About Session Musicians
Becoming a Session Singer is an area of the creative industries that particularly interests me.
Becoming a session Singer typically requires vocal talent professional training or formal education such as a degree in music, however being successful in the role also includes a greater understanding of the music industry. Building a portfolio and knowing how to market your services correctly. As well as musical ability, a key quality needed for success within this profession is professionalism being a reliable person, with good time management and easy to get along with are all essential in sustaining your image as a professional session musician and help build trusting and long-lasting relationships with producers and clients.
Session musicians are musical professionals who provide back-up instrumentals or vocals for when feature artists record songs or play to live audiences Session musicians can work on a large range of projects including studio recordings, live performances theatre film, and television often working for various clients in different genres.
Work as a session musician is typically short- term meaning you work with various `artists of different genres. To be successful as a session musician you must be able to be very flexible and have the skills and knowledge to be able to play a range of music according to the client’s needs. It is important as a session singer to focus on learning to apply your vocals in different genres increasing your access to broad range of job opportunities and widening your job prospects.
Potential marketing and promotional aspects of this promotion
It is very important as a session musician to market your services effectively through various activities to promote yourself. One example of this would be creating a portfolio. Having a portfolio allows you to highlight your best bits and show potential clients what you have to offer this helps to find opportunities suitable to your strengths as a musician. Your portfolio should ideally display a range of examples of your work include videos and songs to show actual examples of your work which presents a broad scope of your work covering diverse projects and musical styles.
Adding volunteer roles to your portfolio is also another really great way to market yourself as it will be much easier to find jobs when you have lots of experience and examples to show for it. . (Indeed editorial team, July 3, 2024)
Social media is one of the best current ways to promote yourself as a musician. A video of a performance to share on social media to gain attention and attract leads or you can even use paid social media advertising for distribution when you have an impressive portfolio. This professional online presence is often a crucial step in the initial stages of promotion.
Networking is one of the best ways to gain a career as a session musician especially now due to the additional luxury of the internet making it much more competitive (ACM, July 19, 2019). The music industry is very much about who you know so it is very important to market yourself wherever possible and let people know you are looking for opportunities. Cold calling local recording studios is also an extremely effective way to network and establish relationships within the industry and to hopefully gain work by finding potential local businesses that interest you. Reaching out to local studios can be one of the most valuable networking tools as Studios can often inform other musicians of where to find good session musicians so it is very advantageous to be a musician, they can recommend by putting yourself out there potentially progressing your career further.
Main financial and legal issues that impact on this profession
It is very important for a session musician to understand their area of interest in the music industry and to become familiar with technical aspects such as royalties and rights, which can lead to much better rights and contacts.
Most session musicians are independent contractors who market their own services to find work.
A contract is a legally binding agreement between at least two parties (they are everywhere) They are all controlled by contract law some contracts must be in writing to be enforceable. Most do not and the rules apply to verbal contracts as well. The main rules apply across the board. There are two types of contracts one being a Uniliteral Contract one that can only be accepted by performance and another being a Bilateral Contract whereby both parties exchange promises to perform. There are three essential elements of a contract. One party must make an offer one party must accept an offer and then each party provides consideration. A consideration can be a promise to pay money, a promise to do something, a promise to not do something or promise to provide something of value. That doesn’t mean it needs to be valuable equal or fair.
Session musician contracts fall under the category of ‘contracts for services’ (David Smith, 2023) which means that everything created as part of the performance of said contract belongs from inception to final form to the party commissioning and offering. Therefore, the session musician is paid to perform the tasks described in the service contract has no claim on the ownership of copyright or any related intellectual property created as part of the performance detailed in the contract. Therefore, a session musician is usually not contracted to the label.
Session musicians can be engaged directly by a production company or record label but are often engaged by a contractor who has signed an agreement with the Musicians’ Union. A Session musicians’ income will vary widely depending on many factors whether you are working solo or in a group the venue so whether you are gigging in a local pub or bigger concert venue (Musicians Union, June 26, 2023)
. Usually, the more in demand session musician is the higher their pay. The Music Union guidance on rates for session musicians’ does state that increases in income will depend on your genre experience and skill. In some instances, you may also be paid an additional fee for rehearsal. Royalties may be additionally paid if the music has been registered with the PPL or PRS for music.
Copyright is a type of intellectual property. It is a property right therefore it can be Assigned (sold) or licensed (rented). It only protects the expression of an idea and not just an idea. Copyright provides the exclusive right to copy, license, lend, perform communicate your work to the public.
Session musicians often do not own the copyright in the recordings on which they appear They might not even have a relationship with the copyright owner that allows them to share in any money the copyright generates. But even if the main artist retains ownership of the sound recording copyright, any session musicians who also appear on the recording will not usually share in the copyright. Session musicians don’t usually tend to share in future income either, instead they usually receive a one-off fee for their time and work in the studio.
Intellectual and personal challenges presented by this profession and how they might be dealt with
Being a Session Musician working in the creative industry can be extremely challenging both mentally and physically. A primary mental challenge of being a session musician is self-discipline and focus. Mentally to become a well-respected musician you must accept that being good takes a great deal of time practice and dedication. Being a session musician obviously requires a great deal of time in preparation for gigs and recordings this is done in your own time and advance work like practice is usually just expected and is very rarely paid It can be very tiring mentally finding flaws about yourself and what you love doing every single day. This kind of dedication can wear on a person’s mental health as there are most likely many other things you would rather be doing. The schedule of a musician can be very mentally draining, and the maintenance is daily. Regardless of any personal issues you may have going on.
Family and personal mental health and well-being are sadly usually at the bottom of the list or not even on the radar when a job is at stake. It doesn’t matter. As a musician you are still expected to deliver a professional and enthusiastic show despite any personal or family issues you may have. Maintaining this level of professionalism can be draining.
The lack of consistency can also be very mentally and physically gruelling. The job has very odd working hours and an extremely unpredictable schedule you may not be getting home from a gig until 4am most nights. For example, if you are touring you will most likely be getting very little sleep which can obviously take a physical toll on one’s physical and mental health.
Most notably the music business is extremely cutthroat with immense competition. It can be very hard on your self-worth as a professional you are expected to consistently perform at the highest possible level. Maintaining courage and motivation when there is often a lack of respect and appreciation for musicians can be hard.
To gain a greater understanding on the intellectual and personal challenges presented by this profession and how they may be dealt with I asked my old singing teacher and past Leeds Conservatoire student Cherie Gears who is a professional Session musician what challenges she faces. Cherie said her biggest challenge was Working things out on the spot “Sometimes you will be given sheet music, a guide vocal and other times you may not get much at all – words on a piece of paper and a rough hum of the melody. It is very important to accept each session as a completely individual experience. Enjoy working out the puzzle of what the client might want and try to be as versatile and professional as possible under every scenario. Being asked to make up harmony lines on the spot is common or ad libs is common. But if this is not something you are comfortable be honest with the producer and ask for ideas.” Cherie also mentioned how it is good to have an artistic opinion as a session singer, but it is also very important to know when to share your ideas and when to listen to your client.
Cherie highlighted how as a Session Musician it takes experience to get comfortable with listening to your voice back with an honest and objective ear without being overly critical or biased so it is very important to take breaks so you can listen back with fresh ears to give an honest opinion. Finally, Cherie mentioned the importance of understanding it is a job and not personal criticism so if you do have to re-sing something over and over again it is important to understand that the producer is just trying to get something specific which they may or may not be able to articulate to you so trust the process! It can be helpful to feel comfortable and create a trusting relationship with the producer, so you are able to take their feedback and work together to produce the desired vocal delivery.
(Cherie Gears, January 2, 2025)
Bibliography
(Indeed, editorial team, July 3, 2024)
https://www.musiclawcontracts.com/session-musicians/#
Setting the Record Straight with Session Musicians (David Smith, 2023)
How to become a session musician (ACM, July 19, 2019).
(Musicians Union, June 26, 2023)
https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-mental-and-physical-challenges-of-being-a-musician
(Ellen M. Lerner, January 2023)
(Cherie Gears, January 2, 2025)
