Finding Your Career in the Modern Audio Industry from Focal Press equips the reader with the skills they need to turn an interest in audio, sound, or music technology into a career. Including international case studies and interviews with diverse professionals, Finding Your Career in the Modern Audio Industry is essential reading for anyone taking their first steps into an audio-related field.
This book provides insight for aspiring professionals seeking audio-related opportunities in entertainment, technology, education, and more. In the audio industry, there is typically a gap between those in-training and those with professional (and financially sustainable) careers. This book bridges the information gap, offering practical and real-world advice to those in this volatile stage of their career. Including 70+ interviews with professionals from over 20 countries, Finding Your Career in the Modern Audio Industry offers insight into how others (across the industry and the world) have applied entrepreneurial thinking, problem-solving, and creative solutions to build their careers.
Preface
Part 1 - Planning:
Part 1 helps the reader define their personal preferences, challenges and barriers and how that can affect the direction of a career path. These chapters teach the fundamentals of networking, business relationships, marketing, sales, and finding opportunities, all of which are critical foundational skills towards any career in the entertainment or audio industry.
- 1. Industry Introduction
- 2. Defining Your Dream & Goals
- 3. Defining Your Barriers
- 4. Networking
- 5. Business Relationships
- 6. Preparing to Seek Out Opportunities
- 7. The Search for Work
- 8. Marketing & Sales (How to Land the Gig)
- 9. What Makes You Stand Out?
- Part 2 - Operations:
Part 2 addresses the logistics of operating a business, whether doing an occasional freelance gig or making a living off of freelance work. These chapters help readers with common business concerns: learning how to set rates, create an invoice, offers and contracts, and managing financial information. - 10. Rates and Knowing Your Worth
- 11. Offers, Bids & Contracts
- 12. Accounting & Financial Planning for Your Business
- Part 3 - Career Paths:
Part 3 takes the principles and ideas of the earlier chapters and puts them into practice. Each chapter addresses the needs specific or unique to these industries. These chapters are largely based on quotes, interviews, stories, and case studies. What business advice would someone who's been through it give to someone who's just getting started? - 13. Live Sound & Theater
- 14. Music Production
- 15. Interactive Media (Game Audio)
- 16. Sound for Picture (Broadcast, Production & Post-Production)
- 17. Spoken Word Audio
- 18. Beyond Entertainment
- Part 4:
- 19. The Audio Industry Around the World
- 20. Q&A
- 21. Moving Forward
- Appendix: Bios of interviewees
Supplemental material available online
Recommendations, sample contracts, other resources
Index