• You receive an email or letter from a "publishing company" or a "record label".
• In the letter they claim that they are looking for songs for major recording artists.
• It's okay for them if you have lyrics only or send them unfinished songs.
• They promise to review your song(s) for free.
• Soon you receive another letter or email from them saying that they found your songs to be exceptional and they would like to pitch it to major record companies or recording artists.
• Of course, to cover their administrative, demo or some other kinds of costs, you need to pay $250 or thousands more. And this little money is the only thing that's between you and fame right now so you shouldn't think twice about it.
• Or they might tell you that your song is going to be on a compilation CD which they will send to stars, their managers or other industry professionals so your songs can get chosen and recorded. Demo and administrative fees apply here too, of course. However, even if this alleged CD is compiled and sent to the proper people (anybody's free to send anything to them by post), the CD ends up in the trash.
Some of these letters are utter songwriting scams, others come from desperate demo services.
How To Recognize Songwriting Scams
▪ They say it's okay if you have lyrics only, they can set it to original music for free. Don't pay for someone to write music to your lyrics, it'll be a basic melody written in a couple of minutes. In addition, they'll own the copyright to the music, which means even if the song makes any money, they take half the royalties.
▪ They say they'll review your song for free or for a small fee. There are legitimate songwriters and professionals who offer this service for a reasonable fee. Check their credentials and exactly what they give you for your money in advance.
▪ They want you to pay for your song to be published. Legitimate publishers don't ask for money. You get paid if your songs gets recorded and used in some way. Then the publishing company makes money and pays you too. Also, publishers don't ask you to cover demo costs, they will recoup it from your royalties. However, you might have pay for demo costs if your goal is to pitch your songs to publishers. But only if you cannot make a good quality home recording.
▪ They don't care if your songs are not finished, they claim they'll make it sound like master-quality recordings. Well, if you're told such things, a red flag should come up. People in the music business are not charitable. They want a demo of finished, potential hit songs, ready to be pitched or released.
▪ They ask for money to include your song on a CD. It's not money that will decide such a thing. It's the quality of the song. Money doesn't change the quality of a song.What To Check To Avoid Songwriting Scams
You might get the following information from the internet, friends or you can even get in touch with the publishing or recording company and ask them directly. If they are legitimate, they'll be happy to brag about the following things to you:
⁃ if the company has had any success with other artists and songs
⁃ how much money they've paid to songwriters/artists
⁃ how many albums they have sold
⁃ if these were quality albums
⁃ where songs coming from the artists/songwriters of that company have been played
⁃ look for any references on the internet, ask music industry professionals and/or musician friends.
So make sure you avoid songwriting scams, there are plenty of them. It's partly because the music business is so competitive that even professional songwriters have a hard time getting their songs recorded and released. It doesn't mean that you should stop pursuing this profession but be aware that miracles and overnight successes don't happen. Paying some money won't get you there. Just like in any other field, you'll need to work hard to make it. So beware, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't.
No comments:
Post a Comment