Meet Michael Elsner | Guitarist/Composer/Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Michael Elsner and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Michael, what do you attribute your success to?
The most important factor behind my success is that I focus entirely on the value I can provide to my clients. Whether that’s as a guitarist playing on TV Shows and Films for the composers who hire me, serving the needs of the production companies, ad agencies or trailer houses for the tv shows, commercials and film trailers that I write music for, or the independent musicians who come to me looking to learn how to get their songs into TV and film. Every individual I work with on a professional level, is serving the needs and requests of their own client, so ego must be removed entirely from the creative process, and it must be replaced with a value-oriented mindset. When I first began my career in the music industry, I was an assistant to a number of engineers and producers. I saw first-hand how malleable they were to the wishes of the artists they worked with. Their role was to bring the artist’s vision to life… I then saw how many of the composers I ended up playing guitar for would change direction, or re-write the music under various scenes, without putting up a fight. Meanwhile, it was the amateur musicians who wouldn’t budge when a suggestion to change a song was made. They let their ego get in the way of advancing their career. Once I realized that dramatic difference between the professionals and the amateurs, adopting a value-oriented approach, and focusing on serving my clients, was a very easy decision.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Music has been my profession for the last 25 years. From the time I was a young teenager, I knew that I wanted my career to center around playing guitar. In 1998 I moved to Nashville, and connected with a number of engineer/producers. This opened the door to studio work, and while it wasn’t initially as a guitarist, I took on the role of assistant engineer. This provided me with a wealth of technical knowledge, and the timing was perfect. In the early 2000’s the industry started transitioning from high priced recording studios to affordable home studio setups. In 2002, I built my first home studio rig. This was paramount to my career as a songwriter/composer in the TV and Film world, as it allowed me to create professional recordings entirely on my own. By 2006 I was regularly licensing my songs for placements in TV shows. A few years after that I was writing and producing music for blockbuster film trailers. While none of this was ‘hard,’ the key ingredient to building my career was being open to pivot when opportunities presented themselves. The two primary lessons I learned from my early mentors was the importance of investing in yourself. This involved more than just buying the right gear to do the job. It includes investing in continuing education, investing in networking opportunities, and investing in your business by hiring the right people/assistants.
The primary business I run today that is public-facing, is Elite Music Coaching. This business focuses on teaching independent musicians a very specific 4 step process that allows them to generate consistent placements of their songs in TV Shows, Films and Commercials. There is an overwhelm of online courses and ‘experts’ who teach this same topic. We wanted to shake things up and disrupt this sector of the online education space, so we pride ourselves on laying out a very specific success path for our students and members. Additionally, we’re on a mission to recognize 1000 musicians with the Sync Titan Award – the first award in this industry that recognizes independent musicians who reach specific milestones in their music licensing career.
Our strategic partnerships and clients allow us to provide TV, Film and Commercial placement opportunities for our members’ songs, where we are averaging over $1million a month in these opportunities for our students.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Ironically, my best friend came to visit a few months back… and we kept it pretty simple. Being fairly new to FL, I don’t have any favorite places yet. However, we did spend a considerable amount of time at the beach. Time not spent at the beach was spent trying out various Mexican restaurants, and driving my ’68 GTO along the coast. My wife and I moved here for the beach lifestyle, and have spent the majority of our free time and energy renovating our house. Give us another year, and we should have a pretty good handle on all the cool places to visit…

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
At various stages of my career I’ve had amazing mentors. Early on, those mentors were audio engineers and music producers, who took me under their wing and shared their technical knowledge with me. Those individuals include John Jaszcz, Randy Poole, and Alan Litten. However, the most life-altering mentor that I’ve had is author Bill O’Hanlon. We connected shortly after I had read Simon Sinek’s book “Start with Why.” Between Bill’s personal mentorship, and the perspective shift that Start with Why gave me, that was a phase in my life where everything in my career kicked into high gear.

Website: www.elitemusiccoaching.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elitemusiccoaching/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@EliteMusicCoaching