Your 30 Second Elevator Pitch...

[john]

Hi

So, you find yourself in an elevator with the head of Sony records. You have only 30 seconds to pitch your music.

What do you say or do to convince this person that your music is worth investing in? How do you persuade them to give you a chance?

Cheers

John

[Lazz]

"Mr Stringer, I am holding your wife and children captive....."

.

[Steve]

Ha ha ha!

[McnaughtonPark]

"I'll keep the wife if you'll give this song a listen"

[Lazz]

I sincerely apologise for derailing John's intention with my misplaced humour,

Thinking about getting Rob Stringer to pay attention, let alone being allowed to share his elevator, just cracked me up.

But thinking about and preparing 'the pitch' is an essential exercise for all.

Can we have some serious responses now, please?

.

[Lazz]

Unless I have inside info in advance about what his specific likes & dislikes are, more times than not.....my weapon of choice will be humor.

Humour is good, I think.

Research also - he has come a long way from Aylesbury, for instance.

Loved The Clash, went to art school, Goldsmith's College, student ents, older brother Howard (Vietnam Vet) happens to be Sony CEO, views Simon Cowell as A&R perfection, sees TV as central to corporate future.

.

[Lazz]

Just to queer the pitch a little further - but well worth knowing about - let's not forget January’s IFPI digital music report showing that, despite digital revenues growing by 1,000% in seven years, the value of the entire recorded music industry has dropped 31% - which is certainly why Vivendi has ordered Universal Music Group to cut costs by $100 million this year - and why Sony Music has just this minute reported a 12.9% fall in revenue.

.

[Mahesh]

If I get ONLY 30 seconds,and if I know that there will ever be a possibility of that happening,I'd bet on working to be the best starting now and when those 30seconds come by,I'd just sing my heart out. ha life can be such a fairy tale sometimes!

[McnaughtonPark]

I don't know Mr. Stringer, so I'd start with an introduction, perhaps as has already been pointed out, humor to warm it up, then I'd probably try to invite him to where I was playing or to a show where the band is shocasing my lyrics. The guy is CEO, like CFO, probably has no idea if a song is good or not but could quote the stock price of Mobile Oil for the last two decades. His expertise is in running a coporation, not recruiting talent, but perhaps his nephew works at Sony and is closer to the working end of things. You're better off meeting someone like that, and deploying your best clandestine stalker techniques. Hack into his email account and get all his contacts, those are the people who are going to be able to do something with a song pitch.

You might as well just hold the door open and wish him a nice day

Ain't nothing you got going to matter anyway

Sorry that I had to rain on your parade

I hate Fridays,

Tom

[john]

Interesting that no one thinks they have a chance. The reason I think that you guys seem to be thinking that way is because right off you are probably considering how could you impress him as an artist... when he is a business man. That there is the whole point. You need to talk business to get his attention.

For example: "Hello, Mr Stringer? I am a singer / songwriter with 500,000 fans on my mailing list. I'm currently selling 2000 downloads per day with an monthly average growth of 25%. I am unsigned and have a new album recorded and almost ready for market. I would like to propose a deal where you help me take the album to the mass market in return for a percentage of the royalty. Whatcha say?"

Now that might not all be true, at the moment but the point is, if you can see the way that might appeal, you can get an idea of where you could put emphasis of your efforts should you ever want to be in the 30 second position!

[Mahesh]

"Hello, Mr Stringer? I am a singer / songwriter with 500,000 fans on my mailing list. I'm currently selling 2000 downloads per day with an monthly average growth of 25%. I am unsigned and have a new album recorded and almost ready for market. I would like to propose a deal where you help me take the album to the mass market in return for a percentage of the royalty. Whatcha say?"

Now that might not all be true, at the moment but the point is, if you can see the way that might appeal, you can get an idea of where you could put emphasis of your efforts should you ever want to be in the 30 second position!

Brilliant John! lol

[Roflcopter]

For example: "Hello, Mr Stringer? I am a singer / songwriter with 500,000 fans on my mailing list. I'm currently selling 2000 downloads per day with an monthly average growth of 25%. I am unsigned and have a new album recorded and almost ready for market. I would like to propose a deal where you help me take the album to the mass market in return for a percentage of the royalty. Whatcha say?"

If only that were true, he'd probably be sleeping on your doorstep... (and you'd probably be wondering what the heck you would need HIM for)

[john]

simple, marketing and distribution access to network radio and TV a few other things I can think of. It always comes down to what is of value both ways, but you get the point I hope Hell I know you do

[Lazz]

No problem, but for the sake of clarity, that type of information would involve advance research & knowledge....indicating advance awareness of what I understood to be a chance meeting.

I was honestly trying to be realistic - especially in terms of making your own luck.

When I was still a dreamer, an incipient mogul in pursuit of the big cigar, and attended conferences and events where such big-wigs gathered, the possibilities for getting next to them and for engineering such accidental encounters were always on my devious and unsuccessful agenda - and so I always aimed to know who they were and what their situation was. Old habits die hard, and I still pay some attention to what's going on in the business. Even though Rob Stringer's Wikipedia entry is slim enough to be irrelevant, that was all stuff I already knew about him - apart from those recently released operational figures.

But that was all yesterday.

Today - I honestly don't think Stringer would give you the time of day - unless maybe you had a TV production company and populist project-ideas that made a good fit with his desperate straw-grabbing survival mode.

[john]

I certainly agree it's a very slim shot, but I think chance increases when you at least talk the same language... what exactly you would have to state to tweak that interest is another thing

Probably more of use is the equivalent 30 second pitch that you have to listeners / fans / site visitors, or to music journalists , publishers and labels for that matter. That of course would be quite different and more than likely less based in figures and more on creative milestones, performance milestones and stylistic perspectives.

[Steve]

Why don't we stop messing around and go for Lazz's original option? Kidnap his wife and kids!

[FinnArild]

What you do - is to do so well on your own that when "Mr Stringer" by his unbelievable luck finds himself in the same elevator as you, he'll have to do the pitch.