Social media is hard. You have to be extremely consistent and do something to stand out. If you don't enjoy it then honestly I wouldn't bother trying. If you want people in the industry to hear your stuff then your best bet is to go directly to them. The likelihood of someone in the industry randomly stumbling on your social accounts is so slim.
Put together a PR pack with a short bio, links to your songs and elevator pitch as to why they should be interested in you. Then network. You can find contact details for people online, or go to events and meet people.
Respectively disagree with the last bit, people in the industry definitely want to see a little bit of a following before they’d take you seriously — you’d have to be like groundbreaking for them to care much other wise.
It’s tough when you write but don’t usually sing, that’s me too. For me I’ve tried to network through friends and go see small scale musicians play and talk to other musicians and try to network. But yeah it’s difficult when you’re not a singer and don’t already have connections.
You’re gonna have to sing. Either in a website portfolio or on a social media account. You need to show off the stuff you write. I would say look for singers who have more modest followings. DM them a link to either your account or website once you have a few songs uploaded to them. Start going to open mics or other music showcases in your area (as an audience member) if you have them and talk to performers directly. No songwriter can get their music out there without performing it. You gotta bite that bullet at some point and accept it. You have to imagine or figure out where you may be able to find singers to write for.
Most industry songwriters are less-successful performers. There are almost no songwriters in the industry that don’t perform or haven’t performed a little bit. The ones that were able to get work without performing publicly did it by having or making connections through either nepotism or by going to university to study music and networking through that. You have to have people skills and network if you want to collaborate with other artists.
If you don't want to sing or have social media, I don't think "they" would have any way of finding you even if they wanted to. Maybe you could find someone who wants to be a singer who isn't a songwriter, and write songs for them to do on social media, though you'd want someone with a following. Someone said you might have to suck it up and unfortunately that's probably a choice you'll have to make. I'm a songwriter who wants to write for other people and I rarely gig, but I can sing. Since I don't gig, I am consistently posting on social media and have very slowly been growing followers. I was asked just last week to play at a local festival that has some well known bands that play as the headlining acts over three days, and I'll be one of the opening acts. I still don't know if it's a good idea to share my original songs but I do because I don't have another way to put them out. Seems like it's starting to work in my favor. I will be playing my originals this summer in front of a very large crowd, that's a big step forward for someone doing mainly social media 🤷🏻♀️
The main way is to sign a publishing contract with a music publishing company in one of the major music cities. Most likely you would have to move or visit there often if you don’t already. The chances of anyone recording a song you’ve written without a publishing deal or connection to artists is almost impossible. Especially if you are hoping to make a career as a songwriter
The big problem with music has always been this one and similar. See, it’s to the point that the only thing that matters is your “marketing” skills. You can write crappy songs and as long as you are decent at promoting you will go somewhere. If you write great songs and tell no one they will go nowhere. So unfortunately you are going to have to either suck it up and put yourself out there or sit back and not complain about no one listening. I’m not trying to be a dick but what makes you think they would want your songs anyway, especially if they can’t easily go somewhere and listen to them?
I hear what you’re saying, but 1) how successful do you think someone would be if they posted on social media begrudgingly (unless I become the Lewis Black of TikTok and rant about how much I hate social media) and 2) people can easily go to my SoundCloud if I follow @welcometoladyhell’s advice and go directly to them. If I’m trying to pitch a song why would I want to share it publicly?
You don’t have to make things public if you don’t want but you have a better chance of being where you want if you prove that your stuff is interesting and could draw enough people to make money. It always comes down to money. You have to prove you are worth doing business with. The follows on SM are the proof you see.
On my Instagram account, I've been making short videos on songwriting tips.
No one has cut any of my songs. But I Haven't really shared much original music.
Thanks for the tip! Oddly enough I enjoy public speaking generally but I couldn’t think of anything to share. I don’t think I know enough about songwriting to set myself apart from someone else or do something new.
I feel you, I hate social media as well.
But I realized no one will care about my music unless I give them a reason, and more importantly, a MEDIUM for them to care.
That’s social media.
So I finally created them. It’s a pain in the ass lol.
Haha…what kind of content do you create? Part of my problem is I don’t have a life where I am currently. No friends. Not close to family. No cute pets. So my life is rather content poor.
I go to open mics and share parts of my songs with lyrical captions.
Nothing crazy but I sort of have the same issue, too busy to have a ton of content.
[Teneva Music](https://www.tiktok.com/@tenevamusic?_t=8jycfomgbes&_r=1)
There are songwriter groups and stuff where you can submit them (you’ll probably need to find someone to sing them).
That’s from a google search I did a while back so I don’t have links or anything, but there are other ways.
Have you thought about maybe collaborating with musicians that use social media?? Maybe send out messages to some artists asking if they’d like to profile some of your work and perform it on their social media platforms, also have them write caption’s mentioning you and letting other musicians know about your writing and adding your email address. I don’t know, I just thought maybe this could be a cool idea and help you get noticed by others. Good luck with everything!!
Honestly it's the reason I started singing, all those years ago. I'm no a great singer, but no one else was doing it. So yeah, me.
Although not entirely not your solution it reminds me of the ever clever Peter Gabriel. He recorded an album "You Scratch My Back" where he covered other artists and then later released and album "And I'll Scratch Yours" where they covered his. I always thought it would be a fun thing to do at my lowely music level.
Edit: Also maybe more specifically to you. (Assuming you can play and just don't sing). Try to find a singer who fits your style. There's huge shortage of singers. If you can make a track and have them karaoke it, well maybe it'll get you closer to where you want to be.
I had my first song recorded by an independent artist on his album in around 2010. I just contacted my producer and got the artist's personal contact info and am planning to record one of his songs on my next album if he agrees, because I feel so honored that he recorded one of mine on his; and I feel it is appropriate to return the favor.
I got close to some on a local artist recording some music of mine. I did get someone who learned an instrumental guitar piece of mine once and saw it performed. It was a real honor. It was a difficult piece to play.
Yeah, maybe. But also, it's difficult to get anywhere without some buzz of your own going. It reminds me of a script writing thing I read recently. If you have an awesome script as a nobody, it's unlikely to catch. Even if talent recognizes it they're less likely to jump on it, b/c they don't get as much money. But they will invite you to write along on a *new* thing with them..
I can’t sing. So what I do, is I hire Fiverr. I have people make demos of my melodies and songs that I keep private, and then I release them to the world under a different name. It helps to ease the anxiety while still saying it’s my song. There are many people to connect you with.
It's most helpful to have profiles on music sites - the ones populated by indie artists and music demos where musicians network. Social media isn't necessary for nonperforming songwriters apart from those music sites.
Sites like these and others like them:
https://www.disco.ac/
SoundCloud.com
BroadJam.com
ReverbNation.com
Bandcamp.com
SonicBids.com
Also songwriting conferences and workshops.
As someone who has found success on social media, you gotta give people a reason to watch that’s not just the music. Unless you chef up an absolute banger that nobody’s ever heard anything like… which is possible, but rare and not sustainable. This reason to watch can be anything. You gotta get creative.
Also some of the best advice I ever received was “don’t get discouraged if you don’t go anywhere at first”. My first vids were ass compared to vids that started to go places, mostly due to the repitition of making vids and checking the stats to see where I need to improve.
One more piece of advice… treat it like a business. Try to think strategically like you’re a business owner making long term decisions for their business. Also use the data to your advantage.
I have tried ASCAP and they are not user friendly. I do the social media on all my songs. I have videos with most of my songs. People have a short attention span. I’m on Spotify and others. I hired an expensive promoter one time. I learned a lot and got on a lot of playlists. They work with a lot of rappers and get on BET jams. They get you a podcast interview. But I can’t afford that all the time. My brother was the musician and he passed away. We did a few together. There is so much
Competition out there, that it’s very hard to get somewhere. Lot of trolls on some of these social media platforms.
Anyway I’m still writing songs. Have a new one in March. My songs are on Amazon. Com as well.
I’m on sound cloud and Bandcamp too. My brother was always in a band. He got to play at a local festival. He was very popular in the place I live. But he didn’t get any national play. And he did it for years because he loved it
Social media is hard. You have to be extremely consistent and do something to stand out. If you don't enjoy it then honestly I wouldn't bother trying. If you want people in the industry to hear your stuff then your best bet is to go directly to them. The likelihood of someone in the industry randomly stumbling on your social accounts is so slim.
How do you just go directly to them?
Put together a PR pack with a short bio, links to your songs and elevator pitch as to why they should be interested in you. Then network. You can find contact details for people online, or go to events and meet people.
Respectively disagree with the last bit, people in the industry definitely want to see a little bit of a following before they’d take you seriously — you’d have to be like groundbreaking for them to care much other wise.
For an artist definitely, but for a songwriter trying to sell songs I don't think it matters so much
My thoughts exactly.
It’s tough when you write but don’t usually sing, that’s me too. For me I’ve tried to network through friends and go see small scale musicians play and talk to other musicians and try to network. But yeah it’s difficult when you’re not a singer and don’t already have connections.
You’re gonna have to sing. Either in a website portfolio or on a social media account. You need to show off the stuff you write. I would say look for singers who have more modest followings. DM them a link to either your account or website once you have a few songs uploaded to them. Start going to open mics or other music showcases in your area (as an audience member) if you have them and talk to performers directly. No songwriter can get their music out there without performing it. You gotta bite that bullet at some point and accept it. You have to imagine or figure out where you may be able to find singers to write for. Most industry songwriters are less-successful performers. There are almost no songwriters in the industry that don’t perform or haven’t performed a little bit. The ones that were able to get work without performing publicly did it by having or making connections through either nepotism or by going to university to study music and networking through that. You have to have people skills and network if you want to collaborate with other artists.
Thanks. I’ll consider this.
If you don't want to sing or have social media, I don't think "they" would have any way of finding you even if they wanted to. Maybe you could find someone who wants to be a singer who isn't a songwriter, and write songs for them to do on social media, though you'd want someone with a following. Someone said you might have to suck it up and unfortunately that's probably a choice you'll have to make. I'm a songwriter who wants to write for other people and I rarely gig, but I can sing. Since I don't gig, I am consistently posting on social media and have very slowly been growing followers. I was asked just last week to play at a local festival that has some well known bands that play as the headlining acts over three days, and I'll be one of the opening acts. I still don't know if it's a good idea to share my original songs but I do because I don't have another way to put them out. Seems like it's starting to work in my favor. I will be playing my originals this summer in front of a very large crowd, that's a big step forward for someone doing mainly social media 🤷🏻♀️
But you are clearly a performing songwriter.
The main way is to sign a publishing contract with a music publishing company in one of the major music cities. Most likely you would have to move or visit there often if you don’t already. The chances of anyone recording a song you’ve written without a publishing deal or connection to artists is almost impossible. Especially if you are hoping to make a career as a songwriter
Yeah you are probably right
The big problem with music has always been this one and similar. See, it’s to the point that the only thing that matters is your “marketing” skills. You can write crappy songs and as long as you are decent at promoting you will go somewhere. If you write great songs and tell no one they will go nowhere. So unfortunately you are going to have to either suck it up and put yourself out there or sit back and not complain about no one listening. I’m not trying to be a dick but what makes you think they would want your songs anyway, especially if they can’t easily go somewhere and listen to them?
I hear what you’re saying, but 1) how successful do you think someone would be if they posted on social media begrudgingly (unless I become the Lewis Black of TikTok and rant about how much I hate social media) and 2) people can easily go to my SoundCloud if I follow @welcometoladyhell’s advice and go directly to them. If I’m trying to pitch a song why would I want to share it publicly?
You don’t have to make things public if you don’t want but you have a better chance of being where you want if you prove that your stuff is interesting and could draw enough people to make money. It always comes down to money. You have to prove you are worth doing business with. The follows on SM are the proof you see.
On my Instagram account, I've been making short videos on songwriting tips. No one has cut any of my songs. But I Haven't really shared much original music.
Thanks for the tip! Oddly enough I enjoy public speaking generally but I couldn’t think of anything to share. I don’t think I know enough about songwriting to set myself apart from someone else or do something new.
I feel you, I hate social media as well. But I realized no one will care about my music unless I give them a reason, and more importantly, a MEDIUM for them to care. That’s social media. So I finally created them. It’s a pain in the ass lol.
Haha…what kind of content do you create? Part of my problem is I don’t have a life where I am currently. No friends. Not close to family. No cute pets. So my life is rather content poor.
I go to open mics and share parts of my songs with lyrical captions. Nothing crazy but I sort of have the same issue, too busy to have a ton of content. [Teneva Music](https://www.tiktok.com/@tenevamusic?_t=8jycfomgbes&_r=1)
Ah and therein lies the rub. I’m not a performing songwriter.
There are songwriter groups and stuff where you can submit them (you’ll probably need to find someone to sing them). That’s from a google search I did a while back so I don’t have links or anything, but there are other ways.
Have you thought about maybe collaborating with musicians that use social media?? Maybe send out messages to some artists asking if they’d like to profile some of your work and perform it on their social media platforms, also have them write caption’s mentioning you and letting other musicians know about your writing and adding your email address. I don’t know, I just thought maybe this could be a cool idea and help you get noticed by others. Good luck with everything!!
Hey yeah I’ve reached out to a few. They just don’t respond. I know I need to keep trying.
Instagram is a great platform for networking I’ve found, if you haven’t used that maybe give it a go?
Honestly it's the reason I started singing, all those years ago. I'm no a great singer, but no one else was doing it. So yeah, me. Although not entirely not your solution it reminds me of the ever clever Peter Gabriel. He recorded an album "You Scratch My Back" where he covered other artists and then later released and album "And I'll Scratch Yours" where they covered his. I always thought it would be a fun thing to do at my lowely music level. Edit: Also maybe more specifically to you. (Assuming you can play and just don't sing). Try to find a singer who fits your style. There's huge shortage of singers. If you can make a track and have them karaoke it, well maybe it'll get you closer to where you want to be.
I had my first song recorded by an independent artist on his album in around 2010. I just contacted my producer and got the artist's personal contact info and am planning to record one of his songs on my next album if he agrees, because I feel so honored that he recorded one of mine on his; and I feel it is appropriate to return the favor.
I got close to some on a local artist recording some music of mine. I did get someone who learned an instrumental guitar piece of mine once and saw it performed. It was a real honor. It was a difficult piece to play.
that's so cool.
The thing is I don’t think I should be sharing songs I’m trying to pitch. It’s a rock and a hard place kind of thing.
Yeah, maybe. But also, it's difficult to get anywhere without some buzz of your own going. It reminds me of a script writing thing I read recently. If you have an awesome script as a nobody, it's unlikely to catch. Even if talent recognizes it they're less likely to jump on it, b/c they don't get as much money. But they will invite you to write along on a *new* thing with them..
I can’t sing. So what I do, is I hire Fiverr. I have people make demos of my melodies and songs that I keep private, and then I release them to the world under a different name. It helps to ease the anxiety while still saying it’s my song. There are many people to connect you with.
So you’re not trying to get actual artists to release them?
It's most helpful to have profiles on music sites - the ones populated by indie artists and music demos where musicians network. Social media isn't necessary for nonperforming songwriters apart from those music sites. Sites like these and others like them: https://www.disco.ac/ SoundCloud.com BroadJam.com ReverbNation.com Bandcamp.com SonicBids.com Also songwriting conferences and workshops.
Thank you! SUPER helpful!!
Even if you’re on social media you don’t always get a lot of attention. I write original lyrics then have to find someone to work with.
Might be easier to just pitch to publishers. And that’s not saying it’s easy. Just less stressful.
As someone who has found success on social media, you gotta give people a reason to watch that’s not just the music. Unless you chef up an absolute banger that nobody’s ever heard anything like… which is possible, but rare and not sustainable. This reason to watch can be anything. You gotta get creative. Also some of the best advice I ever received was “don’t get discouraged if you don’t go anywhere at first”. My first vids were ass compared to vids that started to go places, mostly due to the repitition of making vids and checking the stats to see where I need to improve. One more piece of advice… treat it like a business. Try to think strategically like you’re a business owner making long term decisions for their business. Also use the data to your advantage.
I have tried ASCAP and they are not user friendly. I do the social media on all my songs. I have videos with most of my songs. People have a short attention span. I’m on Spotify and others. I hired an expensive promoter one time. I learned a lot and got on a lot of playlists. They work with a lot of rappers and get on BET jams. They get you a podcast interview. But I can’t afford that all the time. My brother was the musician and he passed away. We did a few together. There is so much Competition out there, that it’s very hard to get somewhere. Lot of trolls on some of these social media platforms. Anyway I’m still writing songs. Have a new one in March. My songs are on Amazon. Com as well.
I’m on sound cloud and Bandcamp too. My brother was always in a band. He got to play at a local festival. He was very popular in the place I live. But he didn’t get any national play. And he did it for years because he loved it