Today we’d like to introduce you to Evan Foley.
Hi Evan, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I come from a family that is very artistically gifted. Growing up, there was always a piano ringing throughout the halls, coloring books strewn across the kitchen table, and lego sculptures crowding the bookshelves. Needless to say, it was encouraged to be creative in my house, and this is probably the main reason I ended up where I am today.
Originally from Louisville, Kentucky, I was enthusiastic about music in school. I was in my high school’s string orchestra as a viola player and had played piano from a young age, but I had never really considered music as a career avenue. When I arrived at Georgetown University to pursue my undergraduate degree, I had absolutely no clue what I wanted to do with my life. Two years later, I had yet to declare my major. As the deadline for me to do so approached, I realized the only classes I had taken that I felt truly passionate about had been music related, and I became one of four total “music majors” in my class of about 1,800 students. While recognizing my passion was certainly important, I still had to figure out a viable career path in the field of music, something that is notoriously difficult and daunting. Through the help of my family and some incredible mentors, a few years later I was in New York studying music composition for film and television at NYU.
Once I was introduced to the world of film and television music, I fell in love with its storytelling aspect. I knew from then on that this was the type of art to which I wanted to devote myself, and that’s how I ended up in Los Angeles.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I consider myself incredibly fortunate to be working in the industry I love, and I’ll never take it for granted. The biggest struggle for me was and still is, self-doubt. This has manifested in a few different ways throughout my so-called “journey”. I first struggled with the overall idea of fully pursuing a career in music. In other words, pursuing music not as a side gig or hobby but as the primary way in which I would support myself. It was difficult, at times, dealing with the uncertainty of the future since I had previously always had a very clear path ahead growing up. One of my former mentors had a saying that always stuck with me: “There is no yellow brick road in this field, so don’t try to follow it”. This concept was so foreign to me at the time that I struggled with that self-doubt for a while. There weren’t traditional job interviews, potential employers didn’t care about how good your grades were, and there was essentially no good place to look for jobs in this very niche field of film and television music.
I also struggled with the idea that I belong and/or deserve to be here. I have always been musical, but I didn’t go to a conservatory and I was by no means a virtuoso growing up. I decided relatively later on that I wanted to go this particular route, but many others dream and work towards it from day one.
I am still working on my relationship with my path into the industry and how I view myself, but I feel I’ve gotten much better at trying to not dwell on comparisons to others and appreciating my individual journey.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a composer for multimedia, meaning I write music that underscores film, television, video games, advertisements or any other type of medium that involves an image or story. I work primarily as an assistant for film and television composer Sherri Chung in Los Angeles (composer for CW’s Riverdale, Kung Fu). My work with Sherri has taught me so much already after just one year of working for her, including how much dedication and devotion it takes to compose music for multiple television and film projects.
In addition to my work for Sherri, I also have my own creative projects, including scoring my own short films and songwriting/production. I am also a co-founder of a music production company called The Brew Canoe which produces original soundtracks for live streamers on platforms such as Twitch or YouTube.
Starting The Brew Canoe with two of my friends and former classmates is something I’m proud of because I never saw myself running a company. It has taught me many valuable lessons about not only my industry but also the practices that accompany founding a business which are completely unrelated to music. Learning a whole new skillset unexpectedly, which I’m still in the process of, has been a highly rewarding experience for me.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
The industry of music for multimedia is constantly shifting and is, in my opinion, one of the most evolving and everchanging professions to exist. Right now, a major issue in our field is the structure and payment of royalties, which are backend licensing payments to copyright owners that have allowed musicians to survive off their work for decades. As the mediums in which the world consumes entertainment content have shifted to streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, and many others, the music industry is seeing a stark contrast in royalty payouts from these services compared to the lucrative payouts of network television. Streaming services are providing, however, more opportunities for composers since there is so much content being generated.
Over the next 5-10 years, it will be critical for our industry to properly adapt to a saturated market of content with relatively minimal backend financial opportunity (at present).
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Image Credits:
Michelangelo Rodriguez
