quick question

  • Thread starter Thread starter lala
  • Start date Start date
L

lala

New member
I have written a song and the music to it and I feel that it is good. I want to record it and send it to a publishing company, and so my question is this: When they recieve it and listen to it, how much does the quality of the recording matter versus the quality of the material? I know I probably don't want to send in something that sounds so bad, quality wise, that it affects their first impression of my material. Any advice/ knowledge/ opinions would be very much appreciated. ~La
 
Get a copyright before you send anything in. If you don't, and they like it, you might find it appearing somewhere else.

I would try to make as good a recording as I could. My guess is that the typical firm gets many such submittals, and ones that sound good probably have a better chance of seeing the light of day.

While I have no real experience in this area, an alternative approach might be to seek out an artist who the song might be suitable for. Then send it to them instead. I have heard many stories from professional country music artists who have selected material using fan submittals.

Ed
 
I agree with Ed on the copyright part. Also in the March edition of "Recording Magazine" they mentioned that when you send a demo to a company, the better it looks (fancy labels) and the better it sounds (as in recording quality) then there is more of a chance of them listening to it.
 
Publicists are used to hearing everything from the worst to the best. While recording quality can help a bit, they're listeing for the melody and structure first. If you can capture them with the performance and a little passion, that will take you further than a really high quality recording.

A "play it safe" recording will go much further than a muddied up one also. If in doubt, err on the side of "anemic" instead of going too dense. Dense is distracting. Anemic is... Well, it's a little anemic.
 
ok. Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it. How would I go about getting a copywrite? For the quality of the demo, I guess it does make sense for me to make it as best as I can. Thanks. ~la
 
Copyright applies whether or not you mark it. It's the right of a creator to their intellectual property.

To close a loophole for unscrupulous labels (as happened in the Chef Aid episode of South Park involving Alanis Morrisette and the song 'Stinky Britches') simply mark your CD and sleeve with the little C in a circle and something like, "Copyright lala 2004" or anything along the lines you see on web sites or CDs.

The bottom of this page says:

Copyright ©2000 - 2004, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright © 1995-2004 David Fiedler d/b/a HomeRecording.com

That's about right.
 
ok, let me get this right, cos I wanna be sure, although it may be a stupid question. copyright is automatic? as in you don't have to submit any official documents, etc, you just mark the material with a (c) (my keyboard doesn't have the sign on it).

also, from what I've heard, major record companies generally don't get time to eve listen to demos that aren't reccomended to them. this isn't because they hate you, but because they get SO MUCH STUFF. if you send an unsolicited demo to a major label, chances are they'll chuck it just as a matter of policy.

for that reason, it's good to call the label first (whether it's indie or major) and ASK if you can send in a demo to them, and what formats they accept, etc.

this is what I hear, anyways, not from personal experience, so I could be wrong, but if you're going to put your time, energy and money into something, it's probably best to make sure it actually gets heard by someone . . .
 
Actually, on a recording you want the circled "P."

The "C" protects visuals (such as the printing on a CD or an album cover).

Most fonts have the "C" in (ALT+0169) Like this - ©

I think DiscMakers has a font online that has everything you need as far as that is concerned...

The form is the SR Copyright form. Go here: http://www.copyright.gov/forms/
 
Thanks for the site, Master. I appreciate it.

So, if I want to send in a demo I should contact the company first? Since I live in the greater Nashville area, I guess that will be easy. One last thing for now, does it really matter if they recieve a demo on cassette rather than on CD, or is one prefered over the other?
 
lala said:
Thanks for the site, Master. I appreciate it.

So, if I want to send in a demo I should contact the company first? Since I live in the greater Nashville area, I guess that will be easy. One last thing for now, does it really matter if they recieve a demo on cassette rather than on CD, or is one prefered over the other?
Click to expand...

CD or tape, it all depends on the record companies requirements. from visiting sites on the web, I gather that most prefer CD format nowadays, but like I say, call them and ask or check their website. It's also a good idea to check out the label fully (ie. what type of music they do etc - it's no ggod wasting your time sending a country song to a house music label). here in New Zealand, we have a website that profiles most of the labels around, and says whether they accept demos and in what format, etc. maybe there is something similar in Nashville?

if the song is quality, it will impress over mediocre production - the main thing is getting them to actually listen to the song . . .
 
I'm glad I asked these questions before I did anything. Thanks for all the responses. I guess next I will look for some kind of similar website dealing with the Nashville business area and I'll see how it goes from there. Thanks everyone. ~la
 
I have been doing some more reading about all of this. On the copyright site that Master provided it said to include a phonorecord with the application. Is that just a recording? I feel a little stupid asking this, but I'll never figure it out if I don't ask somebody. So don't laugh at me too much. K? ~la
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top