First time forwarded - Now what?

[tomyco]

After two attempts, I had a song forwarded to a publisher who was looking for Holiday and Christmas music. What a GREAT feeling to be one of the few chosen ones. Now What?It is my understanding that the client will now contact you if they are interested?Now I know that it's still a long shot!If by chance I am contacted by the client, what can I expect? I've been writing songs for over twenty years, but I am really new to the music industry. I have no idea what to expect? Percentages? Money up front? what is the norm on contracts? What type of money are we talking about?Your answers to my questions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[mixopenta]

Congratulations on your forward!Next is to equip yourself with a good portion of patience. It might take some time for the publisher to contact you in case he's interested. There will be others on this board that might be able to inform you what kind of money you could expect. Which I guess in any event could vary greatly depending on what type of agreement you're looking at.I signed my first deal with a publisher a year ago, but haven't heard anything yet. I guess it's even worse with libraries, where a potential turn around can be anywhere from 1,5-2 years to "perpetuity".My advice is that you lean back and enjoy this sweet moment just for a while, than keep submitting as much as you can. But it will make your future submissions so much easier with this forward in mind Way to go!

[davewalton]

Quote:After two attempts, I had a song forwarded to a publisher who was looking for Holiday and Christmas music. What a GREAT feeling to be one of the few chosen ones. Now What?It is my understanding that the client will now contact you if they are interested?Now I know that it's still a long shot!If by chance I am contacted by the client, what can I expect? I've been writing songs for over twenty years, but I am really new to the music industry. I have no idea what to expect? Percentages? Money up front? what is the norm on contracts? What type of money are we talking about?Your answers to my questions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!Enjoy the moment and give yourself a pat on the back. The best way I've found to keep the momentum going and to refrain from obsessing over the "what's happening with this" aspect of what we do is to continue moving forward. There's nothing you can do about this at this point because you have no control over the mind of the decision maker at whatever company it went to. You can't "sell" him/her anymore on your music, on the phone or in person, than what your music will be doing for itself. Submit more music inside and outside of Taxi. Try to keep busy enough tracking down new leads and submitting for those leads... so busy that you lose track of what's been submitted, etc. Not only will you be focused on generating new leads and submitting for those leads (something you do have control over), you'll really start forgetting about the possible outcomes of what's been submitted (something you don't have control over). Then one day *ding* your email says "Possible deal for your music" or something similar.My first deal with Taxi was with a music library and it took almost exactly one year from the date I received notification of my forward. Keep moving forward with more submissions because a watched pot never boils as my grandma always used to say. I think that the Mythbusters determined that a pot boils regardless of whether or not it's being watched but you get The idea. I've always been generally open with anyone when I didn't understand something or with the fact that I'm basically just getting started in the biz. I ask questions. Nobody has ever rejected my music because I wasn't an "industry insider". It's always been (them saying to me) "OK... no problem, let me explain basically how we work".Generally, one deal won't change your life or lifestyle. Just speaking for film/television deals, it's a matter of being a long-term player and establishing a quantity of published tracks in addition to quality. Matto is way ahead of the rest of us in the film/tv game and he's mentioned more than once that a catalog of hundreds of published songs is generally your best chance for full-time, "make a living from music" success.Of course you could luck out and get just one placement, something like the theme to Cops or Friends. Then we'll just come visit you in Malibu. Congrats,Dave

[dgolding]

I sometimes think about a show like American Chopper, and more to the point, the music in it. That show started off pretty small, and grew to be a monster. It was repeated 100's of times on Discovery, and I know it was shown overseas too. At times, you couldn't turn on the TV without an old episode being on.I often wonder what the artist(s) made.