Supervisors Who Ask what Genre you play

[mojobone]

The people who get the most work work in multiple genres; the exception is maybe in some advertising situations when they want to borrow indie cred from a known band or they want an "indie" sound. Indie and lo-fi are surprisingly hard to fake, in some ways. Usually if they say they prefer you be a master of a single genre, they really just mean they don't want your/their library music to sound like library music; they want canned music that doesn't sound canned. OTOH, sometimes "canned" is exactly what's required. I don't believe there's such a thing as a music super who only places one genre of music, but obviously, nobody's an expert in all genres.

[TheElement]

I went the one genre route but some do multiple and are successful. I guess once you are able to crank out a lot of decent film/tv cues thats what they are looking for.

It takes me too long to crank out 1 cue. at least a day. some are doing 2-3 a day. You need like 1,000 cues.

Libraries like you to send them an album at a time. at least 10 tracks.

so when they ask what music do I write. I say EDM. then usually hand them a demo CD (if they seem interested). if you want to send them your tracks its better you get their business card as they probably won't contact you. you have to contact them.

[eeoo]

I think it's wise to play to your strengths and then when you've established a relationship you can say oh by the way I can also do Lithuanian polka death metal...
But it's true, in my experience, that publishers and supes will be turned off if, when asked what kind of music you write, you respond "I can do everything!"

I think a good strategy is to know what the person you are talking to specializes in. If it's a supe who has placed lots of indie singer/songwriter stuff and that is a genre you're comfortable in then tell them you do indie singer/songwriter stuff. If it's a publisher that you know places tons of Hick Hop and that is a genre you're comfortable in then tell them you do a lot of Hick Hop. Good to do your research and be prepared whenever possible.

[Paulie]

Great point about knowing what they specialize in. The problem I have is figuring out which of their current shows they need music for. You might meet a sup that has lots of hip hop in one show, EDM/dub in another, singer/songwriter instrumentals in a third, and a smattering of reflective piano for the sad scenes that every show has.