Opinion Sought: the ethics of radio promotion

[swsongs]

I have been approached by a USA-based music figure who wishes to promote one of our compositions, “Man Of My Dreams”, to various radio stations across the USA.Wendy & I are songwriters only [we have no aspirations to be performing artists], however the music figure is insistent that our demo version must be picked up by radio before he would have any chance of pitching the song to a performing/ recording artist.I am at a loss as to this rationale. If somebody believes in the commercial appeal of a song, it would make sense for the song to be pitched to the appropriate artist, recorded professionally and then marketed to radio.The chances of a demo recording being picked up by radio are negligible, whilst the music figure will collect his “spotter’s fee” regardless of the outcome.I’m keen to read some feedback on this topic from those who partake in this Message Board. Any comments/ opinions will be warmly appreciated.RegardsScott WilliamsSW Songs and Publishinghttp://www.myspace.com/liewwilliamshttp://cdba ... wwilliams2

[anne]

Hi Scott - Was this person going to be the one to promote the song to the stations, and was he going to charge you for that service? Is your demo able to be played on radio (not all demo services will allow that)?

[mazz]

Another thing is: An artist that's looking for songs may very well be looking for songs that are associated with them, and a song that's already on the radio may not be appealing to them because it's already out there and not unique to them. Unless it's a classic they are covering, then it doesn't make much sense for them to go for it.This person sounds a little too hungry. I'd walk away and try to get the song to the right artists from the inside, for instance, TAXI listings and publishers. Just my 2cMazz

[Casey H]

Nov 14, 2009, 9:46pm, swsongs wrote:I have been approached by a USA-based music figure who wishes to promote one of our compositions, “Man Of My Dreams”, to various radio stations across the USA.Wendy & I are songwriters only [we have no aspirations to be performing artists], however the music figure is insistent that our demo version must be picked up by radio before he would have any chance of pitching the song to a performing/ recording artist.I am at a loss as to this rationale. If somebody believes in the commercial appeal of a song, it would make sense for the song to be pitched to the appropriate artist, recorded professionally and then marketed to radio.The chances of a demo recording being picked up by radio are negligible, whilst the music figure will collect his “spotter’s fee” regardless of the outcome.I’m keen to read some feedback on this topic from those who partake in this Message Board. Any comments/ opinions will be warmly appreciated.RegardsScott WilliamsSW Songs and Publishinghttp://www.myspace.com/liewwilliamshttp://cdba ... wwilliams2 Something doesn't sound right. I was just going to say what I read mazz said. Having your song already on the radio can often be a negative for having an artist later record it. They want it to be theirs first.And for non-performing songwriters, demos played on the radio are not really applicable. IF you did want to market yourselves as performers, that would be totally different.Have you ever heard of a non-performing songwriter getting an artist cut because they had their demo on the radio? It sounds like this is someone feeding you a line of BS to get some cash. Run. Casey

[simonparker]

I have to echo Mazz's point as well. I would be skeptical of this. Further, while I'm not a lawyer and not opining here on copyright law, I think you create difficulties for yourself if you promote your song via radio.Under US copyright law (and similar to EU as well), there's a concept of first-sale doctrine. That is, anything a songwriter creates, they have control of the copyright license and have right to choose to whom they will sell first. This has some powerful implications.For example, an artist from San Diego named BC Jean had talent and had recruited a top-notch producer, Toby Gad, to assist in the creation of songs and pitch those songs to major labels. After finishing the project, all labels passed on this artist. Gad, who co-wrote several songs, pitched a very good song called "If I Were a Boy" to Beyonce. Beyonce loved the song and went into the studio to record it. After it was recorded, it was to be released to the public, but before it could, Beyonce had to secure permission from BC Jean on this. BC was quite upset to know that a song that could've been a career song for her, is now in the hands of Beyonce. While I'm not privy to all the facts, it is clear that having a "winner" song creates a powerful position for the songwriter. On the flip side, had Jean released the song on iTunes, Beyonce would not have to seek permission from BC Jean to record and release the song provided that Beyonce paid BC the statutory royalty rate of 9.1cents per unit sold.Having said that, I cannot speak as to the legalities that this arrangement would create for you should the song be promoted on radio. I do know that Universal had lost a court case because they sent promotional CDs to radio stations, music supervisors, etc. Some guy got these CDs and sold them as "rarities" on E-Bay. The courts ruled that the giving of promotional material gave rise to a transfer of the license.Just some thoughts to keep in mind.

[mojobone]

I expect that last to be overturned on appeal-promo discs are nearly always stamped "for promotional purposes only-not for resale" there's no implied transfer of license-either the discs were mistakenly unstamped or a judge/jury misinterpreted the law, IMO.I can imagine, and yes, even recall a few occasions where an artist picked up a song that was a minor hit for a group with little or no promotional money behind them, but I'd be leery of anyone that wants money for independent radio promo from you, unless (s)he has a verifiable track record of getting songs cut by major artists on major labels using this method. I could advise better if I could hear the demo in question-if it's obviously not broadcast quality, your "music figure" is most likely a bozo and should be kicked politely to the curb.