How/Who to approach with song?

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Re: How/Who to approach with song?

Post by BraveNote » Fri Sep 18, 2009 6:18 pm

"It's that I don't have that kind of money."Hey Mikeye,Forget the money for a minute.
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Re: How/Who to approach with song?

Post by hummingbird » Fri Sep 18, 2009 8:04 pm

Have you ever tried Google? I typed in "UK+music conferences+music publishing" and came up with books on the UK market; I typed in "UK+music conferences+songwriting" and came up with organizations and events [like "ARTMUSFAIR/2009 ‘Shaping the Future of Contemporary Music' Glasgow, 29th October – 1st November 2009"]. Not to mention http://www.nashvillesongwriters.co.uk/ or http://www.songwriter.co.uk/ or http://www.bmic.co.uk/ etcHow many of these resources have you checked out?
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Re: How/Who to approach with song?

Post by jh » Fri Sep 18, 2009 10:21 pm

Quote:Have you ever tried Google?Vikki, that´s a bit rude mikeye,I´m sure that every major publisher in UK has contacts in the US,so that shouldn´t be a problem.- JH

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Re: How/Who to approach with song?

Post by BraveNote » Sat Sep 19, 2009 7:13 am

Hey mikeye, you still there???The short answer to your question is; Any way possible and to everybody you can. Starting with family and friends.Listen. Anybody can take your demo. But not everybody will demand it until hundreds of thousands of pounds and dollars worth of publicity, promotion and adverts are invested in making your music well known. When your music is well known, labels will come to you. Not vis-versa.The truth as I see it is, as long as you have a decent and respectable sized portfolio and all your songs have a broad social statement and the recordings are sonicly acceptable (to you and others in your circle of professionals and that's the easy part) the next link in your pursuit would be to find ingenious ways to strategically network with others. Becoming a TAXI member should be only one of many avenues to pursue your career as a songwriter. It takes everything you've got, in every imaginable angle to awaken others of the enormous talent you have. If you're playing the music industry game to win, your best weapon is proliferation. Be everywhere simultaneously with soldiers. (personal fans. Good contacts. People who will speak well of your gift.) Avail yourself to all the free websites, upload your music, get lots and lots of feedback, make continual efforts to improve upon your craft and be social. At some point, and as a result of these things, no doubt greater opportunities to proliferate will present themselves.When you're beginning to lose faith and begin to become discouraged, evaluate your bigger purpose for making people happy with your music. "A man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder." Ben Franklin. [Or was it Winston Churchill???HMMMM].......
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Re: How/Who to approach with song?

Post by mikeye » Sun Sep 20, 2009 3:10 am

@hummingbird -Have I ever tried google? - what do YOU think?And yes I have checked out many resources (one of the ones you have suggested I am already a member of, and one of them is inappropriate).Which leads me back to one of my original questions:I have the contact/can get the contact details of every major artist/band in the world...How would YOU make a case for them listening to your music?Who would you contact first?a) The managerb) The publisherc) The record companyand then:How would you go about doing that?

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Re: How/Who to approach with song?

Post by hummingbird » Sun Sep 20, 2009 12:30 pm

Sept 20, 2009, 6:10am, mikeye wrote:Which leads me back to one of my original questions:I have the contact/can get the contact details of every major artist/band in the world...How would YOU make a case for them listening to your music?Who would you contact first?a) The managerb) The publisherc) The record companyand then:How would you go about doing that?No harm in calling and asking if they accept unsolicitated submissions, and, if so, who you should direct it to. (or email with them with your credits.) A music publisher has the connections to pitch to a variety of labels. An artist is handled by A&R at the label. A producer might songs to the artist he/she is producing. Research the artist first to ensure that they are going into the studio & that they don't write all their own songs. Read Billboard, entertainment news, etc. will help you assess where they are in their career. I found this article useful - http://emusician.com/tutorials/emusic_comes_pitch/
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Re: How/Who to approach with song?

Post by king1042 » Fri Sep 25, 2009 4:19 am

Hi Mickeye,I'm a songwriter living in the Uk too...I was aiming at Nashville as it 's such a big "song" market and scraped together every penny I had to get over there - twice! Both times I found it an unrewarding experience as walking around Music Row knocking on doors and hanging out at the Bluebird isn't the way to do it. I eventually fell in with Steve Earle who put me straight on the fact that only living in the main music places for a length of time and networking, networking and a bit more networking will get the breaks. Doesn't seem to matter how sensational your stuff is...if you aint down with the crowd; forget it!Get yourself down to London if your not already there and make a buzz for yourself, get to know the people around the publishing companies or independent recording studios. Try The King of Corsica pub in Berwick Street on a Friday evening and see who you bump into...Martin

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Re: How/Who to approach with song?

Post by rickd909 » Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:29 am

Whereabouts are you based in the UK?The best advice I can give on the basis of your original post is to move to London (if you don't live here already).I moved to London 4 years ago and am just starting to build a network of solid contacts. I didn't know anyone when I first moved and it can be quite daunting. Funnily enough though I did manage to set up meetings with major record companies just by persistently knocking on doors, but my music wasn't quite up to scratch at the time and nothing happened.The phone can only get you so far but really you need to be out and about chatting to anyone and everyone (even if they are not in the music business). Eventually you might meet someone who knows someone and it will build from there. It won't make any difference that your style is American as all the big companies have offices in the US. I know it's not a quick fix answer but it is the only way - in my experience.

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