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Advice for Songwriting

Posted by Serena Alexander on September 6, 2011 at 10:32am in Song Writing

Hi Folks,

 

I hope this is within the realms of 'OK to discuss', as I'm looking for advice/suggestions.

I've just been nominated as a finalist in the UK Songwriting Contest 2011 in the adult contemporary category. The winner has already been announced, so I'm not an overall winner, but I came close (.i.e. 9/10).

I have very few contacts in the publishing industry and I'm not sure how to go about contacting publishers - i.e. what would they expect in terms of presentation, should I try and make an appointment to see someone in the company, etc etc. Or should I look about for an agent?

Perhaps this post would be helpful to other songwriters too, so I'm hoping I'm not overstepping the mark in terms of what can and can't be discussed here.

 

The song that got me to this level of the competition is called 'Numb' and I'm going to post it up on my profile page now.

 

All the best,

 

Serena

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Replies

  • Serena Alexander September 6, 2011 at 9:37pm

    Thanks Ray. I've done quite a bit of publicity/marketing already, but I wonder then how one might find a quality producer who would be up for such a collaboration? Particularly as I want someone else to front the song. 

    You're right about the polishing - it's been mixed and mastered professionally, but there are plenty of holes in the recording/engineering which I did myself. If you have any specific feedback I'd appreciate it.


    Ray Stirling said:

    It's not a publisher you need, you can do the networking yourself and marketing online.

    You need collaboration in the production/recording of your song/s. It needs a bit of polishing to fly.

     

     

  • Art Hughes September 7, 2011 at 3:06am
    Hi Serena, Congrats on your nomination! Polishing..... IMHO: Less may be better here. Sometimes a soulful personal performance with a song you connect with is 10x better than a production piece. I can hear a simple vocal/piano arrangement that let's the essence of the song come through, even with minimal piano support. This gives producers a clear picture of the work and better translates the feel. The production of 'Numb' locks the feel and gets in the way for me. I wanted to pull out the strings, choir, etc and get to the core of the work.
  • Steven Brecken January 4, 2013 at 9:50pm

    Hi

    Can you post a short version mp3 of the best part for comments on ?. Ta Steve

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