Pay Me $250 to Re-demo Your Song!

For the umpteenth time I have received an email from a songwriter who has been mislead by a so-called "publisher" showing interest in their songs.   It's not the showing interest that's bad, it's the thing they do next:  they follow up by asking the songwriter to pay them money to "re-demo" their song(s).

Fortunately the red flags went up this time and the songwriter emailed me to ask my opinion.  I told him exactly what I tell every other songwriter that emails me with a similar story;  run the other way!  This is how these companies make their money, not by successfully pitching songs to artists, but by making money from the "re-demos".    And what does the songwriter get?  Another demo of their songs and a big bill.

Pay attention to this:  if ANYONE asks you for money to pitch or re-demo your songs, don't do it!  There ARE professional legitimate song pitchers out there, but they work an entirely different way and the chances are you wouldn't know about them until you had some kind of track record for successful songs already.

I always recommend checking out the publication "Songwriter's Market" for a better chance at finding more legitimate publishers.  It comes out annually and lists publishers and record labels in many genres, and keeps pretty up-to-date on all of them.  It also has a number of really good articles on the do's and don'ts of pitching your music, so it's worth the price just for that.  You can find the book in your local bookstore, or you can buy it from Amazon. 

Here are some other tips when it comes to looking for a publisher:

Finding New Fans Can Backfire

I read an article today on a music marketing website that had to do with finding new fans online.  It basically said not to wait for fans to find you, but to seek them out by looking for similar artists to yourself on websites that you have your music on, like Reverbnation or MySpace.  The author said to "reach out" to these other artists' fans.

While I see the importance of marketing yourself and your music when you're a performing artist or in a band, I do think that some of this can backfire on you if you don't know how to go about it or when to stop.  As an example, I had a songwriter who emailed me a month or so ago about a song that he had placed in some kind of online contest.  He wanted votes for his song.  Now, first of all think of this:  if you are trying to get people who don't know you to vote for your song, what if they don't like it?  I mean, that is a possibility!  They might end up voting for someone else.   There's a backfire right there.  So solicit people that you already know like your music.  That's the first step.

I did not go to the site to listen to his song because I basically didn't have time at that point.  So I pretty much ignored his email, which was generic in nature anyway.  In other words, mine was in a long list of emails, he didn't email me specifically.   But even after I ignored it, he didn't stop at that.  He emailed again, presumably to the same number of email addresses saying that he had reached a semi-final with his song and he needed votes again.  And then I got a third email, as he was still looking for votes.  So this time, I politely emailed for him to please remove me from his email list.

Songs I Like - Baker Street

I remember when Baker Street came out in 1978 because this song compelled me to buy the whole album, which was great. The most unusual thing about this song is that the chorus is entirely instrumental with that distinguishable sax solo. Apparently this song lead to a resurgence in the purchase of saxophones, called the "Baker Street Phenomenon". Any song that drives people to want to learn an instrument is okay in my books!

The whole album is terrific, and I seriously don't think he had as successful an album since that one.  One of Gerry's more famous previous songs was "Stuck In The Middle" from his stint in the band Stealer's Wheel, but for me Baker Street was far superior.  He wrote it after Stealer's Wheel broke up and he was involved in a prolonged legal battle to get out of his contract with the band.  He travelled quite a bit between Glasgow and London during the contract dispute and ended up staying at a friend's in London on Baker Street, where the idea for the song was born.

The Baker Street sax solo was supposedly first meant to be sung, then a guitar bit was considered.   It was the session player Raphael Ravenscroft who suggested he try it on a soprano sax, and the rest is history.  When I think of it now, I can't imagine it being anything other than sax.

"Winding your way down Baker Street"...lyrically, the song is in the second person but I imagine the song as being autobiographical, describing a guy who has had some struggles with alcohol and depression, with life being lived out on the low end.  "Just one more year and then you'll be happy, but you're crying, you're crying now."

Musically the song is in the key of "D", but one of my favourite parts is the pre-chorus where it shifts to a Dm7 and Am.  Shifting from a major to a minor 7th can create a powerful emotional impact:

Here is the first pre-chorus:

Dm7                              Am    

  You used to think that it was so easy

Dm7                            Am         

  You used to say that it was so easy

     C             G              D    * 

But you're tryin, you're tryin’ now

Dm7                            Am              

  Another year and then you'd be happy

Dm7                                  Am           

  Just one more year and then you'd be happy

     C               G             A     Dm7/G         

But you're cryin', you're cryin' now 

Gerry Rafferty died last January (2011), apparently of multi-organ failure after years of alcohol abuse.  It brought on a surge of new interest in his songs, but in the years leading up to his death he appeared to spiral deeper and deeper into his dark place.  It's too bad that it often takes an artist or songwriter's death to bring the attention that they so desire in life.  Rafferty had that attention during the late 70's and although he released a number of albums since, none of them achieved the success that City to City did.

Listen to Baker Street in the video below.

~ IJ