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By Stephen Solvei
When it comes to the business of selling music, a songwriter's demo is their
bread and butter-their calling card. The quality of your demos can be the difference
between catching a publisher's ear and not getting the time of day.
With that in mind, here are 3 devastating songwriter demo mistakes; avoid
these to maximize your chances of being taken seriously by the publishing industry.
Mistake number 1: Demoing half-finished songs.
The majority of demos sent to publishers contain songs that aren't really
finished. Maybe they've got a decent hook, or clever opening line, nice melody,
etc. But the songwriter hasn't thoroughly vetted and refined the tune, weeding
out unnecessary words and phrases, and perfecting the melody and arrangement.
The reason why is simple: finishing a song takes time. Sure, you may sit down
and write the song in 2 or 3 hours. But chiseling down your rough work of art
into a masterpiece takes time. You have to live with it for a while.
It's also a VERY good idea to do a rough demo of the song first. For example,
a simple guitar/vocal or piano/vocal demo. Recording a rough can show you where
the weak spots are (and don't kid yourself-there are always weak spots).
The bottom line is, hold off on creating a demo of your song until you've
had a chance to live with it for a while and create a rough demo to highlight
any potential problems with the words, melody or arrangement.
Mistake number 2: Trying to be a "one-man band."
You're already the writer and arranger of the song. Now you also get to be
the producer of the demo. So why on earth would you also want to be the engineer,
drummer, keyboardist, guitarist, vocalist, bassist, etc.?
Trying to do everything yourself makes for a very insular recording experience
and seldom produces a high-quality songwriter demo. Now, before anyone even
says it, I'm well aware there are artists who have recorded albums by playing
every instrument, and self engineering and producing. That is true. It is also
extremely rare. Just because Prince got away with it, doesn't mean you're going
to get away with it on your songwriter demo. See what I mean?
More than anything else, you need an outside perspective to create a great
demo. This means you can't just sit alone in a room and try to do everything
yourself. This is something far too many struggling songwriters try to do;
but there really is no substitute for getting other talented individuals to
work with you: musicians, engineers, co-producers, and even DJs that have a
good understanding of the structure and flow of music. It can only help.
Bottom line: don't try to go it alone.
Mistake number 3: Making your songwriter demos too long.
Publishers and music business executives tend to be busy people. No one has
got time to listen to that 24 bar extended intro on your new tune. Seriously.
On average, an industry insider will listen to about 20 seconds of your demo.
If it hasn't grabbed him or her in that time, they'll move on to the next.
Obviously, you've got to lead with your strongest material and jump straight
into it. Keep your intros short and get to the meat of the song (the hook)
as soon as possible.
Keep your demos 4 minutes or under if possible; and always lead with your
most commercial song, even if it's not your favorite. You won't get a second
chance to make a first impression.
Bonus tip: if you're working alone or in a small project studio, considering
working with online studios that provide royalty free backing tracks. This
makes it easy to gain access to talented musicians and producers that can make
your songwriting demos shine. You simply add your vocals/instrument to the
finished backing track and your songwriting demo is ready to go. You can even
purchase exclusive rights to instrumentals, to ensure your songs are always
100% original.
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