SPECIAL SKILLS
To succeed, you must be creative, have the
ability to compose music and lyrics,
and be able to produce recordings of your
ideas.
A DAY IN THE LIFE
Being the owner, as well as the creative force
at Hummingbird, Bob Farnsworth's
day is filled with both business and artistic
tasks. "Today I came in and had to deal
with tax issues with our bookkeeper. Then I had
three clients that each called about
projects we're working on. Often I'll have
calls that have to do with some marketing
aspect of the company. Typically I spend some
time planning various projects. By
afternoon I may be taking instructions on a
specific account and then determining
budgets for demos. I might call up four or five
outside writers and ask them to
present me with demo'd ideas. I would provide
them with an assignment sheet with
pertinent information such as demographics of
the target audience, whether there
should be lyrics, if it is for radio or
television, style of music, if it's a national or
regional campaign, and so forth. While they
each write a pitch, I'm writing my idea as
well." After sketching out some rough ideas,
Farnsworth may call his agency contact
and present them, getting feedback about which
ones he should develop. He then
takes the new information and filters it back
to the team of writers that is working on
additional ideas. On any given day Farnsworth
may spend time in the recording
studio laying down tracks, or mixing a project,
until 7:30 or 8
p.m.
POINTERS FOR THE JOB SEARCH
Record a demo reel with campaigns you would
propose for a specific product if
you had the account. Approach small, regional
companies to gain experience. Talk
THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT THIS
JOB:
"There is no loyalty and you have to constantly
prove yourself over
and over again."
THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS JOB:
"The moments I love the most are when you have
musicians in the
studio and they like what you're doing, and you
can see they are
having fun playing what you've written. You've
got your headphones
on and it starts to come together, and you
realize your idea is much
better than you thought it was going to be. It
really feels like a great
piece of music."
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