HOW TO PITCH YOUR SONGS TO ARTISTS, LABELS AND PUBLISHERS --
By Jimi Whitelaw of Nashville Demo Studio

I like to send out “heads ups” to who is looking for songs, etc to you all as a free and kind thing to do for writers that may otherwise not know who’s looking for songs, etc. And it never fails that when I send that information out, I get tons of emails back from people asking for contact information to the labels, publishers, etc. Heck I even get people asking me to send their songs over to labels on their behalf.

Let me start by explaining again, that I am just giving people a heads up on stuff. I don’t pitch songs for writers and Im certainly not going to give out contact information to the people that I have worked very hard over many years to establish relationships with. So.. how do you pitch your songs to artists, labels and publishers? I’m gonna tell ya.

First of all, you need to establish a relationship. Why? Because that’s how things are done in Nashville. Look, even if you managed to get the contact information of an A&R person or a Creative Director, blindly emailing them or calling them or sending them songs will NOT further your chances of getting them to listen to your song. Why? Because they don’t know you. They don’t know if you are some loony toon that will try to sue them for copyright infringement later on. Bottom line, it’s a legal risk for an industry professional to listen to an unsolicited song. So…that’s the #1 reason why you MUST establish some kind of relationship, (even if it’s just a professional courtesy one) before you pitch a song to said company or person.

It’s funny to me how getting permission to pitch a song eludes so many people. It’s pretty simple really. You just have to find an “in” first and these “ins” are at your disposal. Where? Through the relationships that you should already have established as a songwriter. These are your PRO’s: ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. Every songwriter should be affiliated with a PRO (Performing Rights Organization) these societies collect royalties that your songs will earn when they are cut or released. When you join a PRO, you are assigned a Writers Representative. Call the PRO you are affiliated with and request a phone or in person meeting with your rep. When you have the meeting, have them listen to your material and tell them that you would like some introductions to labels and publishers. If they feel your material is up to snuff they will make introductions for you. Pretty cool huh?

Also, if you aren’t a member of NSAI and TAXI you should be. NSAI will also make calls on your behalf and TAXI presents over 1200 opportunities to pitch your songs to each year. Check out both of these organizations if you haven’t.

Also, attend songwriter events to meet people and get acquainted to them and them with you. Attend a roundtable here at the studio (or online), go to NSAI workshops, and attend conventions like the Road Rally or the ASCAP Expo.

Another way to go about getting contacts is to start with a directory. You can get a Music Row Magazine directory. They have three editions, In Charge, Publishers and Artist Roster. Each of these list contact information to labels, artists, managers, producers, publishers, etc. BUT like I said before, you have to have some type of relationship to pitch. If you blindly send out unsolicited material, it WILL NOT be listened to, thus wasting your time, effort and expense in getting the song over to them.

What you can do however, is send a letter or email to the company asking for permission to send ONE song to them for consideration of whatever project they are working on. Don’t include a bunch of hoopla in the email, ie: a bio on yourself, a picture of yourself, what the songs about, why you want it cut,etc..They don’t care about any of that. Professionals don’t communicate that way in this business. It should be something simple like:

Hey John,
This is Jimi with 515 Music Group. I know you are looking for material for the Carrie Underwood project and I have a song that I’d love to send your way for a listen. I didn’t want to just send something without permission, as we haven’t had the chance to meet yet, so Im sending you an email first.

Would you prefer a CD or an MP3?

Thanks,
Jimi

So there ya go. That should get your started in the right direction.

NOW BEFORE YOU START EMAILING AWAY TO PEOPLE, let’s talk about if your songs are ready to pitch.

Are they professionally demoed? 
You may think that just because I own a recording studio that I am going to tell you that they have to be professionally demoed so I can sell you something. Well, while I would love to have your business, the reason I’m gonna tell you to make sure your songs are appropriately produced for Nashville, is not that reason. The reason they need to be demoed professionally is because that’s what industry people are used to listening to. Don’t believe me? Here is a quote from an article on EM with Mark Bright and Steve Finter: “If you get that opportunity to have somebody listen, you better have your production together, not just your song. We're in a world now where everyone has the best gear you can have for very little money. It's a lot to ask people to hear just songs. In my world, people are more likely to react to great productions than to songs these days. You can have a great song and play it on a guitar-vocal or piano-vocal demo — that's going to be tough. If you've got a reactive, dynamic production that screams out at you, you'd be surprised by how things can find their way.” http://emusician.com/tutorials/columns/pitching_songs_how/ 
Are they good enough? Yep! I said it. Well…are they? I know we all think our songs are hits, but seriously ask yourself..Is this song BETTER than the artists last hit single? Is it better than the songs that are bring pitched to this artist from the best songwriters in Nashville? Better yet, do other people think so? I’m not talking about what your mama/daddy/cousin’s sister’s uncle’s opinion, I mean an opinion of an industry pro. You can get a critique of your song through our website or a mentoring session with a pro from us as well. If you don’t want to use NDS’s services, you can use TAXI or NSAI or your PRO. But get opinions from people before you pitch. Make sure that puppy’s up to snuff! The WORST thing you can do fro your career is to make a bad impression with a bad song. 


That should get you started. I really hope you took the time to read all of this and didn’t just right down the links to get the contact information to send out songs that aren’t professionally recorded to labels. I hope you that you took what I said to heart and look at your songwriting career in the way you would look at any career for which you want to endeavor. I hope you do things the right way (even though it may be the longer, tougher way) and invest the time and effort into yourself and your writing that it deserves.

Jimi

Here are links to the things I was talking about in the article:

Our website where you will find Roundtable info, critique info and mentoring session info: www.nashvilledemostudio.com

NSAI (You can purchase the Music Row Magazines 
through them): www.nashvillesongwriters.com

TAXI: www.taxi.com

ASCAP: www.ascap.com

BMI: www.bmi.com

SESAC: www.sesac.com

Contact: Jimi Whitelaw/Nashville Demo Studio

www.nashvilledemostudio.com