Music Jingles used for Tv/Radio etc.

[VenalWinfrey]

If someone could help with this I'd be EXTREMELY grateful! Basically I'm a musician (piano) and have always thought that I'd be good at writing short, catchy jingles for adverts. I was useless as proper composition, but always seemed to have a little knack with these annoying riffs, etc.

Okay, so the question is, does anyone know if there are any companys/agencies/production houses/databases anywhere in the UK that deal with compiling/requesting these jingles? In other words, if I write some short samples of music, does anyone know how I would go about marketing them/selling them/finding out a little more on how the process works? I'm not primarily interested in the money side of things (though of course this would be a factor) but more as something for posterity - i.e. I wouldn't mind saying when older that I made something (however trite!)

Any help/ideas on where to look would be really REALLY appreciated! Thanks everyone for looking.

[Scarlett]

I think your best bet is to find a company who would use the sort of jingles you produce. They are starting to die out now- most adverts are using "cool" cover versions of folky songs at the moment. Local radio stations seem to still use jingles, so if I were you I would compile a CD of your best examples and send them to the radio station. if you have a particularly good jingle for a specific product, COPYRIGHT IT and then send it to the company that makes the product. If they like it they may well buy it from you. I have a friend who worked in Radio and I'll ask him too.

[Scarlett]

This is from my friend in Radio:
It's all done by independent companies. They send showreels to the stations (and advertising agencies). When the station needs a bit of music they contact the music production company, who will normally produce a demo. If the client likes it, the station buys it.

Obviously, setting up your own company involves some financial investment. I might be able to find out contacts for some production companies in your area, if your friend would like to work for one.

If you tell me what area you are in I will get him to look up some production companies for you.

[sunflower71]

Try these sites:

http://www.starnow.co.uk/default.asp

http://www.mandy.com/

http://uk.music-jobs.com/

Good luck its a tough industry to get into.

[VenalWinfrey]

Just wanted to say thanks so much for your help, that's very useful! I'm based in the London area and would be most grateful for any further info on companies here that I might approach. But I'll definitely compile a demo CD and send off to the radio stations, hadn't thought of that!

Once again thanks very much Scarlett for you and your friend's help.

Best wishes

[Scarlett]

Here is more from my friend!!

Firemix is in Chichester - Chap there is Steve Dunning (07000 347364) www.firemix.co.uk

Swot Music is in Bournemouth - My contact there is Jon Sweet (01202 433655) www.swotmusic.com


The Bespoke Music Company are in Falmouth (they produce our Music Idents) - The man there is Tim James (01326 376287) www.bespokemusic.co.uk


Anthony Adams is based in Ealing if that's any help.. 020 8584 5230

Music 4 - These are a jingle company who do stuff for Radio 1 - www.music4.com

Other than those, there are general music companies who make production music for films, TV shows, theatre and radio. The biggest and best of these is KPM, who have publishing music for a million years. They sign composers and musicians to create CDs for distribution to producers. You get money through the MCPS system.