Today we’d like to introduce you to Tammy Ari.
Hi Tammy, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Prior to founding Veirtu (veirtu.com), I spent 16+ years of my career immersed in the Corporate world in Australia, working as a brand, innovation, and insights strategist. I loved my years in Corporate as it really enabled me to tap into not just my analytical and business side but also the creative facet of who I am. I was grateful to conceptualize and launch several award-winning brands and products across luxury, consumer goods, retail, and tech (Disney, MasterChef x Coles, Penfolds, Georg Jensen x Heemskerk +). In my most recent role with one of the largest beverage companies in the world, Treasury Wine Estates, I was responsible for the Global Innovation Strategy of 70+ brands. It was fun.
In tandem, I have also worked as a music composer for film, television, and advertising. I absolutely loved that I had this other outlet that I could sink my teeth into. Music has always been such a huge part of my life, and the language that I first learned where I was introduced to the piano by my grandmother at the age of three (you can learn more here – tammyari.com). So it was always natural for music to be a huge element within my daily life.
However, as you mature as an adult and take on more responsibilities, having a full-time corporate career, plus trying to compose on my weekdays and weekends was really not sustainable! I also felt that I wasn’t able to give 100% to each of these spaces, particularly my music composing work.
So in 2018, I made a big decision to leave a Corporate career that I loved and started doing freelance marketing work while exploring the opportunity to work as a composer in Los Angeles (where the hub of music for film and TV lives). I remember prior to me scoping out my first business trip to LA, I sent my showreel to over 80 established Composers and production houses, and I got four replies. However, those four replies were pretty exciting to me, and I will never ever forget those Composers who generously lended their time to have a coffee with me and to explain how things work in the biz over here. One thing led to another, and I was offered a mentorship program, working under the award-winning Composer Michael A Levine (who is one of Hans Zimmer’s proteges). It was the best learning experience, and Michael was so generous in connecting me with the music-composing community in LA.
Once completing my mentorship program, I was able to build a client base across both composing and marketing, working in a freelance capacity under my agent at the time.
However, I always had a longer-term ambition in me to build a work world for myself, where both marketing and composing could co-exist, where I could also take the wheel in terms of building a vision and an operating model for how I would like to navigate both industries. Also, from a more practical point of view, I was keen to personally build my client base have more financial control and autonomy to choose projects that I took on.
Therefore, I started Veirtu, a Creative House with two rooms: Marketing Innovation and Music Production.
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?
Prior to starting Veirtu, when I was working as a freelancer under my agent, the road was definitely not smooth. I actually officially relocated to Los Angeles in September 2019, just six months before the pandemic, when the world shut down.
As many of us experienced during that period, I definitely saw a drop in demand for music composition work. However, I was still so excited by the opportunity to be in LA that I found other ways to keep building on what I had established. I ended up pivoting and taking on more marketing work and used the other time to really hone in on my composition techniques and have Zoom calls with other composers to stay connected. It was a great time to watch many tutorials, read books, and expand my knowledge. I truly believe it’s important to be constantly growing, so while I look back at that period of time as being a bump in the road, I’m incredibly thankful that I was made to stop and spend time in that learning space. And it was not just about growing from a career point of view; I was able to do lots of PERSONAL work as well.
I believe all of that growth work has really influenced where I am today.
We’ve been impressed with Veirtu LLC, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Veirtu is a creative house with two rooms: marketing innovation & music production.
We connect virtuosos to create better: new interactions, sounds, and solutions that ultimately enhance the human experience.
MARKETING INNOVATION
On the Marketing Innovation side, we actually focus on doing work for start-ups, small businesses or established businesses that have an incubator arm. We found that there were not a lot of marketing agencies that really focused on these types of businesses and their specific needs. Most of these businesses don’t have the budget to hire a full-time Marketing Manager and also need the ability to flex their marketing budget from month to month. So we offer that flexibility where we can work on a project/ task/ outcome basis rather than a retainer (with a catch-all offering). Furthermore, we find that a lot of startups focus on building an incredible product, but the marketing launch plan behind it is an afterthought. This is why 14% of new ventures fail (Shakuro).
On the MARKETING INNOVATION side, our services include:
– BRAND MARKETING: Brand Strategy & Visual Identity Development, Marketing Strategy & Content Development Across All Channels, CRM Management & Marketing Automation, Website Development & Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
– PRODUCT INNOVATION: Concept Ideation, Concept Development, Concept Testing (Research), Product Development & Supply Chain Consulting.
– MARKET INTELLIGENCE: Research Design, Qualitative & Quantitative Research, Insights & Analytics, Whitepaper & Research Report Development.
MUSIC PRODUCTION:
On the music production side of the house, Veirtu leverages its in-house talent as well as our vast network of music collaborators to bring compositions, productions, and songs to underscore and elevate your visual media content.
In the past, our team have collaborated on projects with leading Film & Television Composers, Producers, and Songwriters from across the globe, such as Jacob Collier, Kris Bowers, Alex Isley, Pedro Eustache, Justin Kauflin, John DeFaria, Gary Pinto, Phil Barton, Pru Montin, to name a few.
We’ve also collaborated with other like-minded production houses like Quincy Jones Productions, the DA’s Office, and Hyperballad on bespoke projects.
Our MUSIC PRODUCTION services include:
– COMPOSITION: Music Composition & Orchestration, Music Editing & Supervision, Project Management.
– PRODUCTION: Concept Development, Music Arrangement, Music Recording.
– SONGWRITING: Concept Development, Collaborative Workshops, Demo Production
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
When starting a business in general, you can never be over-planned. Think about your 5-year vision and then work backward, breaking it down into monthly and yearly milestones. Then think about the daily steps that will help you reach those monthly milestones. I know it’s not anything groundbreaking, but it’s so simple and effective!
Don’t just have coffee with people to get to work!! So much of the joy of living and working in LA has been meeting great people across the industries I work in and feeling like I can also help others with their process of building a career here. Just being kind really goes a long way. I can’t tell you how many coffees I’ve had where I genuinely just wanted to ‘catch up’ and meet a person. Then months later, they randomly asked me to work on a project.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.veirtu.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/veirtu/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/veirtu-creative-house
