Is there still interest for goold old fashioned music?

Jul 03, 2018, 09:14 AM

I am a songwriter and have written my first songs and starting to promote soon. I know the basics of promoting. But I am wondering if there is still interest for 60’s, 70’s music, old jazz, old country, evergreens, ballads and genres like boogie woogie, rock & roll, reggae with acoustic instruments. I like all these styles and one day I write music for this, but cannot do all right now. I like this music a lot better as what is produced these days. Music should have good melodies and / or catching beats or it isn’t music for me. I cannot write rap for instance.

So, is there still a market for this?

Jul 03, 2018, 10:13 AM

YES

there is an unlimited interest in live performances that present such genres.

No - with regard to selling downloads or CDs.

Just go for it!

Jul 03, 2018, 10:59 AM

Is this only Indie territory? Or also record deals musicians. I cannot imagine that for instance rock & roll players have records deals. Or am I wrong?

Jul 03, 2018, 06:40 PM

There’s a market for music.

It may be out there among the public consumer base if the music can be put into their ears by whatever means you can devise.

It may be specialized in Synchronization Licensing to commercial consumers for use in soundtracks for TV shows, movies, commercial advertising.

The fact it ‘sounds like’ something out of a different era may be an asset or a liability, depending on the consumer’s tastes or purposes.

http://www.TAXI.com frequently has consumers seeking exactly that referenced ‘era-sounding’ product. You can sign up for their newsletter to see what their members see regarding what Taxi’s customers are looking for.

If you are producing ‘broadcast ready’ recordings, even home recordings, and can ‘hook’ listeners you may be able to market your product.

Welcome to the campus of Songwriter101.

Jul 04, 2018, 08:18 PM

Here’s the latest Taxi newsletter I told you about.

Reminders:  July 4-10
TAXI Independent A&R
The World’s Leading Independent A&R Company
TAXI Listing Reminders
July 4-10
Opportunities That Pay Sync Fees
Deadlines Tomorrow, July 5
HIGH-ENERGY ELECTRONIC DANCE SONGS (aka EDM) with Male or Female Vocals or “INSTRUMENTALS” are needed for several $2,500, Direct-to-Music Supervisor, NON-Exclusive placements in a Video Game by a AAA Video Game Developer. TAXI #Y180705ED

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Deadlines Tomorrow, July 5
ORIGINAL 1980’s-Style, ADULT CONTEMPORARY/POP SONGS with Male or Female Vocals are needed for an (up to) $4,000, Non-Exclusive, Direct-to-Music-Supervisor placement in a Feature Film.  TAXI #Y180705OE

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Deadlines Sunday, July 8
COUNTRY/POP SONGS with Female Vocals are needed for an (up to) $10,000, Direct-to-Production Company/Music Supervisor placement on a HIT TV Show that’s airing on a Major Broadcast Network.  TAXI #Y180708CP

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Deadlines Sunday, July 8
ORIGINAL 1980’s-Style, HIP-HOP INSTRUMENTAL CUES are needed for an (up to) $4,000, Non-Exclusive, Direct-to-Music-Supervisor placement in a Feature Film.  TAXI #Y180708HH

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Deadlines Sunday, July 8
ORIGINAL 1980’s-Style, POP INSTRUMENTALS are needed for an (up-to) $4,000, Non-Exclusive, Direct-to-Music-Supervisor placement in a Feature Film.  TAXI #Y180708EI

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Deadlines Monday, July 9
ORIGINAL, CONTEMPORARY BLUES SONGS with Male Vocals are needed for several $2,500, Direct-to-Music Supervisor, NON-Exclusive placements in a Video Game by a AAA Video Game Developer. TAXI #Y180709BS

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Deadlines Monday, July 9
ALT-LATIN HIP-HOP SONGS with Male Vocals are needed for several (up-to) $750,  Non-Exclusive, Direct-to-Music Supervisor placements in an Independent Feature Film. TAXI #Y180709LH

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All Other Listings Due This Week
Deadlines Today, July 4
YOUTHFUL COUNTRY/POP SONGS with Male Vocals are needed by a Major Record Label A&R Executive for a Duo that’s working on its next record. TAXI #Y180704CP

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Deadlines Today, July 4
SOULFUL URBAN ADULT CONTEMPORARY SONGS with Female Vocals are needed by a Major Record Label A&R Executive for an International Artist who’s working on her debut album. TAXI #Y180704SU

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Deadlines Today, July 4
ROWDY, FUN, GUITAR-based ROCK INSTRUMENTAL CUES are needed by a Music Supervisor-owned Music Library. TAXI #Y180704GR

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Deadlines Tomorrow, July 5
BLUES ARTISTS and/or BANDS with Male or Female Vocals are needed by a well-known Indie Record Label that’s on the lookout for great new talent to sign their eclectic and well-known label. TAXI #Y180705BA

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Deadlines Tomorrow, July 5
ORIGINAL ADULT CONTEMPORARY CHRISTMAS SONGS with Male or Female Vocals are needed by a Top-Tier Publisher for Film/TV placements. TAXI #Y180705XS

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Deadlines Saturday, July 7
POST PUNK INSTRUMENTALS are needed by a European Music Library with lots and lots of great placements in Film and TV. TAXI #Y180707PP

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Deadlines Saturday, July 7
HEAVY TENSION INSTRUMENTAL CUES are needed by a Music Supervisor-owned Music Library that’s feeding music directly to an Investigative TV Series. TAXI #Y180707HT

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Deadlines Saturday, July 7
A WIDE RANGE of UNIQUE, QUIRKY INSTRUMENTALS are needed by the Music Supervisor of a AAA Console Video Game Franchise. TAXI #Y180707DI

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Deadlines Sunday, July 8
DUBSTEP INSTRUMENTALS are needed by a European Music Library with lots and lots of great placements in Film and TV.  TAXI #Y180708DS

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Deadlines Sunday, July 8
CONTEMPORARY SINGER/SONGWRITER SONGS with Female Vocals are needed by a Major Label A&R Executive for a newly signed up-and-coming Artist. TAXI #Y180708SS

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Deadlines Sunday, July 8
CONTEMPORARY POP SONGS with Male Vocals are needed by a Major Label A&R Executive for an up-and-coming act who’s working on their debut album. TAXI #Y180708PS

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Deadlines Monday, July 9
ORIGINAL, VINTAGE ROCK SONGS with Male or Female Vocals that were recorded in the 1960s are needed by an A-List Music Publisher for Film and TV sync licensing. TAXI #Y180709VR

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Deadlines Tuesday, July 10
SINGER/SONGWRITER SONGS with Male or Female Vocals are needed by an extremely busy Music Licensing Company with a really long track record of awesome placements in Film, TV, and Commercials. TAXI #Y180710SS

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Deadlines Tuesday, July 10
CURRENT-SOUNDING INDIE POP/ROCK INSTRUMENTALS are needed by a New Music Library recently started by the head of a different and very successful Music Library. TAXI #Y180710IP

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Deadlines Tuesday, July 10
COMEDIC, MISCHIEVOUS URBAN DRAMEDY-Style INSTRUMENTAL CUES are needed by a very successful, NON-Exclusive Music Library that gets tons of placements in TV Shows, Films, and Commercials. TAXI #Y180710UD

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Jul 05, 2018, 06:28 AM

Thanks for the replies. I have been a member of Taxi, but I can’t get passed the Taxi jury. They have very high standards and I am not sure if the appreciate unusual music. The music is not send to the ones who are looking for it until they approve. And their technical comment to the same songs are very different, so this confuses me. So not talking about “off target.” And there is so much competition for one song.

I like your music by the way. Have you had success on Taxi?

Jul 05, 2018, 07:41 AM

Hi Leo,
in my opinion Gary’s Taxi newsletter gives you the answer to your question. Apparently there is a market today for all sorts of music.

You wrote that you know the basics of promoting. Can you share that with me? The reason I’m asking is because I also thought I knew what I was doing. Since my son just racked up some 2 million Spotify streams in a relative short period of time I noticed that I’m doing something wrong.

All the best
Robert

http://www.robertbaitinger.de

Jul 05, 2018, 09:14 AM

Leo, the people/entities Taxi is seeking Songs for are their customers, their ‘consumers’. They specify what they are looking for. If they don’t think what you submit is of ‘broadcast quality’ and meets the specifications given by the consumer they won’t send your submission on. If the consumer ordered a blue suit, they won’t send a red one. If the ‘blue suit’ you submit isn’t good enough in their opinion they’re not going to ruin their representation with their customer. They hope for repeat business.

Are you sure you submitted to their specifications? Did you ignore their specifications and submit whatever you had?

They usually give sample Songs for comparison of ‘feel’, tempo, arrangement. Are you sure your submissions were comparable to those examples?

Taxi is a possible avenue; not a guaranteed one.

I don’t have product in the required form so I never wasted my money and their time to join. I just get the newsletter to see what the market is doing, which is broadly what you asked about, the marketplace.

I often hear product through this forum I think has potential in the markets Taxi represents. But that’s just a cursory judgment. I don’t listen to the samples, find the Songwriter101 post I thought had potential, and try to match them up for my own entertainment.

When submitting to the very specific requirements of the consumer, Taxi’s customer, and Taxi screeners themselves, you have to be more studious. You have to listen to the samples. You have to do an analysis of the Lyric, yours and the ones in the samples, if they have specified things like “No brand names” and take out the reference to Jack Daniels and Skoal Ring (country laundry list items) or band names or singers or actors or politicians…whatever the specifications are. You have to ‘study’ the samples and your product and see if there is logical comparative ‘qualities’ that make it practical to submit the work for consideration.

If you’re not doing that kind of careful analysis and trying to match what the ultimate consumer specifies, to ‘supply’ what the consumer ‘demands’, what the people who have the money and make the decisions want, then you’re not likely to get past Taxi. Their reputation for finding product that DOES meet the consumer’s specifications is on the line. ‘Close’ is good. ‘Not even in the ballpark’ is a waste of time and money for all concerned.

Jul 05, 2018, 09:49 AM

Robert, ask your son how he got those streams. There are tools for that, or do a Google search for: Buy Spotify streams. But doing it this way is only good for social proof. 20 streams in 6 months doesn’t looks good. 500 streams a day: “This must be good music.”

Search for “Promoting music” on Youtube or Google. Not all results are good, but many are. Or search for the same on Udemy.com. But wait till they have it on sale. Very often 90% off. Like right now when posting this.

Gary, will get back on this tomorrow.

Jul 05, 2018, 10:06 AM

Streams on Spotify are not only good for social proof, they are good for your bank account. Spotify pays per stream. If you have a tool that creates Spotify streams I’d like to have it. I’m pretty sure if you were to buy Spotify streams you’d pay more for that than Spotify pays out to you. My son doesn’t use those kind of tools. He achieves streams with good music and a fan base that is growing fast.

I know about promoting music on YouTube, Facebook, etc. I’ve gone down those paths. They didn’t work for me because I don’t have a fan base. I have music videos in YouTube. What do I do with 1000-2000 views? If you want to generate an income you need hundreds of thousand views, streams, whatever. How do you do that if you’re unknown, without a label, just through promotion activities? I don’t have a clue.

All the best
Robert

http://www.robertbaitinger.de

Jul 05, 2018, 10:21 AM

Robert Baitinger - 05 July 2018 07:41 AM

Hi Leo,
in my opinion Gary’s Taxi newsletter gives you the answer to your question. Apparently there is a market today for all sorts of music.

You wrote that you know the basics of promoting. Can you share that with me? The reason I’m asking is because I also thought I knew what I was doing. Since my son just racked up some 2 million Spotify streams in a relative short period of time I noticed that I’m doing something wrong.

All the best
Robert

http://www.robertbaitinger.de

I’d love to know Leon’s secret too LOL!

Aside from talent, it could just be that he’s more in tune with the taste of the average Spotify user than we old geezers are.  That and getting himself on playlists, which I guess ties into the above - if more people are listening to EDM, then there will be more playlists for that genre.

However he does it, congratulations are in order!

Jul 05, 2018, 10:39 AM

Robert. Yes, buying streams does not make you a profit. If your son is doing so good, he could be the one who is going to teach you.

I think you are in the same situation as me. If you have the rights for your music, you could try TuneCore or CDBaby. I am with Tunecore. Doing well on YouTube is very hard. I have created my own video, which took me a long time. But it is not performing at all. The problem is, every day, 300,000 new videos are uploaded. But only the best get on top of search results. I have tried YouTube advertising, which is cheap (cents per real view), but it didn’t help much. And is much worse. You need millions of views for thousands of dollars.

Jul 06, 2018, 02:43 AM

Hey Gavin,
I’ve never used Spotify, therefore it’s hard for me to fully understand what Leon exactly does to get his songs played. He says he gets his songs placed on popular Spotify playlists or channels that are frequently heard. According to him, all you need is a song that people want to hear. He doesn’t have a website, no YouTube videos, no CD Baby, etc. He’s getting some 40.000 streams per week. Spotify only pays a fraction of a cent per play but if you get enough streams it will eventually add up.

All the best
Robert

Jul 06, 2018, 02:46 AM

Hi Leo,
I’ve done CD Baby, Amazon and iTunes but you end up dealing with the same problems as with your YouTube video. If you’re unknown, nobody will listen to your songs or even pay money to download them. There are just too many songs there.

As you wrote, it looks like we are in the same boat and knowing the basics of promotion won’t help any.

To get back to your initial question “is there a market for good old-fashioned music?” … Gary shared some good examples that show that there is a market for all kinds of music. The question is: how can you get a piece of that market? I guess that’s one of the most asked questions in the music business. To start with, I’d say that you would need high-quality recordings that people want to hear. Knowing someone who is already successful might help to open a few locked doors. The genre is probably not relevant.

Good luck with your music.

All the best
Robert

http://www.robertbaitinger.de

Jul 06, 2018, 05:58 AM

Hi Robert,
It looks like you are trying to close this discussion, but I am not done with you yet. :)

You have one advantage over me, you are way ahead with creating music. I am with TuneCore (similar as CDbaby). Not for selling or getting noticed, but they make sure you get paid if one of your song (as co-producer) is played anywhere in the world, including on YouTube. Same for registering with ASCAP or BMI. These two collect what TuneCore cannot collect.

Your son’s results inspired me, to have a better look at Spotify. If you have finished music, maybe you should focus on Spotify too. I just did a search on Google and YouTube with: Getting on Spotify playlists. Got some good result which I am going to investigate myself.

Jul 06, 2018, 06:06 AM

Hi Gary

Yes, it is a long list, but if I listen to what they are looking for, it is mostly related to what is heard on today’s radio and TV. I can’t write that, because it has no feeling anymore. It is empty music. So the judges on Taxi will never send it through.

And this is costing me too much money. Some have spend thousands of dollars without any success. Yes, I know, many have succeeded, but it is hard to become one of them.