Today we’d like to introduce you to Shakeh Herbekian.
Hi Shakeh, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I have always written songs in my head since I can remember. After graduating from Scripps College in Claremont, I spent many years as an independent artist on the road. I was most active through the 90s and early 2000’s traveling between San Diego and Seattle. I did over 50 Borders Books and Music Stores, many colleges, Festivals, Record stores, coffee houses, Churches, and various venues.
In 2020 when Covid hit, I had just come off of a really toxic 5 years working with someone who totally screwed me over and was ready to quit music altogether. Then I took a class from Michele Vice Maslin that changed my life. I realized I could enter the Sync Music world so I retooled to concentrate mainly on writing Christmas/Holiday songs and at this point have over 25 films that I have my songs in. I also have done songs for movies that were not holiday songs including one called “For Your Love” for the time period piece, “Frankenstein:Legacy” that I’m very proud of.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
HA HA!!! Smooth…..hardly…..I put out 6 independent releases. Some on cassette some on CDs. While I was playing out a lot, I never got a record contract or solid financial support so it’s always been doing side jobs and juggling finances. Later on, the five years I spent working with someone when I thought I was building a catalogue and future for myself blew up in my face because I did not know enough about the business side of things and spent tens of thousands of dollars only to be left with nothing.
When my money ran out, I found that the person I had put in so much time and energy with had no loyalty and just bailed on me. Starting in October of 2020, I began this latest chapter in my journey. I mainly do cold calls on projects I research and 98% of the placements I’ve gotten have all been because of my own efforts. It’s a lot more difficult than I had thought it would be, but ultimately very rewarding to see the songs in the projects and how they enhance the scenes.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I do one stop licensing of my original songs, mainly the Christmas/Holiday ones. I also do custom songs for individual projects which is my favorite thing to do. For the Christmas songs, I do all the writing and mainly hire singers, produce with David Vasquez of Moonlight Studios and was happy this past year to win 2 awards at the Holiday Music And Film Awards for best song in film category. Getting those awards really made me feel good as does seeing my songs in these movies on TV or even on the big screen for “A Heart For Christmas” this past year.
As for what sets me apart from other people, I think anyone who knows me will say that my dedication, hard work and tenacity have kept me going. This is a really tough business and it’s getting more and more difficult to make any money at it as well. But I love what I do and I believe in my songs and I also
know that no one will be more vigilant about getting them out there than me.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was a tomboy and always one of the top academic achievers in my little piece of the Coachella Valley.
I was ASB president in High School and the only girl on the boys swim team for several years. I excelled at competitive speech tournaments and didn’t really do so well with boys! I took guitar in High School and that resonated more with me than the years of piano lessons so I started doing more writing with that and gradually built up my song list and decided to go for it. I have always valued my friendships and love to travel on road trips or abroad.
Pricing:
- I license my original songs and generally get $500-$1000 for both sides of a song
- I will do consulting on how I get my leads for $100 an hour
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.shakeh.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shakehherbekian/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shakeh.herbekian
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shakeh-herbekian-2b609ab/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVkO2EZ_SqrZamsWOHpZMtA
- Other: https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm11777467/credits
