Songwriting For Dummies

Chapter 15

Getting Your Songs Heard: Making the Demo

In This Chapter

Determining when your song is ready

Getting the details in order

Choosing the method to create your song

Arranging the musical shape of your songs

Recording the actual demo

Assembling the package and sending it out

The day will come when you’ve finally finished your song and it’s time to put your heart and soul on the line to share your creation with the world. After all, your song won’t do anyone any good sitting in your notebook! The first step in getting your song out there is to make a demonstration of the song — better known as a demo. A demo basically demonstrates your song’s potential — in other words, it’s a prototype or template from which the right industry people who may be interested in your songs can elaborate. It’s like a sketch from which a fully realized masterpiece can then be painted.

In this chapter, we give you the inside scoop on how to prepare and produce a demo and get it in the hands of the right people.

Evaluating Your Options

There are many things to consider before you embark upon the considerable time and expense of cutting a demo of your song, but first things first. You need to run through a simple checklist of honest evaluation and critique to rate the readiness of taking your song to the next level. Here are a few questions to begin asking yourself in self-evaluating your song:

Is each line of lyric and melody the best you are capable of writing?

Is the song structure well thought ...