Hearing your music everywhere on TV? Daan Jansen shows how it can be done

Hart van Nederland, Koffietijd, Een Vandaag - these are all Dutch TV programmes in which you have probably heard Daan's work pass by unnoticed once. ‘The first time that happened, I can still clearly remember,’ Daan says. ‘Very naively, I had informed everyone. My parents, my grandparents; the whole family was in the starting blocks waiting for my debut. Afterwards, they called me: ‘Was it this piece or the other one after all?’ Haha, it was short and it went so fast. ‘That's when I realised again that I am also often working on small, unimportant things that most people don't even notice, let alone know that there is a company behind it that makes it.’

Strong work ethic

He loves his job. The fast-paced world, the hard deadlines; Daan is fine with it. ‘Many students studying MediaMusic dream of becoming film composers. Logical. However, I know someone who does that, which means I know you spend at least six months working on a film. That's super cool, of course, but I prefer a quick run-through. OK, what do you need? Then I'll send you something tomorrow. Within two weeks, such a project is then complete.’ He once entered KH Music as an intern and can call himself co-owner ten years later. ‘During my courses, I was already offered a job here, so I was lucky,’ says Daan.’

He does stress that his career did not come to him by chance. ‘I think I owe where I am today partly to my strong work ethic and the fact that I showed a lot of initiative. I arranged my internship myself and that's why I moved from Enschede to Utrecht. I did more things like that to create opportunities. I thought: I have to do something for it, because it doesn't happen automatically.’

Los Angeles

Really wanting it is the most important thing, according to Daan. ‘If there is a deadline, we feel free to pull an all-nighter. In this industry, you do need that kind of winner's mentality. You can't say, ‘I'm sick, can we postpone things for a week?’ Although film composition is a big dream for many students, earning a living from it full-time often proves challenging for most. Daan: ‘The chance to go to Los Angeles and break through there is not for everyone. Looking at my former classmates, I see that they actually achieve a lot of success with music for video games, commercials and trailers.’

Skills and technology

Daan believes it is important to stress the importance of a good internship. ‘That makes such a difference,’ he says. ‘That can really help you end up in the right place later on.’ Besides running his own business, he also occasionally teaches classes at ArtEZ as a guest lecturer. There, too, he tries to convince students to start looking for an internship in time. ‘Don't put it off and don't settle for option two or three, that's my advice. Internships are the most important thing, you can gain so much from that. Sure, you need a degree, but your skills and technique are actually even more important. And you develop those at ArtEZ and in practice.’

You spend four years doing music full-time, and that's really necessary"

If you ask him why it is so important to take a course, Daan says it is mainly because you immerse yourself in music for four years. ‘At the ArtEZ Conservatoire in Enschede, I met so many people who make music, which is very valuable anyway. You also can't think there: ‘This week I don't feel like it for a while’. For four years you're working full-time on music, and that's really necessary if you pursue a serious career.’

Recognition

Looking at his own career, Daan still has some dreams to fulfil. However, he can already cross one of them off his list: winning a BUMA Award. ‘I've won that one five times,’ he says proudly. ‘Yes, that really is the icing on the cake. It's a bit like the Grammys of the Netherlands after all.’ Besides valuable PR for his company, it also gave him great personal satisfaction. ‘When I was just starting out in this industry, my family members still had their doubts at times. What is this going to be? This award, and the fact that my head was projected on the back wall of Nieuwsuur, made it clear that it worked after all.’

What other dreams does he have? Daan: ‘The work I do here, I do control. But something like the NOS News would be fantastic, of course.’ Whether he will continue doing this for the rest of his life, he does not yet know. ‘Something could just happen that makes the work a bit less. Maybe then I will do something completely different and become a conductor. In any case, I will remain active in music.’