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Gift-giving season is upon us.
Looking for something that truly lasts a lifetime? Norfolk native and high school Spanish teacher Roberta Halmond-Waters has a solution.
This month, the teacher and musician launched her own business. Called Made to Order Music, Halmond-Waters — who publishes her music under the moniker Roberta Lea — and a small team of local musicians, including folk artist Jim Bulleit, singer Lyrik and producer Calvin Merazh, write original songs for customers looking to celebrate life’s biggest milestones and holidays.
“People are always looking for that something special to give their loves ones,” Halmond-Waters said. We’re here to help those people tell their stories, whatever it may be. Stories of life, love and legacy.”
The process is straightforward, she said, and there are different packages to fit a variety of budgets, ranging from a 30-second jingle ($50) to the production plus treatment ($575), which includes a fully customized, multi-track song, custom album art, a physical CD and mp3 download and a webpage with lyrics.
After you make your selection, you’ll talk with the artists tasked to work on your custom song about what you’d like it to be about and sound like.
She’s been writing and recording songs since she was a teenager and has many on streaming services. But unless you’re a relatively popular musician, there’s no money in streaming, she said.
“It starts to feel like, for so many artists, that you’re creating this music and never really getting a return off of it,” she said.
That’s when Halmond-Waters, now 34, thought to put a new spin on her talent and start taking commissions.
She wrote her first custom tune to help a local couple celebrate Valentine’s Day this February. After that, a mother asked for a timeless song to celebrate her daughter’s fifth birthday, since the ongoing coronavirus pandemic meant a party was out of the question.
“That song made her birthday a real celebration at a time when they couldn’t really do anything,” she said.
Halmond-Waters said her idea quickly proved to be profitable. She’s already made more money working on custom songs than she ever received from streaming revenues.
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Made-to-order music has also turned out to be just as heartwarming for her as it is for her clients.
“It’s been a revelation, because not only do I get to do what I love, songwriting, but I have the chance to add value to someone’s life on a whole different level that few people get to experience,” she said.
Her success, she said, also goes to show that you don’t have to be a 20-something starving artist living in a major city to find your place in the music industry. It’s also a chance for musicians, herself included, to take a little bit of control back and earn a living from their art on their own terms.
Music is one of the most consumed things in the world, she said, and there’s room at the table for anyone who wants to pull up a seat, even if the industry at large doesn’t see it that way.
Want a song of your own? Halmond-Waters said, ideally, it’s best to reach out about a month before whatever you’re celebrating to get started by submitting an order form on their website at mtomusic.com/order. Her team will take it from there and encapsulate your story in song for you to share.
“And the beautiful part? As long as someone is alive to sing it, that song will live forever.”
Amy Poulter, 757-446-2705, amy.poulter@pilotonline.com