Make The Publisher's Life Easier

[Casey H]

Quote:Say you wrote a great song about an apple. It has a really catchy hook with the word "apple" in it. Can you pitch it as a jingle to companies who grow apples or sell apples or make apple pie or applesauce or apple juice or Apple Computers, etc?I have a couple of songs that are begging to be product endorsements. Can songs be pitched directly to marketing departments of companies and, if so, how would that be done? Are there publishers or jingle pluggers who would be open to my ideas and, if so, how would I find and approach them? Or is this, like some of my unhelpful friends insist, something that isn't probable?Hi Nomi It can never hurt to contact the jingle houses or a company's marketing department. It's a tough battle though... Music libraries are probably the most approachable. If you have an advertising idea for an established company, their marketing department will most likely tell you that their ad agency handles this... Some will tell you the name of the agency, others won't... Possibly, you can find this out on your own doing some Google-ing.A friend of a friend of mine made a killing selling a song to Ford Motor Company... I don't know how the contact was made... it could have been knowing the right person at the right time or good marketing on his part. I'll see if I can get a bit of the story and post it.Another songwriter friend of mine (who I was helping) has a great song about Starbucks that seems perfect for their use somewhere... We've been up and down their corporate ladder, been told to contact various folks in both their company and various agencies, etc... Basically, given the run around and getting nowhere... BUT, the hours of emails and phone calls were a good example of how to work at marketing your product.One idea I have for you is research how to get a list of the top ad agencies in the US... It's got to be out there somewhere. Then do an email campaign asking if you can send in material... Best if you find out who they represent first... (I've done this with publishers and film/TV music supervisors to make some contacts)Whatever small successes I have so far came from many hours of marketing myself. I keep a record of every mailing I do... Just did a quick count of cover letters in the past few years-- over 400...Keep at it, Nomi Casey

[davewalton]

Quote:This quote from Dave Walton on another thread addresses the concern perfectly:Quote:...As an example of what not to do, I sent a pissed off email quoting various sections of their original email and asking for an explanation of how things went from "we'd like to explore the option of you scoring our film" to "we already have a composer, thanks for your interest" (I guess I was having a bad day, bad week, etc). Anyway, I got an email from them that apologetically pointed out that "interest didn't mean getting the job" and that they had sent that email out to several prospective composers. Of course I felt like a total jerk (which I was) and I slunk away and scratched them off my "contact later" list. Oh sure... quote me at my worst. (I had to tweak you on that one... it was too good to pass up). I posted that willingly as a good example of not to do. Also it's a good example that limited choices can bring frustration. At that time when my one and only "choice" disappeared, it seemed like the end of the world. As I've developed a better system of contacting people and giving myself more choices, the ones that slip by aren't that devistating.Dave

[Casey H]

Hey DaveI consider myself tweaked... ... I know you know the spirit in which I quoted you... Don't worry, I'll post some of the idiotic things I did... (Just ask my wife!! ) Casey

[davewalton]

Quote:I know you know the spirit in which I quoted you... Of course. Actually that's the only idiotic thing I've done. Other than that I'm perfectly normal <click>... perfectly normal <click>... perfectly normal <click>... perfectly normal <click>...

[matto]

Quote:So which is the right thing to do. I definitely don't want to annoy anyone, but by the same token, the people I know who have succeeded have done it by persistence. What is everyone's thoughts and how do you be persisent yet not give off a bad vibe?TheresaTheresa, I can just tell you what my opinion is, from personal experience.There's nothing wrong with contacting a company that Taxi forwarded your music to. Wait at least a month from the time of the forward, and use email (no phone calls). Be very polite and tell them Taxi forwarded your song(s) to them and ask them if they'd be interested in hearing more material, or if there's anything in particular they're looking for at the moment.Don't hassle them, bug them about whether they've listened to your submission yet...stuff like that's a no-no.Having said all that...if a company likes the forwarded song enough to think it will be a money maker for them, they will contact you regardless of whether or not you "follow up". And they won't change their minds if they rejected the song, just because you follow up.So essentially, your follow up email will have no effect on the fate of your forward, but it may help keep the door open for future direct submissions, so from that standpoint it's definitely worth a try.

[nomiyah]

Thanks for all the ideas. It's especially helpful to think in terms of ad agencies that represent target companies and also to check into jingle houses and libraries, as opposed to just the marketing departments. Great suggestions, got some work ahead of me but I'll let you know how it goes.Nomi

[roughly]

Thanks everyone for all the great responses. I'm so glad to know I'm not completely shooting myself in the foot with each move I make. I will make sure to always be polite and not too aggresive. Nomi,Funny story about something like what you're talking about. I have a friend who wanted a certain gig that he called every the company every day. When he would ask for the person in charge of the music the secretary told him he needed a name to get through. When he said he was looking for John, the secretary said, oh you mean Joe and passed him on. He's tried that several other places with success too. Crazy, huh.Dave,I can completely relate to your story. Getting so excited about a prospect only to find out you misread it. Luckily I've been patient enough to wait until cooler heads prevail to respond with my broken heart.-Theresa

[nomiyah]

That is a funny story, Theresa. Sounds like the kind of thing that's so goofy it would work.The music business is full of dreamers, people getting excited about something or other. 99 out of 100 opportunities are pipe dreams. It may sound jaded, but having this attitude prevents the emotional roller coaster. It also helps to not get into victim mode, it's more advantageous to think of people as your allies, even if you don't get a deal.

[nomiyah]

Quote:Put all contact information and a copyright notice on the CD using a typed label or a printer that prints directly on the CD. Handwritten information on a CD looks amateurish and if the writing is hard to read it’s a deal killer right away. Putting the track listing on the CD is OK (it can’t hurt), but think about this: Once someone plugs the CD in to the CD player in their car (where much listening is done), they can’t see that anyway…. Casey,I've been printing onto a label and sticking it on the CD. But I don't like the way it looks. Can you (or anyone) recommend a method or brand name that looks great (cd printer / cd press / software / label)? I only want to print one or a few at a time. Thanks for sharing your info.Nomi

[nomiyah]

I'd like to get something to print on CDs this weekend (almost half over already). I think my post is getting buried in trivia and beatlemania. Anyone have advice?Nomi