How Songwriters Can Promote Their Songs and Get Them Heard by the Right Audience

by Steve Schramm | May 13, 2024 | Custom Demos, Getting Paid, Songwriting

Impact.

That’s what every songwriter I know (and I know quite a few!) wants to happen with their music.

Sure, songwriters want to get paid. But more than a paycheck, all most songwriters want is for their music to have the best chance of making it out into the world.

But if you’re like many of the songwriters I know, the path to impact (and eventually income) is tricky, to say the least. How can songwriters finally start to see their songs reach people in an industry that seems biased against them?

This question is central to our work at BuyDemoTracks.

We’re obsessed with finding new ways to see our songwriters succeed—whatever success means to you.

So if you’re a songwriter, know that we’re in your corner.

In this article, we’ll first highlight the barriers the music industry has placed around songwriters sharing their songs with the world. Then for each barrier, we’ll quickly transition to the solutions we’re offering. Finally, we’ll wrap up with a practical step-by-step solution you could implement to start making things happen.

Together, we can change how music is shared. We can put songwriters back on the map. We can get your music out there. And, with a little strategy and luck, maybe even start getting you paid.

Barrier #1: Cliques

They say it’s all in who you know. This is true in many industries, but perhaps none as important as the music industry.

Consider the streets of Nashville, where you can find countless artists and writers more skilled than most you know. Why are they broke and/or unemployed?

Because they haven’t made the right connections yet. But making connections is hard! And unless you’re fortunate to know someone on the inside through other means, it’s unlikely you’ll make it by networking your way to the top.

Of course, you can network your way to the top, but it will take longer than you could possibly imagine and still requires a hefty dose of luck.

If you know the right people, your songs can get in front of the right people.

If you don’t, you’ll try in vain for a long time getting someone to care, which you may already have some experience with.

Fortunately, we think there’s a way to overcome this challenge and break this barrier, by leveling the playing field.

Solution #1: Open Competition

The difference between songwriting and most other industries is the open availability for anyone to compete.

For example, I own a web design and marketing business, one of the few in my town. But there’s nothing stopping any number of competitors from cropping up.

We’ll all fight for a position in the marketplace, and “may the best man win.”

But this is not true with songwriting. Publishers (discussed more below), for example, hire staff songwriters. The chances of you getting in front of an artist before an established publishing company are slim to none.

Unless, of course, you have friends (aka, you know people). But then the song pitches happen through back door deals, text messaging, etc. You have no way to compete.

Our Song Library places your song in a public marketplace where artists can find it. You’re competing with other writers on the platform, but at least you’re competing.

Someone has the ability to find exactly the song they’re looking for on our platform, and it could be yours, just as much as anyone else’s!

This relies on us getting more and more artists to use our platform, which takes time. But there’s another way.

We’ll talk more about this below, but what if you didn’t even have to pitch the song. What if there was a way to get the song “out there,” even with an artist who could help make it popular, without ever having to pitch the artist?

That’s possible—but not without a deeper understanding of the next barrier.

Barrier #2: Gatekeepers

Before the Internet, many industries had gatekeepers—people who decided who got to “make it.”

It’s taken a long time, but this has finally trickled down to where gatekeepers rarely exist. Except, of course, in the music industry.

There are some who’ve learned how to overcome them, sort of. Think of the stars you know who got their start on YouTube and TikTok. The problem is, many of these stars have been scooped up by the gatekeepers, and once that happens, they are now officially part of that “old” world.

With a lot of hard work and luck, they were able to get discovered without the gatekeepers. But since they’re discovered by the gatekeepers, they get to dictate the rules going forward. Still not ideal.

So, who are the gatekeepers? I’ll tell you, but stand ready for a HUGE caveat: The gatekeepers are publishing companies and record labels.

Now—both publishing companies and record labels are our friends. I mean literally we have many friends who work in both of these, and also, our company is able to work alongside these companies to produce great songs.

Again, let me stress: We should NOT think of these “gatekeepers” as enemies. They aren’t the “the bad guys.” They play an important role, which is largely to ensure that quality is maintained in all professional music endeavors.

What we bring to the table is simply the consideration that there is a path for someone that still maintains the quality and doesn’t require going through the gatekeepers.

Hope that was clear. We love publishing companies (heck, we have one) and record labels. They do great work.

The fact remains that being aligned with them requires a considerable investment of time and energy, and there’s no guarantee it will ever pan out.

There are no guarantees in our solution, either, but it’s a path with less resistance for sure.

Solution #2: Songwriter Innovation

In order for songwriters to get their songs out there, they need to start thinking in terms of new possibilities. If you’re going to circumvent the gatekeepers, you need to know the options that are available.

One option is to take a social media influencer route. On our platform, influencers can request a “Test Drive” of your song. They can use about 90 seconds of the song on one of their videos to gauge their audience’s response.

If they like it, they could pick the song up.

Here are the facts: The social media influencers are the next A-list artists, and you’ll have a far easier time reaching out to them than you will even C-list artists who’ve seen some professional success.

One drawback to that plan is that many of these influencers are singer-songwriters. In other words, part of what they are sharing is their songs. This isn’t always the case, it’s just something to be mindful of. And remember—these are not gatekeepers. They are more like “vehicles” to help make your dream a reality. You have the song, they have the voice and the influence/reach.

But there’s another way. It’s called a Featured Artist Release. It’s our unique contribution to the music industry, where we help you—as the songwriter—become an artist.

Here’s what it looks like:

1. You record a radio-ready, studio-quality demo here at BuyDemoTracks.com.
2. A talented professional vocalist (who is usually a well-known artist—this is important) sings on your demo.
3. If they approve, the rights to release this song are signed over to you with their vocals, and are the “featured artist.”
4. These songs are released to terrestrial radio, Internet radio, and podcasts through our distribution network.
5. New revenue streams such as subscriptions, merch sales, SoundExchange, streaming royalties, performance track downloads, and more become available to you as the sole owner of the track.

Now, could you do this on your own? Below, we’ll answer that question in more detail. For now, let me say this: You can, kind of, but it’s hard.

Our close friend and collaborator, Rick Lang, was the innovator behind this idea. He is now Grammy-nominated and has a record deal—as a songwriter.

But this success came after 30+ years of networking his way to the top as a bluegrass songwriter. And it still requires a professional demo to be made and the connections with a vocalist who is a professional artist.

So there’s a way to do this on your own, sure, but we can dramatically shortcut the process for you. (No Grammy guarantees, of course :D)

On to our next barrier.

Barrier #3: Traditions

The final big barrier we’ve observed is long-standing traditions in the music industry that hurt more than help.

Stuff that’s “just always been that way” and “will never change” that are ingrained habits of the players in the industry.

The most insidious of these is the “song hold.”

If we were to describe the “song hold” process without euphemism, it would be “the process where your only impact- and income-producing asset is strategically frozen for an indeterminate amount of time, at the sole whims of artists and gatekeepers.”

Sounds bad? It is. Consider a tale told by our friend and staff writer, Jim Grubbs:

I not-so-recently experienced the thrill of having a song “put on hold” by an artist. I had labored hard over the lyrics and melody to tell a special and meaningful story. I created a “scratch” recording of the song and a chart to communicate the chord progression. I sent these items to BDT, where an incredible demo was created (Hey, I could play that demo on the radio! It was that good). I paid a few hundred dollars for the demo, organized the lyrics and chart, and pitched the song to two dozen suitable artists with whom I had previously established working relationships. One of those artists (let’s call him Bob) asked for the right to record my song on a solo project; Bob had already released other singles from this project. I was elated to have my song “put on hold”! It has now been 18 months since Bob reserved my song. Due to changes in his career, Bob has yet to make further progress on his solo project. I don’t know if Bob will ever get back to his project; when he last answered my call, he said he still wants to record my original song but can’t tell me when.

Jim discloses in the article that this scenario is fictional, but I would prefer to use the word “archetypal.” This is exactly what happens, day in and day out. I’ve heard the stories over and over.

What this means: Even if you “make it”—that is, network your way into working relationships with established artists—traditions looming in the industry can and will prevent your song from being shared.

There are other traditions, too, such as artists traditionally being paid for the music instead of their brand. The existence of this tradition is so prevalent that—in 2024!—artists are still being encouraged by their record labels to tell their fans to buy CDs.

TO BUY CDs!!!

Can you imagine? Most people I know don’t even own a CD player anymore, and they stopped putting them in cars and computers a long time ago.

This is yet another tradition that keeps the industry stuck.

Solution #3: Embracing Progress

Artists and songwriters both rightly have gripes with the current state of the music industry. Frankly, it’s hard for anyone to get paid for the music! There’s only so much money to go around.

We think the solution is so crazy, and so common sense, that it just might work:

Artists should be paid for performing songs and building a brand, and songwriters should be paid for writing songs!

After all, that’s what each individual contributor gives to the listener in terms of value delivered.

The songwriter delivers their value in writing the song. The artist delivers their value in performing the song.

This is the beauty of our plan to turn songwriters into artists. The industry is unfairly-biased against songwriters being paid for their work, as I shared in the example of the song hold above. (Shouldn’t an artist pay the writer for the song when they want to record it? That’s how other industries work.)

Since this is the case, we think a quicker path for songwriters is to create opportunities to get paid for what artists get paid for—such as building a brand. (Since the artists get paid for the song, which was written by the writer!) Currently, though, songwriters don’t have a great way to build a brand of their own.

However, through direct association with pro artists, new revenue opportunities, branding and marketing help, and more, we can provide more opportunities than ever for songwriters.

Imagine, as a songwriter, having the ability to own a track that gets played on the radio with a professional vocalist, which means:

1. Your music is getting shared.
2. You are getting brand association with the artist.
3. You can create marketing assets (like merchandise, logos, graphics, and more) as an artist that will build your brand.
4. You can create and sell collection albums.
5. Your songs will be on all streaming platforms, so you can collect revenue there.
6. You could even sell access through a membership site to people getting your songs early, helping in the writing process, selecting ideas, etc.
7. And way more.

Think of your favorite fiction (or even non-fiction) author. They’re the writer and the performer, and because of that, they have massive opportunities open to them.

This is true even if they have a ghostwriter—i.e., someone who assists in putting words on paper using the actual author’s ideas.

While not the same, the advantages are similar. You would have a path for sharing your songs and getting paid for them as the owner of the work. This is a game-changer for songwriters.

A Practical Guide to Promoting Your Songs

Near the top of this article, I promised you a practical plan to start sharing your music with the world.

Much of this can (and should) be done on your own, but for some of it, you may need some help. Here’s what the process looks like:

Step 1. Get a Featured Artist Release Demo

At the very least, you will need to work with a demo company like ours to have a professional, radio-ready demo created.

Without this, you can continue to the other steps, but your chances of getting ahead reduce dramatically. This is not a fault of the industry, it’s more a quality control thing.

You want the best demo possible—one that you’d be good with pitching to any artist—and it should be so good that you could hear it commercially on the radio.

What we offer here at BDT that will be difficult to find at most studios is already-established professional relationships with brand name, A-list vocalists who will sing on your song and be willing to release the rights for radio and digital distribution.

These established relationships give us a head start. With 20–30 years of experience and relationship-building, you may have plenty of people willing to do you a favor and sing on your song.

But if that’s not your case, you can tap into our 20–30 years of relationship-building instead 🙂 Yes, it costs money, but money is renewable, and time is impossible to get back. We can save you a lot of it.

Step 2. Publish Your Songs to Streaming Platforms

Once you have a song, the next step is to get it “out there.” This requires a few steps, though, which we think of as Preparing, Publishing, and Promoting.

First, the song will need to be prepared. You will need to iron out the song details, make sure things are copyrighted, and ensure you have the ownership and release rights all ready to go. If you release a song without the demo singer’s permission, you are going to run into legal trouble. Don’t do it.

Then, you need to place the song into a publishing company. You can start your own, if you’d like, but it will need to be taken care of. Streaming companies are responsible for making sure songs on their platform are legal and that the appropriate people get paid for their work.

You will also need to obtain an ISRC code for the song that will be needed in various steps of the process, register as the rights’ holder on SoundExchange, and make sure all required paperwork is filled out.

Once all this is taken care, you can create an account on a platform like CD Baby or DistroKid to proceed with sending the songs to streaming platforms.

Again—I don’t want you to think this is impossible to do on your own. It totally is! But it’s a lot of detail work that we take care of for you entirely. (Talk about an easy button!)

Step 3. Release Your Songs to Radio

The next step in the process is getting the song out to the radio. This requires, at minimum, creating an account on AirPlay Direct and using their system to send a digital press kit to the stations.

Before doing this, you will need to ascertain the email addresses of your target market’s radio stations. You will use this information to populate the AirPlay Direct system, as they do not provide the email addresses on the platform itself.

At this stage, there is certainly no guarantee that you will get radio play. However, one way to make sure the song has the best chance possible is by having done the “Featured Artist Release.”

This will make sure the radio station sees the Feature Artist’s brand on the project and will make it more likely to get played. With zero brand credibility, quite frankly, it is extremely unlikely your song will get played.

The idea is to use the other artist’s name to build up your own brand, to where eventually, DJs see your brand as one that produces quality music worthy of airplay, regardless of who is singing.

Step 4. Call the Radio Stations

Even still, the next part requires a lot of elbow grease. We know a lot of A- and B+ artists who spend hours per week building relationships and calling radio stations.

They request that the DJs play their songs and aim to share a little about them as an artist. You will be no exception to the rule.

At present, this additional promotion is not a service that we offer at BDT. However, we do give you access to the database of radio stations that we send your song to so that you can do this promo activity.

Yes, it is possible to hire other companies to do this for you as well, which can work. However, we think this always works the best coming from the owner of the song, since you have a more personal connection to it.

We highly recommend you don’t skip this step if you want your song to get radio play.

Step 5. Promote Heavily on Social Media

This is another “elbow grease” step that will require your participation. And it matters—a lot.

In today’s world, if you’re going to avoid the cliques, get around the gatekeepers, smash the traditions, and get your songs out there, you will need to act like a business/brand and utilize social media to get the word out about your songs.

There’s a lot you can do without a professional demo, but once you have it, it’s like a “cheat code.”

People automatically realize that you’re not only serious about your music, but for the first time ever, they’ll be able to truly hear how amazing it is!

One of the comments we receive a lot is that even our songwriters didn’t realize the potential of their song until after we turned it into an incredible, radio-ready demo. You can absolutely have the same experience and will love sharing your song with the world in this way.

But you have to do the work. Are you willing?

We’d Love to Help

I know it seems like an uphill battle, but there is hope! I trust you found this article a useful resource with a reasonable path to finally getting your songs out there.

With the right people in your corner and a little elbow grease, we believe a new day is dawning for songwriters.

We would love to partner with you in that effort. To get the process started, just fill out our Request a Demo form, and we’ll get back in touch with the next steps.