We’re looking forward to introducing you to Ron Wasserman. Check out our conversation below.
Ron, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What’s more important to you—intelligence, energy, or integrity?
Integrity is number one. The simple things. Being on time. Obviously being honest. It’s becoming a rare occurrence these days. Those who keep a high level of integrity will go farther in life.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hello! My name is Ron Wasserman. I am a music composer for television. I started back in 1992 when I wrote the theme for the X-Men. Then Power Rangers, and my career has pretty much been on fire ever since then. Today I’ve scored fully or partially over 5,000 episodes of television.
In the late 1990s, my band Fisher was the first group signed due to Internet success. Universal Music did a deal with us, and although we didn’t become a household name, we made a huge impression which continues to this day.
Personally, I don’t take my career as anything more than a gift and my day job. No ego, no attitude, just hard work and dedication to any project. I’m involved with.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I admit I did not have extreme focus in my late teens and early 20s. I wasn’t sure what I was going to end up doing in life. I was very much into photography, but others were much better than me, so I thought it would be fun to join a few bands and see if I could maybe become a big rockstar. Ha! I learned a lot playing clubs around Los Angeles. All the different personalities involved. Those who just had that special gift that went on to do great things and others that just wanted fame so badly but their egos got in the way. It could not have been better preparation for what was to come in my life professionally.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
I would say the 1980s when I was so close to being homeless. I would go to the grocery store and eat while appearing to shop and then sneak out. There was a market I lived by that threw away fairly fresh food, and I would go to their dumpster at night and grab a few things.. I had no real prospects. I was not going to go to my family for help. That time of my life lives in my soul . No matter how much success I’ve achieved, I always keep one foot in the gutter. I always think about it when I see somebody going through the same thing I once did. Suffering underlined my understanding of being empathetic. Success has enabled me to help a few people out to achieve balance in my life.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What important truth do very few people agree with you on?
Lately I’ve had several discussions with Music Supervisor songwriters, etc. about where I feel AI is going. I believe it will destroy songwriters careers. It’s already well on its way with that. Eventually, it will have the ability to create scores to picture. This of course will slowly put composers out of work. To my surprise, almost everybody disagrees with me. But that also happened when I was signed to universal music and they asked me when I thought the future of the music business was. It was very clear to me that we were headed towards the world of $.99 singles which people would purchase digitally. (I knew nothing about streaming back then.) Doug Morris, head of universal music said “that will never happen” as did the other record company heads I spoke to. I’m not claiming to always be right. I simply think I leave myself open to reality. When I look back at my career, I’ve always gently stepped off the sinking ship right before it went under with many production companies.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
I started playing piano when I was three. Started writing when I was five. I never slept with stuffed animals. I slept with 45 RPM records. I was born to do this. It’s been a great gift. I consider myself a receiver. The ideas just arrive in my head. The labor intensive part is simply making the compositions sound exactly like I hear them in my brain.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ronw.com
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