Cliff Goldmacher is the owner of two successful studios, an accomplished songwriter, session musician and a regular contributor to EQ Magazine and Pro Sound News. He can be reached at cliff@cliffgoldmacher.com.
So you’ve written a great song, made a fabulous demo and now
you’ll live happily ever after, right?
Well, kind of… This article
is the official “chapter after” you’ve written and recorded your song. There’s no doubt that being a great
songwriter and having beautifully recorded versions of your songs is an
admirable goal in and of itself.
However, if you’re interested in having your songs see the light of day
then your work is really just beginning.
While organizations like Tunecore do a beautiful job of helping you get
your music out in the world, it’s still entirely up to you to make sure your
songs get in the right music industry hands. Until the people who can actually do something with your
song (i.e. record labels, producers, managers and publishers) have heard it, it
might as well not exist. I know
this sounds obvious but I think you’d be amazed at the number of songwriters
out there who have great song demos that very few, if any, music business
people have ever heard. Creating
the music is one thing but getting your music out in the world requires an
entirely different set of skills.
The skills I’m going to focus on are networking, professionalism,
persistence, persistence (yes, I know I wrote it twice…) courtesy and patience.
Networking
Like any business, it’s not only “what” you know but “who”
you know that gets you ahead. What
this means in the music world is getting yourself out there to open mics,
writer’s nights and any industry events you can find. For those of you in music cities like New York, Nashville
and Los Angeles there are an almost endless stream of opportunities. For everyone else, you might have to look
a little harder or travel from time to time to one of the cities I just
mentioned. I think it’s a
universal truth that this kind of stuff isn’t always that much fun but
especially when you’re starting out, it’s essential. Let’s put it this way, all things being equal, if you’ve met
someone from a record label or publishing company in a social setting and
assuming you’ve had a nice exchange, there’s a much greater likelihood that
they’ll not only remember you when you call but will make more of an effort to
help you out if they can. The
point is that the more you’re out there, the more people you’ll meet and the
greater the chance it will pay dividends down the road. I’d also recommend remembering a few
basic social skills while you’re at it like not immediately launching into your
10-minute, spoken-word bio when you meet someone. It’s a much better idea to find out a little something about
the person you’re talking to by remembering to ask a few questions as
well.
Professionalism
Did I mention we’re talking about the music business? This
means it’s in your best interest to be professional about how you approach
people in the industry. When
reaching out to someone in the music industry, call or email first. Make this first contact short and to the
point. In other words, let them
know why you’re calling/emailing (i.e. to schedule a meeting, to see if they’re
accepting CD’s, to ask whether you can submit an mp3, etc.). This is not the time to have a long
discussion. If you’ve been
referred by someone they know (see “networking” above) mention this as well.
Also, while it’s great to be excited and even confident about your material, it
rarely pays to tell someone that you’ve got a “great” song or you’re an
“amazing” songwriter. Let your
music speak for itself. Once
you’ve gotten approval to do so, then submit your song or bring it to the
meeting. It really doesn’t make
sense to send out CD’s or mp3’s without first getting approval as they usually
end up at the bottom of a pile or even worse, the person who hasn’t asked for
it considers it an intrusion. Don’t kill the messenger here, I’m simply saying
that the odds are that if someone isn’t expecting your material, there’s a good
chance it won’t get heard.
By the way, if you’ve never seen the office of an A&R
rep or music publisher, I’m here to tell you that it’s wall-to-wall CD’s. We’re talking hundreds and hundreds if
not thousands of them. Make sure
that your CD is clearly labeled with a few simple elements: Your name and
contact information (phone and email), the name of the song or songs and
possibly – if it’s a song for an artist – the name of the person you’re
pitching it to. Also, make certain that every part of the package is
labeled. This means put your
information on the CD and on the CD sleeve or jewel case. Make sure that if the CD itself gets
separated from the case, the information is the CD, too. Also, if you’re using a jewel case,
make sure there’s information on the spine. Remember the part where I said there are thousands of CD’s
in these folks’ offices? When your
CD ends up on a shelf with all the others, the spine of the CD will be the only
way for them to identify it.
Finally, I can think of no good reason why any submission
should be more than three songs.
If you’re pitching a song to an artist, they’re not hoping for a “bonus
track.” If you’re pitching to a
publisher, three songs is a good way to show them you’ve got more than one good
song without overdoing it. If they
want more, believe me, they’ll ask.
It all comes down to putting yourself in the position of the industry
person. If they’ve got a desk full
of CD’s to listen to and have to choose between a CD with two songs on it or
one with nineteen songs, which one do you think they’ll pick?
Persistence…Persistence
Let’s say you’re fortunate enough to reach someone by either
phone or email and they’ve agreed to let you mail in a CD or email them an
mp3. Here’s what you should
expect. Nothing. In other words,
it’s extremely rare that you’ll hear anything back quickly after you submit
it. (See “thousands of CD’s”
above…). As a matter of fact, you
should put in your calendar to follow up two or three weeks after you’ve submitted
something. This follow up should
be even shorter than your initial contact. Email is probably best for this. A simple email saying you wanted to make sure they’d
received your submission is enough.
Also, don’t be surprised if the response you get back (if you’re lucky
enough to get one) says they haven’t gotten it and would you mind resending
it. (See “persistence…persistence”
in the above heading.) Resending
material is something that you should expect to do. Following up every two to three weeks (unless you’re asked
not to) is perfectly acceptable if you’re polite and to the point. I’m not a cynic and I don’t believe
that anyone has an agenda to ignore submitted material. I’m a realist and the sheer number of
submissions makes it almost impossible for anyone to stay on top of
things. Anything you can do to
help remind someone is in your best interest and generally appreciated.
Courtesy
I think it’s important to realize that no one in the
industry owes you anything. This
may sound harsh but it’s an important point. You may very well have great songs and it would be in the best
interest of the industry professional you’re pursuing to listen to them, but
there are a lot of great songs out there and only a limited number of
opportunities for them. All this
to say, if your song isn’t listened to right away or even if it’s lost or
ignored, don’t take it personally. I’m a
songwriter
myself so I know exactly how important your songs are to you. It’s not easy to submit them for
judgment and tougher still to wait around hoping someone will actually listen.
However, you’ll only do yourself a disservice by being rude or impatient with
someone and heaven help you if you get a reputation in the industry for being
difficult or unpleasant.
Patience
Given that there are so many artists, songwriters and songs
out there vying for a limited number of spots, it all comes down to
patience. Patience with yourself
as you improve your musical skills and patience with the industry people you’re
soliciting as they make their way through all of the material in line ahead of
you. My recommendation is to have
as many irons in the fire as you possibly can at all times so that you’re not
waiting for any one thing to happen or not to happen as is so often the case. The more people you get to know, the more opportunities you
explore and the more submissions you make, the less likely you are to get
discouraged and the more likely you are to start having success. Good luck!
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