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.

How to Link to This Site:

It will appear on your page as:

Make your own song:Free Music Lessons and Songwriting Courses

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.

How to Link to This Site:

It will appear on your page as:

Make your own song:Free Music Lessons and Songwriting Courses

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:

How to Link to This Site:

It will appear on your page as:

Make your own song:Free Music Lessons and Songwriting Courses

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.

How to Link to This Site:

It will appear on your page as:

Make your own song:Free Music Lessons and Songwriting Courses

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.

How to Link to This Site:

It will appear on your page as:

Make your own song:Free Music Lessons and Songwriting Courses

a. Recording in the studio is very expensive.
b. At the studio, you do not have all the time to think creatively which can affect the quality of your projects.
b. Cuts the cost of your recording.
c. When the production cost is very low and your song has the potential to earn a lot, the return of investment in your business is very high.
d. When the return of the business is very high, it will ensure you have a successful music business.

There are a lot of ways to learn recording, it does not require hiring a recording engineer to get the job done. Though, recording needs study. Yes, you have to ensure you will have ample time to study recording yourself. Below I will outline what are things needed for you to do own demo recordings at home.

Requirement #1: Purchase the latest PC Windows XP computer with the fastest specs you can afford.

Yes, you need a computer to record the song. It may be expensive at first but you can also use your computer in any other purposes such as gaming, documentation, internet and recording. Just make sure your computer is frequently updated, well back up and has ample hard drive space for your music. I buy my computer in 2004 that cost around 45,000 pesos in the Philippines. In the Philippines it cost 8,000 pesos to record a single song complete (from recording process, then to mixing and finally to mastering process). But right now, I create around 10 songs, which should cost me around 80,000 pesos in recording studio. But I only do it in my computer so I roughly save half.

There are a lot of important guidelines in selecting the computers for recording purposes:

a. It is highly recommended to use Windows XP so that you can avail all important drivers for your audio sound card and audio drivers. And you can maximize the use of your computer. Using Linux Ubuntu is nice, but your computer can have limited programs unlike Windows XP.

b. Use a professional sound card. Highly recommended low cost solution is: Soundblaster Audigy Value. Read my audigy value reviews here. Professional sound card is very important for maximizing the dynamic range, noise reduction and capturing the widest frequency response from your recordings.

c. Use massive hard disk space and fastest Intel Pentium processor (recommended Pentium 4). Intel Pentium 4 has good processor stability in audio signals while having a massive hard disk space can give you more space in recordings. Take note that you will recording in .WAV not .mp3 file, so .wav is a much bigger file size. Read some important factors in selecting computer specifications for music recording.

Requirement #2: Purchase only one digital audio recording software (Digital Audio Workstation)

Why only one? You need to achieve some mastery in using this one as it is extremely very important for you to do this. Mastery in the usage of your DAW (Digital audio workstation) gives you the full opportunity to create great recordings. And my experience tells me that the quality of your demo recordings is highly related to the mastery level of the DAW you are using.

The software that I am using is Adobe Audition 1.5, I did not upgrade because I do not want to use the functionality and my mastery of this version. Read my Adobe audition 1.5 reviews for details.

Other standards include Pro Tools, which is widely known as the industry standard. It is by the way expensive and needs a much more expensive hardware. I suggest you will start with the simple ones as these kind of tools are suitable for advanced users.

Also it is highly important you get to know recording plugins and start experimenting yourself what sounds nice. I recommend that you read recording journals in the internet to get more techniques especially on the topic of audio mixing.

Requirement #3: Gather the basic instruments

This is more fun, I expect you already have guitar or piano. I suggest you will buy some second hand bass guitar and start playing yourself or find someone you can play for it if you do not know. Other basic instruments includes a drum sequencer that includes Hotstepper, which is a freeware program. This is very useful for creating realistic drum loops. To get real drum samples to load in the hotstepper, all you have to do is to go recording studio and record some short sample audio wave for snare, toom, kick, pedal hi hat, open hi hat and cymbals. After that go home, and load it to your hotstepper, it is by the way easy to load.

You should also have a very good audio mixer at home. I recommend Behringer Xenyx 502 because it is handy, low cost solution and provides quality sound. You can read my reviews Xeny 502 review here.

Other tools that you need includes a guitar tuner (one for both guitar and bass), audio cables and guitar pedals (this is optional, some good ones are distortion, delay or chorus).

Maintain this instruments yourself, these are assets. I suggest you will protect them too by placing in the guitar case and undust on the monthly or weekly basis. Do not let your neighbors or friends borrow it. The borrowers may not care for your instrument and will broke it by accident.

Requirement #4: Master the art of mixing

Mixing is an art with scientific principles. This is the most important skill you need to acquire if want the demo to sound good. There are a lot of great sites in the internet that teaches mixing for free. You can read this guide in how to do a multi-track recording session as well as how to mix instrument audio frequencies.The objective is to give you a beginners guide. The internet contains vast resources for your learn more. Read more until you are confident the result is great. Good luck!

How to Link to This Site:

It will appear on your page as:

Make your own song:Free Music Lessons and Songwriting Courses

Let us discuss step by step what happens from the moment the songwriter put his pen to a paper to write lyrics and melodies and to the moment the song will be heard on the radio or other performance medium:

1. Songwriting Stage: the songwriter is the first step. He is the one inspired to write songs with purpose. Professional songwriters write for a specific artist while Amateur Songwriters write for themselves although in a transition of becoming professional soon. In this stage the song is created. The end product of this stage is a complete set of lyrics and melodies of the song. It includes also the arrangement and simple raw recording from the cassette tape. In this stage, the songwriter will file a copyright registration of the song.

2. Recording production stage : the songwriter will seek help of a professional recording producer at this stage. In order for the song to be marketable, the recording producer has all the tricks, ideas and experiences needed to make the song a hit. A good advice is to look for a producer which is very good at your targeted genre. If you are a rock songwriter or you write for rock artist, go look for a rock producer. Or if you are country songwriter, go look for a country producer. Expect to pay the producer at an agreed cost as well as settle the ownership of the song recording as early as possible.

In the US Copyright, ownership of the song and recording is different and make sure that if you want to earn some royalties in your recordings not just songs, you should obtain a written permission from the recording producer. It is possible also that you will find a recording producer for a “Work for Hire” agreement. In this way, the producer is paid by some amount and you still owned his recordings.

By hiring a recording producer,it will make your demo sound so professional. I suggest that in finding the right producer, you should listen first to his works. Also make sure that his works are your type. If you like the sound of his recordings, go and hire him as producer.

3. Artist and Musicians Rehearsal- Recording Stage: One of the job of the recording producer is to hire musicians/ artist to perform your song. They will go to a recording studio and do some recordings. This is the birth of your demo. Also the way the artist is being compensated depends on the agreement between the producer and the musicians. You are paying the producer to do the job on the demo, the record producer in return pay the artist/musicians to perform the songs.

You can even attend the recording sessions to make sure, all those melodies, lyrics or chords are performed exactly as you need it to be. Although the producer oversees the overall recording process, you can suggest to the producer any positive comments you need to make. Bear in mind that it is the job of the producer to handle all the recording cost and expenses. It is why it could be expensive to pay a producer, because the producer needs to make a profit while spending some of his money to the studio engineers, artist and others.

It is also the reason why most of the songwriter nowadays practice the art of recording in their home because hiring a producer is becoming more expensive and rare. But doing your demo recordings without thorough recording experience is a suicide and you could not produce great recordings right away. It is why it is highly advisable to find a recording producer so that your demo recordings will sound great and professional.

4. Final mixdown stage (Decision of recording producer and the songwriter): This is the last step of the mixing process, where the mixing and song arrangement are finalized to the will of both recording producer and the songwriter. After all, this is the songwriter demo and the songwriter will make sure that the demo is sounding the way he wants it, although it is the producers job to get the sound he want based on their agreement before the recording process takes place. In this stage, the songwriter will listen to the final mix produced and make some comments. If there are changes, the producer will take note of it or may asked for additional charges, again depending on their agreement.

5. Mastering stage – one of the important steps in demo song production process. In this stage, the final mix down is brought to a mastering studio. This is the job of the mastering engineer , although under the supervision of the recording producer. Mastering process is the process of achieving the loudest possible volume without hurting dynamics or producing distortion. One of the purpose of the mastering process is to make the mix radio and user friendly. Music consumers and industry professionals used to hear mastered tracks and you should not disappoint them by submitting a demo that is not mastered.

6. Pressing stage (Marketing stage) - you may think after mastering stage that your demo is complete. In reality, it is not. You still have to make a good package out of your demo. This includes press kit which is a very important marketing tool. Demo CD is just part of the song production process. But having a complete press package is what completes the demo song production. You still need details about your package such as lyrics, your photo and song reviews. Song reviews from professionals is mostly overlooked in this process. In fact, having a professional and honest song review can boost the songwriter confidence of the song as well as find opportunity for improvement.

Those are the demo song production process based on my experience. Others may bypass other processes but will take a lot of effort to produce consistent and high quality results. Do not forget the very important documentation in your demo. Things such as copyright registration, related licenses, recording producer agreements, artist agreement and receipts of all the cost is also important to take note. Good luck in the production of your song demo!

Link to This Site:

It will appear on your page as:

Make your own song:Free Music Lessons and Songwriting Courses

a. Develop a catalog first that will produce potential hits. By understanding 80-20 principle, only 20% of your catalog songs will become hits. And these hits will give income in terms of royalties that comprises 80% of all royalties gathered. Developing your own catalog takes time. Patience and proper planning is the key. So if only 20% of the songs written will become hits and if demo requires 4 songs. This means:

Total number of Hit songs = 20% x Total number required songs in the catalog

Total required songs in the catalog = Total number of hit songs / 20%

Total required songs in the catalog = 4/ 20% = 20

This means to produce a high success rate demo, you will need to write at least 20 songs. This does not mean, you have to write 20 songs immediately in one day. It will not help. Instead, these songs are written with quality and marketability in mind. You will need to devote significant amount of time for each song that is to be written.

So for example, according to your present songwriting ability/skills, you can write one quality song per week. So it takes 20 weeks or five months to complete 20 songs.

Again, it does not mean at the end of five months you can now decide the best songs to be included in your demo. You still need to record your songs professionally (you may consider hiring a producer) and then get professional song reviews. Song review process is important to received critiques and ratings for your song. Again, it is suggested to conduct some sort of market research for your songs.

To do this, you will subject your catalog to exposure to potential listeners and get their honest rating. With this, this can help you assess what are the strong songs in your catalog.

A sample song review report from www.broadjam.com is shown below:

As as songwriter you can sign-up for MiniMob membership in Broadjam which is free and you can get excellent service from the reviewers. Take note that this is a free service and it allows you to review other songs first and comment according to what you think the song will be improve.

I suggest you will get at least 10 reviews and examine the results of the songs.You can then improve the songs according to listener comments. In this process you can select the best songs for your demo.

There are only three things you have to make sure on your demo best songs:

1. They are recorded with the best quality you can afford.
2. They are the most catchy songs in your catalog which according to song reviews, it has the highest hook, marketability, and vocals pitch rating (important especially for pop music).
3. You own the copyright of that song.

So if you have 20 songs, you have to make sure the 4 songs you send to the music publishers, recording labels or other music industry professionals will comply to the 3 important requirements.

It does mean you have to record all 20 songs which could be costly, you can prioritize them in the recording process which you think is marketable and a great song.

Link to This Site:

It will appear on your page as:

Make your own song:Free Music Lessons and Songwriting Courses

a. Basically press kit is a more formal one, a complete presentation package that can be done for an inspiring artist to break the deal.

b. Basically press kit itself should contain more than the song itself, it contains biography, reviews and photos if you are an artist.

If you are in doubt what to submit when someone ask for your demo. Here is my guide:

a. If you are a singer-songwriter with active performances, I go for a press kit because it is a more formal one. It gives my performance details and achievements.
b. If you are just a songwriter, I still go for a press kit but not including possibly loweing the formality than doing an artist press kit.Although song reviews are still very important.

Most of the requesting parties if you are a songwriter are the music publishing firms. It is because they are looking actively for marketable songs. If the requesting parties are the recording labels. They see you as an artist and you should submit a complete press kit including the sharp and clear photos of yourself. The recording should be done extremely well, the same quality as the commercial audio CD production.

Take of the following facts when someone ask for a demo CD(it could a recording label, music publishers or any music firms):

a. Always send an CD audio demo, not MP3 or other formats. It is because, a wav file is a complete production of your music. MP3 is a compressed and not always show the full potential of your sound. The difference may be hard to notice between a WAV file (CD audio quality) and an MP3. But the music producers, recording labels as well experienced music publishers can really notice this a lot.

b. When send an audio CD demo, use the 44.1 KHz 2 channel audio CD format (the standard one), or else if you send the wrong audio format, it will not be playable in their audio CD players.

c. Since you are a songwriter, always include lyrics and some song reviews done professionally. Do not let your mother or sister to give reviews for you.

d. Go for a professional looking press kit. We may settle for a creative one (handmade) but a professional looking press kit really means a lot to your audience. It shows your professionalism and committment in the music business. And they will treat you professionally as well. How many times songwriters made a mistake by submitting a very lousy demo. Remember if getting signed is very rare, and having someone to ask your demo is also rare. So you have to make it great.

e. Bear in mind the music industry professionals mostly hate to listen demos online, because it is MP3 format, takes time to play especially if the connection is slow. And they always prefer to have an audio CD demo more than doing it online.

Congratulations if a recording label ask you for a press kit because they think you are AMAZING! Millions are waiting in the line and hoping to be ask for a demo.Submitting a demo without the label asking for it is unsolicited and therefore label will not even listen to it. So it is very lucky to have a music professional ask you for a demo.

If you have a chance to make a press kit, it is your chance to get noticed and to sell yourself. Do the best in it, if you are not confident in making the press kit. You can even avail the services in the internet that specializes in making a professional press kit. You pay for it but the quality is great, and remember you only have one chance for it and you have to do it right!

Sample press kit for a singer-songwriter/artist with links to the providers:

(Picture courtesy of :www.pnotemusic.com)

(Picture courtesy of :http://www.artistpromo.com/)

(Picture courtesy of :http://www.jonasmusicservices.com/)

So to answer the post title, yes a songwriter will need a press kit. It is your business card to success. So do it right. If you have great tips on how to make an artist/songwriter demo or press kit. Comments and let your thoughts be shared. Thanks.

Link to This Site:

It will appear on your page as:

Make your own song:Free Music Lessons and Songwriting Courses