MAM Family: Brian Englishman

Speaking of new composers working their way up in the scene, meet Brian Englishman. Since graduating a few years back, Brian has been non-stop hustling his way into great gigs and winning bids.

"Creating relationships with new people, I try to convey a very 'go-getter' attitude (without sounding too ambitious)," says Brian. "You want to show them how you work hard, and that you want to work hard."

Which is exactly how he came into his current job with Finger Music six months ago. Following a great internship, he hit a slow patch. So Brian began following loads of music companies' social feeds. When Finger posted on Facebook that they were looking for a new Production Assistant, BAM! Brian pounced into the ring.

Brian says he really enjoys working with Finger, while still doing some side freelance work. His goal: film music.

"As everyone that wants to write film scores, I wanted to be the next John Williams," he laughs, recalling his initial dreams in college. "And then you find out how hard it is."

Brian admits his day job is working out pretty darn well at the moment, though, with several recent music spots for Chase, Ruby Tuesdays, and NYC's new Lowline initiative. 

"I usually know when something's sticking," says Brian. One of his tricks is to review what music clients have picked in the past. "There's a good chance they're going to like something similar stylistically: 'commercial', indie, bright, poppy, rock band. Things like that."

But like most composers, Brian's passion is for original creative work more than making something that 'sounds like' someone else's work.

"It makes it really easy. But at the same time you do look back at it, and it takes away from your integrity a little bit," Brian says. "I don't get touchy about it. It's what I have to do: I write for commercials. Sometimes even writing something original, it can get transformed and chopped up by the client even more than something you wrote for a different melody. But at the end of the day, I do prefer writing original material."

See Brian's work (on his snazzy website he designed himself)...