Quote:
For pitching a demo to a publisher the rules are very, very simple.

Keep it as simple as you can.

A two track acoustic and vocal is sometimes all that is needed.

They don't want to hear your production, just the song. They will produce it in their heads. Over-produced demos are dangerous territory.




This is not necessarily true. There are no rules for this except one.... It needs to be extremely well recorded.

At a songwriters seminar in LA several years ago, I had the opportunity to set in on a hit song writer talking about this very topic.

Should you submit simple or fully demoed songs?

I don't know what percentage of songs arrive as full band demos. Jason Blume did however play several demos for songs that were on the radio at the time. One was a pop song and one was a country song. Both were big radio songs. Aside from the singer obviously being different, those demos were full bands, complete with the fills and solos, and most importantly, completely radio ready. Played back to back it was hard to tell the difference between them. The demo version could easily have been on the radio but it wasn't the big artist singing. Jason's comments were to the effect that you should give them the full idea you have in your head. They can decide if they want to follow that or do a different arrangement. In both cases, the artist essentially covered the demo almost exactly note for note.

If you send a piano or guitar and vocal only demo, they have a lot of work to do to make the song ready for the artist who may or may not hear the possibilities of the song.

It's always your option to send a pared down demo and I'm absolutely sure hundreds of songs have been recorded by artists from a simple piano vocal demo.

You should always spell it out for them if you are capable.

Edit to add: Regardless of what demo method you choose, your song has to be great. A so-so song with a top quality demo will still be a so-so song. And in the same way, a great song with chart potential will be ruined by a singer who's singing out of tune sounding like they were recorded in a bedroom with a cheap mic or an out of tune guitar.

Last edited by Guitarhacker; 04/16/23 02:28 PM.
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