Hosted by Liam Thomas, My Score Lead at J.W. Pepper
On September 23, 2025, J.W. Pepper’s My Score team welcomed composer Alex Shapiro for a candid interview on the realities of building a career in composition. From orchestration and publishing to authenticity and advocacy, Alex shared hard-earned wisdom from decades in the industry. This interview was conducted over the phone; here is a transcript of Alex’s insights into the business of composing music.
Q: How did your compositional journey begin?
Alex Shapiro: I was lucky. I grew up in New York City, in Manhattan, and I was a kid who loved the arts from the get-go. I went to three top conservatories in the city, and was just really fortunate to avail myself of everything in the city starting out. I think we all know we’re composers the minute we internalize how much we love music and that we can’t imagine doing anything else.
I was doing film and TV music, low-budget stuff, for 15 years… and then the world changed. The concert music scene became far more diverse, far broader stylistically than what it had been when I was growing up, so I took advantage of that. I changed my career in my late 30s and decided I wanted to become a concert music composer—and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since.
Q: What were some turning points in your career?
A: It’s individuals that we cross paths with—teachers, friends, whoever—who might say something positive to you, maybe even in passing, that makes a huge impact. In my case, that happened a handful of times, always at pivotal moments. But most of all, the validation from ourselves is what’s important.
You have to be brutally honest with yourself and make sure that you know that you’re doing what you really, really love to do. Because if you love to do it, folks, you’re going to be great at it because you can’t wait to get up every day and get back at it and keep doing it. It’s hard work.
Q: What’s your advice for composers trying to build a career today?
A: There is absolutely no one way or a particularly right way to create a career in the arts. You have to be honest with yourself… the career path for one composer isn’t necessarily going to work for the next. But that being said, we share lots of information, lots of ideas, and certainly a lot of business information—because the more informed all of us are, the better for each one of us and the better for the arts in general.
You may think you’re in the music-making business, but I always say this—we’re in the relationship-building business. So much of what we’re going to be talking about has to do with relationships when we talk about how to establish ourselves and how to get our work out there.
Q: What’s your take on competitions?
A: In my opinion, one of the worst ways to try to launch a career is through competitions—particularly competitions that charge an application fee. It is so much more effective for you to save up money—and use that money to attend a conference of the kind of musicians you actually want to write for. Competitions are, by and large, very, very anonymous.
I’m not saying every competition is awful or that it’s not valuable to some people to win them. But I can just tell you firsthand—it is certainly not necessary. And if they’re charging a fee, it’s very suspect. Many of them are. There are so many other things you can do that will put your best foot forward.
Q: How did you get into writing for wind band?
A: Way back in the day in 2007, there was this thing called MySpace. A composer I had never met, Anne McGinty, listed me as a top friend. The commander for the U.S. Army TRADOC Band saw me on her page, clicked on my face, listened to some stuff, and wrote me asking if I’d be interested in a commission. I told him I had no idea what I was doing, but I’d love to do it. And he said, “That’s why we want you—because we know you’re going to do something different.”
Take the risks, even if it’s out of your comfort zone. I had never even been to a wind band concert. I just said, “OK, what’s the worst that can happen?” No one’s going to die—I’m just going to write a bad piece, maybe. Fortunately, it wasn’t that bad. And I realized how much I loved large ensemble writing. That was it—I was hooked.
Q: What’s your advice for writing educational music?
A: Write for those students with the same intent and seriousness that you would write for the New York Philharmonic. There is no reason that just because somebody only has, let’s say, four and a half good notes, it doesn’t mean you can’t write really creative and compelling stuff for them. Don’t call it educational music—just call it music for people who only have five good notes.
I feel that too many composers don’t take enough risks or use the full palette of what they can do as artists. I’ve written Grade .5 and Grade 1 pieces that use extended techniques, mixed meters, and electronics. There’s nothing a beginner player can’t do as long as you’re not asking them to play out of range.
Q: How can composers stay authentic while still being marketable?
A: Don’t try to be anybody else, no matter how much you admire someone else’s music. Be yourself, because everybody else is taken. I wrote some pretty weird wind band pieces early on that somehow people wanted to hear—and they sold. One of them, everybody’s playing paper as a percussion instrument and it has an electronic track. There’s a market for that.
Q: What are your thoughts on orchestration and learning instruments?
A: The best resource is everybody’s own ears. Listen live whenever possible. Have players over to your house, get them a pizza and a beer, and say, “Hey, would you show me how the contrabassoon works?” That’s what I did. That’s how I learned the tuba, the contrabassoon, the organ…
Q: What’s the role of electronics in your music?
A: For me, the electronic or audio section of a work is its own separate and equal section of the ensemble. I’m programming sounds that can give me textures and ideas that I’m not going to get from actual live instruments. It’s just like another section in the band—you’ve got brass, strings, woodwinds, and audio.
I use a lot of digital audio—sounds I program from the ground up. Not all of my work, but a lot of it. And I get great pleasure from that. It complements the live instruments and expands the sonic possibilities.
Q: What should composers know about ASCAP and PROs?
A: Join as both a composer and a publisher. Register every single work in your catalog. Make sure that every performance you know about, you let the PRO know about. ASCAP’s operating expenses are incredibly low—about 10%. 90% of that money goes right back out to the creators and copyright holders.
PROs are essentially collection agencies for us. There’s no way for us to collect money for this many performances ourselves. They also host events and workshops that connect you to a network of your peers. And please—embed metadata in every audio file and score. Composer hygiene!
Q: What’s your advice for My Score composers?
A: Take yourself seriously as publishers. To publish means to make public… Opportunity favors the prepared. You have to have a lot of ducks in a row to promote your work. That means good layout, page turns, metadata, a website, prompt order fulfillment, email responses, social media updates…
Just because you’re a wonderful composer doesn’t mean you necessarily love “doing the business.” If that’s the case, having a publisher, assistant, or manager can be really helpful. But if you’re doing it yourself, be ready to wear all the hats—and do it well.
Q: Final thoughts?
A: Every one of you is worth a lot as a composer, as an art maker. If your music matters to you, it matters. Don’t feel like you’re in competition… Surround yourself with good people. Your vision and what you hear in your head is worth a great deal—and it only makes this world better.
At a time that is so dark in so many ways, we as artists have a lot of power. We can message, we can raise awareness, and we can uplift. We can shine some light onto a rather dark time. So I just want to encourage everybody—believe in your own vision.
