Independent Contractor Agreement Contractor Bb: Fill & Download for Free

You need to know how to play an instrument, preferably piano, with both hands, independently. You need to know how to write notes and note values (or have software that will generate that for you). You need a Synth or Trigger and software.Best way is to start out doing TV, especially things like Reality, Soap Operas and Cartoons.If you have money or live at home you can offer to do it for free so long as you get the BMI or ASCAP writer’s money. And if you do the theme song try to write the lyrics you get an extra 25% for that.It takes about a year to see BMI money but you get paid for every minute of music used on the show and more for the opening and closing theme. If you get a cartoon show that’s about 50 to 52 cues a year with maybe 15 to 18 minutes of music. If it runs on a network like NBC, CBS, ABC that is multiplied by 200 stations.If you get a reality show it runs about the same amount of time.A Soap Opera — and those are currently all bought up — but if A new one comes along and you get it that’s 5 days a week by 52 weeks for 22 to 42 minutes much of which is music.If you can manage to get them to let you keep all or part of the publishing (go with BMI for that as you don’t need to affiliate as a publisher like you do with ASCAP) you make even more money and sometimes get it sooner.It is said the theme for The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson made Composer Paul Anka and writing partner Johnny Carson $1 million each a year. Anka said the 20 years of Carson themes put his kids through college.Now of course that theme was played over and over on the show.Hiam Saban started a music company in the 1980s on Ventura Blvd and then moved to better locations, eventually bought a high rise office in Westwood. He paid musicians a daily or weekly fee to do music for his cartoon shows (he had 12 of them on Saturday at one time) and HE kept the PUBLISHING and SONGWRITING and he did the music for free for the production companies asking only for PRODUCER credit for himself and his musicians. (I used to work with the keyboardist who wrote the “Go Go Power Rangers” theme song for Saban and I knew two of the music producers and one of the vice presidents.)The Musicians were “work made for hire” employees paid a wage. He had the recording facilities and keyboards at his offices. They just came in, looked at the video and played keyboards while someone recorded it.Now if you make $1,000 for composing and another $2,000 for publishing and another $1,000 for lyrics for the theme song that’s $4,000 an episode times 12 shows times 52 weeks is $2.5 milion dollars a year. My estimation. It could be less (half of this) it could be more (double).If you get a cartoon show that runs every week or a reality show or a sit com (I know a keyboardist who worked for Saban and then went out on his own and in ONE year he was doing all THREE, a SIT COM, a reality show, and a cartoon show and he did it out of his house).Now if he’s getting just $500 for each that’s $1,500 times 50, that’s $75,000 a year. The show gets the music for free or at a nominal fee like $1,000 a show and they get to keep the publishing.Do this enough you get asked to do PRIME TIME TV. Now you might be able to graduate from a soloist to working with a small orchestra. You need an arranger (unless you know how to write for Bb horns and other instruments, including harp and percussion) and a copyist (who writes all the sheet music for your 35 piece orchestra). And you get to conduct it if you know how. You have to do TV music in 1 or 2 days maximum. That orchestra costs the production company $25,000 for a 10 hour session (1 hour load in, 1 hour load out, 1 hour lunch, 2 three hour recording sessions under Union Rules). The studio costs a minimum of $500 an hour. The engineers cost a minimum of $600 each. You need a contractor for the instruments unless you know the players personally. You need a producer for the session. An arranger makes $75 per 4 bar page (that’s like 8 seconds of music).Now you will be paid a salary and get to keep the BMI or ASCAP composer money unless you also write lyrics. These days the TV producer likes to write the lyrics (Gene Roddenberry did it for the Star Trek Theme so he gets 25% and Alex Courage gets 25% and Paramount gets 50% and Roddenberry put into all his contract that the ORIGINAL STAR TREK theme get used a minimum amount of time in EVERY SPINOFF and EVERY MOVIE so that he and Alex get paid some more BMI or ASCAP money. Roddenberry’s old boss, Sam Rolfe, wrote the lyrics to the “Ballad of Paladin” the theme song for “Have Gun Will Travel” which Rolfe Produced and co-created, with Roddenberry as Story Editor. Johnny Carson may have written lyrics for his theme. Glenn A. Larson used to write lyrics to ALL his shows [“Fall Guy” “Knight Rider” “Battle Star Galactica” etc.]. Larson was a singer and performer who also composed songs).Win a few Emmys, get a hit record and you might get asked to do a Feature Motion Picture.To get started you need a computer, multi-track software like Pro Tools or Cubase, a synthsizer or trigger. Software for the trigger. Interface for the synth. A TV with DVD video or streaming.If you have a SUPER FAST computer. I’m talking I7 with 16GB of RAM and a fast GAMER VIDEO CARD with more than 1GB of independent video memory you can view the video in Cuebase while doing your music.You have like 32 to 64 tracks of audio and 128 to 512 tracks of MIDI available in various versions of software and you buy plug ins for sound effects, delay, reverb, compressions, etc.They send you the video files by DISK or over the internet. You view the show. You sit down and start playing and come up with sounds and music for each scene.THEY decided what will get used.They usually get 4 to 21 original tracks a year.Try to get it in your contract that your THEME song is locked in for the run of the show.They ARE allowed to pull old music you recorded and put it into new shows but you get a NEW CUE to BMI or ASCAP as if you actually worked on it.If you sign a work made for hire agreement they own the copyrights. They may also own the publishing. YOU should ask for and get the WRITER’S ROYALTY from BMI or ASCAP.After a while you can ask for some of the publishing.They may put a lyricist on your theme if you didn’t write lyrics and they get a separate 25%.How to get started? Get a copy of the Hollywood Reporter TV and Motion Picture productions listings and on a regular basis send a flyer to the head of Executive Producer or each Producer introducing yourself as a composer of scores and tell them you will send them or get them a demo reel of your recordings (you should have one already).Create some themes, segues, bumpers and background tracks that are several minutes long. Record them. Press them onto CDrs. Copyright them and register them by name with ASCAP or BMI on a song by song basis.Then OFFER it to YouTube and Vimo producers for $10 a disk. No fees on productions with budgets under $1 million. Ask for music credit in their productions (shared credit if others are used) and ask for ASCAP or BMI cues for TV and YouTube.Tell them it’s free for the producers to use provided they credit you as musician (and tell you where you can down load a copy for your SHOW REEL) the production budget isn’t over $1 million and they give a BMI or ASCAP cue sheet for TV and (optional) YouTube. You get songwriters and publisher cue. When they credit the music it should have your copyright and ASCAP or BMI. You can even be more liberal and make it $5 million budget maximum.Now you’re getting your costs covered for the disk or files (and a small profit) People start using your music. You might get some ASCAP or BMI money (don’t hold your breath on small video productions) and when they give you links or let you download a copy for your SHOW REEL (not for commercial use) you get to have a real DEMO REEL to show bigger producers.FIND those producers in the Hollywood Reporter with SHOWS or MOVIES in PRE-PRODUCTION. They may not have locked in a composer yet.