Discussion on the impact of lockdown on music supervision, our advertising industry clients, and our personal lives.
You’ll find the full transcript below:
Bruce:
Today we discussed the impact of the lockdown here in Australia, the effect it’s had on our music supervision business, the impact it’s had on our clients in the advertising industry, and also we talk about our personal lives, the things we miss, the things we don’t miss. So here we are again.
Clare:
Hello.
Bruce:
Sitting out on the deck in a beautiful, sunny autumn afternoon in Sydney. There’s worst places to be locked down, don’t you think?
Clare:
Oh, definitely. Least we’ve got more than four walls to look at.
Bruce:
And here’s our tame kookaburra sitting out on the deck with us, lives across the road, comes to visit every day.
So today I thought we might talk about how different things are from a business point of view in lockdown in Australia. We might do another music licensing video blog another day about how it’s affecting us personally, but today we’ll just concentrate on the business. So what are you noticing most, Clare?
Clare:
Lot less emails.
Bruce:
It’s quiet, isn’t it?
Clare:
This is very quiet. Yeah. We have an opportunity to catch up on the stuff that’s been on the to-do list for a while.
Bruce:
What are you trying to catch up on?
Clare:
Well, I’m catching up on accounts, jobs register, making sure that all the documentation is up-to-date there.
Bruce:
All the music licensing paperwork.
Clare:
Yeah.
Bruce:
And look, it’s definitely quiet, there’s no doubt about that. There’s less licensing and music search jobs coming in, although there are still things going on. The advertising industry isn’t completely dead. There’s music licensing inquiries coming in. A lot of people are making inquiries about wanting to use a song in advertising when the lockdown is over in the magic month of September, supposedly, so we’re looking into songs for people with an indefinite start date, which is a bit different to usual, but that’s the way it is at the moment.
I’ve been spending a lot of my time doing this music supervision video blog. Normally we’re busy dawn to dusk doing music licensing inquiries and music searches but now that we’ve got a bit of spare time, I’m spending a lot of time filming videos, editing them, understanding more about how LinkedIn works and social posting and all that stuff, which is good.
What do you miss from the good old days?
Clare:
I miss just being out and about, going to gigs, meeting clients, yeah, a bit of traveling. Yeah. Been stuck in one place for too long. Yeah, it’s a bit trying at times.
Bruce:
Yeah, but you have told me you don’t really miss the traveling too much.
Clare:
I said a bit of traveling.
Bruce:
Well, yes. If the world had been normal, we probably would’ve been in Singapore right now and after that we probably would’ve been in Auckland.
One of the things that I’ve done over the last year or two is really polished up our presentation to clients where rather than just going in and showing our work, we talk a lot more about why music works and how it works and the ins and outs of music licensing, almost an educational presentation. I’m not able to do it anymore. I have toyed with the idea of doing it over Zoom, but it’s not the same really. Maybe I’m going to have to, but we do miss visiting clients. We especially miss the opportunities to take clients out to lunch and have a nice social time with them.
What’s the best thing about lockdown?
Clare:
Life is not so rushed. We can sleep in a bit longer than usual. We do a lot more yoga in the morning, a lot more walks. So yeah, I do like that and we eat more healthily except for the chocolate.
Bruce:
Anyway, doesn’t matter whether it’s good or bad. It is what it is, and we have to put up with it. See you later.
Clare:
If you like it, share it. See you later.
Please contact us if you need help with music searches or licensing songs for advertising campaigns, or just want to chat about music and advertising. We would love to hear from you! About anything really.
bruce at musicmill.com.au
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bruce-tweedie-music-song-mill
Website: www.musicmill.com.au
Credit: the opening and closing sequences feature “Strong Hands” from Ben Catley:
The song: https://soundcloud.com/bencatley/stro…
About Ben: open.spotify.com/artist/66OGdUyXn2WSipn6ZYq7id
Disclaimer re copyright and fair use: https://www.musicmill.com.au/fair-use/
#LIFEONTHEBORDEROFMUSICANDADVERTISING
