Artist Development- Demos

Today I was in the recording studio, producing a new up and coming singer. As I have been putting her into a "package", I thought that I should explain what that process entails and how to get it done right.

You may be an amazing singer, but it doesn't matter unless you have packaged yourself. That means you need to pick the right genre for your voice, the right look for the genre, the right personality to go along for marketing purposes and the perfect songs to demo your voice.

The demo is especially important. Picking the wrong songs is detrimental. I'm sure you have seen vocal competitions like American Idol where all they do is criticize the song choice.

When putting together a demo, you should ideally have 3 songs. You need to have a ballad and an uptempo song. If possible, you will want to have original songs. If you are not a songwriter, I would recommend putting it on your list of things to learn how to do. It is the money maker in the music world and also gives you credibility. Otherwise, carefully pick 3 songs from other artists that you can sing exceptionally well. However, do NOT pick a singer that you sound exactly like. A&R does not want to hear repeats of hits. They want to hear an original artist with a new twist on a song. Make it yours!

Demos do not need to be professionally mastered and perfectly mixed. You just need something that makes you sound good.

-MJ