So, you think you've written a great lyric, but you don't do music. Can't play an instrument and can't sing for your life. Wow. I resemble that remark! So, what happens? You have to find a good demo producer. You have to find someone who knows current music in the genre that you are targeting. That may not be easy. But, Songpress Music might be able to help you. We have six great demo producers as members of our site, and you can find them on the menu in the "Service Providers" and "Song Demo Production" section of the menu. I have personally used 4 out of the six, and can vouch for them. The other two came highly recommended to me.

Even if you aren't a member of Songpress Music, just go to the site and the menu, and get the information you need on demo producers. If you ever want your song to get recorded, you do need a good demo. Then you need the ability to pitch your song to A&R reps, producers, managers, publishers, or even the artists themselves. That's where you're going to need to join a website that lists pitch opportunities. Well, Songpress Music does that too. But, for that you need to be a member of Songpress Music, Songu.com, Taxi, or maybe some other site that I don't know of. So I recommend you check out your options. But, I will tell you from my experience, that you basically have two good choices. Songu.com offers the most pitch opportunities, if you can afford the site. It literally costs 5 times the price of Songpress Music for the top subscriptions. But I'm a member of it too rightr now, for the pitch opportunities. Songpress Music is still young, and doesn't have so many. But Songpress Music offers a lot of functionality that Songu doesn't, so you really should check them both out depending on what you are doing and who you are working with on music. Let which site works best for you, be your choice! And even if Songpress Music isn't your best choice right now, keep your eyes on it! We are expanding opportunities as quickly as we can, and we just might be your best choice just a little ways down the road!

I’ve run into a couple of issues with our pitches on the site.  Accordingly, I need to share more information.

First, I failed to tell everyone that Damon Spigle is a 16 year-old boy, and it appears that nobody researched him before they submitted their songs.  So, songs being pitched are more for an adult than a young man like him.  You might want to review his website at  https://www.damonspiglemusic.com/ so you know more of what to pitch for him.  I will be more careful in the future to recommend what ya’ll can review for the pitches.  I’m just not used to doing this.  And each of you that submits a song needs to know who you are pitching to.

Next, I’ve placed pitch criteria on the home page under the “Site Blog” tab in the center of the page.  After pitching for years myself and a whole lot of rejections, I have learned some standards that I will be looking for.  I also learned a whole lot from a book called, “The Art Of Writing Great Lyrics.”  This is a great book by Pamela Philips Oland, and it helped me to learn proper formatting, structure, and style.  I recommend it to everyone!  All of our songs get judged by things covered in the book, and much more.

You can check out the pitching evaluation criteria at: https://songpressmusic.com/davej56/blog/8/pitching-your-music-and-songs

All this is good, but in the end, songwriting is still the most subjective thing I’ve ever dealt with, other than my ex wife!  So, you can tie down the structure and timing of a song, and have a great melody, but it still needs to be based on a great idea that is well developed into the lyric.  And that is where it get’s so subjective.  None of us alone can determine what the solicitor of the songs will like or dislike.  And so we are destined to fail quite often in our selections just to get our songs passed by him or her.

If I was submitting my songs for this pitch, here are the two I would send:

https://songpressmusic.com/dave/audio/182/the-best-things-in-life-are-free-v2

https://songpressmusic.com/dave/audio/187/my-country-girl-knows-the-way

These songs fit the format and timing pretty well.  Both have been pitched many times on Songu.com, and one of them was selected to go to the artist, twice.  But, no cigar!  This just goes to show that it doesn’t matter how good your song is, and it doesn’t matter how much you, your family, or your friends like the song.  Ultimately, the evaluator has to believe that the artist will want to sing it.  And of course, the artist has to want to sing it!

So, best of luck with your pitching!  It’s a rough road to ride upon!  But, it’s part of the deal.

An updated Roxfax comes out tomorrow, so hopefully I will have more new pitches to offer ya'll!  Since Rowfax updates most every end-of-day, Wednesday, you should be able to look for new pitch opportunities every Thursday, if I can get them out that fast.

We have begun to provide pitching opportunities to our Songwriters. So far, this is only for Small and Indie Record Companies as we do not yet have access to the major players--we are working on it and hope to have them. But, we can't promise they will allow us yet because we are still small.

Pitching will be done by posting the pitch information in an entry under the "Looking For Songs" section of our "Sitewide Forums" menu.  Members will need to submit their songs per the description of the post not later than the expiration date reflected on the post.

NOTE:  WHILE THERE ARE SPECIFIC CRITERIA PER BELOW THAT ARE COMMON TO HIT SONGS, THE VALUE OF THE IDEA  AS PRESENTED REMAINS VERY SUBJECTIVE.

Selection of songs will normally be based upon radio-friendly criteria as follows:

Catchy Hook: A memorable and easily recognizable phrase or melody that grabs the listener's attention. 

Clear and Simple Structure: A song with a distinct verse-chorus structure and a clear progression of ideas, making it easy to follow and understand. 

Compelling Melody: A catchy and memorable melody that is easy to sing along with. 

Strong Lyrics: Lyrics that are clear, concise, and relatable to a broad audience, avoiding overly complex or abstract language.

Radio Edit Length: A song length typically between 3 and 4 minutes, allowing for a concise and engaging listening experience. 

Inoffensive Content: Avoiding explicit language, controversial topics, or excessive repetition. 

Professional Production: High-quality mixing and mastering that ensures a clean and balanced sound, suitable for the radio environment. 

Wide Appeal: A song that resonates with a broad range of demographics and tastes. 

Why Radio-Friendly Matters:

Mainstream Radio:

Mainstream radio stations prioritize songs that are easily accessible and enjoyable for a wide audience. 

Targeting the Masses:

Radio-friendly songs are designed to appeal to a large number of listeners, making them suitable for driving radio play. 

Easy Recognition:

The clear structure and catchy elements make it easy for listeners to recognize and remember the song, even if they're not actively listening to it. 

In essence, a radio-friendly song is a carefully crafted piece of music designed for mass appeal and easy consumption in the radio environment.

Normally subsequent to the expiration date of the post, I and my assistant will listen to the songs and rate them based on the following proven criteria:

1.  Should have a musical introduction not longer than 15 seconds. Target is 10 seconds.

2. Opening line must grab attention and interest. 

3.  Should get to the first chorus within 40 seconds. Target is 30 seconds.

4.  Chorus should have sing-along pull with a strong hook!

5.  Song should normally be of a common format. Exceptions must be rare and work well!

6. Demo may be only guiter/piano, and vocal, but must be high quality.

7.  Lyric is clear and understandable. Draws attention. Garners universal interest.

8.  Melody is catchy, clean, and clear.  Fits the lyric.

9.  Song draws strong interest or emotion.

10.  Song should be 2.5 to 3.5 minutes in length.  3 minutes is optimal for radio.

11.  Song's fit for the artist. Google them and know your target!

*Other criteria may be added as appropriate to the pitch!

NOTE:  10 points possible per each criteria.  Minimum score of 80% or maximum score is required to submit any song. WE MUST PROTECT THE CREDIBILITY OF THIS PUBLISHING COMPANY IN ORDER FOR IT TO SERVE YOU WELL!

Qualified song with the most points is number 1 selection, and so forth.

Pitch will be made to the solicitor of the songs according to the pitch and the ratings listing.  However, the list of ratings will not be posted to the pitch file upon completion.  Only, the list of songs pitched will be posted to the pitch entry upon submission.

Hello!

Some of you may wonder why we aren't set up specifically for you to sell licenses for people to do cuts on your songs. Well, we've been through that, and found that it dirtied up the water on original songs. When you sell a copyright on a song, the buyers usually want to know that the song is clean--no prior cuts of any kind. The same is true for major players in the business who might want the first cut of the song by license. There are websites out there that you can join to sell covers on these songs, but we don't recommend it. You make very little money, and again, the songs get dirtied up if you do sell random licenses.  And you may not have any idea who even bought the license, because is was sold by the site. You may get a name, but that really doesn't normally mean much.

If you cut the song yourself and do streaming sales, that's your business, and that's okay.  But then again, you have dirtied up the waters for your copyright sales and for major license sales when you do this. So, you need to disclose that when you go to sell the copyright of a song that's been sold on streaming sites, including here on Songpress Music.  It's just best to be transparent.

The above may not always hold true, as the buyer may not care if the song isn't really well known. And, lots of Artists cut songs that have been cut before. Like songwriting itself, what gets cut is very subjective. But in any case, it can't get cut if the artist doesn't have the opportunity to hear the song. And that's where Songpress Music comes in. Although there is much more to Songpress Music than making the song available to be heard. Songpress Music is also about getting the song ready to be heard, then giving it the potential to be heard. That's the subject of another blog entry or more!

Now, this also gets a little hairy when you post songs for sale on here or anywhere, because people get to listen to them before buying them, which is a type of streaming. Well, that's part of the deal and they know that when they buy. However, your profile on this site can be locked down to your followers only viewing and listening. You can also keep your profile private like this and only invite who you want to listen to your songs on here. Plus, we even require Fans to pay a small fee to join the site, just to minimize the likelihood for rogue visitors and low-level members to stream and steal the ideas of your songs. But, it's still an honor system to an extent, and we depend on people to be honest. Yes, there's a risk, but you face that risk even more if people don't have a little skin in the game.

So, that's our basic philosophy and a part on why we charge Fans for membership on Songpress. We also charge because as users, they are potentially in need of support services and they have other features available to them.  And not meaning to digress, that will be the subject of another blog entry.

As of 6/2/2025, we have begun posting pitching opportunities in the "Looking For Songs" section os the "Sitewide Forums" menu.  I have just posted the information about how to pitch your songs and the criteria for selections under the "Site Blog" tab next to this one. Cuts is what it's all about! I wish you all luck in your pursuit of those cuts

As of 5/16/25, we are well on our way to establishing the premier songwriters website of the world. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!  I believe in this site, and I believe in me to get it where it needs to go. We've made great progress in securing the site for the users' protection, in providing the most feature-packed site of its type in the world, and in ensuring a user friendly and stable platform for our membership.  We are very proud of Songpress Music, and those who join us, will understand why!

As of 4/20/25, the site is up and running well.  We don't have a lot of users yet, but those that we do have are being very quiet. I hope that's a good sign that they aren't running into problems! I've been organizing and expanding the capabilities of the site, and working with the program develpers to improve it.  Most of the effort has been with respect to the Sitewide Forums and Service Providers sections of the Menu, and with the functions of Audio.  With developer assistance, I've added fields and functions to prepare Audio for peer reviews, for copyright sales, and for search functionality.  There is still a lot of work to be done, especially in the documentation and FAQ areas, but the site is well on its way!

As of 4/9/0225, this site is currently being built. I hope to have it up and running soon,  However, it will not be complete for quite awhile yet.  It will take a bit of custom programming to finish it.  But when completed, it should be the most comprehensive music creation and selling site in existence. I'm hoping for a lot! I'm aiming very high!

As of 5/16/25, we now have four different Demo Song Producers available on our site.  All are very capable musicians who either sing themselves or provide great vocalists.  Site users will work directly with these producers to obtain their services.  Songpress Music takes no cut of the service providers' charges, and users can rate the services they receive so that we only provide referrals to quality producers. We in fact have used three-out-of-four of these producers, and I personally vouch for them!

As of 4/20/25, we have added two Demo Song Producers to the site!  We welcome Frank Michels of Nashville Song Demo and Jed Demlow of Jed Demlow Productions.  Both are very capable musicians and producers who can turn your songs into the sounds you've dreamed of!

As of 5/6/25, we post our mission statement below:

THE MISSION OF SONGPRESS MUSIC

The mission of Songpress Music is to serve all songwriters, singers, musicians, bands, and their fans in the pursuit of their dreams, goals, and happiness. We are devoted and will work tirelessly to help develop and support the creators of new music. Our top goal and intent is to get our members heard so that they can achieve a level of success that they deserve according to their individual talents.

Songpress is new, and it is going to be a new home for many!  If you have anything to do with making new music, you will want to be here. So come and join now, and grow with us! The sky isn't even the limit here; we are reaching for the stars! And we expect to see new stars born and raised here. Maybe, you are one of them!