One Year As A FIVERR Session Musician - What's Worked For Me

[@chicobrutalguitar]

I just started my Fiverr seller account today as a guitar and bass player. I'm retired and don't really need the money, but I really love making music. Nowhere near a top pro, but hoping it leads to something fulfilling in the end. Great informative video! Cheers!

[@DestructX]

How is it going on Fiverr?

[@chicobrutalguitar]

@@DestructX very slow! Are you on Fiverr?

[@DestructX]

@@chicobrutalguitar I'm not. I just wanted to know what the average use experience is before starting

[@Ter0nik]

Jon deserves many more gigs! He's done guitar on my Mario tune as well as for my synthwave band. Great guy, very friendly and efficient. Enjoyed the vid bro!

[@FawnDoeMusic]

always a pleasure workin with ya broo

[@HeatherBoydWire]

This is a great video Jon. You are an excellent teacher. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the piece you made for me and can't wait to share it!

[@FawnDoeMusic]

heather, u r a gem

[@LReyOfficial]

I appreciate the value you gave in this video. Just subscribed 💯

[@FawnDoeMusic]

Thank you glad it could help!

[@thefunkadelicfunk]

Jon the fawn yoooo

[@ArielElijah]

Great tips! Looking to just start myself. Thanks!

[@DarthMart]

I finally got around to watching this after meaning to for months, good tips throughout!

[@tgreenejams]

Thanks! Great info here, I appreciate it!

[@chasearrington346]

Great review! Thanks for sharing your experience

[@ricktoddfarson4255]

Fawn' over the Jon!

[@FawnDoeMusic]

sump

[@PowuhToSeven]

Much love my guy. I'm about to start so I appreciate you sharing your experience.

[@FawnDoeMusic]

best of luck!

[@nofuneral1790]

This is such a great video for getting into bedroom session work. Thanks for this!

[@FawnDoeMusic]

Awesome, I made it in hopes it'd help a few people. Glad you found something useful in there. I'll try to follow it up at the 2 year mark cuz I'm still learning.

[@Justinvanjamz]

Awesome video! There's not enough videos out there on this particular subject and you nailed it 👌

[@FawnDoeMusic]

Thanks man! That's why I made the couple fiverr vids I did. Most of them are very sensational and I found there wasn't much from a more realistic perspective of an average seller. I've been meaning to make another cuz I've probably done another 200 orders since I made this so I have a more to say now.

[@petarstojko]

@@FawnDoeMusic Please do! I've been searching for a good video with tips for those starting as well as those with some experience trying to "up the game" a bit. By the way your playing is awesome, you're a mean bass player! :)

[@p1skates]

Hell yeah dude. Good video! I've used Fivver for logos and designs. I've been thinking of making my own account for Web Development.

[@FawnDoeMusic]

ya you might as well man, I used to use it for graphics and videos before I became a seller

[@CantaLibreVocalCoach]

great honest video. so refreshing to hear some one talking naturally, thank you so much. best of success in your gigs.also im the like 400 thats my day acomplishment. that and iwent to the gym

[@daleonov]

Thanks a lot for this video! Just made a fiverr account the other day, hearing your perspective was very helpful, Jon!

[@FawnDoeMusic]

Best of luck with your fiverr!

[@daleonov]

@@FawnDoeMusic thank you!

[@elvyaofficial]

Hey! ^_^ I watched this video right before my first gig as an ethereal singer went live. That’s been about 1,5 years ago now and I love it! Now ut was recommended again and I thought it was appropriate to give you a little thank you for giving that last push ^^

[@FawnDoeMusic]

aww thank you so much, I hope everything has been great for you :)

[@elvyaofficial]

It’s been amazing! One of the artists I grew up with listening to contacted me a while back even without me realizing. Our sample pack together is online since today. ^^ it’s been a wild ride! ❤

[@JBarbarosa]

Thanks for this candid feedback and advice

[@musicmaniac1949]

A friend of mine gave me a track that he wanted mastered (I used to work at a mastering studio) at my home studio; we've been friends for years. When I listened to the song, I was impressed with the violin player; he really contributed to the song. So I asked him who this guy was. He then told me that he got him off of Fiverr, a site that was new to me. He gave me the site url and the name of the musician he used. This was great. The point is that maybe there are some anonymous benefactors out there that help you and like me, don't connect the dots by crediting the creator. So from now on, I will be sure to add credits to all Fiverr musicians the same way I do for anyone else. Thank you for speaking on this. It is important.

[@FawnDoeMusic]

I think the most important part is just to ask. I've found some people I work with don't even want their name on something but rather a link to their website or social media business page. Thanks for your story bud!

[@unaufadox-productions]

Great video man thanks for your honesty and sincerely. I'm looking to get set up today. I got some really cool advice.

[@FawnDoeMusic]

best of luck!

[@rubioblack]

I've never used Fiverr, never even heard of it, but this is all very useful in any social/digital medium used today.

[@FawnDoeMusic]

totally man, the world is changing. Let's change with it

[@songoflovemetalofficial]

great motivation thanks so much for the help

[@darrenhirst9900]

Ignore the trolls you're doing something right. All the best bro.

[@noamiko9637]

Awsome video man. Thanks so much

[@mandienorton310]

Wow very cool!

[@oliviaroumelmusic]

Thanks for the great reflections and advice:)

[@FawnDoeMusic]

Hope it helps!!

[@Cake_Doge]

One thing that sets me off massively for creating a fiverr account is that I feel way too small next to the other people. I only have 2 years of experience a 200 dollar bass that is somewhat problematic, a fretless, a 25w amp and at2020 and an interface of course. Most of the people I see on there have multiple basses, +5 years of experience, cool studio gear and half of them do this for under 20 bucks. I am not an exceptional player that can do all kinds of stuff very well but I am confident in myself that I can understand what people want and a create a bassline of my own or play what they want for genres like pop, rock or funk but I also want to be able involved creatively with other people and improve myself along the way. Despite my minimal rig I am happy with the sounds I am getting myself. What should I do, just go for it? I am curious if the buyers would just move on after seeing the number of years I played or the gear I use. Thanks for the video.

[@FawnDoeMusic]

All really reasonable concerns. I actually made a fiverr a year or 2 before the one I use now and got cold feet because of similar doubts you're expressing. I deleted that one and this one was like a clean slate for me. Honestly dude, if you play well and have good sensibility that really the most important part. Most people just vibe with the landing video, so make that standout. And I've never had someone ask me to use a certain bass on a project or anything, I generally use my jazz bass DIed unless there's a reason to do something else. So ya man, you don't really need anything else, just go for it if you want to! Charge a low price or maybe check the buyer requests to get a few reviews at the start and decide what your time is worth. You won't know if you don't try, right?

[@Cake_Doge]

@@FawnDoeMusic thanks for the courage man, I sometimes feel like the DI signals from my basses sound kinda weak, fretless has a preamp so it is a bit meatier but the fretted sounds a bit thin. So I always feel like sending them through a signal chain or something. Also micing my little amo gives decent sounds as well, feels much more solid. Do you just send them the DI track and let the customers do the rest? Or are there deliveries where you send a copy of the track with the additional studio magic? Also what would work as that landing video, playing a classic track that people are familiar with or a video where you do fancy stuff as much as possible?

[@FawnDoeMusic]

@@Cake_Doge I used to just send a DI, or one dry and one with EQ and compression. I'm mostly using the Neural DSP plugins now or sometimes an Ampeg one. I mean trust whatever you think sounds good to you. As far as a video, you can do a bit of flashy stuff if you want to show you're capable of it but like 90% of the time people just want something simpler. With session work, generally tastefulness and versatility are greater assets than chops. So maybe check out some other profiles and build yours based of things you like about those.

[@Londya]

Thanks for making a video on this. Wish I would’ve seen this advice a couple of years ago when I signed up for fiverr. I quit after a month of not getting a gig. Now listening to your video I realize my expectations were too high. I also should’ve started out with a much lower fee and I actually had the idea to get a few friends to buy the gig and review it, but after a month of nothing I was just like “ this ain’t worth it.” But I had the wrong mindset. Gonna try again. Hopefully within a few months. Need to get a new laptop.

[@FawnDoeMusic]

Hey thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! I totally get it fam, the fiverr account I use now is actually my second one because the first one I made I got way too intimidated by how competitive it was and gave up before I started. It was covid that prompted me to try it again. You can definitely still get into it if it's something you want to do, you may just have to do some buyer requests and grind it out a bit to get started. And if you still end up finding it's not worth it there's no regrets that way. I touch on some beginner strats in my older video and I'm planning on making an update vid soon. Just haven't gotten around to it yet. All the best with your work however you manage it :D

[@Londya]

@@FawnDoeMusic thanks I’ll check out your other video for tips too!

[@heavythings55]

Great info, I was curious about the process. I'm not looking to offer services on fiverr because I'd be sure to get criticism as well but in my case it would be justifed! haha

[@FawnDoeMusic]

criticism can't be escaped, I'll make a video eventually talking about all my worst experiences lol

[@seanmhebner8823]

You are so good!

[@FawnDoeMusic]

no u

[@bjarnyg]

if clients are rude and unprofessional to you, you can make a complaint to fiverr. they have access to all correspondence, so they can see for themselves. one singer even called me an asshole, that my lyrics sucked bla-bla just cause i told her that you shouldn't change the melody of a clients song just like that and that demo-singing is not for everyone.

[@FawnDoeMusic]

Sorry you had to deal with that buddy. I've only had people be that rude a handful of times and I generally just let it go.

[@Jacob_Clarke]

very informative video. what software do you use?

[@apchan]

Thank you for the information 😊

[@FawnDoeMusic]

No worries. I'm planning to make an update vid soon, just need the time. Good luck with your fiverr store homie!

[@jurajskoda]

You should create chapters :) Good content!

[@spreadmorelove5235]

Awesome musician!

[@ibeprod6844]

How do you turn a gig down without getting penalised? What if they already paid before messaging you?

[@HVMOOON]

That was so useful, thank u

[@FawnDoeMusic]

Happy to help :)

[@feebypeels2883]

Good stuff. You seem like a cool dude.

[@FawnDoeMusic]

i'm pretty chill. maybe like a 7/10

[@JesterOfDestiny]

Kinda shitty that some people don't credit their musicians. But I guess that's just industry standard.

[@FawnDoeMusic]

It's kinda been the nature of the session player forever. So many sick horn lines on old soul records I'll never know who played haha. Also with a lot of dance music it's just the DJs name that goes on song, not even the singer's which isn't like rock family tree at all really.

[@tinkerbellbetty]

I LOVE MY PJS.. KUDOS TO YOU.

[@linotom1887]

...can i do it with Garageband and Ableton live?

[@FawnDoeMusic]

Ableton for sure. Garageband you could but it has some annoying limitations with import/export and editing because it's made more to create music for personal use.

[@NandoMusi]

Can I decline a gig order on Fiverr? Does that affect reputation? Let's say the client needs something I'm not that comfortable doing or just can't do it for some reason but they still place the order... What happens then?

[@FawnDoeMusic]

Tbh that's a big gripe I've had. You can't actually decline an order. In the cases where someone's put an order in without asking first I've either tried to negotiate something different if it was a misunderstanding of the scope of the gig or cancel, which is bad for the algorithm but still better to me than doing a bad job on a project I'm not the right person for. A simple accept/reject order button would be so convenient for sellers but they'll likely never implement something like that.

[@wetpu3574]

I'll try to do fiverr when I get good enough at guitar

[@DestinyAlready]

I’m so scared selling my vocals for $60 bucks and the song turns a hit song and make thousands and I only sold it for like $60-70

[@FawnDoeMusic]

Ya I mean that happened to me. That one song has 25 million spotify streams rn and I sold those loops in a sample pack for like $100. But the thing is, I'd have never been able to make a song that successful by myself because that artist was on a big label. So what's alternative, just don't play on a hit song? At least it's a cool story lol. Idk I've thought about trying to do things for royalties instead but the people who actually make good money would never go for it and all these people would want me to work for free swearing the song would blow up. With how little streaming venue is, as a 10-25% songwriter it would take over at least 50-100 thousand streams to make that $60-70. So it wouldn't be worth it to play on almost anything by that logic. At least to me. That's just how I rationalize it. Maybe you feel differently but I feel like it's one of those things where it's like go for it or deal with the FOMO later.

[@linotom1887]

👍👍👍🎓

[@asifeentertainment422]

Rent today then broke tomorrow is totally against my protocol. I'm NOT contributing to no one's song for them to copyright as their own and then make millions for themself and I don't get a dime. Nope. You tell me what you want me to play and I'll gladly play it for you. But writing for you for free? NOPE, not happening.

[@asifeentertainment422]

@mothflap Just my own projects.

[@zavotic6184]

a

[@FawnDoeMusic]

o

[@zavotic6184]

@@FawnDoeMusic ae

[@FawnDoeMusic]

@@zavotic6184 :o

[@zavotic6184]

@@FawnDoeMusic hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[@tinkerbellbetty]

Selling yourself cheap