We are not the same persons after all, I cannot force you to be like me. So here we go, I will outline possible steps in how to make your own song demo regardless of your financial, technical and artistic abilities:

Vital Step #1: How Good is your Song???

Producing your own songwriter demo could be costly, not only financially but your TIME. Before you invest in something, you should measure its marketability.The following are important checkpoints:

- Have you performed that song in public? What was their reaction? Did they bored or jam along with you?

- Did they listen to you? Did they ask for a copy of that song after your show?
- Do you receive feedback if the lyrics were good? or even bad?
- If you sing it to a child several times, does the child remembers it and hums it?
- If someone ask you to render a performance in a music show, do you play that song? or feel ashamed of it and then just play your favorite cover song?
- If you upload that song to your music site, does it receive positive ratings or feedbacks?

You may wonder why this needs to be answered very seriously, it is because a you are DETERMINING YOUR SONG IF IT HAS SOME “HIT POTENTIAL“.
A lot of cash has been burned investing in something which is not marketable. If you treat your songwriting career as a business, I highly recommend seriously doing this step. Of course, as an explanation above…

…If someone ask you a copy of song, be happy because they liked it.
…If someone praises your lyrics, be happy again because it touches their lives.
…If a child remembers the tune, be proud, it is because the song has a good and easy to remember HOOK.
…If you are proud to sing that song to anyone else, it is because your simply LIKE IT. Paul McCartney is even proud to sing YESTERDAY to his bandmates, even it is still not RECORDED.
…If the song receives a lot of positive feedback from anonymous listeners, be very happy because it simply says that the song is GOOD.

Vital Step #2: If you do not have the technical skills, have someone to PRODUCE IT

Do not push your technical limits, your demo needs to be EXCELLENT so you have to hire a professional for this one. Check your technical background and your PATIENCE then:

a. Are you wiling to practice very hard to improve your recording skills? If not, then hire a professional. In my case, I have a solid audio engineering background, so I am very happy to practice to improve my recording skills.

b. Do you have a personal computer with recording gears? If not, then consider hiring a studio and a professional recording engineers. In my case, since I know how to produce the recordings, I invest some money to buy some good gears because it is a requirement for a home recording studio.

If you are planning to hire a songwriter demo service , then read this one very carefully: http://www.make-your-own-song.com/2008/09/12/songwriter-demo-service-be-warned-before-proceeding/.

Vital Step #3: Protect your SONG

This means you have to file TWO COPYRIGHT APPLICATIONS. First, the copyright of the song. Second, the copyright of the recording. Do this carefully, this is very important steps in the songwriter demo process. Go to www.copyright.gov , they online applications at a very affordable cost.

You just need three steps. After the last step. You are very welcome to dive into the world of Song Publishing.

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So what are the common mistakes to avoid in doing songwriter demos?

Mistake No.1 : Rushing to Recording studio without Improving the Song Structure, Weaknesses and Mistake in Lyrics

After the song is written , just record it in a cassette tape, not yet to a recording studio. Before going to studio, seriously criticize your song structure and overall elements first. Does it have a “hit song title”, a “hit song structure” , a catchy lyrics? or Does it have a song concept, that people can easily relate? You can upload a raw recording in any songwriting forums and have anyone to seriously criticize your song elements EXCEPT the sound recording aspect. Then rewrite the song and correct the weak elements of the song, re-record it again in a cassette tape and have it reviewed it again.

Only when you are sure that the melody, arrangement and lyrics are correct, then it is the right timing to go to a recording studio and do some recordings. If you rush to recordings without examining your song carefully. This is a very costly mistake as it requires you to re-record again your song in a studio if you have not done it right the first time.

There are a lot of good forums I know about songwriting that can offer comments for your music. You can try: www.songwriterforums.com/forums/ and songwriter101.com

Mistake No.2 : Not considering inputs from a “reputable record producer” in your genre before recording the demo

This is not to say you should hire Matt Lange. But as a songwriter, you lack music production knowledge and ingredients that can further push your song to become a “hit”. Before going to a studio with your band or doing yourself as solo. You can find a indie producer in your area which produces records that you like. Finding a producer does not mean he is purely a “producer”. The key is to find someone experience about your targeted genre. If your targeted genre is rock, then listen to clubs or you can go to the best local rock artist in your area. Listen to their recordings and ask who is responsible for those arrangement of instruments and command in the recording process. Most of the time, notable band leaders are producers in the indie rock music.

This is how Led Zeppelin started, Jimmy Page (band guitarist) is pro-active in crafting their song in the studio, he decides what elements are needed in order to make the recording right. In short, Jimmy page is the band guitarist and a Led Zeppelin producer too. You can ask for help in recording your song in the studio so that the producer inputs dictates the song recording, mixing and mastering process. Failing to get producer inputs can either make your demo sound:outdated, poorly recorded, mixed and mastered, out of style for your targeted genre, lacking potential hit song elements such as beat, groove and others.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Credits is important in music business, so if the producer ask to have her/his name in the producer credit, it is ok as long as the producer agreed you own the master recording rights. You can let him sign an agreement about this in WRITING!

Mistake No.3 : Not filing for Song and Sound Recording Copyright in your country government office

I am amazed at a number of songwriters not filing copyright for both song and sound recording. Their demos will be pitched to the publishers and other potential consumers such as music directors, recording producers of big artist, TV directors, etc so make sure the demo and your own work is protected legally. This can be done by submitting for example your work to the US Copyright office. By doing this one, you now have the legal right to issue licenses to any of consumers in the music business, needing to use your song. So make sure before publishing your work, this will be correctly done.

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But first, it is a bit difficult to track without knowing those important elements that are to be tracked. Demos are recording of songs where the author could be yours or a result of a collaboration. Therefore the songwriter author could not be just yours but others too. The recording is done by an engineer or a producer, therefore they could be the true owner of the recordings. A more sophisticated thing to track is versions. Different recording results to different versions, so which version are you the one performing? or give producer or songwriter credits? Even demo done in cassette is important to be tracked. Sooner or later these will be transferred into your hard disk and it is important to keep track of different versions.

This results to complication in music licensing and sometimes end up in trouble and confusion. Therefore a solution or a system is necessary to keep track of all these things. There are basically two major things that are important to be tracked:

a. Audio Recording Credits
b. Songwriting Credits

Audio Recording Credits

The audio recording credits gives information as to who is responsible for the certain demo recorded version. The songwriting credits gives information to the person responsible for creating the songs. This includes the melody and the lyrics.

The following are the important information that are to be tracked under “Audio Recording Credits”:
a. Version type
b. Performing artist
c. Producer credits
d. Date completed
e. Link to the Recording

The “version type” tells what type of version was recorded. Is it the multi-track/ studio version or just a live recording? Performing artist is the name of the singer/performer featured in the recording. The producer credits is the person who is the creator and owner of the sound recording. But this depends on agreement and it needs to be clearly understood in writing. For example, you are a songwriter and you hire a recording producer. It could be possible that the recording producer will claim ownership of the audio recording and not yours.

In this case if you are paying the producer, you must execute a work for hire agreement and let him sign that the recording work done was financed by yourself and you claim ownership the recorded material. Take note that this is very important in copyright applications and claiming ownership.

Date completion marks the time the recording was done, including the mixing and mastering process of music production.

Songwriting Credits

Creators of the song are sometimes difficult to recognize and to establish. It is because songwriting is a complex process especially if that involves more than one songwriter such as in the case of collaboration. It is highly recommended to establish an agreement between one writer to finalize the % share of contribution in a certain song. And then document this one and it will be needed in the ASCAP song registration as well as related copyright applications.

The following are important information to be tracked under “Songwriting Credits”
1. Complete name of the writers and their corresponding % contribution
2. Title of the song
3. Date written
4. Copyright status
5. Performance Right Societies
6. Genre
7. Length
8. Link to the lyrics

Putting it all together

To save money, you can even use Microsoft Excel, Open Office Calc or even Google docs to track all your songwriter demo. Google docs is great for online storage and sharing. However Excel and Calc is fine to track your songs offline.

If you can put it all together it may look like the one below:

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a. You are not sure if they are really asking for it
b. You do not know how to present the demo professionally.
c. You are not sure what songs will be placed in your demo (this is true if you think you have a lot of great songs )
d. You are confused where to address your demo.
e. You do not know the status of your demo.

From my personal experience it is good to examine those above problems and recommend a course of action:

FIRST PROBLEM: You are not sure if they are really asking for it.

It is a good thing to ask for permission FIRST. Yes I am serious. Nobody likes to receive tons of unsolicited materials. You have to get a clear permission from your recipient. A simple “YES” are not enough.But elaboration of the answer “YES” is better. A lot of persons that will be receiving your demo try their best to be nice to you. So they can even say “YES”, but a more elaborate answers show their interest.

2ND PROBLEM: You do not know how to present the demo professionally.

This is really a problem. Demos should be presented professionally, I highly recommend that if you are not able to replicate professional standards I suggest you will avail professional demo services. I cannot recommend one because I have not tried that before. But it is worth the cost. They can print out glossy materials for your demo, highly clear pictures, edited bios, professionally presented press releases. Not only that, but I have seen that they can prepare your demo CD too, they can make it look “standard” ( unlike the stickers and felt tip pen method we do at home )

The 8 x10 glossy black and white is also a bit challenging to prepare. Make sure all your photos , materials and others complies to what is seen as “standard” by the music industry. For example if “audio CD” is today’s standard in music submission materials. Please do not submit cassette tapes especially not winded to the start!

By availing a professional demo services, it is highly possible that you can obtain a professional looking demo.

3RD PROBLEM: You are not sure what songs will be placed in your demo (this is true if you think you have a lot of great songs )

This needs extra care and attention. Failure to submit proper songs is a surefire for rejection. Why??? If you are 100% sure that the label is working on a country songs, then do not submit rock songs to it. Some artist and songwriters did not understand properly the nature of the recipient business. So better careful with this, I even meet one publishing company that in their request, they are willing accept songs regardless of genre. BUT I DO NOT EVEN HEAR A SINGLE ROCK SONG IN THEIR CATALOG!!!

Do not know why they advertise to accept different genres but in the end accept only one specific genre. Sound confusing? huh.

So do not fall into trap that they accept any genres, better double check the nature of their business. Also you can get information from the artist that they have signed, the type of songs in their catalog. Most of their songs are available online to hear and observed, so better do this background investigation first before submitting your demo.

4th PROBLEM: You are confused where to address your demo.

It is extremely important to get the correct address to where you are going to send the demo. Failure to get the right address will send your demo to the limbo of lost. To counteract this problem , is to important to ask exactly the recipient address the first time they ask for demo. Do not rely on company address shown in their “Contact Us” page, or their letterheads. It is sometimes very different.

5th PROBLEM: You do not know the status of your demo.

It is why it is very important that the demo recipient already knows you and you have their contact information. Trust me, you will not be comfortable to do the follow-up of the status if the demo recipient does not completely know you. It is not to say that having some sort of short relationship is a requirement but it will be a big advantage.

To make the follow-up is to have a confirmation that the package has been successfully received by your recipient. Sending your package using courier or express mail is a good strategy because they will provide you with tracking code. Do not ever make a follow-up unless you are 100% sure they have received the package. If they have received the package it is good to ask them some short of feed back when to expect results.

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a. Copyright of the song – As long as he is the registered songwriter associated with the US copyright application.
b. Copyright of the recording – After availing songwriter demo services, you should be owning the recording too! You can file a different US copyright for this under the classification of sound recording.

When availing songwriter demo service, do not assign your rights to anyone especially the ownership of your song and recording. And make sure you are paying them to render services, not having them owning your songs with the promise of offering you glamour. Read carefully what you sign. Beware of song sharks!

Take note that when you go to any recording studio to do some recordings. In any songwriter demo services, there should be a recording producer. In music business, be careful because a recording producer is the legal copyright owner of the sound recording.Make some arrangements with the producer assigned to your demo,and negotiate that since you are paying him/her, you should be owning the sound recording. Please execute this in writing if possible.

A songwriter today can earned not only mechanical, performance and sync royalties. With powerful music promoting and song pitching sites such as Broadjam, Myspace and Taxi.com, lots and lots of music consumers like TV directors, film producers and advertising agency are actively looking for master recordings. If a songwriter owns the master recording, he/she can make a money out of it.

Other things to take note in the demo services such as this are the following below:

a. Be prepared, if you have a mind of the producer, layout your songs in advance such as arrangement. This cuts the time of the recording session and saving you money.
b. Practice your vocals early.
c. Go for trusted demo services, I do not have any recommendations as I have not tried any of this.
d. Tune your instrument in advance so that you will not annoy the studio engineer.
e. Make your demo simple as possible, do not be tempted by the producer offering you tons of instrumental arrangements for your demo. This will just lengthen the amount of studio time with less improvement in quality.

In a typical rock song demo, aim for:

a. Guitars (distortion and clean) , two tracks will do.
b. Bass guitars
c. Drums
d. Vocals

In a pop song demo, the same instrument will apply as well as with country. The more simpler your demo the more it will sound clean and pleasant.

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