Pounding The Pavement With Brendan Eder
Composer Brendan Eder talks about scoring films, paying a stipend to his working ensemble, and earning money via streaming
Brendan Eder is a composer and drummer based in Los Angeles. He scores independent films, and leads an ensemble—a tight, woodwind-heavy acoustic group—and his ethos, despite the crossover classical vibe of his compositions, is decidedly DIY.
“I’m getting a great response, especially without the help of editorial PR people,” Eder says about the buzz surrounding his recent release, To Mix With Time. “That comes from being scrappy, asking people, researching, and failing a million times before I get another success.”
That scrappy work ethic is landing his music on major playlists, as well as getting a shoutout as a Bandcamp Essential Release, and selected as “Today’s Top Tune” on Anne Litt’s KCRW show, Morning Becomes Eclectic, which, for an up-and-coming independent composer, is a big deal. It also explains his approach to repurposing his music.
“I sampled one of the cues I wrote for an Ari Aster film,” Eder says. “I still own the rights to that music. I made a remix, as in a whole different piece of music with it, which you normally couldn’t do. And I still get the proceeds from that. It doesn’t go to someone else.”
I spoke with Eder on the phone from his home in L.A.—and that was after watching this insane tribute to the cannabis industry—and we discussed his experiences networking and knocking on doors in the film industry, his working ensemble and commitment to paying them, and getting play-listed and generating revenue via streaming.
Where are you from and how did you get into music?
I am from the Valley, L.A. County. I was interested in drum set and a little piano when I was 10 or 12 years old, which led to what I do now, which is a drummer/composer.
How did you get into composition?
Composing started for me when I was about 15 or 16 years old, and it was via electronic music—although I did some piano pieces as well. I got into Aphex Twin and things like that, and I was experimenting with weird German software. I did acoustic stuff, but there was also an electronic avenue. A friend lent me his Tascam digital 8-track, and I experimented on that, too. I was recording, experimenting with electronic music, and also doing some traditional piano.
What were you listening to?
Early on, when I was getting interested in music, it was more rock and punk. I got into Fugazi, and then Velvet Underground, the Beatles, and more rock. But around the same time there were things like Aphex Twin, and I was really into him. And then it became an obsession—like what happens with all of us—we fall in love with music, it explodes, and we start discovering. I got more into jazz and classical, pretty quickly. I was listening to early twentieth century classical, like Stravinsky, Ravel, Debussy, Erik Satie—I listened to all his piano music a lot. I loved Miles Davis, too. I started with his jazz fusion period, probably because I was a drummer and it made sense to me. I skipped around, In A Silent Way, On The Corner, and then back to his roots. And then everything was full speed ahead.
Did you go to college for music?
I went to a low-key, undergrad liberal arts school, it was just a modest, beginner education. I had some private lessons, and basic ear training, although I dropped out of my orchestration class. I was doing a lot on my own, looking at scores, being productive, and learning a lot.
Do you do audio engineering as well?
Totally, I was equal parts. I wanted to be a film composer/recording artist, and also a recording engineer/producer. I am still navigating between the two. I did a bunch of internships after college, although I was actually making money in college—we had a recording studio there, and I was getting clients and freelancing more than most people at my school.
Where did you intern?
I was at Cherokee Studios. I interned there like crazy for one summer, although it has since shut down [and subsequently reopened at a new location]. But it was a legendary studio. I found the internship on Craig’s List. They were more free-wheeling and low profile. Whereas right after college I went to Westlake, which is where they recorded Thriller and so many other records.
What did they have you doing?
That was rigorous, super anal-retentive cleaning. The owner, who was a newer owner at the time, he sent us out on different cleaning tasks all day.
Following those internships and college, have you taken on clients?
Here and there. I just mixed Coleen Green’s album, which was produced by Gordon Raphael—he did a couple of the early Strokes records—I took that on and mixed it. I did it on my rig at home, in the box. I used a Universal Audio interface and a bunch of plugins, which were mostly analog-leaning emulations. No outboard gear necessary. I don’t need that [laughs].
Do you do film scoring, too?
That’s a real pursuit and passion of mine, but I am not trying to do it the traditional way. I haven’t tried to intern or work as an assistant for established composers, because I feel I need to build my own reputation as a recording artist. I’ve seen over the course of the last decade or so, a lot of the composers that have come up are basically recording artists and people with bands.
How do people find you?
I am not constantly in demand, but people are reaching out to me from all the work I’ve put into it. They’ll see something else I’ve scored, usually for Ari Aster, and word of mouth is a big thing, too. But it is incredibly saturated—and it’s been that way for at least the last 20 years—more and more every year. There are all these universities pumping out people who have specialized in creating music for film and television. They have more of a cookie cutter approach, and they probably have more tools that I don’t have. But I am a little more scrappy and I have faith. I reach out to the American Film Institute, which is a place I focus on. I still score thesis films pretty regularly for students who go there—low budget, short films, and medium budget films, too. These days, they have real budgets.
Henry Kaiser told me that it’s harder to make money scoring because the production companies keep most of the royalties.
If you’re working with bigger budget projects, the studio will own the publishing to the music. But I’m working with lower budget things, and I keep the rights. Exclusive. I keep all the rights to my music. They are not paying me enough to own that music, and they’re not necessarily going to be able to do anything with it, whereas I might be able to. Whatever I do might even help their film in a way. It will give them something to talk about. I keep the rights, and I am always looking for ways to capitalize on my music. I think that’s a smart approach. It still hasn’t paid off that much, because I haven’t figured out a way to license a lot of the music again, but I occasionally do.
For your original recording projects, you work with somewhat large ensembles. How do you pay for that? Are they friends?
They are friends, and they are very generous, but I have a system. I always, no matter what, give everyone a minimum stipend for showing up to a rehearsal or a show. I have been doing less rehearsals for shows, too, over the last year or two. I pay out of pocket, but a lot of the gigs at least pay for themselves. It is very costly to play at a casual local L.A. venue and have only a few people show up. I’ve spent more investing in the ensemble than I’ve made, but I am finally on the cusp of changing that.
Are you available on streaming platforms?
Yes, everywhere.
What is the advantage of being there?
Right now, Spotify has a monopoly on streams—over the other streaming platforms—but that can change at any time. That’s one of the reasons why it is a good idea to be on all of them. You never know what’s going to happen, and you want to make it as easy as possible for people to discover and listen to your music. The only way to do that is to be everywhere.
Do you view streaming like being on the radio?
Yeah. One of my biggest priorities now is how to get play-listed and discovered on Spotify. I am doing everything I can to learn how to get my voice heard, even though I am doing something as genre-less and niche as my music.
But you’re not generating revenue from streaming.
No, I am. Just off the streaming alone, by the end of this album cycle—maybe the next year or so—it’ll pay for a lot of my costs. They way I have been thinking about it is that every million streams is about $4,000 on Spotify, and if you’re getting a million streams on Spotify, you’re probably getting 20,000 elsewhere, and that generates revenue, too. If you get on enough editorial playlists, it can really expand. I’ve seen that now, and every day is growing. There are more people reaching out to me, and the engagement’s sticking. Being on those playlists is huge.
So the money is there if you’re able to get significant plays.
A lot of people complain about how it doesn’t pay enough, and they’re probably right, but it does add up. There is so much power in these playlists, most of the editorial playlists will blow up a song—or multiple songs, obviously. They’re cool, too, and they are pretty well curated People really do listen. There is some real value that can be generated, but it is very hard to break in.
Are you on any of these playlists?
I had a few songs on the Spotify Classical New Releases, as a staff pick, which is a big on—maybe the biggest—for classical music. I’ve been on that one a couple of times for my more ambient leaning stuff off this album, To Mix With Time. There are some others, too, that are crossover classical, like Not Quite Classical. I am figuring out new ways to get another shot—to pitch to these playlists—because when you set up an album to release, once the album is scheduled to release, you can only submit one song to the playlist. They may check out others and put other songs on if you’re, say, Thundercat, or Kamasi Washington, but with me, I am not so sure. Once you release the album, you can’t pitch again, and it could end up disappearing. Although there are other algorithmic things that happen.
You can only pitch one song per album?
You write about one song for the entire release. Of course, if you are releasing singles leading up to that, each time you release a single, you have an opportunity there. That’s one reason why we are very encouraged to release singles now. The benefits of the album are getting less, and we have less inclination to make large form albums as opposed to releasing singles all the time. People just save one song from an artist, and they don’t necessarily go and get into everything.
But it seems to be working?
I am going to have to back off soon, because right now I am in the honeymoon phase of learning this stuff and monitoring how this album, which I am so excited about, is doing. I worked hard to make this music and get it out. I have a lot of enthusiasm behind it, and when I can see these tools and see what’s happening with the numbers, it’s exciting.
Do you apply for grants?
I haven’t applied for a lot of grants, but I did get on the L.A. County Arts Commission. I was hoping to get some gigs from that, but hardly anything comes from that apparently [laughs]. That’s basically a roster that is supported by the city. It is curated by people from the city who represent world music, jazz, classical, funk, R&B, and pretty much every genre. If there is an event and someone looking for something, or if they’re a non-profit, they can get funding through the city to hire a band.
When you do live gigs, do you play in the band or stand up front and conduct?
I play drums and lead the band. There is a cast of musicians that I’ve been working with over the last few years who are gigging musicians in L.A. It’s fun. I make it fun. It’s not like a formal gig. They can have a beer or two if they want. We have fun and make some fresh music.