Music Business
Songwriters: Are You Pitching Your Songs With A Shotgun Or A Rifle?
One of the most popular questions we get at SongTown is “how many songs should I send to a producer or publisher?” The prevailing myth for aspiring songwriters is that “more shots equals a better chance of something great happening”. I want to dispel that myth and to explain why pitching your songs with a…
Read MoreWriting for Sync : Pitching Etiquette and Negotiations
In this episode Randall Foster talks about how vital it is to have proper pitching etiquette if you want to make a good impression when meeting with any music professional. He also talks about how to negotiate song contracts if you are offered a deal. Randall Foster is Vice President of Business Development and GM…
Read MoreHow Do Songwriters Get Paid? 4 Ways You Could Be Missing Out
Songwriters are wonderfully creative people with the ability to dream big with their hearts and minds. But often, we don’t understand the answer to the important question, “how do songwriters get paid.” So, here’s an overview of how songwriters get paid. Publishing Draws for songwriters. This is a monthly amount a publisher pays to a…
Read MoreGetting Feedback Before Demoing a Song
Should you be getting feedback before demoing a song? Listen in as Hit Songwriters Clay Mills (Multiple #1 Songs, Grammy Nominated Songwriter) and Marty Dodson (10 #1 Singles and 125+ Cuts) talk about how much feedback you should get before demoing a song and where that feedback should come from.
Read MoreHow Do I Submit Songs As A Songwriter To The Music Business? (Updated- 2022)
There seems to be a lot of confusion out there over the question “As a songwriter, how do I submit songs to the music business?” The truth of the matter is that there is no one way to “submit” songs to the music business. When you simplify the “song submission” idea, there are basically three…
Read More10 Do’s And Don’ts For Pitching Your Songs To Music Publishers
Pitching songs (playing songs for publishers, artists or record label people in hopes of getting them to record or help you get a song recorded), is one of the areas where songwriters make the most mistakes. And, those mistakes can be costly. You don’t get too many chances to make a good impression before you…
Read MoreSongwriters: How To Get A Publishing Deal
One of the first things an artist or songwriter learns when contemplating career is music, is that a good music publisher can often be the difference in succeeding or not suceeding in the business. But how to get a publishing deal is often shrouded in mystery. After all, there is no college degree that you…
Read MoreHow To Get A Songwriting Staff Writing Deal
As a pro songwriter for the last 25 years, I’ve learned there are 5 key ways I know to increase your chances of getting a songwriting staff writing deal with a publisher: Get to know music publishers organically. If there’s a publisher you are interested in and you are able, go to writer’s nights where…
Read MoreQuick Song Biz Tip: Songwriting Mechanical Royalties 101
What Are Songwriting Mechanical Royalties? Every time a song you’ve written is manufactured (CD, Vinyl, etc) or downloaded on a digital music retail site, or streamed through services like Spotify; songwriting mechanical royalties are paid to you. Mechanical rates are set by the Copyright Royalty Tribunal as part of the Copyright Act of 1976. The…
Read MoreAnatomy of a Sync Song
Randall Foster is Vice President of Business Development and GM of the Nashville office of a digital distribution company called Symphonic Distribution. Prior to his current role, Randall was the leader of the Creative Sync & Licensing for ole music publishing where he oversaw a vast catalog of music copyrights and intellectual property and managed…
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