Recording - January 2016 - 55

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haven't "made their investment back" in the first 12
months?
Making your investment back can be the wrong
way to think about it. I think I was a good musician
before I joined, but I didn't know about writing for
film and television. There was a lot I didn't know
about mixing and sample libraries, the software,
and technology. I had to learn that to get my music
up to scratch to be useful to libraries. If you're starting out like I was, then you should be using your
TAXI membership to learn about the things you
don't know and grow as an artist/composer. The
return will come when you've got the goods! Also,
remember this is a slow, slow business, and you
need to be patient before you get anything at all. I
was lucky and signed a deal about six months after
joining in December 2011, but it took another two
years before I really started seeing the financial
reward. All of the television placements I've had
this year will take 6-12 months to pay out to me via
my PRO. You just have to be patient.

the deals or placements roll in yet? What kept you
going when most others would have given up?
If you are getting music forwarded all the time, you
WILL get that email/callback from the company.
Don't get frustrated. It's just a matter of time. It
might not be the timeframe that you want, but you
have to be patient. My mentality was that I was
building my music library. If I got that "callback"
from the publisher or I did not, I was still increasing
my catalog. Building your music catalog is so
important for longevity. Compare the success rate
of somebody with a 500-track library to a person
who has 20. It is a numbers game.
Any last thoughts that you think will inspire and help
the people reading this to succeed in earning their
living doing what they love?
Be patient. If you want to achieve long-term suc-

cess, you have to be prepared to continue to write
and record. Don't expect things to happen right
away. For the first two years of my TAXI membership, I hunkered down and recorded ... recorded ...
and recorded. Start out with your bread and butter.
If you excel at rock guitar, write rock guitar tracks. If
you make great orchestral cues, record those. Get
those under your belt. In time, you will find yourself
expanding your genre palette. When I first started, if
you had asked me if I would ever write easy going
Caribbean music or cartoon cues, I would have said
that you were crazy. But I have and have had them
placed on television shows. Everybody is on different levels, whether it be songwriting, recording,
playing an instrument. But TAXI has a lot of tools
that can help you improve on ANY level. But at the
end of the day, it's all about the time YOU devote
to it.

Keith LuBrant:

How many different publishers do you work with?
I have around 30 publishers that I have done work
with off and on. Some more frequent than others.
Do you work with more than one to spread your bets
around?
It's just like a 401k. You don't want to invest in one
area. Diversify! I'll be working on one project with
one publisher and then get a request from another
publisher, so I jump on that after I am done. So I am
not writing music to just add to a library. I am writing for specific television shows and those tracks are
usually going right into the editor's bays for use. I've
been very fortunate and blessed with really having
no downtime with publisher requests.
When we interviewed you in 2009, you had about 100
placements. Do you know how many you've racked up
in total, now?
Currently, I have music in 350+ shows, ranging from
major networks and MTV to television movies. (You
just reminded me to update the ol' website!)
What advice would you give to members who are getting their music forwarded by TAXI, but haven't seen
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http://www.kiqproductions.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - January 2016