Song Promotion

[ruffrecords]

No obvious heading for this so I put it here:

I have been recording one guy on and off for over 15 years. In that time he has amassed over 200 songs  and about 15 albums all of which I have recorded. He does not gig but he would like to sell his songs to artistes who can actually do something with them but he has never really done anything to make this happen. He comes round tonight to finalise the latest album. I am inclined to suggest to him that he takes a year long break from writing and recording new songs and concentrates on selling/marketing the ones he already has. His obvious question is going to be how do we do that? I don't know. Any suggestions, tips etc?

Cheers

ian

 

[boji]

Since your post was being neglected, a start would be to up all the 'A side' songs to iTunes.  If he'd like to sell his soul, he can pay an advertising company with a tech department to blast social media and work SEO rankings.

Edit: How old is he? Would he try to promote himself with touring? If 'selling' is the goal he needs a social media presence first and foremost.

 

[bluebird]

a start would be to up all the 'A side' songs to iTunes.

Yes, he needs to find a digital distributor. Cdbaby, Tunecore, etc. These services get your music on iTunes Amazon and Spotify etc. for about $60/year. Something like that.

Social media/you tube is vital. A website showing his songs and songwriting services. But mainly being relentless in promoting himself. It really takes a lot of time and energy. You can't just be a good songwriter and be "found" anymore. way too much noise.

 

[ruffrecords]

Thanks for the replies. We already have all his songs on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, GooglePlay etc etc. This is done through RouteNote. He has a web site (which we are in the process of updating). Social media is definitely one area we need to work on. He has a Facebook account but rarely uses it.

Relentlessly promoting himself is definitely what he needs to do and that is where ideas would be welcome.  I have read that college radio is a good place to send tracks as they are more open to new artistes than the majors.

He  spent 30 or more years gigging up and down the Norfolk coast and he is now 77 so gigging is not really an option. He really wants to sell his songs to other performers.

Cheers

Ian

 

[scott2000]

Relentlessly promoting himself is definitely what he needs to do and that is where ideas would be welcome.  I have read that college radio is a good place to send tracks as they are more open to new artistes than the majors.

He  spent 30 or more years gigging up and down the Norfolk coast and he is now 77 so gigging is not really an option. He really wants to sell his songs to other performers.

Cheers

Ian

I wouldn't really know but, this sounds kinda like two different paths to me?

Maybe dedicated  songwriters have some different ways of working and marketing/networking ??

I think my Son told me about some site where you can upload material and people can buy licenses to use your music or something like that....??

 

[ruffrecords]

Maybe dedicated  songwriters have some different ways of working and marketing/networking ??

I think my Son told me about some site where you can upload material and people can buy licenses to use your music or something like that....??

That is basically it. He does not want to sell records/CDs/downloads. He wants to sell the rights to the song to some big name who will release it and he gets the usual writers royalty. I know there are quite a few people who do this already. He is basically a song writer rather than a performer.

Cheers

Ian

 

[midwayfair]

There are people in Nashville practically killing themselves every day to get a single song into the hands of a signed artist's handlers so it can end up on a record. Unless he's up for hustling 16 hours a day, 8 days a week, he's going to have to find someone he can pay to do some of that for him. So he needs to hire an agent and probably a publicist, too, who works with licensing and labels. He probably needs to go to conferences, but not the kind that are filled with people like him. He needs to find every local artist he can who plays covers and records and physically talk to them. Just this last one can take years. But an agent doesn't want to work with someone who doesn't already have a proven track record (unless his songs are really exceptional), and a publicist doesn't do anything without a tour and a great product to back up.

Pessimistically, I'm going to suggest that the world he's looking for doesn't exist anymore unless he's a firmly established writer of country music. Most small performers would rather get the royalties from their own song, even if it's mediocre, than get nothing from a better song. Most big performers that would make him money *are* the people writing the great songs and they don't need his.

A couple people have recorded covers of my songs, but they're creative commons, so they didn't have to pay for the privilege, and I know that factored into it. So if he didn't want to make money off his songs, he'd probably have an easier time. If he made friends with people in high places, he might have a chance. So back to hustling.

p.s. Even getting play on college radio is going to require hustling. If he thinks he can just mail it in with a press kit and get on the air, he's going to be disappointed. When I briefly ran a music magazine, we were extremely open to cold e-mails from unestablished artists but the stuff that got reviewed was almost always from someone with a publicist whose taste we trusted thanks to years of a proven track record. People are human and will make safe choices even when they're trying to be brave.

 

[abbey road d enfer]

Any suggestions, tips etc?

The academic answer is find a publisher. Nowadays, most songwriters have their own channel for placing their songs, either performing themselves or having a preferred contact with artists, so publishers are welcoming songwriters. In particular, publishers that specialized in music for picture, although traditionally anchored in instrumental music, are in demand for songs.

 

[Phrazemaster]

I'm a singer songwriter and haven't done a thing to promote. I saw the post about RouteNote - any thoughts on this service?

I totally get the need to promote somehow, someway.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[ruffrecords]

I'm a singer songwriter and haven't done a thing to promote. I saw the post about RouteNote - any thoughts on this service?

I totally get the need to promote somehow, someway.

Thanks,

Mike

Routenote offer two services. One where you pay to have your work fed to iTunes etc and you keep 100% of the streaming revenue. The other service is completely free and you get to keep something like 80% of the streaming revenue. We chose the free route. Setting up an account it easy. Loading up an album is also pretty easy. You upload songs in mp3 format (you can upload wavs if you go the paid route but we use 240kbit mp3 files which must be at least as good as iTunes etc). They provide ISTR bar codes for each track for free (CD Baby charges for this). You upload some simple artwork and then select which channels you want it to be streamed on. They have a pretty big list including iTunes, Google, Amazon, Spotify, Deezer and so on. We usually choose the lot. In a few days your album is approved an will appear on the streaming sites, Revenue is about 3 months behind actual plays due to the way the streaming sites pay out but it does eventually trickle in.

BUT Routenote does not promote your stuff; it's just a cheap way to get your material on all the standard paid streaming sites.

Cheers

Ian

 

[Phrazemaster]

Routenote offer two services. One where you pay to have your work fed to iTunes etc and you keep 100% of the streaming revenue. The other service is completely free and you get to keep something like 80% of the streaming revenue. We chose the free route. Setting up an account it easy. Loading up an album is also pretty easy. You upload songs in mp3 format (you can upload wavs if you go the paid route but we use 240kbit mp3 files which must be at least as good as iTunes etc). They provide ISTR bar codes for each track for free (CD Baby charges for this). You upload some simple artwork and then select which channels you want it to be streamed on. They have a pretty big list including iTunes, Google, Amazon, Spotify, Deezer and so on. We usually choose the lot. In a few days your album is approved an will appear on the streaming sites, Revenue is about 3 months behind actual plays due to the way the streaming sites pay out but it does eventually trickle in.

BUT Routenote does not promote your stuff; it's just a cheap way to get your material on all the standard paid streaming sites.

Cheers

Ian

thank-you Ian, that was extremely helpful!

Mike

 

[ruffrecords]

My friend Bob has a special autumn promotion at soundclick.com right now. Download any of his albums for just $2. Country, blues, pop and rock. Most of his albums have 20 tracks so that only 10 cents a track. Grab yourself a bargain.

https://www.soundclick.com/bands3/default.cfm?bandID=229658

Cheers

Ian

 

[scott2000]

My friend Bob has a special autumn promotion at soundclick.com right now. Download any of his albums for just $2. Country, blues, pop and rock. Most of his albums have 20 tracks so that only 10 cents a track. Grab yourself a bargain.

https://www.soundclick.com/bands3/default.cfm?bandID=229658

Cheers

Ian

I'll check them out.....Kinda reminds me of Roy Orbison a bit after a quick listen.........

Thanks!

 

[ruffrecords]

I'll check them out.....Kinda reminds me of Roy Orbison a bit after a quick listen.........

Thanks!

That's probably not surprising. Bob is 77 years old so he was a teenager in the 50s. In his head I think he still is. So his musical heroes are Elvis. Jerry Lee, Everley brothers etc.

Cheers

Ian

 

[ruffrecords]

My friend Bob has a special autumn promotion at soundclick.com right now. Download any of his albums for just $2. Country, blues, pop and rock. Most of his albums have 20 tracks so that only 10 cents a track. Grab yourself a bargain.

https://www.soundclick.com/bands3/default.cfm?bandID=229658

Cheers

Ian

I posted this under the post your completed demos section at GS and it got deleted by a mod as spam!! That made me laugh since GS itself  little more than a big advertising machine. Perhaps they don't like competition?

Cheers

Ian

 

[scott2000]

Get this error now when clicking the link and when searching???

Sorry, an error occurred.

The site administrator has been notified. Thank you!


You may go back or go to our SoundClick homepage.

 

[ruffrecords]

Get this error now when clicking the link and when searching???

Sorry, an error occurred.

The site administrator has been notified. Thank you!


You may go back or go to our SoundClick homepage.

That is odd. I just tried it and it worked OK. An alternative is to go to soundclick.com and enter 'bob wright' in the search box at the top. That should bring up a list with him at the top. You should see an entry for Bob Wright with the cover of his Country Time album.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers

Ian

 

[scott2000]

Thanks...It's working now. May have been a maintenance issue...

Just grabbed one so far...want to hear what 160kbps sounds like....

.. Must be a pretty cool guy.... Was surprised to hear a drum machine

My son is going through his first break up and it's pretty rough on him..... I think he'd appreciate some of this  for sure... I tried to tell him we all go through it....

Pretty cool stuff..... I heard a couple of tracks I could see being in a movie like Pulp Fiction or something.... He's got a neat variety of sound.....Even some stuff that reminds me of Jimmy Buffett ..



Interesting site too... Thanks

 

[ruffrecords]

Thanks...It's working now. May have been a maintenance issue...

Just grabbed one so far...want to hear what 160kbps sounds like....

.. Must be a pretty cool guy.... Was surprised to hear a drum machine

My son is going through his first break up and it's pretty rough on him..... I think he'd appreciate some of this  for sure... I tried to tell him we all go through it....

Pretty cool stuff..... I heard a couple of tracks I could see being in a movie like Pulp Fiction or something.... He's got a neat variety of sound.....Even some stuff that reminds me of Jimmy Buffett ..



Interesting site too... Thanks

I am really pleased you like it. He has had a tough life and much of that is reflected in his songs. His first wife died of cancer after 18 months of marriage. One day Bob thought his motorbike had been stolen. He did not know one of brothers had borrowed it. He was killed in the resulting police chase. Just after marrying his second wife he lost four fingers on his right hand in an industrial accident and lastly his youngest daughter was killed in a motor accident when she was eighteen (on the day before their wedding anniversary). Yes, Bob is no stranger to tragedy.

Cheers

Ian

He started recording on a little 4 track cassette before I met him, so he would often record three instruments to a track. He has a bass pedal so he would often start with one track containing drum machine, bass pedal and a rhythm guitar. He later upgraded to 8 track cassette and was able to record these parts on separate tracks - such luxury. We copied these cassettes across to my DAW and cleaned up and added parts.. In the later albums we often replaced the drums and sometimes the bass.

Cheers

Ian

 

[BluegrassDan]

There’s no substitute for networking with artists, labels, publishers, and other songwriters. That includes going to conferences, songwriter rounds, attending concerts and getting to know the artists. (I don’t know if I read what genre this guy plays.)

It’s like I tell my students. Go to any small town Baptist church in the United States and you’ll find PLENTY of singers, songwriters, and guitar players. Every small town has them. Pitching songs requires a lot of work for little return.