| Title: | * * Computer Music, MIDI, and Related Topics * * |
| Notice: | Conference has been write-locked. Use new version. |
| Moderator: | DYPSS1::SCHAFER |
| Created: | Thu Feb 20 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Mon Aug 29 1994 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 2852 |
| Total number of notes: | 33157 |
Traditional means of bringing original compositions to the attention
of leaders in the music industry involve a variety of ways.
One way in which a singer/songwriter could do this would be to make a
demo tape, research into who to send it to, and mail out a hundred
copies to publishers, producers, artist and repertoire (A&R), recording
artists, their hairdressers, etc.. This seems to be rather expensive
and holds no guarantee that the post office won't return your unopened
letter marked "Not accepting unsolicited material".
Another way would be to take a trip to the Big Apple with a suitcase
full of tapes and hand them out on the street corner hoping that one of
the people you hand it to was the person who refused the appointment
you tried to schedule 3 months earlier.
There are services that say that for so much money and perhaps your
signature on the bottom line signing away all your rights they'll bring
your tapes around to all their contacts. You later find out they had
no contacts and that you're either out cold hard cash or that your
composition is no longer your composition.
The contests seem to be a pretty good channel. However the one I am
(still) contemplating entering wants me to send my tapes with no labels
so as to not influence them by my of course famous name. I am leary of
sending out stuff without copyright notice. Perhaps I'll send it out
anyways but labelled even if they don't want me to. (I know that
unpublished phonorecords do not require notice. My underlying works
have been registered).
Another idea that might be worth pursuing is attending a local
convention or seminar.
I noticed an ad in Billboard the other day where a sonwriter was
looking for a producer on the up'n'up. I'm wondering what kind of
response he got.
There are a whole lot of ways to get your songs heard. Can anyone think
of a few I didn't mention? Which ones have you tried? Has anyone tried
washing windows at 14 stories high to get into the offices of record
executives?
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2177.1 | discover yourself | SALSA::MOELLER | LMF on Ultrix - it's up to YOU | Mon Nov 27 1989 12:35 | 6 |
.. how about recording your own album, obtaining independent
distribution and see what happens ?
.. if you wait to be 'discovered', good luck ..
karl
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| 2177.2 | roll over beethoven | ACESMK::KUHN | Ziggy played guitar... | Mon Nov 27 1989 17:18 | 2 |
I think its either do it all yourself or know somebody.
I was always suprised at how polite some of the rejections were!
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| 2177.3 | WMOIS::MACKAY | Wed Dec 06 1989 09:27 | 15 | ||
It shouldn't be necessary to do it all yourself. After all, how many
albums that are in the top 40 now were written, performed, recorded,
manufactured, and distributed by one person?
I'll agree that it's great if you can do it all, plus it seems to be
a challenging project. It's probably the only way you can guarantee
that the total job gets done and you learn a lot in the process.
One way that wasn't mentioned was getting your song onto a compilation
tape. I have no idea how effective this is.
Yes, probably the most effective is IF you know someone. Getting
contacts is important.
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