how to market demos

[ifpo238]

What do you do differently if you're chasing a publishing deal versus a record deal?

I'm planning to press my first CD of demos sometime next year, and I haven't decided exactly how I should approach it. It looks like Oasis CD offers some cool promo stuff, but if I want a publishing deal, do I shoot myself in the foot by "distributing" my music to the public (Amazon.com, CD Baby, etc.) If I "release" my CD, then anybody can cover the songs for a standard rate, right? Is a "publishing deal" structured differently? Do I stand to make more money if I don't distribute?

I'm completely new at this, and I don't have a clue. Can anyone recommend good books/websites so I can learn something?

And once I have a CD pressed and I've decided whether or not to distribute it, how do I get it heard by folks that help recording artists (performers) choose songs to record?

I never knew that writing my little songs would ever get me into such a vast expanse of uncharted territory!

Thanks in advance for your help!

-jeff

[ifpo238]

Gidge? Help me out here. Please!

-j

[Gidge]

soon as i get a publishing deal, ill let you know how i did it....first let me make sure i understand what you are after...do u want to get a publishing deal as a writer, to have your songs recorded by others??....because thats pretyy much what im looking for (but not actively right now).....

[Fmmahoganyrush]

Ah Grasshopper, your question is one which does not have an answer... ...or at least it seems that way. Nobody can give straight scoop on how to get published, who to contact, etc. It seems that it just kind of happens by happenstance (spelling). There are a lot of people who cruise these threads who are connected with the industry in one way or another (BTW, not me), so you may hit on something here. Good luck. Tom.

[Gidge]

if you are going after a songwriters deal, dont worry about releasing a CD...put your money into decent demos.....then start sending it out to publishers and from there its a crapshoot....your best bet is finding some kind of connection, getting in the back door so to speak.......

I once got offered a publishing deal for a few songs by chance...a guy came in the store i managed and was passing thru headed to Baton Rouge and we started talking and guess what? hes a music publisher which leads to "hey I write songs" which leads me to get a tape out of my car which leads him to offering me a deal on a few songs....of course dumbass didnt take it......

his offer was to publisher and attempt to get it recorded withsome of his artists that he frequently does business with.....if he financed the demo it would be a 50/50 deal...if i did the demo myself it woulod be a 75/25 deal......the downside i saw was that the artists he dealed with was no name country/gospel/christian artists and i stupidly had higher visions.......

anyway, check out the book by Jason Blume "6 Steps to Songwriting Success - The Comprehensive Guide to Writing and Marketing Hit Songs" ...it can take you thru the process of molding your songs and how to present them to publishers......

[Buck62]

Here's a couple of good places to check out if you're a songwriter...

http://www.justplainfolks.org/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi

http://searchlightp.proboards3.com/index.cgi?

You'll find lots of useful info there.
Break a leg!

Buck

[ifpo238]

Thanks, all, for the replies! Yeah, Gidge, I'm looking for someone else to do my songs. It'd be cool to hear something I did on commercial radio. (I've had my stuff played on college radio, but that's a different story...)

And I thought about it, and I don't wanna live on a bus and tour all the time. And that'd require getting a band together, and I'm kind of a control freak when it comes to my music. I think I could live with just writing and having somebody else do the songs. (Of course, then I'll end up gritching about how those no-talent so-and-sos destroyed my songs and turned them all teeny-bopper, but, hey, everybody needs something to gritch about, right?) Besides, I wanna be able to go to the grocery store in peace. I'd rather be the guy in the bar that hears somebody say, "Oh, I love this song!" and be able to say, "Yeah? I wrote it." :-)

Thanks for all the help, and for the book and link info! I've been writing to entertain myself for years, but I've only recently decided to try to do more with my music. I owe my encouragement in large part to the wealth of information for us non-industry types that I've gleaned from this board.

Thanks again!

-jeff