A common question about marketing music is where to send it. How do you find the people who are looking for music? The answer varies, as does the quality of leads you will get.
Let’s talk about tip sheets. Tip sheets are there to tip you off. They announce music placement opportunities. An artist needs a country song that isn’t too country; a movie needs a tune with the same vibe as the Rolling Stone’s “Satisfaction,” or maybe just a party song that kids 18 to 25 would be listening to at college. Whatever information the client provides is what you will get.
Tip sheets come in various flavors and colors. There are online tip sheets, many of which are associated with songwriter groups, such as SongU . There are tip sheets that are tied into some paid service (you have to be a subscriber of their service), such as Sonicbids, Broadjam, or Taxi , that submit songs for you. Typically you will pay something to be a member and then a fee per submission. (Taxi screens the submissions, and even though you pay, they don’t submit anything that doesn’t meet the standard for the placement. They say that helps them maintain credibility.) On a regular basis they post the opportunities and you find that ones that you think are best for you. Typically you won’t get contact information for the client unless you are selected—if then. These services don’t want you going around them, because that is how they earn a living, and furthermore, most of the clients want it that way. You can go to the web sites and see what sort of listings each has. Taxi will happily put you on their email list and send you the listing every month. These are the same listings that members work from and provide a clear idea of the information that is provided—you just can’t submit until you join.
There is a lot of debate over the viability of these services, and although they can look similar, each is quite different in what it offers. There are several other services using a similar business model. You can easily find a lot of disgruntled ex members. A better idea is to contact current songwriter members on the sites (you can typically contact them through a profile page) and ask if it is working for them. Ask how long they’ve been doing it too. Try a cross section and you can eliminate the extreme responses. Most of these work for some people.
Lastly there are tip sheets that are nothing but tip sheets—they provide the facts and contact information for a quarterly or annual fee and the rest is up to you. Although the most useful tip sheets don’t screen your songs, they do screen you. In many cases, such as with New On The Charts , you have to show some credits, indicating that you are something of a pro, before you can subscribe. An online tip sheet called Songlink says: “unsigned writers or new publishers must first supply at least 2 sample demos of their work for subscription approval.” Having to have credits to get the tip sheet might sound like a Catch 22, but, like Taxi’s reasoning, these sheets must ensure that the people feeding them information, managers, producers, A&R people and the like, don’t get swamped with a lot of amateur, or just bad, efforts, or they will undermine their own networking efforts. (You can help them by only submitting appropriate material and not shooting from the hip.)
One tip sheet that is really more for performers looking for recording contracts, but often has tips in other lines is the UK based Bandit Newsletter. When they have songwriting leads, they are typically for cutting edge music. But not always. They have had listings for country songs and ballads. If you go to the web site, a popup menu will let you request a free sample copy.
This is not intended as an exhaustive list of services or tips sheets, just a starter that lets you see where leads can come from. In the next blog we will look at how music libraries really work and how you can take advantage of their invisible leads.
Tags: music career, Pitching songs, Songwriting
About the Author
Ed Teja
Ed Teja is a musician, composer, and book author who writes, arranges, and performs a variety of music.
Last 5 posts by Ed Teja
- Avoiding the long, sharp teeth of song vampires - February 9th, 2010
- Modeling a nonexistent industry? - February 2nd, 2010
- Adapting to changes - January 25th, 2010
- Narrow your focus - January 2nd, 2010
- The year end refocus - December 30th, 2009
September 13th, 2009
10:41 am
[...] 5 posts by Ed TejaThe Great Retitling Game – September 11th, 2009Tip sheets, touts and other marketing information – September 6th, 2009Targeting Your Music Submissions – August 31st, 2009Seven Steps To Songwriting [...]
December 30th, 2009
11:57 pm
Thanks Ed, Your info is invaluable. I am a professional was with Koch Records briefly with my band “Fort Pastor” and now just releasing a new Solo project. Trying to figure out the whole licensing thing. You have helped me get started a little smarter. Thanks again
JT
May 16th, 2010
2:40 pm
I really enjoyed this article. That is always nice when you read something that is not only informative but entertaining. Excellent.