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by Lee Monroe
Develop
the Craft
– As in anything,
particularly in the music industry, you must be prepared.
You will never know when or where a life changing opportunity may occur.
Try your best to find and pick the brain of a good copyist (some times
easier said than done).
- Don’t
expect to be making decent bread until you have some legitimate ‘chops’.
When someone is interested in working for my company, I usually give
them something casual to do first. I give them a reasonable deadline
(deadlines are what this business is all about after all) and some basic
guidelines. Usually what I get back needs a lot of work.
I examine the file in detail, write a critique, and propose changes.
I then send it back to the fledgling copyist.
After I receive the new file, I go through the same process and have
essentially proofed the chart. The
files my core copyists send me are practically flawless (that’s why I use
them.) Therefore, when a copyist is trying to get into my group, he/she must
prove himself/ herself at that level of performance. You might not make the full rate until you have proven you
are competent at the required level. This is called paying for lessons. All
successful professionals have done this, (working for less or even nothing,
to get the experience or the opportunity to work with a top professional).
Understand
the Market – You
must acquire knowledge of the market in which you intend to work.
-
Research.
Talk to every
professional that you can find. Try
and learn which services are producing movies, theme parks, cruise lines,
traveling shows, state fairs, recording sessions, etc.
You might make contacts that could lead to something you never
imagined.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions, I can joke about people who
ask dumb questions because I have slung some pretty silly questions of my
own.
-
Don’t
go off half-cocked.
What appears simple on the outside never is.
I chuckle ironically to myself when I see some of the postings to
Finale and copyist related bulletin boards regarding pricing (i.e. using the
Finale note counting system, or wanting to charge less because using Finale
is easier). I would plant a
significant wager that these individuals are not full-time copyists and were
never hand copyists. In
many ways Finale is easier, but it’s not as simple as most understand it
to be. What appears to be all
right on the surface can be a disaster underneath.
My company reuses material like crazy. We are constantly editing and
combining material for various shows and venues.
If my original material is flawed, it may require a complete redo in
order to get the appropriate final product.
-
Pricing.
Learn your market
and what the market will bear. Generally,
the copyist community is pretty civil. However, a sure fire way to make
yourself a pariah is to come into a market you don’t know and go spouting
off about how you “can do it better and cheaper.” Usually this is a sign
of a clueless person. Subcontract
to an established service and learn the pricing ropes before you consider
going out on your own.
Quality
of Service – There
is no substitute for establishing a successful copying business than providing
great customer service and a quality product.
If you are serious and do your homework, you might have one critical
chance to break into the big time as a copyist. The music production community is not that large and your
reputation will be with you forever. Networking is a very critical element in
developing work. You must nurture your status and protect how you are perceived
within the industry.
These comments just hint at what it takes to become a professional copyist.
Like anything else, your own expectations define your success. Realize
too, that these are opinions from my little corner of the world and results may
vary (sorry, couldn't resist).
Lee Monroe is the owner of
Express Music Services. He has been a fulltime copyist for 18 years and
was strictly a hand copyist for the first 15. You can check out his hand
music font by following this link - LeeMusic.
©
Express Music Services, Inc.
Not to be reproduced without written
permission from Express Music Services.
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