Compile Commissions

Com­posers want com­mis­sions. You want some­one to come to you and say, “Write me a piece of music, here’s $50″ (or $500 or $5000).

But hold on. Explore the money angle a lit­tle bit. Is it pos­si­ble to have a co-commission? In other words, will the per­son or orga­ni­za­tion that is com­mis­sion­ing you allow some­one else to com­mit money to your com­mis­sion? Say, for instance, you get a com­mis­sion for a small cham­ber orches­tra piece for $500.

If you are will­ing to do the leg­work, and know how to play the pol­i­tics right, you might talk another orga­ni­za­tion into putting a lit­tle money in to that com­mis­sion, too. You might say, “So-and-so Orches­tra in the next town over would like to com­mis­sion a piece, too, and they are will­ing to put up $500. How about a co-commission?”

The beauty of this is that it allows you to guar­an­tee per­for­mances in two venues. Typ­i­cally, once your piece is per­formed once by the com­mis­sion­ing orga­ni­za­tion, that’s it. But here you have two com­mis­sions for the same piece, guar­an­tee­ing more than one per­for­mance, and earn­ing you more money for the same work.

But you do have to be a skilled nego­tia­tor. Which group gets to have the pre­miere? What if they want to pay you less because it is a shared com­mis­sion? (Be aware that some orga­ni­za­tions have been given money by a donor and must spend it all, and prob­a­bly demand exclusivity.)

You must be pre­pared to lead this process, while at the same time not offend­ing anyone.

Good luck!