Great Songwriting Practices and Attracting Music Publishers

Music Publishing is an overlooked income stream for developing artists. Music publishers provide musicians (of any level credibility) the opportunity to leverage their music commercially through their connections and get you paid for successful placements. Sounds like a good deal right? Here are some things to consider if you’re wanting to attract a Music Publishing team:

1) Stop, Collaborate & Listen – Great music always wins! A smart way to keep up with exercising your writing abilities is to collaborate with other writers. If you’re actively writing with others that are better than you, you’re going to improve by osmosis. Collaboration will bring you out of your ‘comfort zone’ and possibly allow you to find strengths in working in other genres as well. A successful writer is able to adapt, collaborate and not be afraid of putting it all out there!

2) Take Time with Your Demos – Having a good demo goes a long way. A good demo just needs to convey the vibe of the track and the lyrics/melody and any other key hooks/melodies. Don’t go too crazy with production, but make your vision clear.

3) Don’t Send Unsolicited Music – Create a relationship and discussion with the company or employees before throwing music at them. They will be able to tell you if it is appropriate. Not every publishing company takes in demos so make sure you don’t offend anyone.

4) Pitching with Instrumentals Ready – If you are pitching fully mixed & mastered songs, make sure you have a mastered instrumental version ready to go. According to Digital Music News Up to 75% of the Sync placement market is made up of instrumental tracks. If a publisher likes your tune and wants to pitch it, they will need an instrumental master, so come prepared.

5) Credibility Helps – If you are an independent musician without a label, it’s going to be a hard sell. What’s going to convert your perspective publisher? Proven success. IF you happen to have radio success on a song you co-wrote, awards for winning songwriting competitions, or a previous placement – these things all help. A publishing company needs to see enough potential in an independent artist to take a chance on their material. Small victories count and make you more investable!

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