Male/Female vocals, does it matter?

[PamJ]

When a listing says they need a song for a male artist, does the submission have to be a male singer?

My problem is that most of the songs that I write would usually work for a male artist. I've submitted to a listing before and it seems like they don't mind that the demo had a female singer. It was returned for a different reason (they said that because the production was weak, it wasn't ready to forward, which is confusing because the listing said "acoustic demos would work", Umm?)

But recently, another critique came back and pretty much said the song is nice but the voice is too high and that they specifically said they need a male vocal, not a female one.

Now I'm confused. Does it matter? does it mean I pretty much have no chance of getting a forward for male artists unless I hire a dude to sing the demo? Or does it depend on the screener? That would really suck because we don't know who the screeners are for each listing. It's like rolling the dice ($5 a pop) and just hoping that the screener that screens your song doesn't mind if it's a female vocal...

Any thoughts?

[dougamell]

With the amount of listings that need to be screened, I think you're shooting yourself in the foot by submitting a MALE song category song with a female voice. That's requiring them to use a lot of imagination. And the screener's reputation with the company they are forwarding to is on the line, and they might not want to look stupid forwarding a female voiced song. So short answer, YES, get a male singer to sing it. And then you'll see you'll likely need a key change for the song too. Best of luck.

Doug

https://soundcloud.com/doug-amell

[CrimsnSyrn]

Yep, Pam - it matters.

If they ask for male vocals - give them male vocals. Competition is thick - why already start at a disadvantage?

There are listings that are either/or, so of course that will work. Unless the listing specifies that it's "all about the song" (sometimes it'll say that the outside screener is willing to hear stripped down guitar/vocal piano/vocal demos and are very open-minded ) I wouldn't do it...

[NathanNasby]

I know Michael has specifically addressed this on taxi t.v. It's a no no to submit a song with the wrong gender vocals if they specifically ask for one thing. A lot of listing say they can be either or, but with specific ones, it's best to keep to the right gender !

Unless of course you are me and are a guy who has a voice like a girl. Then you can get away with it !

[cassmcentee]

Unless of course you are me and are a guy who has a voice like a girl. Then you can get away with it !

So funny Nathan!!!
I got complimented for the girl's voice on one of my submissions...
of course it was this 52yr old man (me ) who was singing!!! Hah!

[PamJ]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

I'm glad I asked before submitting even more. Now I feel weirdly excited about challenging myself to write in a different style. Something out of my comfort zone.

I've been with Taxi for 2 months and the critiques have been really helpful. At first it's a little disheartening, to quote Beyonce "I'm an artist, I'm sensitive about my sh*t", hahaha but once you snap out of it, you're like, OK, it's crunch time!

I still have a lot to learn, but I'm glad I'm learning it now instead of going years doing the same mistakes over and over again without even realizing it.

Thanks, you guys! Now I'm off! Got some homework to do!