This week, we will dive deeper into fears and introduce 'Fear #2', but before we move on, take a minute to reflect on last week's post. Did you write down your self-doubts and meditate on what are YOU holding YOURSELF back on? And why? This is an important step in the process because identifying your self-doubts can open the door to overcoming them.

Fear is by far the biggest obstacle that gets in the way of us doing what we want to do in our life. Fear that we're not good enough, fear that we don't have what it takes, fear that we'll slip back into old habits, and fear that we won't be able to adapt to change. Today, we'll be discussing the #2 fear that I found to be the most pertinent to artists and creators when it comes to licensing their music.

Fear #2: Viewing Tasks as Insurmountable

The second fear that I've found that not only artists, creators, my colleagues, but even I have dealt with myself, is viewing tasks as insurmountable. It's very intimidating to look at someone who's had success. You see all that success and immediately think, "I'm never going to get there. That's too big of a mountain to climb".

But everybody starts somewhere right?  Here's what I did that worked for me and I want you to understand that while my story is unique to me, you have your own story to tell and your own choices to make that will determine where you land.  You can only continue to climb if you take the next step.

In my experience...

I've been training as a Trailer composer for a bit of time now.  When I decided to take that leap, the first thing I did was to first look at trailer composers around me, that have been doing this for years, successfully.  I had only been composing on and off for about a year and a half, but not with any sort of consistency because I had to take breaks to work and focus on other things.

At first, I saw this as an insurmountable task, because it seemed very time consuming and a huge commitment. But after a week of overthinking it (as I tend to do), I decided to stop saying "I Can't Do That" and to start learning plugins (for DAWs), because it's a form of programming music and my father raised me on computers.

I thought to myself, "I know how to program, I can learn these plugins. Later, I can focus on the rest - the orchestration, sound design, and all that goes with trailer composing". So, what I did there was that I looked at the big mountain to climb and broke it down, and simplified it to the first simple step/ goal to take.

Now that I had set an achievable goal, I upgraded my hardware and software and downloaded the plugins that I needed. Then, I started doing research, watching videos, taking courses to learn more about the process. It took me about a year and a half to create my first trailer composition, but I did it! My final goal was not to have an album of songs / music composed by Jody Friedman in trailers, it was composing a piece from start to finish on my own, that I was proud of! And I did it.

Time time, I reached out and played my composition to a couple of my colleagues that specialized in that area of the Music Industry and asked for feedback. Because I learned the process step by step, I created something that my colleagues really liked.

Whenever I'm ready to revisit composition for trailers again (knowing that I've done it before), I can go back to it and pick up where I left off, to develop that skill set.

When it comes to Licensing Your Music...

The first step is to understand the Business of Music. You will see me coming back to this a lot because it is a very crucial part of your experience. I offer a masterclass on this website that is really about understanding the business.

I got into this business from learning from a Music Publishers' perspective and that helped me understand that at the beginning of our music careers, we are all our own publishers, producers, and songwriters, when we create our music. We are our own publishers until we assign those rights to someone else and let them handle that. But it's still important for you to understand what publishing is and what comes with that title that you buy, by Copyright Law. So, please check out the Music Licensing Masterclass to learn more details on this topic.

Summary: 

Solution to Fear #2:  Taking those seemingly insurmountable goals and breaking them down into tasks that you can accomplish, can even make climbing Mount Everest possible! Using the example of Mount Everest, you would start by going to your local small mountain top and train on climbing that small one first. Then, you train, practice, get in shape, start eating better, drinking lots of water and once you are able to comfortably climb that small local mountain, you move on to another mountain a bit tougher. For the mountain that's a bit tougher, you adjust your practice to it and also look into the temperature that Mount Everest has so that you can prepare for it. And eventually, you will get to the point where you are ready to attempt Mount Everest.

From that example, it sounds surreal that you would start off with Mount Everest, right? You would train to get there. The same concept applies to your music and licensing it!

Solution:  Break down the task at hand and Set an achievable goal

Make sure to keep up with our License Your Music blog at licenseyourmusic.com/blog, to learn more!  You can also input your name and email below for updates on my blog, podcast, panels/events, and more!!