“How do I get my music heard?” asked the caller. If I had a nickel for every time a songwriter, artist, band or composer has asked me that question, I could retire! Truthfully, it’s not a great question because it’s so ambiguous. The people who ask the question would get a much better answer if they asked a more specific question.
Here are some examples:
- “How do I get my music heard by an A&R person at a record label?
- “How do I get my music heard by a publisher?”
- “How do I get my music heard by a Film or TV music supervisor?”
- “How do I get my music heard by somebody who books bands?”
- “How do I get my music heard by people who would be interested in buying it?”
Even those questions aren’t really specific enough. Don’t you want to know what kind of music they’re talking about? After all, a music supervisor working on a soap opera is probably not looking for Death Metal so much as singer/songwriter tracks, right? A little common sense goes a long way!
Marketing Your Music Starts with Common Sense
If you’re looking to market your music to the public, the question might be, “Where is a good place to market music from singer/songwriters?”
The more specific you are in your question, the more narrowly focused the answer is going to be.
Let’s take the example of a band that wants to get their music heard by an A&R person at a major record label. The question would be, “How do I get my music heard by an A&R person at a major record label?”
If you’re really on top of your game, you’d be even smarter to be more specific and ask, “How do I get my music heard by somebody who works in the Pop genre at a major record label?”
Getting Film and TV placements has become all the rage, yet most musicians don’t take the time to actually watch the shows and take notes as to what kind of music the shows generally use. The road map is staring them in the face!
Don’t submit Country songs to a show that primarily uses twenty-something hipster, Singer/Songwriter music. And the question that works as the corollary to this is, “How do I get my music to music supervisors who are looking for Singer/Songwriter tracks?”
The next time you’re ready to ask, “How do I get my music heard?” give it some thought and frame your question to be more specific. You’ll be much happier with the answers you get and much more successful in getting your music to the right people!