Going the Extra Mile

In every artistic work for hire job there is always a gap between two points that is unpaid. These two points are the distance between the client being happy and  the artist being happy.

In an ideal world these two points shouldn't be too far apart but unfortunately reality looks slightly different.

In the field of writing music for media in fact this gap can become quite large. With some clients having absolutely zero musical background and seeing music as something that needs to be there but don't know why, they will be happy with incredibly crappy music already.

I know a few composers who make a habit of going just beyond what the client needs to be happy, write an invoice and forget about the project.

This is of course a purely subjective standpoint but if at on point you reach the state of just barely doing what's needed to get something past the finish line, I think your artistic career is more or less over. If you lose passion in what you're doing and lose the will to constantly challenge yourself, you will stall at exactly the point you're at.

If there is some passion for music left in you, it is incredibly unhealthy to just do what's needed. Constantly feeling to not having done your best job will make you creatively unhappy and as soon as you lose the joy in music, it is extremely tricky to be inspired or creative.

Of course we all need to work in economical boundaries and everybody knows that a piece is never finished but you just stop working on it at one point. 

So it is essential to find a healthy but also financially viable middleground when approaching this issue. Losing oneself in details in a score that will be buried under SoundFX or will be seen by only a handful of people at a presentation is probably not the wisest idea. However if you get the chance to go the extra mile on something that can really benefit from the extra work it is always worth doing. Delivering something that is beyond expectation might improve your standing with your client, and maybe open doors for something else. Even if your direct client is not that musically demanding, a potential new client seeing/hearing your work in this project might notice the extra work you put in and remember you.

So the bottom line is that the extra work might not pay off instantly or "financially" but it might pay off in the future and will definitely pay off with more joy in your job. This is extremely important in a work field where enjoyment is essential to be productive.