datamusicata

Tonight I am going to Catalina’s Bar and Grill in Hollywood to see Cheryl Bentyne (www.cherylbentyne.net/) and Mark Winkler (www.markwinklermusic.com/ .    Cheryl is in the jazz singing group, Manhattan Transfer (www.manhattantransfer.net/)  and Mark, a recent acquaintance of mine, is a NYC type caberet singer of note.

My reason for going is twofold:  I want to support my new friend, and I have written a song that would be perfect for the Manhattan Transfer.   I determined that this song would be perfect for them by listening to a number of their cd's.   Always do your homework, so that you are pitching the right song to the right artist.   You don't want to try to sell computer chips at the fish market.

Getting songs to specific artists is, I believe, the best way to pitch a song.    Taking it to a publisher and hoping that they pick your song out of the thousands that they represent is just not the way to go, unless you already have something of a track record and there is some interest in your catalog.

My plan is to burn two copies of the song, one for Mark, one for Cheryl, and print out the lyrics and make a package for each of them.

I am going to go backstage before the show, just to announce that I am there and then after the show, present them each with a package. 

I have sent songs to artists before with no luck.   I have gotten with agents, song pluggers, and music directors but the only time I have had my songs recorded (and I have mainly four songs that have been bonafide hits and still make me money), is thru personal contact.

This is not to say that song pluggers, publishers and music directors don’t do their job.   They do.  But competition is fierce and the numbers are against  you.

So the personal contact gives you a leg up, and that goes for personal contact with the aforementioned song pluggers, et al.    You need to develop personal relationships with these people.

And I am not recommending faking it.   Find people that you genuinely like and want to work with.  It’s easy to develop a relationship with someone if you are actually fond of them.

So the short answer is develop personal contacts with people that you like who work in the areas of your expertise.