How to Get Paid From Jingles for Commercials
Writing jingles for TV and radio ads is a great way to make money from your musical talent. Many businesses would love to have a jingle for their advertising spots, and will pay musicians handsome sums to compose their jingles for them. It is possible to join an established jingle business or start one of your own. The start-up costs for a jingle business are fairly low, compared to other advertising businesses.
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Instructions
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Purchase sound recording technology. Purchase microphones, mixing tables and audio converters from a reputed business (see Resources). To make it in the jingle business, it is not enough to write the music; you must be able to record it as well.
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Record a sample jingle. Write a song that is 30 seconds in duration, upbeat and catchy. Make up a name for a product or business to use in the jingle. Record vocals and instrumentals for the song.
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Send your tape to advertising agencies that do jingles. Refer to a directory of advertising agencies to see which ones have music departments (see Resources 1). Email the administrative assistant to see if the agency is hiring and whether they prefer tapes or digital audio.
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Contact businesses in your area and inquire about their level of interest in jingles. It can be more financially rewarding to work directly for local clients than for an ad agency if you can find clients in your area.
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Set up a website with your work portfolio posted on it. The easiest way to set up a website is to use a blogging service (see Resources 2). These services have numerous templates and allow you to post media easily. If you want a more customized site, contact a web designer in your area and ask them about sites that incorporate media (see Resources 3).
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Respond to queries from ad agencies that give you job offers. If your freelance work has grown to more than $5,000 a month by the time you get an offer, it may be best to stay solo. If not, accept a job. After all, it's easy to go back to freelance work after taking a job, but not so easy to re-apply to an employer who you've turned down in the past.
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References
Resources
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