Nick “Kooda” Dodson
on September 13, 2024 at 12:21 pm
Hey Eric! You’ve done it again! My biggest motivator for wanting to do this full-time is simply that I LOVE MUSIC! Maybe it’s my Cancerian spirit, but to be able to help others emotionally get through something via the vessel of sound (especially vocally because I don’t speak much) is therapeutic. So it works both ways and I’m all about balance. I’m an artist in general but music excites me the most! My friend/colleague who is also my partner in this is my producer AND engineer! And since we’ve linked it’s been nothing but growth. It lead us here! Where we go from this point will be nothing but great and we believe that entirely.
Wow! thank you again for an awesome video Eric! Loving the free coaching you are generously giving. In other words I am spongin what you’re spilling! lol!
I am a singer-songwriter and just had two placements at the same time co-written with two different talented producers that have sync knowledge. While it felt almost accidental because this IS my first rodeo- I’ve been learning, and realized I checked all of the boxes with these songs that you are talking about. That said my biggest motivator is making a difference and being rewarded for my work. Making a difference, not just for the agency, supervisor, and project, but also the other artists I am collaborating with. There is no greater feeling than working as a team and having a professional appreciate and need that work.
Love this Stacey. Congrats on the two placements. It’s nice to know that what you’re doing is working so that you can rinse, repeat and get more success.
My biggest motivator for building a music career is & why it’s important to me:
I’m a creative, a visionary, a dreamer & ambitious & I love music. I grew up around musicians, my dad played in bands and did some studio work.
I was introduced at a young age how to evoke emotion and feel emotion from a song/s and creating songs with more than one instruments. I started implementing what I was learning to cover songs and later my own songs when I was a teenager. I have a passion for the entire creative process, I love writing songs that people can feel the emotion and I can feel it as well. I play multiple instruments. I’m very humble.
I wrote a song called “Unite” (song about unity) 2 weeks before 9 11.
I wanted to release the song then in hopes of helping people make it through trying times, I was unable to release, it wasn’t as easy then as it is now to release, obviously. That motivates me to continue. I’ve been told by many that I’ll become successful in the music industry if I continue. I keep moving forward.
I know the right song can move the masses, and I really feel like it’s up to me, you, us, them, anyone to write the next song that can possibly have the right emotional impact on the masses in a positive fun way. I also like dark songs! I’m very open when it comes to music.
That’s a little about what motivates me.
Music and creating music are very important to me. Creating the right emotion through music is a true passion!
I’m here to help all that I can!
Thanks for the valuable free info, Eric!!!
Hoping to stay connected with you to learn a lot more about Sync!
Great idea using the formula, sums up the concepts. I am quite old at present. I did have a minor cut on a song I co wrote back in 1995. My sole motivation is to place a track in an ad or show or movie before I die. I try to learn something new every day. Thanks for the 3 videos, very motivating.
Thanks for sharing Bob. It’s awesome that you’ve had a song cut and desire to get syncs as well. I’m not young anymore but I believe we can always learn and push for success while we’re here. Kudos to you.
As Miles Davis once said, “I love music. It’s in my head, I can’t get it out.” It’s always felt like a calling on my life, ever since I was a kid. Sure, maybe my ambitions have changed a bit, maybe I don’t want to play to huge arenas, but whenever someone asks me “what’s your dream job?”, it’s always been writing songs. As a composer, Danny Elfman is a huge inspiration to me in this regard.
And here I am again, telling you how awesome your advice is! You really help me feel confident in my ability and potential in this industry! My deepest motivation are my 2 special needs children, and my own mental health. After finishing music school in 2003 I was lucky enough to go on the road as a performing musician. I had a good gig with a major jazz ensemble, but then my wife and I started a family and I needed to come home and settle in. Unfortunately, that meant gigs started to dry up and I had to take a normal desk job to earn a living.
Because my son was struggling with Autism and not able to be independent, I slowly watched my music career fade into obscurity, as my time was consumed with work and caring for and educating my son. Fast forward 10 years and my daughter was born. She is also special needs so it was like starting over and soon my life as a musician was a distant memory. My horns were collecting dust and I felt lost and hopeless. My talent and passion as an artist was stifled to the point that life was gray and largely meaningless, other than my kids. My mental health reached an all time low, and with it, so did my physical health. In 2023 I became disabled and was no longer able to work my desk job. It was then that I began to explore music again. I got my horns out and started playing again, I taught myself production and engineering and suddenly music started pouring out of me again. I wrote 75 songs in the span of 8 months. I started sharing my music and improving my skills. Started playing a few gigs and suddenly the color and vigor returned to my life. I was passionate and excited again, and I crawled out of the deep hole of numbness and depression and became a vibrant force for positivity and creativity. Then I began receiving feedback that my music was good and should be pitched for sync licensing projects. I’ve studied intently on the industry and networked and built my catalog, and I am so beyond ready to finally make a real and meaningful career out of this and support my family while still doing what I love and what I was meant to do. Much love and respect Eric! I look forward to working with you soon!!
Chad
✌️❤️
What a powerful story. Thank you for sharing Chad. I had a period in my life when I wasn’t able to make music at all and it was intolerable. I relate to your experience and I’m glad that you have been able to add music back into your daily life.
First of all Eric, thank you for supplying us with this knowledge. The value of knowledge you have given us is incomparable.
I would say this is important to me for a few reasons to be honest. Just my love for music and the way it can really enhance a scene has always been something I have been interested in. Especially the songs that sound like the artist wrote the lyrics solely for a particular scene. I love the way music can really set the tone of a scene also. You can put two different songs behind a scene and they can evoke two different emotions or intensities. Overall though, the biggest reason is because I know a lot of artists that have given their all and still haven’t reached the type of success they are looking for so I want to be able to do what you’re doing one day. I want to not only make a career from just getting placements from my craft but I want to be able to teach those same artists that there is a way they can fund their careers with the same music they are trying to push out to the masses.
Good question. Writing to custom briefs is really an advanced level of sync and it assumes that you have a team in place ready to respond quickly to any requests. That type of fast turn-around is not required for those who are writing songs to pitch to sync agents. However, you do want to build songs fast enough to give you sync agents new songs regularly. But 24 hour turn around is not required.
First, I want to say thank you for the information you’ve shared in these workshop videos. They have really opened my eyes and mind to exactly what I need to do to move forward. Looking forward to hearing about the class in the next few days!
To answer your question, my biggest motivator to work in music, like many here is that I just absolutely love creating music. I am a person where you cannot have a full conversation with me without me turning something in a song. In my life and my world I am and everything around me is music! The art of the arrangement and formatting is my favorite part and I love that when I do let people listen they tell me how they get goosebumps. I love to make people feel. Making music is therapeutic for me as it allows me to communicate in a way that I have not learned to growing up. I did not have a safe space to express my thoughts and emotions. Because of this I have a hard time finding the words to convey my thoughts and feelings, but I never do in a song! I love how it allows me to find my voice and help others find theirs as well. I would like to continue to do so as I grow. The love of music alone is a motivator for me. The fact that I can make money from it is just an added bonus! 🙂
My biggest motivator is having an outlet for my creativity that will satisfy both my desire to create and make a living doing it, leading to the freedom to pursue other things like serving others and being able to travel when I need to.
Thank you for sharing all of this quality SK with us, Eric.
This is important to me because deep down I know I am capable of making this type of music which can open up artistic opportunities for myself and financial stability for my family. I’ve been teaching music in public schools for over 7 years now, and although I love it, and I’ve still had moments to perform from time to time, I feel this is the direction my creativity needs to go full-time.
Amazing workshop, Eric! I really appreciate you taking the time to do this. I am pursuing this because I love music and the therapy it has provided for me. I want to inspire and help others heal through music. I want to do meaningful work and decide on what I work on and what I don’t ! Thanks for everything. You’re amazing.
My motivation is life long passion for realizing my fullest potential and Full Time work and sustainability as well as high opportunity for royalty income.
Eric I just want to say that I have taken multiple courses, including yours in my quest for sync knowledge. Your sincerity and presentation of the simple facts sets you apart from others. I have been in the music business in the past, but I would say right now my biggest motivator is the thought that I can use my experience as a song creator, to build a new career doing what I love.
As always I appreciate your time, energy and insight.
Thank you for this information. All that you offer is helpful. I am currently working on building a catalog and working on my overall skills as a producer. I have been fortunate enough to receive my first sync placement on Beat Bobby Flay, which was a collaboration (as you mentioned) Slowly but surely getting better. I will continue to stay connected to what you teach and hopefully in the near future be able to get some music on your roster! That would be amazing. Thank you again.
Great insight and knowledge as always Eric! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much for checking out the entire workshop Patrick.
Love these videos Eric, I’m learning a lot!.
Thank you Danil
I thank you for this information it has been really helpful in my pursuit in getting my songs synced or recorded
Hey Eric! You’ve done it again! My biggest motivator for wanting to do this full-time is simply that I LOVE MUSIC! Maybe it’s my Cancerian spirit, but to be able to help others emotionally get through something via the vessel of sound (especially vocally because I don’t speak much) is therapeutic. So it works both ways and I’m all about balance. I’m an artist in general but music excites me the most! My friend/colleague who is also my partner in this is my producer AND engineer! And since we’ve linked it’s been nothing but growth. It lead us here! Where we go from this point will be nothing but great and we believe that entirely.
Thanks again man
I love this Kooda! You’ve got a great vision. And using our emotions in song is a powerful way to help others.
Thank you so much Eric for sharing these incredibly informative videos!
You’re welcome Thomas.
Great series!
Thank you Stephanie!
Wow! thank you again for an awesome video Eric! Loving the free coaching you are generously giving. In other words I am spongin what you’re spilling! lol!
I am a singer-songwriter and just had two placements at the same time co-written with two different talented producers that have sync knowledge. While it felt almost accidental because this IS my first rodeo- I’ve been learning, and realized I checked all of the boxes with these songs that you are talking about. That said my biggest motivator is making a difference and being rewarded for my work. Making a difference, not just for the agency, supervisor, and project, but also the other artists I am collaborating with. There is no greater feeling than working as a team and having a professional appreciate and need that work.
Love this Stacey. Congrats on the two placements. It’s nice to know that what you’re doing is working so that you can rinse, repeat and get more success.
Hi Eric,
My biggest motivator for building a music career is & why it’s important to me:
I’m a creative, a visionary, a dreamer & ambitious & I love music. I grew up around musicians, my dad played in bands and did some studio work.
I was introduced at a young age how to evoke emotion and feel emotion from a song/s and creating songs with more than one instruments. I started implementing what I was learning to cover songs and later my own songs when I was a teenager. I have a passion for the entire creative process, I love writing songs that people can feel the emotion and I can feel it as well. I play multiple instruments. I’m very humble.
I wrote a song called “Unite” (song about unity) 2 weeks before 9 11.
I wanted to release the song then in hopes of helping people make it through trying times, I was unable to release, it wasn’t as easy then as it is now to release, obviously. That motivates me to continue. I’ve been told by many that I’ll become successful in the music industry if I continue. I keep moving forward.
I know the right song can move the masses, and I really feel like it’s up to me, you, us, them, anyone to write the next song that can possibly have the right emotional impact on the masses in a positive fun way. I also like dark songs! I’m very open when it comes to music.
That’s a little about what motivates me.
Music and creating music are very important to me. Creating the right emotion through music is a true passion!
I’m here to help all that I can!
Thanks for the valuable free info, Eric!!!
Hoping to stay connected with you to learn a lot more about Sync!
You’ve got some powerful motivation Fuzzy. I agree, the right song can move masses. Thanks so much for sharing.
Great idea using the formula, sums up the concepts. I am quite old at present. I did have a minor cut on a song I co wrote back in 1995. My sole motivation is to place a track in an ad or show or movie before I die. I try to learn something new every day. Thanks for the 3 videos, very motivating.
Thanks for sharing Bob. It’s awesome that you’ve had a song cut and desire to get syncs as well. I’m not young anymore but I believe we can always learn and push for success while we’re here. Kudos to you.
Pushing my boundaries to become better whether it be in producing, engineering and songwriting is a motivator for me.
I’m with you Enigo. I’m always trying to get better. Keep pushing!
As Miles Davis once said, “I love music. It’s in my head, I can’t get it out.” It’s always felt like a calling on my life, ever since I was a kid. Sure, maybe my ambitions have changed a bit, maybe I don’t want to play to huge arenas, but whenever someone asks me “what’s your dream job?”, it’s always been writing songs. As a composer, Danny Elfman is a huge inspiration to me in this regard.
Me too R.T., being hearing music in my head since I was young. There was no other choice for me. And Danny Elfman is amazing!
And here I am again, telling you how awesome your advice is! You really help me feel confident in my ability and potential in this industry! My deepest motivation are my 2 special needs children, and my own mental health. After finishing music school in 2003 I was lucky enough to go on the road as a performing musician. I had a good gig with a major jazz ensemble, but then my wife and I started a family and I needed to come home and settle in. Unfortunately, that meant gigs started to dry up and I had to take a normal desk job to earn a living.
Because my son was struggling with Autism and not able to be independent, I slowly watched my music career fade into obscurity, as my time was consumed with work and caring for and educating my son. Fast forward 10 years and my daughter was born. She is also special needs so it was like starting over and soon my life as a musician was a distant memory. My horns were collecting dust and I felt lost and hopeless. My talent and passion as an artist was stifled to the point that life was gray and largely meaningless, other than my kids. My mental health reached an all time low, and with it, so did my physical health. In 2023 I became disabled and was no longer able to work my desk job. It was then that I began to explore music again. I got my horns out and started playing again, I taught myself production and engineering and suddenly music started pouring out of me again. I wrote 75 songs in the span of 8 months. I started sharing my music and improving my skills. Started playing a few gigs and suddenly the color and vigor returned to my life. I was passionate and excited again, and I crawled out of the deep hole of numbness and depression and became a vibrant force for positivity and creativity. Then I began receiving feedback that my music was good and should be pitched for sync licensing projects. I’ve studied intently on the industry and networked and built my catalog, and I am so beyond ready to finally make a real and meaningful career out of this and support my family while still doing what I love and what I was meant to do. Much love and respect Eric! I look forward to working with you soon!!
Chad
✌️❤️
What a powerful story. Thank you for sharing Chad. I had a period in my life when I wasn’t able to make music at all and it was intolerable. I relate to your experience and I’m glad that you have been able to add music back into your daily life.
First of all Eric, thank you for supplying us with this knowledge. The value of knowledge you have given us is incomparable.
I would say this is important to me for a few reasons to be honest. Just my love for music and the way it can really enhance a scene has always been something I have been interested in. Especially the songs that sound like the artist wrote the lyrics solely for a particular scene. I love the way music can really set the tone of a scene also. You can put two different songs behind a scene and they can evoke two different emotions or intensities. Overall though, the biggest reason is because I know a lot of artists that have given their all and still haven’t reached the type of success they are looking for so I want to be able to do what you’re doing one day. I want to not only make a career from just getting placements from my craft but I want to be able to teach those same artists that there is a way they can fund their careers with the same music they are trying to push out to the masses.
Thanks for sharing CJ. I respect your passion. It’s very noble and there are a lot of artists who need help knowing how to fund their careers.
That formula is EVERYTHING! Thanks so much for taking the time to do this!
Thanks so much Tonyaa!!! 🙂
Thanks Eric! Insightful as always. But I have a question – what about those of us who cannot do a turnover very fast?
By that, I mean, get a brief and have a demo in 24 hours. We need to get producers (who of course, have their own schedules and stuff).
It seems to me that sync is song centric. Can it be artist/genre centric?
Good question. Writing to custom briefs is really an advanced level of sync and it assumes that you have a team in place ready to respond quickly to any requests. That type of fast turn-around is not required for those who are writing songs to pitch to sync agents. However, you do want to build songs fast enough to give you sync agents new songs regularly. But 24 hour turn around is not required.
First, I want to say thank you for the information you’ve shared in these workshop videos. They have really opened my eyes and mind to exactly what I need to do to move forward. Looking forward to hearing about the class in the next few days!
To answer your question, my biggest motivator to work in music, like many here is that I just absolutely love creating music. I am a person where you cannot have a full conversation with me without me turning something in a song. In my life and my world I am and everything around me is music! The art of the arrangement and formatting is my favorite part and I love that when I do let people listen they tell me how they get goosebumps. I love to make people feel. Making music is therapeutic for me as it allows me to communicate in a way that I have not learned to growing up. I did not have a safe space to express my thoughts and emotions. Because of this I have a hard time finding the words to convey my thoughts and feelings, but I never do in a song! I love how it allows me to find my voice and help others find theirs as well. I would like to continue to do so as I grow. The love of music alone is a motivator for me. The fact that I can make money from it is just an added bonus! 🙂
Wonderfully expressed Ashten. It’s great to have a talent that is therapeutic but also is able to touch other people. Thanks so much for sharing.
Hi, Eric!
Great videos!
My biggest motivator is having an outlet for my creativity that will satisfy both my desire to create and make a living doing it, leading to the freedom to pursue other things like serving others and being able to travel when I need to.
Thank you for sharing all of this quality SK with us, Eric.
This is important to me because deep down I know I am capable of making this type of music which can open up artistic opportunities for myself and financial stability for my family. I’ve been teaching music in public schools for over 7 years now, and although I love it, and I’ve still had moments to perform from time to time, I feel this is the direction my creativity needs to go full-time.
All the best!
Amazing workshop, Eric! I really appreciate you taking the time to do this. I am pursuing this because I love music and the therapy it has provided for me. I want to inspire and help others heal through music. I want to do meaningful work and decide on what I work on and what I don’t ! Thanks for everything. You’re amazing.
More insight and more magic!! I can’t wait to put this all to use! This whole workshop is a masterpiece. Thank you!!
Definitely better than any YouTube university. Looking forward to learn more
Great Information! Thanks Eric!
My motivation is life long passion for realizing my fullest potential and Full Time work and sustainability as well as high opportunity for royalty income.
Really great lessons sir!!
Thank you very much Eric! I just watched all 3 Lessons.
Eric I just want to say that I have taken multiple courses, including yours in my quest for sync knowledge. Your sincerity and presentation of the simple facts sets you apart from others. I have been in the music business in the past, but I would say right now my biggest motivator is the thought that I can use my experience as a song creator, to build a new career doing what I love.
As always I appreciate your time, energy and insight.
Thank you for this information. All that you offer is helpful. I am currently working on building a catalog and working on my overall skills as a producer. I have been fortunate enough to receive my first sync placement on Beat Bobby Flay, which was a collaboration (as you mentioned) Slowly but surely getting better. I will continue to stay connected to what you teach and hopefully in the near future be able to get some music on your roster! That would be amazing. Thank you again.