Helen Austin is a singer-songwriter based in Vancouver Island, Canada. Helen’s music can be heard on MTV, CW’s One Tree Hill, and most recently on a Korean Dunkin’ Donuts commercial. She has been described as singer-songwriter with the DNA of Simon & Garfunkel and CSN&Y clothed in Iron & Wine and a folkier Feist. In the following Serve The Song interview, Helen discusses her journey into commercial music and offers candid advice to anyone who wants to successfully place their songs in film and TV projects. Learn more about Helen Austin at http://helenaustin.com.

In part 2 of our interview with game composer Aaron Marks, Aaron shares his insights on a typical day as a game composer, how songwriters can break into the game industry, how they get paid, and the skills they need to be competitive. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out part 1. Learn more about Aaron Marks at OnYourMarkMusic.com.

Aaron Marks is a professional game composer and author of The Complete Guide to Game Audio, Second Edition: For Composers, Musicians, Sound Designers, Game Developers (Gama Network Series). Aaron’s music can be heard on dozens of game titles, including the ESPN MSL Extra Time Playstation 2 soccer title and online casino/arcade game sound effects and music for several Universal/Vivendi casino websites. His most recent project is music and sound effects for the game bittosHD for Xbox, PS3 and iPhone/iPad.

In this final installment of my conversation with veteran songwriting consultant John Braheny, John gives advice about making a living as a solo singer-songwriter, how to maximize your songwriting output even if you have outside responsibilities such as a job and family, and the best ways to seek out and secure publishing deals. I’d like to thank John for sharing his decades of music industry experience with Serve The Song. We really really appreciate your insights! – Mary Shaw