Attention aspiring musical artists. This article will give you information about locating music publishers, producing a song demo, locating and dealing with studio singers, submitting your song demos to music publishers, preparing lyric and lead sheets, and preparing a high-quality demo submission package. Read on to learn get songs to a publisher.
Instructions
1. First, it goes without saying, you must have written songs. When submitting songs, you will need a song "demo" to submit to music publishers. Doing that requires that you produce a demo in either a recording studio or by using recording studio software. The demo should be a high-quality production in technical terms but the production should be just a basic rendition of the song. Generally speaking, music publishers want simple demos in terms of sound effects and without an elaborate production. They aren't considering you as a recording artist. Basic instruments and basic singing talent (not necessarily yours) is all you need. You should plan on spending one full day in studio and recording engineering rental time. You'll need to find musicians and a singer(s) to perform your songs. If you have a friend that sings well, that's best. If you can sing, that's even better. As a last resort, contact your local musician's union to hire union musicians and singers. Union musicians must be paid according to the union's labor agreement.
2. After you produce your demo, you will need to prepare lyric sheets and/or a leadsheet. Lyric sheets are simply a typewritten copy of the words to your song. A leadsheet is a copy of the basic melodies, lyrics and basic instrumentation that will be used in your production.
3. You'll need some resources to locate appropriate music publishers which you will submit your demos to. There are many sources for this information, the best of which is a book titled "Songwriter's Market." A new edition comes out every year. This book lists numerous music publishers who are seeking new songwriters, submission guidelines, contact information, and song genres in which the music publisher is interested in reviewing. Other resources online can be found at sites such as BMI, ASCAP and SESAC. These sites are provided by the three major music performance licensing organizations. If you know the names of songs that are in your same genre, you can locate the music publisher and its contact information by searching within these sites. Submitting an R&B song demo to a country western music publisher is a waste of time, energy and money.
4. To protect your song from being ripped off by a shady publisher, you should file for a copyright of your song prior to submitting your demos. This requires depositing several copies with your copyright application. You'll need lots of copies of your demo anyway. There is a fee for registering a copyright.
5. When submitting a demo to a music publisher, you should include either a leadsheet or lyric sheet, CD demo, self-addressed, stamped envelope for a reply, cover letter and promotional materials (such as a resume, photo, and/or press clippings). These promotional materials are often referred to as a "Press Kit" or "Media Kit."
