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What is a songwriting project brief? How do I construct a songwriting project brief so the freelancer I hire can make me quality songwriting content?
Here’s a songwriting brief definition:
An effective songwriting project brief will contain an overview of your entire project, which includes:
- [content type wanted – include a sample or two if you can!
- Key dates & deadlines
- Audience for project
- Deliverable outcomes
- Project goals
The truth is, it can be hard to know what to include in these songwriting briefs when you’re planning your project. If you have no idea how songwriting briefs work, how are your freelancers supposed to know what’s needed of them?
Songwriting Project Brief Example
Luckily, we’ve provided a songwriting project brief example, so you’ll know how to write a songwriting brief and bag yourself strong content!
This brief will provide your freelancer with everything they need to know about both your project and your business. If you’re struggling to get off the starting block, feel free to use it as a template for your own brief:
Name: Glory Reign: Soundtrack for New Game Release Project
About the company: We are AggroTech – a video game company based in Stockholm, Sweden. We mainly produce action-adventure games, wanting to take our users on a ride they’ll never forget. After a successful year, our company has grown to 50 team members, and we’re looking to expand even more.
What do you need?: We have just launched our latest game, an RPG: Glory Reign, which is loosely based on the Roman Empire, but is set in the 22nd century. For our promotional video that will be exclusively displayed at this year’s MAGFest, we are looking to create a soundtrack to pair with our game trailer. We are currently working with a freelance team of music engineers and musicians, but we need a songwriter (who can also preferably sing) to complete our team.
Why do you need it?: As this is our first RPG, we want to make sure we are hitting this market in the best possible way. We’d like a soundtrack that is timeless and gets everyone pumped for the big release.
Your vision for the project: Glory Reign features many historical elements, however, the main genre is fantasy. We would like to work with someone who has experience recording and writing on a range of genres and tempos. We would like the track to start off slow, before building to a crashing crescendo that incorporates techno. Our team has so far created the backbones of the track, but we are still missing the lyrics to fit with the music. We are happy to work around the right songwriter – this will be a completely equal collaboration, and you will have direct input in the outcome of this score.
Examples of styles you like:
Assassins Creed ||| Main Theme: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EevWu6A1LPM
Modern Warfare 2 Soundtrack: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXLY_5xaYFo&ab_channel=MarkaRagnos777
Where will the content be used?: on our video game trailer which will be published on YouTube, as well as distributed across multiple video game news platforms and channels around the world.
Target audience: This campaign will be aimed at hardcore gamers aged between 15 – 30, so the soundtrack and lyrics should be refreshing and modern.
Deadline: We’re looking to get this completed 1 month before MAGFest, so December 6th – 9th is our deadline.
Budget: Our budget is flexible, and can be fleshed out with the songwriter. You will also receive ongoing royalties based on the sales of the game and soundtrack.
Point of contact: You’ll be working with Reggie, our CMO, and Floyd, our lead on the entire music project.
Analysis:
Now, let’s break the brief down section-by-section so you know exactly how it works:
Name: Glory Reign: Soundtrack for New Game Release Project
Your freelancer is probably working on lots of different freelance projects, so give yours a name to distinguish it. It’ll help you keep organized too.
About the company: We are AggroTech – a video game company based in Stockholm, Sweden. We mainly produce action-adventure games, wanting to take our users on a ride they’ll never forget. After a successful year, our company has grown to 50 team members, and we’re looking to expand even more.
Why does the freelancer need to know about you and your company? Giving them the whole picture helps the freelancer create the most appropriate work for you. Tell your freelancer what you do and how you do it.
What do you need?: We have just launched our latest game, an RPG: Glory Reign, which is loosely based on the Roman Empire, but is set in the 22nd century. For our promotional video that will be exclusively displayed at this year’s MAGFest, we are looking to create a soundtrack to pair with our game trailer. We are currently working with a freelance team of music engineers and musicians, but we need a songwriter (who can also preferably sing) to complete our team.
Be specific about what you want. Is it just one piece of work you need, or an ongoing project? Let your freelancer know upfront and this will help them work out how long your project will take to complete.
Why do you need it?: As this is our first RPG, we want to make sure we are hitting this market in the best possible way. We’d like a soundtrack that is timeless and gets everyone pumped for the big release.
This might seem completely obvious to you, but sometimes spelling out the motivation for your project can be really helpful. It gives the freelancer extra insight into why you need this work; do you want to reach new customers? Are you changing or launching your business? If you have current projects – why aren’t these working? All this extra information will help your freelancer do a great job.
Your vision for the project: Glory Reign features many historical elements, however, the main genre is fantasy. We would like to work with someone who has experience recording and writing on a range of genres and tempos. We would like the track to start off slow, before building to a crashing crescendo that incorporates techno. Our team has so far created the backbones of the track, but we are still missing the lyrics to fit with the music. We are happy to work around the right songwriter – this will be a completely equal collaboration, and you will have direct input in the outcome of this score.
If you already have an idea of how you want the work to look, write it down in your project brief. This will help the freelancer hit the ground running and shorten the delivery time. You and your freelancer will ideally develop concepts together. Don’t worry if you don’t know what you want yet – mention this to your freelancer and you can talk through ideas.
Here are some examples of styles we like:
Assassins Creed ||| Main Theme: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EevWu6A1LPM
Modern Warfare 2 Soundtrack: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXLY_5xaYFo&ab_channel=MarkaRagnos777
Sometimes it’s hard to describe a style you like, which is why you need to show your freelancer. Include images, links to other work you’ve seen, color pallets, fonts – anything that will help your freelancer get a good idea of what you want your finished project to look like.
Where will the content be used?: on our video game trailer which will be published on YouTube, as well as distributed across multiple video game news platforms and channels around the world.
Where you want to use your content can affect the kind of work the freelancer creates. Try your best to future-proof your ideas. Who knows where you’ll need to use the content in a year’s time? Your freelancer should create the work in a way that it can be used in any media or medium you require. The last thing you want is to rehire the freelancer in the future to adjust the content.
Target audience: This campaign will be aimed at hardcore gamers aged between 15 – 30, so the soundtrack and lyrics should be refreshing and modern.
Your target audience is a vital piece of information that your freelancer should know. It’ll help them create work that specifically targets that section of the market and helps you draw in custom.
Deadline: We’re looking to get this completed 1 month before MAGFest, so December 6th – 9th is our deadline.
When do you need your project to be completed? Don’t forget this crucial detail.
Budget: Our budget is flexible, and can be fleshed out with the songwriter. You will also receive ongoing royalties based on the sales of the game and soundtrack.
How much will you pay for the project? If you have a budget in mind, include it in your project brief. If you have no idea, you can discuss costs with your freelancer.
Point of contact: You’ll be working with Reggie, our CMO, and Floyd, our lead on the entire music project.
Who will your freelancer be dealing with? Make it easier for remote workers to communicate with you by making it clear who their point of contact is during the project. There will be extra questions and work that needs to be signed off, so make sure your freelancer gets straight through to the right person.
When you post a project brief on Twine, you can add a fully comprehensive project description. This will help you find the right creative freelancer and ultimately get the project you want.
We vet all of our freelancers and match them to clients using over 10 different criteria. This allows both parties to gain maximum results at the most effective price. We’re here to help every step of the way and will do everything we can to make sure you have an awesome experience.
So, there you have it! A top-quality template for your songwriting project brief. For more help on writing a great project brief, check out our article here – or, check out our other creative brief examples: Logo Design Brief, Animation Project Brief, Illustration Project Brief, Music Production Project Brief, Copywriting Project Brief. Ready to find a freelancer? Check out our talent here.
Stuart Logan
Raksha
