[ddots-l] Employment versus Self-Employment: Options for the Blind Audio Producer
- From: "Bill" <billlist1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2011 09:35:51 -0400
Dear All,
Chelsea and I have been in contact off-list. I suggested that she post here
and start a thread about options for the blind audio producer in the current
marketplace. From our perspective, virtually all of the customers we have
who make some or even all of their living from recording themselves or
others do so as self-employed professionals. Let's talk about it.
In general, blind people have to deal with the same changing dynamics of the
audio production business that effect everyone else. That is, decades ago
there were big studios where artists went to record. The equipment there
was generally so expensive that it was far out of the reach of most of us.
Studio owners could charge clients lots of money and use that income to hire
engineers and pay off their investment in all that expensive recording gear.
Over the past decade or so, software like SONAR and Pro Tools has put
affordable digital audio production into our hands. Much of the audio we
hear on the radio and TV was produced in somebody's home studio at a
relatively low cost. The "big studio jobs" are gone or nearly gone.
Here are some questions to get things going:
If you get paid for your services to produce audio, do you work for yourself
or for an employer. If you produce your own tracks and sell them, I
consider that self-employment. By working for an employer, I mean, do you
receive a regular paycheck or some kind of retainer to work on staff at a
recording facility. If you are hired and paid hourly as a consultant, that
is significant but that would still be considered self-employment. That is,
your employer sends you a 1099 form at the end of the tax year. In other
words, if your employer does not withhold your taxes or offer you any
benefits aside from compensation for your professional services, you are
still a self-employed consultant who runs your own business.
Again, if you get paid to produce audio, what other kind of work do you need
to do to put together a living? For example, I know that many of you play
gigs at restaurants, churches, clubs, etc. Some of you teach music
privately or through a school. I call this approach the "portfolio"
approach to making a living as a musician/audio producer.
If you are self-employed, how do you promote your business? How do you find
and retain clients? What kind of high-tech and low-tech marketing tools do
you use? These questions are really general questions that anyone who runs
any kind of business has to contend with.
But what issues come up for you because you are blind? For example, a
customer once told me a very sad story of how he was recording some clients
who left his studio carrying away a laptop and some other gear which he
never saw again. He learned the hard way that he needed to have a trusted
sighted person around during sessions with strangers.
How much work have any of you done to edit video and audio simultaneously?
What strategies have you employed to get that kind of job done?
I hope that the questions above will stimulate a lively exchange here.
Bill McCann
Founder and President of Dancing Dots since 1992
www.DancingDots.com
Tel: [001] 610-783-6692
From: ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Chelsea
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 4:47 PM
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ddots-l] Reintroduction
Hi list,
I'm back. I left for awhile, because I couldn't follow the discussions--too
technical for me! LOL
I'm going to be getting my diploma next month, and I'm trying to network
with blind audio producers/mixers/DJs, etc. To learn the tricks of the
trade. And I have a question as well: do those of you that are producers,
DJs, etc. Work in your own home studeo or do you work in someone else's? I
know Nashville seems to be a hot bed for music studeos. Do any of you have
experience there?
Another option I've thought of is working in film/TV doing their audio
things.
It sounds like, from what I've observed, that i'll have to create a couple
home-based businesses--one for audio and one for Braille.
At the moment, I have no equipment whatsoever, just the Pac Mate I'm using
to write this message. And as far as material goes, it's not my best. I know
if I have JAWS and Goldwave or JAWS and Sonar/CT, a good computer system
with a midi controller, etc., I'll be able to put together a much better
portfolio of my abilities. The only problem is that BVR won't fund equipment
if they don't think I can get a job. And I don't know if home-based
businesses count because they're not constant gainful employment. Or are
they?
Any thoughts, suggestions?
Chelsea
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