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Dare to think differently pt 6
For some, technology and in particular digital technology has made it even harder to make a living from their chosen field. We all have imaging, audio and video tools at our finger tips, it’s no longer limited to the people who had the money to fit out a fully equipped studio.
Ok, so there are more people who have the ‘tools’, some who think they can use them and many who obviously can’t. The problem for those of us who can use the tools and know what we are doing most of the time, is to stay either one jump ahead of the competition or look for other ways in which we can use our skills to keep the bills paid and food on the table.
The biggest part of that hurdle can be our own mentality and how we see ourselves and what we do.
I’m not suggesting for one minute that every wedding photographer goes out and starts doing stock photography or doing architectural work for local estate agents, but sometimes our own blindness can stop us seeing other avenues in which we can make some money while we still remain true to ourselves.
For example, say you’re a musician and you rely on selling your tracks as digital files, cds and gigs to make your money. Unless you have a rather large fan base and you can produce new music on a regular basis there possibly isn’t going to be enough income to survive on.
If you’re reading this, you most likely have a blog that you use to promote your work. Why not take that writing, expand a little and write articles for online magazines or ask music blogs if they are interested in using your work. You probably already send them audio files. By sending a written product it gives you a larger market to approach and I know from Somojo Magazine that any page of text is always handy to drop in when some other article or interview doesn’t come in on time.
If you do your own recording for demos, have you thought about writing ‘stock music’?
It doesn’t have to be the most amazing music you’ve ever written, but it can give you a project that can make some money for many years.
You could just produce a few short tracks of between 30 and 60 secs, and put them up on your website as free downloads. Loads of people need free music for their home videos, business presentations and this can bring in a whole new audience for your other work.
Like anything we do, we have to get our ‘product’ in front of people if we want people to use it or purchase it. When you can think outside the box and colour in outside the lines, a whole new world of possibilities open for you.