Watched this one here recently, a conversation between Venus Theory and Jason Graves, found it super useful so maybe its of value to some of you as well

I have a zoom meeting scheduled with a film director this week. This will be my first ever meeting with a director, so I don't want to mess it up. Are there any things that directors are looking for in the initial meeting with a composer or is it just a meet and greet to get to know each other? I don't want to end up losing a potential gig because I didn't say something. I know the genre and the title of the film she is directing.

I just finished building a website for a composer who wants to focus on video games, and I want to share the thinking behind it. Here's the thing: Video game developers are nerds (in the best way). They spend their days building worlds, characters, and stories. If you want to work with them, you need to fit into that world. So instead of a generic "hire me" composer page, we built something that feels like it belongs in a game. What we did: The headline doesn't say "Professional Composer for Hire." It says: "Your players will pause the game just to listen to this." Instead of a boring bio section, we created a Character Profile — complete with "proficiencies" like Orchestral, Ambience, Combat, Sound Design, Adaptive. You know, like the stat sheets you'd see in an RPG. The call-to-action buttons? "Begin Your Quest" and "Summon Character." The music section is called The Chronicles with a custom player that keeps people ON the page (not sending them off to SoundCloud where they disappear forever). And at the bottom? "Accept the Quest" with a booking calendar. Why this works: When someone clicks a button and starts an action, they psychologically want to finish it. A pop-up form after "Summon Character" feels like the next logical step — not an interruption. Everything stays on ONE page. No maze of subpages. No "click here for film, click here for ads, click here for games, oh and also I do pottery." If you want to work in video games, dress like a video game composer. Go deep into ONE industry instead of spreading yourself thin across everything. If you want a landing page like this - targeted to your specific niche, no monthly fees, no hosting costs, no "powered by" logo anywhere - I will create and set it up for you. $147 one-time. That's it. You own it. Drop a comment, DM me if you're interested, or check out this link to see my services. https://risewithalex.com/ (scroll down to "Your Industry-Specific Landing Page")

Hi everyone I have recently heard that a video game that used an AI cover and won game of the year has had the award stripped from them due to the use of AI art for a game cover. Do you think that moving forward we will need to find alternate artwork for Album covers and youtube videos to be safe? Or is it ok to still use AI?

If I upload my original portfolio compositions to platforms like Spotify, could that create any issues later if a director, production company or client wants to license that exact piece for a project (film, game, trailer, advertising, etc.)? I’m mainly wondering: - Whether having the music already released affects exclusivity or future licensing possibilities. - If it could complicate copyright ownership, control of the work, or long-term royalties. - Whether, from a strategic point of view, it’s better to keep portfolio compositions unpublished in order to sell or license them directly to clients. From your experience, what approach works best: building a public catalog on streaming platforms, or keeping music unreleased for direct licensing opportunities? Thanks in advance for your insights.