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Getting Heard in a No Unsolicited Material World |  |
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Marketing Your Songs PEACE AND GOOD WILL SONGS...DONATE THEM? GETTING HEARD IN A "NO UNSOLICITED MATERIAL" WORLD TEN WAYS TO GET YOUR SONGS RECORDED DEMOS: QUALITY ISSUES PITCHING SONGS IN L.A. PRESENTING YOUR DEMO CASTING CONTESTS MARKETING YOUR LYRICS |
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< last page | 1, 2, 3 | next page > In this situation too, you need to research the names of companies, producers, managers and A&R reps who know how to market the artists/groups in your musical style. You need to know their names and who they've worked with. By far, the best advice about doing your research is to read the trade magazines such as Billboard, http://www.billboard.com Radio and Records, http://www.rronline.com Music Connection, http://www.musicconnection.com The Hollywood Reporter http://www.hollywoodreporter.com (especially if you're interested in film music) and any industry trades that relate to your own musical style. Call the biggest newsstand in town to find these publications. If they don't carry them, call your local library. If they don't have them, gather a group of others to formally petition the library to subscribe. They may not be getting the music trades because they don't think anyone is interested. Most are weekly magazines and they're very expensive ($250-$300 per year), but if you feel you're ready to begin your assault on the industry, they're one of your best investments. Trade magazines can provide valuable information such as what records are on the charts in every genre of music and who performed, wrote, produced, published, released and distributed them. For those who want to write songs for others to record, the most valuable information available from the charts is whether or not an artist records "outside" songs. Are the songs supplied by the artist and/or the producer? If so, you have a pretty good idea, though not a certainty, that sending songs to this artist is a waste of time. Those few songs you'll see on the Billboard Hot 100 charts with writer names that differ from the artist and producers' names are the ones to analyze for casting purposes. You'll find more of these opportunities on the Country and R&B charts. This information alone gives you a savvy-sounding opener for your industry calls. Here's a hypothetical example: In Billboard you see Bonnie Raitt's name on the charts with a new single. You don't have any of her CDs yet (you'll buy them today) but you've heard her on the radio and think you might have something for her. You've also read an article about her in which she talks about the songs on her new project, where she got them, who wrote them and about working with her new producers. Though you've also seen their names listed as writers under the song title on the chart , you've also noticed other writers' names so you know she's open to "outside" songs. You also learn she's on Capitol Records. So you call Capitol and ask for the A&R coordinator. "Hi! This is so-and-so at This and That Music. Will the same producers be working on Bonnie Raitt's next album? Do you have a numbers for their companies? Who's doing A&R on the project?" Get those names down quick. If you ask them to spell it for you, you're already another step away from credibility with them. They figure that if you're the pro you seem to be, you'll already be familiar with the names. (Look to directories such as the A&R Registry (SRS Publishing) http://www.musicregistry.com or the Recording Industry Sourcebook http://www.mixbooks.com/recording_industry_sourcebook.htm to help you out.) Once you have the name of the A&R person at Capitol or someone in the producers' offices, call them directly and ask about the musical direction of Bonnie's next album and how to go about submitting songs for it. It's a good idea to ask if there's a code you should use on the package. They often use a personal code so their secretaries or mail room personnel know that it's actually been "solicited." All the trade magazines publish special-focus issues which will contain a treasure of information on specialized areas of the industry. Among them are children's music, classical, heavy metal, alternative, folk, music publishing, Latin, Celtic and film music. They may focus on cities and countries that are emerging as music centers such as Minneapolis, Seattle, Atlanta, Ireland, Germany, etc. You'll get information on the movers and shakers in those genres or places, the record labels, publishers, producers, managers, radio stations, booking agents and artists, along with stories about who signed whom and their career strategies. Following music industry trends is also important. Industry legend Russ Regan gave me a great bit of advice once. He not only looks at what's on the charts now but what isn't there. Looking at it that way, we shouldn't have been surprised a few years ago when, on a chart full of drum machines and sterile, sequenced tracks, an acoustic-based record called "Fast Car" by a new artist named Tracy Chapman broke through like a breath of fresh air. It's the business of the trades to help the industry predict and follow trends. Technology is also a predictor of trends, and you can find some useful information in the trades about how new technology will affect the industry. Here are a few examples. The Billboard Sound-Scan technology revolutionized the industry by providing accurate retail sales and airplay information showing country music to be selling much more than was thought to be true. It's now showing several country artists on the "Hot 100" pop chart. CD-ROM projects have opened a new market for songwriters and performers. Live radio webcasts over the Internet have opened a new avenue for exposing and selling music though monitoring these performance has presented the performing rights organizations with a new challenge. The Internet now provides up-to-date research information from the performing rights organizations on their catalogs accessible to anyone with a modem. New standardized cue-sheet forms for music used in film and television were developed by ASCAP that can be filed via the Internet. There are now several Internet services available for exposing and selling independent recordings to the on-line audience: among them are: Amazon http://www.amazon.com , Indiespace (310-399-5527 http://www.indiespace.com , Internet Underground Music Archives, IUMA (408-426-4862 http://www.iuma.com ) and MP3 http://www.mp3.com . Browsing the music related web sites on the internet will turn up many more. These are all developments that you can stay abreast of by regularly reading the trades. Think of your local record store as a research center. Record stores can be great sources of information. They usually have a list of current hits in your favorite style. Familiarize yourself with them and find the albums in the record bins. Many stores have listening posts where you can spend some time listening to new releases and reading the CD covers for information on the artists. Some stores even have information kiosks where you can bring up artist information on a monitor and look up past albums, reviews, etc. If you have an Internet connection, look to see if the artist has a worldwide web site you can contact. You can also look at an Internet directory under "music" and find web sites for record companies too. < last page | 1, 2, 3 | next page > |
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WRITING FOR FILM & TV - SONGWRITER RESOURCES - INTERVIEWS WITH SUCCESSFUL SONGWRITERS
THE LOS ANGELES SONGWRITERS SHOWCASE - SITE MAP