‘Pitching’ your songs to major artists in the hope that they will record your song can be a numbers game. Of course you need a great song, but you also need to make sure that the right song gets heard by the right person at the right time!
The best way of getting songs cut is to step back from the creative mind that helped you write the song, and focus on the odds, increasing the odds of getting that song placed is easier than you might think!
As a rule, there are two ‘song pitching’ approaches that come to mind, one is to write songs with no one in mind and then send them to as many people as you can think of, and the other is to focus on one
artist and bombard them with great tracks.
Both have there advantages...
In the first approach, you have the freedom to write what ever you like, be it rock one day, R&B the next, a ballad followed by an up tempo. You can write with no one in mind and search for key candidates afterwards, selecting those who would suit the particular song you have written.
By doing this you could join a service like http://www.myhitfactory.com and submit your song using their pitch system. Simple ... but be
warned there are hundreds of great songs being pitched everyday so
sometimes the second approach works best.
In this approach you would find out who is looking for songs, again
by using a service that provide details on pitch opportunities,
or by calling record labels yourself and doing your own research.
A great cost effective way to find contacts is www.hitquarters.com
You would choose someone who you feel you could write for well … in other words, write for a project that lends itself to your natural talents, be it rock, R&B or whatever.
Call the manager or A&R, get to know them and keep the calls consistent, not to often, just consistent! A call every 2 weeks, or an email every 2 weeks will allow you to build a report with the artists A&R or manager. You'll find in doing this you can get some good inside info on what is required.
Many times I have been pitching a type of song and luckily the manager has told me that they now need something else like a ballad instead of upbeat.
Sell yourself before selling your songs. Call people and talk to them about the project because it’s all to easy to keep writing songs like you’re on a song writing treadmill and forget to actually communicate with the company you’re hoping to pitch to – get out the recording studio and meet some A&R too!
This sounds obvious but musicians tend to like to bury our heads in their work, right!
You'll need to be your own secretary too, calling people, emailing and following up. Keep records of who you spoke to, what you have sent and what was said.
And finally, never send anything that isn't on brief and professional sounding or you'll lose respect. It's best to send nothing than something that's not up to scratch.
