Ron Jones: 21 Reasons Composers Shouldn’t Be in the Hamburger Business

Ron Jones, composer, conductor, orchestrator, and founder of the ASA returns for an exciting session of shop talk with the community, sharing vital insights and lessons for working composers and those dedicated to creating the best music possible.

A note from Ron:

My title is funny of course, but in a way realities are sort of strange and in need of a clear view. How do composers today stay on course with what matters, what gives the greatest sense of purpose? How do we steer through all the distractions and obstacles? How do we forge not only our business but our life, or art and craft? McDonald’s sells cheap meals to masses of people. In many cases the scoring business, the music business is acting a lot like McDonald’s. Maybe no one single composer can fight the waves of forces out to reduce what we create, how we create and lower what is paid at the same stroke. Maybe technology has a lot to do with things being like they are. The points I hope to make is that the old problems are still today’s problems, that composers have always been under pressure and most of the time people want music fast and cheap. I want to talk about marketing, talk about music, talk about that which matters.