Get Your Music Ready for the Holidays! by Jake Smith

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Jake Smith is a TuneCore Customer Support representative and editor of the weekly newsletter

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I'll come right out and say it - I love Christmas music.  People like me are the reason soft rock radio stations play "Santa Clause is Coming to Town" October 31st through New Years Day.  Yet, in my adoration of these songs there lies jealous anger.  All around the world, radio stations have "All I Want For Christmas" and "Baby Please Come Home" on rotation 10-20 times a day for 2 straight months, EVERY YEAR.  Add in direct sales, TV and movie placements, features on compilations, and royalties from cover versions and we're talking some serious cash.  It's hard to imagine why the songwriters behind these classics would do anything but swim in their coins like Scrooge McDuck.

What's to keep us from using our talents to cash in on the Holidays?

It may seem a bit strange to discuss Christmas songs in August, but I mention it for a few reasons.

• I just read an article from Billboard News confirming that Bob Dylan will release his first ever Christmas album this October to raise money for     Feeding America.  If Bob Dylan was able to get himself in a Christmas state of mind while recording in hot summer months, so can you!
• Writing, producing, mixing, mastering, uploading and delivering a track can take time so you should always think ahead.
• Holiday songs are not limited to Christmas - patriotic song sales spike around the Fourth of July, spooky songs get a big boost around     Halloween, and tunes about poultry and mashed potatoes go through the roof on Thanksgiving (that may not be true... but you never know).

I am no expert on this issue (I did do an independent study on Christmas music in college... just sayin'), but these are some things you may want to think about if you plan to release holiday music into the world.

    1. Mix covers and originals.  You'll often see holiday records where established artists will perform standards but also include one or two songs they wrote themselves.  I'll listen to anybody's version of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" at least once - This might lead me the other songs on their album, which might lead me to other non-holiday songs they've released.

    2. If you plan to write an original holiday song, spend some time studying the ones that have stood the test of time.  You may notice certain chord changes, riffs, or key phrases that pop up in a number of holiday tunes.

    3. Look for a fresh angle.  Understanding what makes other songs popular does not mean you need to rip them off do what's been done 1,000 times before.  Maybe you should try the exact opposite.  Flip a classic on its head with a unique instrumentation, write an album of Hanukkah Hip-Hop songs, combine different holidays within a single EP or a single track, whatever!  Hit people with something they've never heard before and you could end up tapping a market no one has before.

Who of you out there already has holiday tunes online?  Do any of you plan on writing or covering a holiday song this year?  Does anyone think they have a unique approach to holiday music, the likes of which the world has never seen?  Share your thoughts here on the TuneCore blog.

Comments

[www.myspace.com/jackieogrady]

Hi Jake & everybody. I wrote a christmas song called 'Little Red Robin'. This bird has always been a symbol for christmas and no one has really put it in the spotlight. Its on christmas card alright... I put the song out there last year with tunecore on every site available but only sold it 2 times. One to me and one to my mum. Its just so much out there and gettin the attention, you really got to push it. I think even investing, like buying the online airplays... but how do you get it played on the radio?

Anyway, the song has not been the greatist quality. So i took it to Mike Meyers (The Dooleys, The Nolans...). He now took it a step further and orchestrated it. Now it sounds like its going thro a journey of feelings. In the beginning just warm memories and then at the end it leads into the fun rocking party time of christmas. Funny enough, Mike is a friend with Sir Cliff Richard. I call him the King of Christmas Songs. Mike has never done a christmas song, but its such a fun project.... anyway the few people who have heard it so far say it sounds great. Im so curious what Cliff will say ;-)

I don't think it will be ready for this year to put it for sale but I'd like to promote it anyway cos its a really, really nice sing-along happy christmas song... and it rocks :-) Also, its commercial!

The old version is on my myspace site and here for sale. The new version will hopefully be ready by the End of November!

I would really appreciated some feedback then, please!!!

And what actually is the best way to promote christmas hits???

All the best,
Jackie O'Grady

[John Zambetti]

The Malibooz have a CD full of mostly original Christmas tunes. We do them surf style with a lot of harmonies. The CD is called A MALIBU KIND OF CHRISTMAS and available on iTunes or through CDBaby.com, Amazon etc. There are also a couple of instrumentals I think you'll like; LITTLE SURFIN DRUMMER BOY and CAROL OF THE SWELLS.
We also have a single(not on the album) but available on iTunes called SANTA'S GONE SURFIN
have a real cool Yule!
The Malibooz

[Paul Oxley]

How many thousands of Christmas songs are there? and how many New Year Songs? Not many. Which is surprising cos New Years Eve is a big night out. Anyway I wrote one which is released on Sony/BMG and you can download all file formats here for free (don't tell them :-): http://www.newyearsong.org/

[Gregory Madison Brettell]

New original christmas single just released:
http://www.amazon.com/Merry-Christmas/dp/B002R9AR6E/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1255134860&sr=8-3

Please check it out ... The girls: Lulu (7-yrs old) and Lina (5-yrs old).

Thanks!

Merry, Merry Christmas!

Gregory M. Brettell

[Michael Bishop]

I have a Christmas record that first came out on Rhino Records in
1981 on vinyl. It now has been re-mastered and sounds great, It is popular all over the world and a favorite at Black Cat.com. Its the original and only "Rockabilly Christmas" by Michael Bishop with guest musicians Hunt Sales and Brian Ray, engineered by Geza X.
It is here at my Tunecore account and will be available everywhere
by November. This song gets the season rockin' and is a great singalong.
Have a Rockabilly Christmas,
Michael bishop

[Amy Humphrey]

Although my main gig is half of two-piece rock band Clatter, I decided to record a Christmas CD with my mother and sister a couple years ago under the name Rosa Minstrels. We thought it would be neat to record the old carols from around the world that the three of us used to sing when my sister and I were girls. We interpreted them as lullabies -- like a mom singing her new-born baby to sleep, which is basically what most of the lyrics were about!

Titled "Célébrons la naissance," the CD was well-received by music listeners and some women's interest publications and was posted two years in a row on NPR's online Christmas music feature, but since all my experience in the music industry is in the rock music realm, I have been floundering trying to find a way to market the CD. Many people tell us they listen to the CD year-round because they find it soothing.

I know there are scads of folks out there who go ga-ga for Christmas music, I just don't know how to connect with them!

[BKL]

We also have our holiday single, "Ring the Bells" up and ready to go for the holiday season.

Our tune can be found on iTunes (www.tunecore.com/music/hollowaykirbo) and other online stores.

An early Happy Holidays to everyone,

Betsy

[Hansi & The Marvellous]

You are right. You have to start writing in summer to be ready for Christmas. So far I wrote 3 Christmas songs. One in English, one in Austrian Dialect and one I combined with Mozart tunes sung by guys from simbabwe - really strange, really strange,... I carry a heavy load because I come from Salzburg where Mozart wrote his marvellous tunes and where Mr. Gruber and Mr. Moor wrote Silent Night, Holy Night. Now I am writing my next Christmas song called "It Never Shines The Sun In Africa". If you are interested just go to our myspace site.
As you said, you can write a lot of songs for particular occasions or persons like Football, for all the poor fifty year old guys,... :-)

[elf on holiday]

"PuNk XmAs" by Holly Beth Vincent on iTunes and other stores.

[Sam Mims, HumBug Records, www.humbugrecords.com]

An extra sales strategy: Go after companies who are sending out holiday "Thank You" gifts. This worked nicely with our compilation, "HumBug Christmas". In fact, you can even get pre-orders before the CD is pressed - which sure helps to determine how many to press.

[Erik Kyle]

I wrote a Chritmas song last year; It's called "CHRISTMAS IN DECEMBER" by Erik Kyle and the Beads and is available through TuneCore...Check it out!

[Dolinin]

Good advise in good time. I got a song called "Carrying you" in my album, that is just a theme about Christmas. Perhaps, it I want in on a radio in December, I should start fussing about it right away ))))

[Harry Kopy]

We've tried all the tricks. "A Dreaded Xmas" by Those Dreaded Gnats, contains original music, a reggae cover of Grandma Got Run Over...a couple of instrumentals of Public Domain songs i.e. Jingle Bells becomes Jungle Bells (all African percussion)...Most of the songs are a comedic look at the "down" side of Xmas. We never realized just how many other Xmas albums were out there... A TON!
So we went a step further and made a video of Merry FXmas...here's a link to the clean version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3y8H6vry_Q

And finally after 3 years of pushing it, and some Sirius Satellite airplay, Merry FXmas (the explicit version) will be on a compilation album, thanks to Red Peters (from the Howard Stern station) on Oglio Records...

So, what I'm saying is you need to be as different as possible...way out in left field, if you want to get noticed...i.e.The Hebrew Four, doing a Christmas compilation...

A Merry Christmas to All, and to All a good Fight!

Harry

[Scott Messina]

Our Christmas Albums are doing ok, and so is our Halloween Album... (all found on iTunes)

"A Christmas Celebration" by Krystof
"Holiday Dreams" by Krystof
"Halloween Horror Music" Vol. 1 by Krystof.
"Same Old Lang Syne" - A tribute to Dan Fogelberg... by Tierney Allen

Muzak (though currently Bankrupt) play our tunes Internationally. The royalties are not impressive, but the exposure is good.

Jack, do you know anyone at XM/Sirius?
If so, please advise... the world should continue to hear this great music.

Scott Messina, President
Messina Records

[Michael Bishop]

I have a Christmas record on iTunes and most on line stores already,
"Rockabilly Christmas" by Michael Bishop. Will Tunecore release it to
other sites if I upload it or will it get in the way of where it already is? The track is a cult hit with some famous musicians playing, I
want to get it more attention.
Have a Rockabilly Christmas,
Michael Bishop