Diversity Of Freelance Roles
Creative
It can be hard finding a freelance job in music that allows you to be creative; though when you find one you’re good at you can really use it to you’re advantage. here’s two freelance roles you might interested in.
Songwriter
Songwriting is probably the most heard of creative freelance job, as we all know a lot of now famous pop star have stared their career writing songs for pops stars before them. Frank Ocean and Sia are the most notable of these, with Frank Ocean having written songs for Justin Bieber, Beyonce, Alicia Key etc; Sia has also written for Beyonce among many others.
Getting job in this field may seem scary when looking at the likes of Sia and Frank Ocean as references, but remember they were like you just writing songs in their spare time and working day jobs, all this takes time and practice.
Songwriting, though it can be done from the comfort of your own home this is not always the case. You may often be asked to travel to other countries for song writing sessions with a group of song writers. For example Kanye West set up a “Rap Camp” in Hawaii when recording his album “My Dark Twisted Fantasy”. Writers included the like of Kid Cudi, Justin Vernon, RZA etc.Yes most of these have features on the record they also helped write Kanye’s lyrics .
Producing
Music Produce roles have been booming in the past 10 years with new software like Garage Band and FL Studio making it so accessible. Now a days it doesn’t take owning a huge studio to make record, it can all be done at home on your laptop.
There’s no shortage of producers out there, which may make to hard to find work, even with the influx of rappers and r&b singers relying on producers to make music for them. For this same reason once you prefect it and find your own sound you will be in high demand.
Illangelo is great example of a producer finding their sound and striving. Illangelo started working with The Weeknd in around 2010 when they were both relatively unknown. Illangelo and Co-Producer of The Weeknd’s first mixtapes Doc McKinney (already a popular producer in the underground scene) created their own sound with a combination of alternative samples and beats they made. This sound set Illangelo apart from most R&B producers at the time, since then he’s been fairly prolific with having released two albums of his own and constantly collaborating with various different artists including Drake, Katy Perry, The 1975, Fall Out Boy and the list goes on.
Travis Scott is another example of this. Gaining some popularity in 2012 by uploading songs to you tube and being picked up by blogs his lo-fi trap beats then got the attention of rapper and record label owner T.I, though was briefly homeless after his encounter with T.I. Through Travis’ connections his music made it’s way to Kanye West and shortly after he went to work on the compilation album “Cruel Summer” with Kanye and the rest of the GOOD Music’s roster. Since then he has worked close by Kanye. Travis has been keeping busy releasing 2 mixtapes and 3 albums as well as numerous collaborations with popular artists since 2012.
Set yourself apart from the rest and you’ll do well; don’t and you’ll be stuck working nine til five for the rest of your life.
Production
The Roadie
Being a roadie could very well be the most accessible and maintainable freelance role in the music industry as not many people are willing o leave home for months at a times, sometimes longer.
Being a roadie is good work, but it’s hard work! Roadies have many responsibilities and the amount often depend of the size of the venue the bigger the place is the ore things their are to do. In the situation of a club the only thing you’ll be bringing in is the amps, guitars, etc. however if it was a proper a fairly big venue you’d be bringing in lights and stages.
In some cases band may only have one or two roadies which will have the responsibilities of guitars, drum and bass techs and sometimes also a sound engineer. It’s key to be able to do a much as you can, this will make you more desirable. Guitar Techs, Drums Techs and what have you are consider roadies too but now a days they’re more popular with pop stars. Starting off as a roadie you’ll more than likely being doing all the jobs at some point working with small indie bands.
Employed Role
Session Musician
A session musician is a great job to have, considering you’ll definitely be getting a contract and a steady income.
Recording
The recording can depend on the artist you’re working with but you’re usually guaranteed a contract even if that’s 1 day or 100 days. during this time you will get a salary for the time you agreed upon, in this time you may be on call or asked to be around the studio again depending on the recording process.
For example during the recording of The Beach Boys “Good Vibrations” it took eight months and four different studios, they were only recording two songs… during this recording Brian Wilson had a number of session musicians Drums, Guitar, Cellos, Basses and many more. Who knows maybe you’ll get lucky and something like this could happen to you, though it was tough with long days.
The Reality For Freelancers
Sadly it’s actually really hard to have a full-time job as a freelances, Most full-time jobs are taken up by the one in a million in the rest of the music industry. You’ll most likely find yourself working from gig to gig or with short term contracts. You must declare yourself as self-employed to the Revenue office, you must also complete two forms, From11 – Income tax return for individuals and From TR1 which is taxes registration for individuals.
Young D Hanz 