses Disney, Warner, Other Studios of Patent Infringement on Film Soundtracks,” by Apodaca tells of Drexler Technology, Corp. and how they believed two patents of theirs were being infringed upon by “Disney, Warner Bros., Sony Pictures Entertainment, 20^th Century-Fox Film Corp., Paramount Pictures Corp. and Savy Pictures Entertainment Inc.” These patents were for digital sound technology and data storage. As is turns out, the infringement happens to be the widely used, Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS) technology. In the end, a few companies offered to get the patent rights from them, but were declined. They also did not pursue any further after being ignored due to lack of funds.

Artist and Product Management Skills for the Sound Supervisor

In continuing my findings on how audio post for film and television uses some skill sets one would use in product or artist management, the position of sound supervisor popped in my head immediately. Admittedly, I haven’t wrote about this position in a while as my fascination with music editing grew, but I assure you many of the same skills can transfer to music editing and other audio post jobs just as well. Although through my studies, the main artist in question regarding artist management is usually a recording singer or actor or some sort, I believe anyone creative is considered an artist. In the case of audio post, think of the composers, the field recorders out there recording crickets, or the sound designers blending bears with wolves and lions to create a new animal.

How Artist Management Skills Aid Music Editors' Products

This month I'm studying more about artist and product management. A music editor may have to work with artists and composers if they're working on films, but not in a managerial position. While I can pull some information from certain aspects of artist management to improve my communication and workflow when dealing with these types of people to make sure we collaborate and create something that sounds amazing, it's the end product I would be worried with. Of course there are manager characteristics a music editor would have to have to have some control over the sound department.