I'm Broque - Posted on 2018-10-24 by Desiree Holiday

I think the hardest part for anyone aspiring to do music is how to ensure they are going to make money. I’ve always had this question because it is very easy to allow music to become a hobby, and a very expensive one especially seeing how passionate I am about recording and music production. For me, asking for money is a sticky subject. Most people I work with really don’t have it, so I am either forced to work with them for mutual benefit (which usually benefits them and not so much me), or deny the venture because I rather the funds than the fun. A part of finding my place, I believe, in this business is understanding what I really want to do and then focusing mostly on that, rather than trying to make all of my talents collide and emerge together. I can write songs, make beats, mix, and produce music and visuals (documentaries, commercials, short films, etc.). I can truly be my own production company! However, like the artist who needs a manager to help them manage certain parts of their career so he or she can focus on being a great artist, so must I only focus on one aspect and allow the others to be a bit more relaxed in my pursuit of them. I only mention this because for each aspect of what I ultimately want to accomplish, there is a slightly different avenue as far as contracts, pay and pay rates, and crediting. I want to be able to have a firm handle on each of them when the time comes.

            The next hardest thing, I believe, is really getting things in writing and coming to proper terms and agreements about a project. A lot of times when working with friends or referrals by good friends, we would rather go off each other’s word and hope that suffices. It’s very intimidating when someone actually pulls out a pen and paper to write down, sign, and agree on who is responsible for what in a project, who will get paid what, and how credits will be given when it is all said and done. I only find myself having to delve so deeply into how money is made because of all of these relaxed agreements I have had with people on top of the fact we rarely go through all of the copyrighting and royalty sharing process that actually brings in the money. I have never been taken advantage of or disregarded in any of these dealings; however, I know the longer I ward off doing things as they are done by the big wigs, the harder it will be to handle once I get to their table.