The Elevator Pitch

The doors open and you walk onto the elevator. As you press the button for your floor, you notice the only other person you'll be riding with: a clean-cut, older gentleman wearing a designer suit. You introduce yourself as a budding entrepreneur, to which he responds, "What's your idea?" Realizing you've just stumbled into a potential investment opportunity, you jump right into the 60-second summary of your business plan. There's only one chance to make a great first impression.

So it is with a song and its listener. The song finds its way to the ears of a producer, publisher, record label executive, radio DJ, audience or potential buyer with the intention of convincing the listener that it is well worth their emotional investment.  Often if the listener isn't sold in the first 30-60 seconds of a song, it's on to the next one.

The next time you write a song, put yourself in the shoes (or ears) of the listener. Ask yourself, "If I were hearing this song for the first time, would I believe enough in the music and message to invest my time and emotions?"

Keep writing,

Ben

Fast - Cheap - Good: Pick Two

Here's a marketing tool that I've found helpful: in any given project, a product can be fast, cheap, and/or good. But it can only be two of the three. Let's look at this through the lens of a songwriter.

If you're interested in getting a song recorded, there are three scenarios:

1. Fast/Cheap

There's an audio engineer friend who is looking for some recording experience. He said he'd record your song at his place if you buy him lunch. Fast and cheap, but what level of quality should be expected?

2. Cheap/Good

There's a family friend who has had success over the years recording well-known artists. As a favor, he offered you the opportunity to come into his studio when it's available to record some songs. He even said he'd be willing to mix them. It's no cost, and the quality is top-notch. But how long will it be before he has a free day to mix your song?

3. Fast/Good

There's a professional audio engineer in town who has gained a reputation for not only getting great-quality recordings, but mixing them the very next day. Nothing's better to a songwriter or publisher than getting a final mix so soon, but how much is that going to cost?

The best audio engineer of all is the one who makes you feel like you got a recording that was all three of the above: cheap, good and fast. It's your job to figure out which one of the three it's not!

Keep writing,

Ben