[Paddy O'Furniture]

Hi everyone,

What are your thoughts on pitching select songs to performers with a lot of potential, but are not household names? Is this recommended? Why or why not?

Is it at least worth a shot?

Thank you for your valuable input!
Patrick

[m24p]

If you have fun doing it, why not? It's unlikely to be profitable, but that's not what it's about, is it?

[Paddy O'Furniture]

When you say "unlikely to be profitable," do you mean, "as profitable as the rest of songwriting", or do you mean "particularly unprofitable"?

I appreciate you redirecting me to why I really do it though. But a thicker wallet wouldn't hurt my back much.

[Susan R]

Paddy O, on 13 January 2011 - 04:13 PM, said:

Hi everyone,

What are your thoughts on pitching select songs to performers with a lot of potential, but are not household names? Is this recommended? Why or why not?

Is it at least worth a shot?

Thank you for your valuable input!
Patrick

Many of the songwriters that write for big name performers knew these performers before they were famous. They used to hang out and have a beer or two with them.
It is all about networking (hate that word). Or a more real way of saying that is that people like to work with friends and people they like. A friend of mine is a major label staff writer (yes, there are still a few of them around) and he got his start writing for a friend of his that became big. On the other end of the scale I worked for a publisher not because I was the greatest thing since sliced bread, but because the publisher and I were great friends and I could get the job done.
So to answer your basic question: Yes it is worth it. You may be one of the lucky ones that gets to tag along with the next big performer.

[FunkDaddy]

If you believe the performer has potential and they're open to other's material, what's to lose?

[Paddy O'Furniture]

Nice! Thanks for your responses!

[crazypoet]

I've written songs for promising bands and artists for fifteen years, and it has been quite fun and I've gained a lot of experience by doing it. BUT the truth is, I've hardly made a single buck from it. That's why I'm taking the plunge and going in a different direction from 2011 on. That entails pitching songs to big(ger) artists through songplugging agencies and more direct approaches. Me and two collaborators are investing close to $8000 in our songs to begin with. Let's see if it's worth it....

[Paddy O'Furniture]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Good luck in your new plan of attack!
I'd be interested in hearing what you did and how it turned out, a little further down the road.

Patrick

[Susan R]

Some sobering info. Lady Ga Ga sold one million downloads on Spotify and recieved a check for a whopping $168.

[Salley Gardens]

Susan R, on 27 January 2011 - 06:32 AM, said:

Some sobering info. Lady Ga Ga sold one million downloads on Spotify and recieved a check for a whopping $168.

Not sobering at all (IMO) considering this statement is based on an incomplete picture.

This particular money paid out was based on plays in Sweden, under certain contractual conditions agreed upon in advance between all the parties. They also weren't downloads, but streamed listens. Sweden is a different culture (Spotify is a Swedish company), and things come out skewed when we try to apply our cultural standards to a different world view.

Whatever Lady Ga Ga's marketing strategy is, it seems to be working.

[Susan R]

The point was whether paid downloads or paid streams she only made $168 from 1,000,000. This was no comment on how much she makes on concerts or endorsements. And where in the blue moon does cultural standards come in to play concerning my comment????

[Salley Gardens]

Susan R, on 27 January 2011 - 11:38 AM, said:

The point was whether paid downloads or paid streams she only made $168 from 1,000,000. This was no comment on how much she makes on concerts or endorsements. And where in the blue moon does cultural standards come in to play concerning my comment????

I thought your point was that this factoid was "sobering" in the context of this thread. My intent was not to insult you. I simply disagree this factoid is "sobering" regarding this thread, when the surrounding details of it are known.

[FunkDaddy]

I'd be more interested to see her royalty cheques from ITunes.

[Salley Gardens]

Here's another thread regarding royalties, and downloads vs. streaming...