How to pitch your music

‘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!

There are many ‘pitch list’ sites offering details on artists and labels who are looking for songs. These pitch lists come in two forms.

Finding Contacts

Firstly you have basic contacts like http://www.hitquarter.com who will list the names and phone nuimbers for many majoy managers and labels. In this case you would need to call them to find out if they are looking for any material and the style they would be after.

If you are willing to pay more however, you have the type of pitch list that has done all the leg work for you and tell you exactly who is looking and what style of music they want. One such example of this type of pitch list is www.myhitfactory.com

By far the best solution would be a site due to launch soon called www.audiorokit.com which not only contacts all music industry players asking what they are looking for, they set up a simple way for you to pitch directly to the A&R. The great part is that the A&R set up their inbox account so you know that they are genuine and want to recieve new material.

Whether you choose to go with a pitch list, it is important to step back from the creative mind that helped you write the song, and focus on the odds and be realistic about submitting songs. 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 their advantages...

Approach to pitching songs

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.

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.

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 too 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.