The plight of a newbie lyricist marketing a song demo

Even if they aren’t into country music, my friends have been impressed. I’ve already unveiled it but here it is, all over again! A nineteen-year old poem converted into a would-be pop/country song! Slowly, Her Name Fades Away:

Okay, so now what?

Seriously, now what?

Since I got the finalized demo a month ago, I’ve been sharing it with friends and family in person and through social media. There are some (few) strangers who have crossed the song and its lyrics here too. But that’s not taking it to the next level that I would like to achieve.

It’s a musical demo made by a third-party company, an arrangement they produced because I had no clue on a melody for it. That’s a serious side topic to discuss because often I can find myself reciting old poems and would-be songs at a certain tempo or with a musical arrangement backing it. Oh, the glory of imagination of an artiste!! (Insert mocking laughter here)

The song is out there for a different kind of consumption – it’s for true musical artists or producers / publishers / labels to acquire so they can make their own version of it and release it to the general public as part of an album or a single by an artist they represent (or themselves). That, knowing the song’s on a market for the elite in the music industry (“elite” being those who are the industry) is why I’m perplexed. How do you draw attention to a demo that someone else might want to have a performing artist record?

I’ve sent contact emails to two very-local music companies in the Tampa Bay metro area, just asking if they ever acquired music for their performers and presenting the song to them (which may or may not fit who they work with inside the country field). Like many companies who are approached about business by someone with no reputation whatsoever and just a pipe-dream, they never responded and from what I can tell they never even listened to the song.

So what now?

It’s one song, so my pressing the fact I’m a potential marketing story is impossible unless someone comes to me overwhelmed by the song and actually puts the writer on the same level as the artist who records the song. Yeah, I am a story and I joked about it when I unveiled things last month: I’m not Beethoven, but I am a guy who wrote this while I was deaf, I am a late-deaf adult. “And just listen to this and how heartbreaking and catchy this tune is!” Like that would happen…

Nashville Song Service, who recorded the demo, do deal directly with those in the music industry, but it’s mass-acquisitions more so than individual choice like what we (the common music fans) do. Someone might pick it up but it’ll be part of a larger cache of songs acquisitions and no connection to the lyricist or true fondness for the music. That’s part of the reason why I willingly approached two (local) companies about the music: It’s a more personal attempt to do something, but it also is a blind attempt by someone who doesn’t know the industry or how it ticks.

So, what now? I have no clue and the common articles I find online aimed at people trying to push demos are written with actual performing artists in mind, not prospective behind-the-scenes who so often concoct the songs that you hear on air on the radio/on the streams/on the CD of that artist you like who you thought was behind everything that’s being sung.

If you’re a music publisher or producer, if you’re an indie artist or even a label: If you listen to this song and take interest with acquiring it and recording it / having it recorded, drop me a line. If you’re just a blog reader and find this ridiculous, you’ve probably already clicked away from the article.  If not? Well, now’s your chance.