Bluegrass Today

Don, I struggled with those same questions for a long time and there is a lot of conflicting information out there. I finally figured out there is no one shoe fits all answer. Here are the basic principles I’ve arrived at. Shawn made a good point in presenting the song in as good of light as possible. Regardless of how its presented the song should be well crafted with a unique melody and lyric. A top notch full band demo cannot cover for a poorly written song. That being said. I do want to present the song to the artist in its best new suit, all shined up and looking like a million bucks….most of the time……. but there are plenty of occasions when I present it as a diamond in the rough. Some artist like finding those. Which way I send it depends on the “song” and the “artist” I’m pitching too. There are some songs I’ve written  that I believe I can sing and play well enough to present the SONG and not detract from it with my singing and playing. Mostly I am only going to play those for artist that know me personally because they are more forgiving and have confidence in my writing. There are some songs I don’t think I can do justice and I prefer to send a professionally recorded guitar/vocal of those. Also, if I am sending a song to an artist that does not know me I prefer to send pro gtr/vocal demo’s. I want to impress not depress. I never want to let the recording/demo get in the way of the song. The song should always come first when deciding.  None of us want to spend any more than we have too but if I don’t believe in the song enough to spend a couple hundred dollars for a quality gtr/vocal on it, then I shouldn’t expect an artist to spend much more than that on a master recording. I use Stephen Mougin at Dark Shadows Recording for my bluegrass and some gospel demo’s.  He’s great.  I have done some full band demo’s in the past and found out that they usually cost more than they make even if the song gets cut. I dont’ do that anymore even though I may want to add one or two instruments to complete the feel of a song. Go to festivals or events where you can meet and get to know artist. See what they like or don’t like. Do your homework and don’t pitch songs that won’t fit their image or style. Make listening to your song as easy for them as possible.  They really are busy people with a lot of people tugging on their shirt tail. Respect them and they will return the favor. Also, don’t apply what you hear about pitching to country music artist to bluegrass artist. Pitching country songs is an entirely different ballgame. These rules of thumb may not apply to anyone else but it really is how I look at the process.

P.S.  I had a full band demo of my song Oh Kentucky (#1 this week here on the Bluegrass Today chart) but I sent Lou Reid my home recording because I thought the pro demo was stiff and lacked emotion. I sent the “diamond in the rough”.

Dennis

Thanks for the compliment on the song David. I agree there are lots of great digital recorders out there that sound very good. One other tip I thought of Don. There are writers who have demo’s  online. Hunt them up and listen. That will give you a good feel for what others writers are pitching compared to what you are pitching. Best of luck to you.

Dennis

From a pragmatic view, it’s pretty rare for the mechanical royalty payments from a cut to exceed the amount spent on making an awesome, full-band, record-sounding demo.  It’s happened to me just a couple of times, which is why I hardly ever spend the money any more.  Most of my cuts have come from pitches of nothing more than a reasonably clear-sounding work tape.