It's 🔥 but it's getting late! Winter Holiday Songs

[Peggy]

Hey Songwriters,

 

It's hot but it's getting late in the year for your Winter Holiday release plans. 

 

Well done Winter Holiday music sells and gets plays! People are searching for a seasonal vibe..religous, secular, old classics and new songs.  Winter Holiday releases are a great strategy for reaching your fans and making new ones, year after year.

 

Has anyone been thinking about or working on a Winter Holiday song or two for release this year? Is it an original, a cover, a public domain classic?

 

It would be great to know what your plans are and if you have any hurdles that you want to discuss that will help to make your release more effective.  It's more than having a great Winter Holiday song, there's always production, artwork, video, promo, platforms of distribution, playlists to get on and of course.. timing! 

 

But..

 

If you're already finished and ready to go, Awesome job!  It would be great if you want to put your song on the Showcase boards so we can review as we start preparing, in the next couple months, for our Winter Holiday Playlists on YouTube, Spotify, and Soundcloud. 

 

Peggy

[MikeRobinson]

Hadn't thought about using this site to promote but yes I've spent a bit of the summer thinking about winter.

[Peggy]

Hi Mike,

 

How far along are you in your thinking?  Have you decided on your song? What are your usual avenues and steps for promoting your music?  Do you have your artist bio and pages or website, mailing lists, and the like?  @john has a great marketing challenge for preparations if you want to take a look.

 

 https://forums.songstuff.com/forum/324-music-marketing-challenges/

 

As far as promo, we have a wide range of platforms, playlist and Showcase featuring that can help members with the reach of their new releases. 

 

In the near future, we will be launching Advertising for the members and their songs..and much more. (Ooops! that's a sneak preview)

 

Peggy

 

[john]

On 8/12/2020 at 10:38 PM, MikeRobinson said:

Hadn't thought about using this site to promote but yes I've spent a bit of the summer thinking about winter.

 

We also promote songs selected from the showcase board on Songstuff UK, our Facebook pages and groups, our Twitter accounts, Instagram, Pinterest, our newsletter etc.If it's a video we also promote it on our YouTube channels. Our Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube playlists we also promote across the internet.

[John W Selleck]

What got me back into writing was i saw an ad for a country Christmas lyric contest and thought, I can do this! I hadn't written anything for 35 years but i put the brain into gear, called my muse, and went to work. 2 days later, I entered 2 songs into the contest, Santa's Spies, about how the animals spy for Santa, and Santa's diet, a comical look at his weight. 4 months later, I got a call at 11pm telling me I had won over 3000+ entrants, that they loved both of the lyrics and would I consider moving to the Nashville area and making the rounds with some help from them. they ended up not only giving me the $500 cash prize, a nice plaque, and a free demo of Santa's spies, but also a demo of the other. I have about 10 Christmas songs demoed but can't be in Nashville to push them. I also have one that Lisa is going to work on now that my be my best Christmas lyric.

[Cody]

Used to do a rendition of Coventry Carol an old public domain bit, that doesn't even have a known author anymore.......may work it up again.....was thinking about it the other day anyway, just saw this  

 

Not your typical christmas tune  but not everyone enjoys that time of year, I for one particularly hate being bombarded by the music.

[John W Selleck]

8 hours ago, Cody said:

Used to do a rendition of Coventry Carol an old public domain bit, that doesn't even have a known author anymore.......may work it up again.....was thinking about it the other day anyway, just saw this  

 

Not your typical christmas tune  but not everyone enjoys that time of year, I for one particularly hate being bombarded by the music.

Not everything has to be happy songs, try:

https://www.soundclick.com/music/songInfo.cfm?songID=4665608

or:

https://www.soundclick.com/music/songInfo.cfm?songID=4932321

[Peggy]

9 hours ago, Cody said:

may work it up again.....was thinking about it the other day anyway, just saw this  

I, for one, and the friends I was working with, waited too long .. we were very inexperienced and delusional.  It was Christmas eve when it was finally available and we did zero lead up.  We just thought great song, great album art, people will love it.  We rushed the recording of the vocals, rushed the mix. The poor guy that was mastering for me tried his best.  He didn't have a good product to work with.  Pretty  much a failure. Our faults.  We should have pulled it, done it right, prepated a plan for the next year. Lessons learned. 

 

[Cody]

42 minutes ago, Peggy said:

It was Christmas eve when it was finally available

sorry I laughed so hard at this..........yup right when everyone is sick to death of jingle bells and white christmases and rudolphs stupid red nose  great timing!

 

was thinking about Coventry Carol, for other reasons, just know it's for some reason considered as "Christmas Music" quick search last night saw and saw an Annie Lennox version(2010ish).....not real happy about that ...... I won't get into it here , but she tried, bless her heart  

[Peggy]

All true..and I glossed over some of the funnier points.  The writer friend does mostly comtempary gospel and this was one of his songs.  We vowed we would take another stab at it. This may be the year to do it.  We started talking about the redo a month or so ago. It's time to make the decision...focus or let it pass until another year.

 

 

 

[Peggy]

23 minutes ago, Cody said:

was thinking about Coventry Carol,

It's a tough one and hope you give it a try for the season ahead. 

[Cody]

15 minutes ago, Peggy said:

All true..and I glossed over some of the funnier points.  The writer friend does mostly comtempary gospel and this was one of his songs.  We vowed we would take another stab at it. This may be the year to do it.  We started talking about the redo a month or so ago. It's time to make the decision...focus or let it pass until another year.

 

 

 

Hope you do (I usually don't mind Christmas originals, or even if it's a cover/re-write and far enough removed from an old stand-by) I know I'm in the minority there, and it's not like I'm the one buying Christmas albums hahah

 

and yeah the coventry one is one of those that sounds simple, until you try it  especially if you're a weirdo like me and can't seem to sing/play at separate times, especially since I'm almost never gonna do it the same way twice....I need my security blanket  and been oh my...... maybe 11-12 years since I've played it I don't remember my chords, but they sure weren't on any notation you'll probably find....I'll put it on the list even if it never leaves the barn  

[Peggy]

3 hours ago, John W Selleck said:

Not everything has to be happy songs, try:

https://www.soundclick.com/music/songInfo.cfm?songID=4665608

or:

https://www.soundclick.com/music/songInfo.cfm?songID=4932321

Very touching and wow, so sad .. brings to my heart all those that suffer during the holidays because someone they love is not there to share life and the season. 😪🙏💔

[John W Selleck]

4 hours ago, Peggy said:

Very touching and wow, so sad .. brings to my heart all those that suffer during the holidays because someone they love is not there to share life and the season. 😪🙏💔

Both of those are on my list of songs I refused to write for a few days but kept haunting me before, during, and after my sleep until I wrote them. They hit places I don't like to visit. I still love the season even though my older brother and my mother were both born just before Christmas and are not with me anymore, except in my heart. I still celebrate it in song, and to keep good memories.

[Liz Kowalsky]

holidays suck big time for me as well. tons of bad shit that happens and always depressed. So.. gimmie a normal ol day any day. 

 

I just make my own special times with my hubby and cats... lol. 

 

 

[john]

1 hour ago, Liz Kowalsky said:

holidays suck big time for me as well. tons of bad shit that happens and always depressed. So.. gimmie a normal ol day any day. 

 

I just make my own special times with my hubby and cats... lol. 

 

 

 

I hear you. How many cats do you have?

[Peggy]

21 hours ago, Liz Kowalsky said:

holidays suck big time for me as well. tons of bad shit that happens and always depressed. So.. gimmie a normal ol day any day. 

 

I just make my own special times with my hubby and cats... lol. 

 

 

 

19 hours ago, john said:

I hear you. How many cats do you have?

 

Yay,  holiday songs aren't for everyone, but for those that have written songs or have wondered about it, I want to encourage  them to plan ahead and get started early.  There is definitely a market out there for quality Winter Holiday songs... year after year. 

[Liz Kowalsky]

21 hours ago, john said:

 

I hear you. How many cats do you have?

2... name anubis and bastet! anubis is  a tripod catgod and bastet has unlimited HP and mana, 

[Cody]

actually listened back to this first draft, and at a bit of a loss......less midi more guitar/vocal? vocal clearer? I mean I don't think it needs said, but whatever......asking opinions....I mean my thought is at most tune down the midi cracked out crickets and hit it about in the middle and harmonize with a piano/vocal with some clear lyrics......but eh.......opinoins? christmas tune for me