Exaggerating Your Portfolio

When being new in the field of writing music for media and not having a lot of references and jobs that you have done, trying to get a gig that pays well and/or will have a higher impact on your career is always tricky and also not very depending on your technical/musical abilities. Also, trying to wave around with a degree in music or composition will not get you any further or impress anybody, as in this business the only thing that counts is what you have done so far.

However, lying about your references or bloating them up to a much bigger thing than they really are, is a very bad strategy. Usually it feels way more authentic for a client, if you approach them in a way like “Hey, I don’t have that many references, but I’m extremely motivated and will put my heart and soul into your project” than boasting about references that are actually marginal or that you have made up and everybody who knows how to use Google will instantly find out about that.