Songs to the right people...

[Patrick Metheny]

I know this question sounds naive as hell,  and I know that the music industry is a very tough nut to crack so here is my question...Are there any other ways to get an artist to hear your songs besides A&R men and recording executives.  Fan club president?  Stalking?   I heard Kristofferson landed a helicopter in Johnny Cash's yard and pitched "Sunday morning coming down"...Anyway I thought some creative soul here might have the answer...Thanks all!

[MikeRobinson]

I once decided to write two Kindle books, and in the last three years I've made a whopping $54.00 from them.  When there are "more than a million Kindle titles," your odds are therefore actually "one in a million" that anyone will even know that your book exists, no matter how good it is.  Therefore, I think that you must have – or, buy – a realistic marketing plan.  "If you build it, not only will they not come, they won't even know that you exist."

 

Kris & Co. operated in a very different world, where any musical recording was very expensive to create and could only be distributed on physical media.  These days, there are no technical barriers to entry at all, but this is a two-edged sword.

 

One of the most interesting sites I've stumbled-upon is taxi.com, which is an A&R site that primarily serves the "bumper music" market.  It is by subscription only and the cost of a subscription is not trivial, but it is readily apparent that they accomplish their mission of putting music buyers and professional music producers together ... for a very targeted market "vertical."  (Think about it: everything that you hear on television is accompanied by music.)   There are many other sites with a similar purpose.  But they are frankly not for amateurs.

[Nick]

On 7/11/2018 at 11:50 PM, MikeRobinson said:

I once decided to write two Kindle books, and in the last three years I've made a whopping $54.00 from them.  When there are "more than a million Kindle titles," your odds are therefore actually "one in a million" that anyone will even know that your book exists, no matter how good it is.  Therefore, I think that you must have – or, buy – a realistic marketing plan.  "If you build it, not only will they not come, they won't even know that you exist."

 

Kris & Co. operated in a very different world, where any musical recording was very expensive to create and could only be distributed on physical media.  These days, there are no technical barriers to entry at all, but this is a two-edged sword.

 

One of the most interesting sites I've stumbled-upon is taxi.com, which is an A&R site that primarily serves the "bumper music" market.  It is by subscription only and the cost of a subscription is not trivial, but it is readily apparent that they accomplish their mission of putting music buyers and professional music producers together ... for a very targeted market "vertical."  (Think about it: everything that you hear on television is accompanied by music.)   There are many other sites with a similar purpose.  But they are frankly not for amateurs.

So what are the two books?

 

They may be good. My wife has bought several self published books from friends and some of them are and some of them are 
 

Like songs and tunes and stuff and pictures

Actually the stranger is that you chose to write two books. I think there is a song in that

It's writing as I type and it's called Just In Case

Song that writes itself

 

Edited July 14, 2018 by Nick

[Nick]

Coincidentally Patrick I think you have a great name but it may be a huge advantage or not ..

 

 

[Patrick Metheny]

Good point...

[Patrick Metheny]

and thanks for writing..

[Patrick Metheny]

Thanks everyone...lots of good advice....

[MikeRobinson]

On 7/14/2018 at 3:15 PM, Nick said:

So what are the two books?

 

They are two computer project-management books published under the pseudonym Vincent P. North.

 

Meanwhile, for the past couple decades(!) I have published a proprietary computer-software product that sells for >$150 a copy (and up or down) and that continues to do so.  (If you need what it does, and apparently quite-a-few people still do, you buy it.  Because [somewhat to my surprise ...] nothing else does what it does, as well as it does it.  Every borough of the City of London has a copy ...)

 

So, there are no "sour grapes" here.  Just a realization that even a good book "is, still, 'just a book,'" and can easily become lost in the shuffle.