Photo from the event featuring Christian Salyer and CRAS Students.
On the evening of March 28th, 2019, The student section of CRAS AES hosted an event with special guest Christian Salyer, CEO of Blazed Out Music and CCO of Current Music. Mr. Salyer uses Blazed Out Music as a parent company of several other publishing and marketing companies he also owns to help write and produce music for many different applications. He sees the majority of his work take place within the TV and Film industries, but has past experience in the video game industry, as well as producing records with artists such as Luther Vandross and Mario. Mr. Salyer has also produced a gold and platinum record.
The evening began with our guest explaining how he got started in his field, which began with him writing lyrics at the age of 11, and that's what sparked his initial interest in music. At the age of 16, Mr. Salyer found himself as the star of a commercial via a friend of his he knew from a local band he had played a concert with. At the age of 20, Mr. Salyer was working at a music store and also beginning to build up clients for his home studio, which he built himself. At the age of 27, he had gained enough income to quit his music store job and work with music full time. The following year he was in LA at a recording studio where he found himself working with many notable artists. In 2003, Mr. Salyer established Blazed Out Music, which works directly with ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC to provide music for TV and Film. All of the music provided is written by himself or one of his 30 employees. He also explained how royalties work in his industry and how the use of cue sheets for each program aired outlines his and his partners' payments. Mr. Salyer continued on by explaining how TV ratings and viewership of a program with his music on it translates to royalties based off of ownership percentages. He was also generous enough to explain a few ways it's possible to submit your own music for TV, Film, or video games.
In addition to all of the technicalities behind his work, Mr. Salyer also made sure to give valuable advice to all who were present. He stressed how important it was to maintain your integrity when working with anyone, and to always be sure and never disrespect a fellow creator or artist. It was also encouraged that students maintain a high, constant standard of professionalism at all times throughout their careers as it will only help open doors for them in the future. Ultimately, one of the most important pieces of advice given to students was to be sure to always have a plan, yet always be prepared to seize an opportunity when it presents itself.
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