ION INDIE MAGAZINE November 2016, Volume 30 | Page 74

SONGWRITING SERIES

Promotion
…Part 1
By Paul Bordenkircher
Now that you know the steps to properly manage your song catalog, you’re ready to start the REALLY hard work--getting
your songs out there.
(For the purposes of this column, we’re assuming you’re focused on pitching your *songs*, not an artist or group. Artist
promotion is a whole ‘nother bunch of coconuts…)
It’s as simple as this: It could be argued that promoting songs is harder than actually writing the songs themselves. This
has become especially true in the last 5-6 years. And before you get into this world, you need to understand a little about
how we got here.
A Brief History Lesson.
The start of the new millennium saw the music industry turned on its head--revenues tumbled, physical product sales
practically disappeared, and the rise of talented, capable independent artists and songwriters ate further into the Big
3’s bottom line. But in just the last few years, the major labels have circled the wagons to turn the tide. They have used
their contacts and muscle to corner the market on a LOT of potential revenue sources for people like us.
Here’s an example. Do you remember the long-running “CSI” television series? (The original one in Las Vegas, not the
weak spin-offs.) Remember that the main theme was a famous Who song? When the show hit the airwaves in 2000, use
of that song was considered a big deal, because major artist tracks were not licensed for these types of uses. They were
thought to compromise the artist’s integrity, reduce the value of the copyright, etc. In fact, use of a major artists’ work in
a commercial was non-existent until about the late 1980’s. Then about a year ago, I saw the EXACT SAME song being
used in a TV ad for a discount shoe store! Have you also noticed Dire Straits is now selling insurance, or Queen selling
pet supplies? These types of deals were taboo even a dozen years ago, now they’re commonplace.