The Music Business Buddy
A podcast that aims to educate and inspire music creators in their quest to achieving their goals by gaining a greater understanding of the business of music. A new episode is released each Wednesday and aims to offer clarity and insight into a range of subjects across the music industry, all through the lens of a music creator for the benefit of other music creators. The series includes soundbites and interviews with guests from all over the world together with commentary and clarity on a range of topics. The podcast is hosted by award winning music industry professional Jonny Amos.
Jonny Amos is a music producer with credits on a range of major and independent labels, a songwriter with chart success in Europe and Asia, a senior lecturer in both music creation and music business at BIMM University UK, director of The SongLab Ltd and the author of The Music Business for Music Creators.
www.jonnyamos.com
The Music Business Buddy
Episode 14: Tips For Pitching Your Act To Record Companies
What if your music could finally reach the audience it deserves, landing a record deal that propels your career to new heights? This episode of "The Music Business Buddy" promises to arm you with the essential strategies for pitching your act to record companies. I guide you through the meticulous process of selecting the right label by evaluating their size, distribution channels, genre specialisation, and marketing tactics. Learn how to gauge a label's potential reach through social media and Spotify, and understand why a label's reputation and artist development approach can make or break your career. We delve into the need for strategic partnerships, ensuring your chosen label aligns perfectly with your musical goals and style.
Effective communication is key when pitching to record companies, and I offer you a roadmap to do just that. Understand how to articulate your financial, marketing, and licensing needs, and highlight the value of synchronisation opportunities for TV, film, or games. I emphasise the importance of detailing intellectual property rights, masters availability, and existing relationships with publishers or managers. Additionally, I underline the necessity of adhering to formal submission guidelines and maintaining a professional tone. Don’t miss the real-life anecdote that showcases the importance of knowing your genre and presenting your needs in a compelling way to potential partners. Join me, Jonny Amos, for an episode packed with actionable insights that could change the trajectory of your music career.
The Music Business Buddy. The Music Business Buddy. Hello everybody, warm welcome to you. You're listening to the Music Business Buddy, with me, johnny Amos, podcasting out of Birmingham in England. I'm the author of the book the Music Business for Music Creators. I'm also a songwriter and producer with a variety of different credits on major and indie labels, tv shows, all sorts of stuff. I'm also a senior lecturer in both music creation and music business. Wherever you are, whatever you do, please consider yourself welcome to this podcast and to a part of the community you do. Please consider yourself welcome to this podcast and to a part of the community. I'm here to try and educate and inspire music creators from all over the world in their quest to achieving their goals by gaining a greater understanding of the business of music.
Speaker 1:Okay, so the theme for today's episode is about how to pitch your act to record companies right. So we're not talking about being a songwriter working with a publisher or a producer working with an artist or an artist working with a producer or anything else. We're just talking about the process of finding the right label for your recording act and how you go about that. Now, there are many people in the music industry that will tell you oh, don't chase the labels, let the labels come to you. And I think that there is a lot of truth to that to a certain extent, especially in the context of major labels and pop acts. Outside of that, actually, there are things sometimes that the artists can do to actually research the right record companies and try and work with them. So that's what we're going to try and focus on the right record companies and try and work with them. So that's what we're going to try and focus on Now. If I just insert myself here for a moment, because I've been involved with all sorts of different angles on this particular subject, everything from being the artist that pitches themselves to labels, to the producer that the label brings in, but also I worked in A&R, so I know what it's like to kind of receive a lot of demos, especially over email, and just kind of how people present themselves and what a good pitch looks like. So let's get into it, ok.
Speaker 1:So there's a couple of considerations to begin with Now. First off, you know record companies will ask a lot of questions about a potential recording artist before they consider working with them, and really artists should be doing the same before they consider working with them and really artists should be doing the same. You know some key things to think about when artists pitch. The label is, you know, why is that label suitable for that artist? And this is really, really overlooked, I think, by a lot of artists. So, you know, it would be good for an artist to actually kind of you know, instead of pitching to 20 record companies, just pick three or four perhaps that you think are really really, really suitable. But how do you go about seeing if they're suitable? You know well, that depends on your style, your genre, you know, and what your intentions are for what you're doing you know. So some pointers for looking at record companies, right? So it would be good to take a look at the size of the roster. You know who they distribute through, if they have a genre specialism, if they're an indie label, they probably will have a specialism. What about the number of people that work there and what roles they play? That will tell you something about the labels setup and their company structure.
Speaker 1:What about its reach potential? You know, if you're thinking what you know, how do you find out what their reach potential is? Actually? There are some things you can do other than just looking at social media and seeing how many followers they've got. You can also look at a, a record company, on Spotify and just go onto their profile see how many followers they've got, look at their playlist, see how much kind of how many followers the playlist have got. It won't tell you everything, but it will give you an indication as to what their potential reach looks like. You could also maybe look into some of the marketing and promotion tactics that they use, and you can do that by looking at some of the artists that they work with and seeing what techniques they use. You could also, by that, also look at the kind of tastemakers they work with and what they serve to them.
Speaker 1:A label's reputation is also important Again. Sometimes it's difficult to understand what kind of reputation a record company's got. Ultimately, all this stuff is a second guess anyway for a lot of it. Also, you know, do they have an approach to artist development or do they just look to sign fully developed acts? You know, what about their ability to demonstrate survival through evolution? You know, has their company been around for a long time? It doesn't matter if they haven't, but if they have, what have they done to survive? All of those things I mentioned there can be done with a little bit of research.
Speaker 1:Now, I know that sometimes when we make the music and we go right, it's there I want to do this, I want to part with the right label, I get it. But here's the thing that sometimes we miss out is that the research Believe me on this the research that goes into why is that company a good fit? Because this is about partnership work, work, strategic partnership work between artists and labels and managers and publishers and booking agents and so on and so forth. And for those partnerships to work right, they have to be strategic and they have to be suitable, and that starts with the artist looking and going right. Is that label suitable? This is the reason why I think it's suitable, or this is the reason why it's not. And I won't pitch to them, because what happens if that label comes back and says, hey, this is great, we love what you're doing, let's work together? Or here's an offer. Or you know you have to be prepared for that. You know this might work. It might work very well, it might work very quickly. You have to be prepared for success, and so it's good to get an understanding of who that label are. What do they do? What have they done before? What ideas might they have going forward? What does their online presence look like, etc.
Speaker 1:Okay, now the offer of a record company. To you, the act might seem obvious ie, services, personnel, financial injection, etc. But what is your offer to the record company? What is it that you're offering them that they can't get elsewhere? It's very important to try and work that out. So let's just simplify it for a minute. There might be a few different reasons why you're pitching your act to a record company. Now, the most obvious answer for that is you know, we want to gain some traction, we want to work with the right partner, we want to elevate our careers, widen our network, all that. But what's in it for the record company? You know, it's very important that you state what your expectation is of that record company when you communicate with them.
Speaker 1:I'll give you an example. It could be that you say, right, here are some demos, here is our potential in what we can do. We're looking for a record company to finance our debut album, yada, yada, yada. Now, that's one aspect. That's all one approach. Another approach could be right. We've made this album, we've done this. It's fully cleared. We're looking to license this to a record company for release. You see the difference in those two things very, very, very different offers. The first one involves a lot of financial injection from a record company. The second one doesn't. It involves working with what has already been created and then licensing it two very, very, very different things.
Speaker 1:Now, it's always important for creators to investigate what submission policy guideline looks like when sending songs, because there's often a way in which people at record companies actually want to receive those songs. So it could be at a songs at, or a submissions at, email address, or it could be, you know, a specified link to upload files, or perhaps even an external web-based company that administrates submissions, such as label radar or submit hub or something like that. But a submission policy is almost always stated on a company or individual's website. Now, if it isn't, then go ahead and email them. Either way, you're going to have to get the words of the body of the pitch right. So let's take a look at that.
Speaker 1:Let's start with good manners, right? So hi or dear and the person's name. It's so much nicer to receive an email when it's actually been addressed to you. You've got got to think about how it feels to the recipient. Not just how it feels for you to send it, but how that other person is going to read it. So if you've got their name, great. If you haven't, try and find it out. If you can't find it, that's okay. Put the department name. But let's just start off with good manners and being polite.
Speaker 1:The next thing to do is to introduce yourself. Maybe you're emailing on behalf of a band, maybe you're a DJ, maybe you're a singer-songwriter. Whatever the scenario is, introduce yourself. Tell them what you do and where you're from. The next thing to consider is to make it clear as to why you're contacting that person or that department. Now, it might sound blunt, but there's nothing wrong with saying the reason I'm contacting you is because I would like for you to consider for my band to be a part of your roster. People appreciate it. You're telling them why you're contacting them. You're not leaving it open to interpretation. You're being assertive. It's good.
Speaker 1:Now tell them about your genre specialism or your sub-genre specialism or your hybrid genre specialism, and then name check some similar artists that are in the landscape of the music industry. It enables the recipient to be able to understand where to place you in the market. Now talk a little bit about what you've already done. Now keep this short and sweet, but it could be that you talk about your live presence or past singles or past EPs and what kind of playlist support or radio support you've received.
Speaker 1:Now it's time to go into a little bit more detail about what your expectation is of them, should you work together. So it could be, for example, that you were to explain that you were looking for a financial injection and marketing support for future recordings that have yet to be made. By contrast, it could be that you are talking about existing product that you have, that you are looking to license, and how you wish to go about it. Either way, it's very important that your offer to them is clear. Now it's important also that they can see what else you're doing outside of potentially working with them. So perhaps you could talk a little bit about what your plans are for the synchronization of your music, so that they can see that their investment might be even more worthwhile than you're already hoping. So if you were to talk about the kind of places where your music could be used in television or in film or in games, it will also be useful to them.
Speaker 1:Finally, wrap up by talking about the intellectual property, of what your offer is. Make it clear that your masters are available. If you're looking to license recordings, or if you're already working with a publisher, make it clear that they know about that. If you've got a manager, make that clear as well, so they can see exactly what is in front of them on the table. Finally, include your music and include an electronic press kit, and away you go. Warm wishes and your name All inside a short, simple, succinct message, with politeness.
Speaker 1:Now, in regards to how people actually like to receive music, well, that depends, you know, on the submission guidelines that you'll hopefully find from the company's website. But you know, some people like to receive MP3s, some people like to receive download links, some people like to receive streaming links. I think if you're sending something like, you know, a Dropbox or a Google Drive link or something like that, to your music, then that works pretty well, but make sure there's no password required or that access needs to be requested or something like that. In any case, whether it's MP3s or links or whatever it is, just look at the submission guidelines and that'll dictate to you how you need to send that music.
Speaker 1:Now I know in this day and age it's so easy to just, you know, kind of track people down through social media and, you know, send them a direct message. But be wary of premature introductions. In this business it's all too tempting to sometimes go, hey, because that person is there and they're accessible, I can just send them a message immediately. But try and be patient and try not to look for shortcuts. Okay so, as somebody in my mid-40s, I see a lot of people in the music business who are 20 years younger than me. I also see a lot of people that are 20 years older than me, and what I objectively see with so much clarity on so many occasions is a generational gap between the younger and, let's say, the more seasoned in the industry.
Speaker 1:One of the things that makes it so obvious is sometimes down to the way in which we communicate. So, for example, like text talk, abbreviated language you know it might be the norm on social media amongst friend groups. You know it might be the norm on social media amongst friend groups, but in a more formal email with a professional, it's important to try and formalize that communication style. So you know, maybe in time perhaps it'll evolve to the point where, you know, textile chat becomes more commonplace in emails, as you know, younger generations wash through and older generations retire, but for now, there are a great deal of people in the music industry who remember life long before mobile technology and social media, and these people are often irritated by informality and lazy language. So what might be an action that is seemingly inoffensive might actually offend somebody. So try not to go too overly abbreviated on the language that you use.
Speaker 1:Now, remember this email or this pitch. It's only one way that you communicate with somebody and you, let's face it, you're probably communicating with somebody that you haven't met yet, and that's difficult sometimes to know how to approach that. I think it's just that thing of you know the ability to speak different languages. You know, as a music creator, how you would pitch yourself to record company is a different language than how you would talk to a sound engineer, and that will be a different way of talking than how you would talk to the media. That would be different than, maybe, how you would talk to a fan or how you would talk to somebody online. I mean, it's still you, it's still your integrity, but how you communicate, it will change, won't it A little bit, and that's natural, that's good, ok, so I hope that some of that was useful for everybody.
Speaker 1:And let me tell you something this purpose of this podcast today came around from something that happened to me last week. I was at a music industry event and so there was a young man that came up to me and he, he I noticed him when I walked in the room because he looks like every inch the rock star. And he comes up to me he says uh, uh, how do I go about pitching to record companies? And uh. And so I asked him about his act and uh, and I said what genre are you in? He said, um, metal. I said, okay, whereabouts in metal are you? And and he wasn't too sure I said, well, that's kind of what I'd be figuring out first. You know whereabouts in metal you fit, so that you know what kind of labels could be a good fit for you, which kind of surprised him, but it did make sense to him and he filtered that through and I said what do you want from a record company?
Speaker 1:And he had to have a think about it for a minute and he said, well, you know, helping us to get our music out there and I said, okay, well, I know what that means. I know what you mean by that, but you have to present that in a way that is appealing. So perhaps you could focus in on you know the things, where you fit in the marketplace, who else is there and why you would fit there. And you could kind of see his head ticking a little bit. And I said what kind of music have you got ready to send off? He said, well, we've got, like you know, three good songs. Two of them are recorded.
Speaker 1:I said do you want studio recordings? And he said, no, live recordings. I said, ok, well, see, you're not pitching yourself as a live act. You're pitching yourself as a live act. You're pitching yourself as a recording act. So the live act is an appealing byproduct. It's an important part of being in a band, but you're pitching yourself as a recording artist. So you know you want to show a good demonstration of what you can do in the studio. And he said, yeah, but maybe the record company could help us with that. I said, well, yeah, you could, but there's so much you can do in order to prepare yourself for when pitching yourself to a record company. A part of that is giving them a true understanding of what you can do in the studio. So actually, maybe if you've got your act to a good standard on the live circuit or you played some gigs and you go right, this is working, then it's good that you actually transition that into being a good studio act, because that is what a label would be investing in. So that might well be.
Speaker 1:You know, the case of recording your music and I know there's an age-old issue with many bands is how do we capture what we do live? Well, you know that is an age-old challenge, but it's probably never been as easy as it is right now to capture that and it's very important to try and evidence that and have those recordings ready before going to a record company. Remember what I said about researching record companies. You know it's very important. So I said to this young man I said do you want a record company to license what you've done when you've got it, or do you want them to invest in you? And he said I want them to invest in me. I said why? He said because we'd like to, you know, be in there with the right producer. I said why don't you find the right producer and again you could see his head ticking. You know it was a very useful conversation anyway.
Speaker 1:All of this kind of led me to thinking right, maybe it's worth doing a podcast about that anyway. So that's what led me to talking about this today. It is a subject which will be revisited later in the podcast when we look at some other angles on this same subject and also when we look at not just pitching an act to a record company, but pitching songs to artists and pitching writers to publishers. So we'll wrap it up there for today. I wish you well. Thank you for listening and may the force be with you.
