Sing Jingles - Your Singing Investment! by: Tom Gauger

After being in the music business as long as I have, you meet a lot of people – many of whom are extremely gifted and others, well there are others to. As a professional jingle singer, former talent booking agent with the William Morris Agency and founder of ReelMusician.com, I’ve heard it all – The excuses that is. Many individuals want the glamorous lifestyle of studio singing work, but they don’t want to make the investment that is needed to put them on the map singing commercials. Let’s spend a few minutes looking at a typical investment to get you started singing jingles and general session work.


By now, you’ve seen all kinds of services, prices and wonder what you should do in terms of your singer reel. Let’s spend a few minutes exploring what you shouldn’t do. The biggest mistake new singers make is to assume that their friend’s studio is going to get the job done – That might work for a rough draft or even a fairly polished song or artist demo, but when you want to play in the game with the big cats singing commercials, you better have a singer reel that sounds like downtown. You can’t afford not to have an incredible singer reel out there and chances are, your friend can’t write or figure out what the jingle producers are looking for and what will catch their attention. There are jingles that are sung professionally on the air and then there are the singer reels that have to establish credibility with producers and writers and believe it or not, sometimes there is a big difference on what you should include on your reel and what you shouldn’t even though it sounds like current commercials. Remember you have to grab their attention and that may or might not be different from the niche of jingles currently in vogue.

How much should a jingle cost and where do I go? Great questions. There will be significant difference in prices when you’re looking to record your singing reel. There are plenty of folks online who will try to charge you a mint and you wouldn’t be any better off with them as opposed to your friend’s studio. At ReelMusician.com we try our best to offer affordable jingle reels for singers trying to break into the market and deliver the demos that just knock your socks off. We don’t let anything leave the studio until it meets the needs of the singer capitalizing on their strengths and weaknesses. When you are looking to record your first demo always ask for samples or at least listen to them online and you might ask them for references.

How much should I plan on spending to get my jingle reel done right? You should plan on investing a minimum of $500 and really push to spend closer to a $1,000 when it’s all said and done. Just to give you an idea, at ReelMusician.com, and because of the demand our prices will most likely increase shortly, we start out with jingle singing packages of (3) for $290, (5) for $380 and (7) for $495. You will have to include studio time to record your lead vocals on these tracks, which doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg, but you might figure an additional $200 - $300 and then the cost of making your CD. Most individuals burn their own CDs with easy software that creates the jewel cover artwork. That’s a realistic picture of your costs. And believe me, we’re not getting rich at those prices. Think about it and divide the total cost by the number of jingles and it’s actually very affordable and cost effective. For individuals really willing to make an investment in their singing career, it’s a great way to go. What stops most individuals from following a very doable dream? I’m not sure I have all of the answers.

Many individuals have the dream, but not the follow through. Many yet, have the dream, but are willing to spend $5 - $7 for an appetizer a couple of times a week and blow all kinds of money frivolously before they are willing to make a real investment in their future. You will find that most individuals fall into what I call the “I have a dream, but refuse to follow up with any significant resources to make it happen even though I spend all kinds of money on drinks at the bar, and many other a sundry of frivolous spending. These individuals will often make the call to ReelMusician.com asking if we represent folks for commercials, but when told of the basic costs and needs of a professionally written and produced jingle singer reel, tell you that they will, “think about it” and get back with you. They have no intention of getting back with you because they spend their money on what they want to spend their money on – And so we can’t help them, nor should we. We try as best we can to help individuals who are really putting forth their best effort not because they are spending money with us, but because they have the dream and are really going after it.

Your investment in your singing career will also require a start up time investment of meeting with jingle singers in your area to get their ideas, contacts, etc as well as finding the key players in your immediate area who are writing commercials and industrial music. Once you have established or are building your singing base in your area, you will want to branch out and do the same in other markets. You will want to follow up in markets that tend to pay well if you are going to travel like Chicago, L.A., New York, Atlanta, Dallas, etc. You will need to keep a simple contact sheet either in your computer or on paper and keep up with the conversations, telephone numbers and all contact information. Your follow up will be key.

In closing, get the best possible jingle singer reel, with a great looking CD cover, and follow up with individuals like I’ve just described and you will be well on your way to singing studio and commercial work! Email us and let us know how you’re doing.