My Story - From Amateure to Professional Musician

Before I get to detailed in much more, I feel it's important I share a little bit about myself.  Who am I?  What is my musical background?  I'll tell you.

My name is David Crandall.  I am 22 years old as of June 16, 2011.  My dad is a southern gospel singer for "The Crandall Brothers" and has his own solo project "Dave Crandall Ministries."  Yes, I am named after my father - he loves himself that much.  *JUST KIDDING DAD!*

His music isn't what tops charts today, but in the Christian Music Scene in the 70's and 80's, he had some music on the charts.  He performed on TV and all around the globe.  In the 90's, I got a taste of what he did.  I was in and out of studios, traveling the world, watching skillful musicians...my life was music from a very young age.

My travels were wide.  I saw the rich and poor in countries and continents like southern Africa, Hong Kong, Greece, and London to name a few.  I experienced the joys and pain of the various cultures as a kid.  It's interesting: as young as I was, I remember many things as if it happened recently.  It stuck with me.

In the states, I was somewhere different every weekend.  I may be in a church, an out door festival, a tv studio, or a recording studio.  When in the studio, I had opportunities to sit and watch amazing session musicians record.  Needless to say, they blue my mind.  At age 10, my dad, the brothers, and myself flew down to Oklahoma City to work on a new album.  Just before turning 10, I began teaching myself the drums.  I had a natural sense of rhythm.  My family was impressed enough by my abilities so early on to brag to the drummer, Steve Short (known for drumming for Reba Mcentire.)  He, like many other kind-hearted, professional musicians are very supportive of young, aspiring artists.  He invited me into the drum room and showed me how everything works.  It was a great experience for me.

Soon after, I picked up a guitar and taught myself to play.  Later came the bass, and I tinkered with the piano.  Music had overtaken my life.  I spent many many hours in my room practicing each instrument, getting better and better.  All the while, I volunteered in churches to help out with their music in any way possible.  Church isn't always the BEST resource for learning to play professionally, but I learned to listen and to make the best of what's available.

Playing at church and being involved in the church community began to really payoff and grow me when I joined a local church band filled with seasoned, skilled musicians.  The pastor was the bass player, and could he play!  He taught us young musicians the ins-and-outs of music performance, from timing, to dynamics, and even genre.  Every practice, he challenged us to imrpov/jam a different genre.  It was great fun, and was very beneficial.

I was involved with more than one church.  I was honing my skills as vocalist while leading worship for youth groups from many different churches.  It got to the point where I was at a different church 6 days a week - and to top it off, I wasn't getting paid.  All was not in vein, I grew as a person as a musician.  As I matured, I decided to part my was with much of my commitments with a lot of these churches.  I personally didn't like the politics of religion, and it wore me down.

A lot of good songs came from my experiences.  Enough to write and record an EP.  Now, when I recorded this, I had one mic, a borrowed mixer that ran into the 1/8" line-in on my computer.  I recorded all the audio in audacity and attempted to mix it in FL Studio.  It came out pretty good given my lack of experience as a producer and lack of quality gear.

I called the EP "Freedom - EP."  (You may now purchase it on iTunes, Amazon, and wherever online music is sold.)

I'm 19 now.  I have an EP, I'm on iTunes thanks to CDBaby, but...I live in a small town, I can't seem to get a job as hard as I would try, so I can't tour or leave town to perform, let alone afford a driver's license and get a car.  I was at a loss.  My inspiration was dying.  I began to doubt my abilities as a musician.  I wanted more than anything to have a career as a musician, but I had no idea how.

I was a part of a community for geeks called Lockergnome owned by former TechTV  host, Chris Pirillo.  I spoke with him one day when he was taking live calls on his website's live stream.  We began to talk about music, and I referred him to my myspace page to listen to my music at a later time.  He went while I was on the phone, and was impressed.  I should mention there were over 1,000 people watching, and within 24 hours, I got over 1,000 new fans.  My inbox was flooded.  (I owe a HUGE portion of my success to Chris.  THANK YOU!)

I later joined a social network called ReverbNation - a place where labels, venue, musicians, and music fans can network with each other and share music and book gigs.  They had a lot to offer, and for some reason...be it my constant status updates or a miracle...they noticed me.  They offered me the chance to have a song sponsored by Microsoft for Playlist 7.  I sent them a song, and they gave me $500 for it.  WOAH!  Who knew licensing out a song could pay so well?!  On top of that, it got me on the front of the Windows Media Guide.

This happened again, but it didn't pay as much.  My songs got a lot of downloads, and I got some cash.  ReverbNation came to me once again with a new opportunity.  Based on my success with the sponsored songs programs I was featured on, they wanted to invite me to a new program they called "Premium Song Licensing."  ReverbNation teamed up with APM Music, an amazing music licensing company/library, to get independent artists in APM's music library so that their music may be licensed for film, television, and video games.  I was iffy about it at first, but I read through the entire service/program agreement.  I had to sign over my rights to license my music, but that was it.  There was no fee, I still owned my music, and I would get paid whenever a song is licensed.  So I signed the agreement.

Once I did that, I had to get a few things taken care of.  I had to join a PRO.  I chose BMI, and I joined as a writer and as a publisher.

After that, I had to audition my music to APM...they accepted EVERY track I sent.  Now, every few months, I get a report and a payment telling me how often my music has been on TV, in films, and in various productions.  This was the beginning of my career.

Today, my music has played on NBC Universal, the Travel Channel, Scifi, MSNBC, and other networks on primetime shows, not to mention on various ads, online promos, and some internal uses.  In a few days, you'll hear my song "Freedom" from my old EP on "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations."  I have to say, I'm lucky.

I have a new album coming - my first full length album.  You can buy it at www.davidcrandall.com

Here I am, sitting in a desk chair, recording music one day, and hearing it on tv another.

Now...as long as this post is, it's only the short version.  There have been a lot of experiences I've gone through to get to where I am.  The point of this is to let you know, it doesn't matter where you live, who you are, or what you do - you can be successful in music.  It just takes devotion, hard work, patience, and perseverance.

This blog is to show you just that; YOU can reach success, YOU can make it in the music industry, and I will show YOU everything I know about the industry to make that happen.

What Is a PRO? Why should I Join One?

First, let's define "PRO."  PRO stands for "Performing Rights Organization."  PRO's are responsible for collecting performance royalties on behalf of composers and publishers.  Why should you join?

You may have a band, you may be well known in your area, and your music may be on the radio.  Did you know that when your music is played on the radio, you can earn money?  It's true!  If you don't have a PRO, you may be missing out on your royalties.

Let's not forget, you may decide to begin licensing your music out to be used in TV and Movie productions.  Without a PRO, you're going to have a tough time collecting your royalties.

Joining a PRO as a writer is often free, joining as a publisher is often not.  However, joining as both is essential.  Joining as a writer means you will collect a "writer's share" which is intended to pay the writer of the song(s) being broadcasted.  Joining as a Publisher will allow you to collect royalties on behalf of the musicians, writers, etc., that need to be paid for their work on the song(s) broadcasted.

The 3 major PRO's in the US are BMI, SESAC, and ASCAP.

How do PRO's work?
In the most common of scenarios, when your song is licensed to use on radio, TV, etc., cue sheets are sent by the production company, network, or cable company are sent to the PRO.  A cue sheet lists all the data on how your song is used.

Each PRO works differently in how they pay their artists.  According to BMI, one of the popular PRO choices, they generate a royalty amount by calculating your song's performance worth x viewer count.  Your song's worth is decided based on when it was aired, how long it was aired, whether it was the focus or was used as background music, whether your voice was heard, what time of day it was aired, etc.  Your song may be wroth 7 cents, it may be worth 1/2 a cent, it may be worth less.  This is mainly for TV.  For various other types of uses and how they're calculated, visit:  http://www.bmi.com/creators/royalty_print/basic

If you manage to get your music on TV, congratulations!  Now the waiting game begins.  This can be the most painstaking part of the music business - waiting for your royalties.  It can take as long as a year or longer to receive a royalty check.  It is important to stay in check with your PRO and licensees to make sure that cue sheets were sent and properly filed.

Joining a PRO is vital to your music career because your songs, no matter what anyone else thinks, are worth something.  A PRO's purpose is to prove that by demanding royalties for when your work is performed or broadcasted for others to hear.  It's free to join as a writer/composer, so there's no reason not to.  It is only going to benefit you in the long run.