Assuming you have now decided that you would like to commission original music for your campaign, and you have chosen a composer, how do you brief the composer so that they write the music you need?
Tell the composer about the project. Who is the client, what is the brand? What is the purpose of the marketing campaign. Is it aimed at a specific demographic? What keywords have been used to describe the product or service?
Pass on any materials that you have such as storyboards, scripts, photos, sketches etc.
If you have any music references that the client has approved, or if you know what direction you’d like to go on in, provide mp3s or YouTube links for the composer to listen to. It is important that the music brief is for what is needed to make the marketing campaign work, rather than to ask the composer to come up with something that reflects your personal current musical taste. It needs to be relevant.
How much music is needed – how long will it be, and will more than one piece be needed?
What territories and media will the music be used in?
If you do not have a pre-conceived idea of how the music should sound, that’s fine! Let the composer make some suggestions and see what approach most excites you.
If you require a demo of the composer’s ideas, expect to pay something for this.
Discuss the budget with the composer. Let them know how much you have available for the music. You may find the guidelines later in this article useful for helping work a music budget out.
Be clear as to when you expect to hear the first version of the music, and when the project will need to be completed by.
Once the need for music has been established, you will need to choose whether to commission a composer to write music for your specific purpose, or to choose music that already exists as production or library music, or as music already released by an artist or band.
Using music that already exists will be dealt with later in this article.
a. How Do I find A Composer?
If you choose to use a composer, what is the best way to commission original music?
Commissioning music means paying a composer to write a composition for a specific purpose. Anyone can commission a composer, and any type of music can be commissioned.
There are many ways to find composers:
Word Of Mouth – If you are commissioning a composer for the first time, this is probably the best way to choose a composer. Ask around, and if your contemporaries have had a good experience with a composer, the chances are good that you will too.
References – You can check for references on LinkedIn, for example, to see who recommends that you work with a particular composer. Or screen credits can be verified on IMDB.com (the Internet Movie Database, which includes some TV credits). This will help you establish the credentials of the composers recommended to you.
A post by Gareth Cousins, Composer and Producer of Music for Advertising, Film and TV
(Ed: much of this was written with advertising in mind, but the same principles apply to PR)
Music has several functions when used in marketing, and you will need music if you wish to fulfill one of these goals:
a. Entertainment
If a moving image is made more entertaining, then it is quite simply more attractive to the viewer, which helps focus the attention on to the product or service that is being marketed. Nike are good at this.
b. Storytelling
It is a basic attribute of music that it helps to tell a story, to guide emotions, emphasise dramatic moments and to bridge the gap across disjointed images. It helps convey the overall meaning of what is being viewed. See Carling Black Label Dambusters advert for an example of this.
Oh dear – my Audioboo interview on the future of thupr
Someone very kindly bought me a glass of red wine – but I react to some reds really badly, and you can see this on my face in the picture. And that was just a couple of sips!
communications, PR practise, thupr | claireatwaves | 
October 13, 2011 3:30 pm | 
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