How to present your tapes to industry

[PrideandTwitty]

Once you have a cassette that you want to present to industry. What steps must be taken and how do you get it to the industry?
I record at how with a small set up and would like to send copies of these cassettes to the proper persons. Copyrights, agents , etc.
any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank You PrideandTwitty

[limoguy]

In my experience, most Publishers will not accept material that is unsolicited. You need to make contact with them by letter first to inquire whether or not they will do this. Most publishers have staff writers in their employ.

For the ones who reply yes, and not many of them do, they should list their preferences for packaging the material to send. Including what formats they prefer, information that needs to appear on both the jackets and the cassettes or cd's etc. Some of them will give you a reference number to quote when you submit. Most publishers prefer to work with cd's.

Make sure you follow their instructions for packaging your material to the letter! Failure to do so will result in your cd hitting the garbage lickety-split!

There are some "pitch sheets" which you can subscribe to which list artists and/or publishers who are currently looking for specific material and they can be a help when you're trying to figure out who to contact and when.

I did an experimental mail-out a while back. I sent 28 letters ( at random) to Nashville publishers. Of those 8 responded that they were not accepting outside submissions, 1 offerred me the opportunity to submit my material and the rest never even bothered to respond.

Having said all that...don't be discourgaed! If you believe in your material be persistant...it will pay off eventually.

Good Luck!!

Limoguy

[Peter D]

I agree with Limoguy. It's really important to establish some kind of contact in the office of the entity you're pitching to, whether it be secretaries or assistants, before submitting a CD demo. Most publishers request CDs and cassette tapes, if used at all, are for dupes to demo musicians, etc.

Having said that, I've probably pitched songs in every way imaginable, including the wrong way. I've pitched to Hank Williams, Jr. while standing at a dressing room urinal, handed tapes and cds to managers, band members, roadies, producers, girlfriends, wives and groupies. Any way you can get your material into the hands of someone who might be of assistance to you in getting a cut is good, but you must remember one thing - Don't tick people off. If they say they're busy or uninterested, leave them alone. Of course, my perspective is one of a non-performing songwriter. If you're trying to get a recording deal for yourself, there's a whole additonal set of rules which I don't know.

[PrideandTwitty]

Thanks for the info. I found it helpfull.
I am more interested in being a performer-songwriter and getting my own record deal. Any help is apprecitaed. Thanks Pride and Twitty