Question about pitching a song...

[mjr]

Let's say I write a song and get it copyrighted. If I wanted to pitch it to different people within the business, how would I do that? I see advertisements in magazines sometimes "songs/poems wanted", but I have a suspicion that those are mostly scams.

Has anyone ever done that? Were you successful or not? Did you make any money on the deal?

I'm also considering joining ASCAP or BMI, but I'm not sure which one.

Thoughts?

[JoeBannon]

Originally Posted by mjr

I'm also considering joining ASCAP or BMI

A great start.

[Chris Tondreau]

Anyone with any credibility probably doesn't post an ad looking for songs. They've probably got a room full of them that they'll never get to as it is.

Chris

[Hugo H]

Originally Posted by mjr

Let's say I write a song and get it copyrighted. If I wanted to pitch it to different people within the business, how would I do that?

First, learn the market for your song. Read books about where to sell songs
Songwriters Market 2006 (ISBN: 1582973989)
and books about how to write what's needed and sell songs
The Craft And Business Of Songwriting (ISBN: 1582970858)
and look at this place that helps market songs
http://www.taxi.com/
and read about the business at
http://www.craftofsongwriting.com/
All those are just starting points.

I see advertisements in magazines sometimes "songs/poems wanted", but I have a suspicion that those are mostly scams.

Has anyone ever done that? Were you successful or not? Did you make any money on the deal?

Ignore these ads. Find out about the dangers of song sharks and vanity compilation CDs.

I'm also considering joining ASCAP or BMI, but I'm not sure which one.

Thoughts?

Don't bother joining until you have royalties to be collected. You won't have those until after you've published a song.