If you are looking for a DEAL *(record or publishing deal) you should have BOTH – but just remember in this day and age – publishers nor labels have much money so you are well advised to try it on your own if you are willing to work at it, but just for the sake of argument, I think you are best to "hedge" your bet and be able to offer as much music as you can. And that’s true if you are doing it yourself – why not have FULL BLOWN MASTERS and Acoustic Versions of ALL of your songs?
When looking for an artist or even a pub deal you need to have AS MANY songs as you can. In short, I'm willing to bet you'll hear "this is good - but what else do you have?" - If you really want an artist deal and the BEST deal - you'd be well advised to have 3 albums worth of material as a "band", duo, artist, etc that writes their own stuff - otherwise – the labels will put you with songs and/or writers. You see this most often with country and pop. It seems that rock (save for some exceptions) is the one last bastion of songwriters that do their own songs. For the most part in country and pop – the artists are either dictated or strongly advised to record the songs the label wants you to record. And even if you do co-write *(which is great) – you are going to come up against the “controlled composition clause” – which means you will only get paid a ¾ statutory rate for ALL the songs that you write on YOUR record. And that’s true even in ROCK! The labels don’t want to pay what is STATUTORILY dictated and have found a way to keep MORE of YOUR money! (But I digress…)
As a songwriter - you just never know where a cut can come from – you could be pitching an artist deal and end up with a publishing deal. For that matter, Trisha Yearwood got a record deal because she sang so many demo’s somebody finally said – “the song’s not that good, but WHO is that SINGER?” She got signed on PURE VOCAL TALENT. But this was before you had to be a triple threat – great looking, great voice and great writing/playing skills.
So when pitching for publishing or a label deal there’s two schools of thought. Demo and/or Guitar Vocals? Or well recorded Full blown demos that already have ALL the parts done and sound GREAT – (in short masters) are often preferred – but they can also SKEW the listener’s viewpoint of the song. While a guitar vocal or piano vocal can be a blank canvas as it were so that the publisher, A&R person or label contact can “envision” what would sound good with that song. So you’re better off having both. Therefore have all songs done with a simple guitar/vocal - piano/vocal (as you should for preparing for a studio session) - but also have some SERIOUSLY well done Demo's (or rather masters) - the people who make decisions have gotten pretty demanding and they want finished product - as they are usually not musicians or producers - just music fans that were lucky to get a gig at a label or publisher - so they don't necessarily have a clue - so the BIGGER and better it sounds - the better off you are…
And of course, don't forget to try services such as TAXI or putting your music out to as many places as you can as you never know when you'll get a call for a sync deal!
(I trust this is a help…) But I still think in todays world of social networking, word of mouth via texts, and cloud computing - if you have GREAT MUSIC - and you can keep putting out GREAT MUSIC - then you're much better of putting your own music out there - if the people love it - then the labels will come to you!
SM @ MSO
