A few years back, I wanted to get my song, “Crickets,” to Joe Nichols. I just thought it’d be perfect for him. But how do I get it to him? I didn’t have a personal connection with anyone in his camp. However, I did happen to get the email address of the owner of Joe’s label (thanks to a sungplugger friend of mine). I decided it was worth a cold email.
(Note: Normally, I wouldn’t send a song to a label owner. But I know this particular owner actively listens to songs through email and has a say in what end up on his artists’ albums. See my post “The Big Yes.”)
Not knowing the owner, this is how I worded my email:
Subject:
Song for Joe Nichols: “Crickets” (Baxter, Shaffer, Whyte)
Message:
Mr. Brown,
I’m a songwriter with cuts by Alan Jackson (“Monday Morning Church”), Randy Travis, Lady Antebellum, and others. Here’s a song for Joe. Thanks for listening!
“Crickets”
(Brent Baxter, Lisa Shaffer, Bill Whyte)
Lyric and mp3 attached.
God Bless,
Brent Baxter
615-000-0000
—-@email.com
Sometime later (maybe a day or two, maybe weeks), I got a call from the owner. He said he loved the song and wanted to hold it for Joe. Eventually, they cut it and it became the title track to Joe’s debut album on Red Bow Records.
Okay, let’s break down the email and see what we can learn.
I didn’t wait for someone else to make my dreams come true. See my post, “10 Reasons Songwriters Should Pitch Their Own Songs.”
This was an email address that the owner regularly uses to listen to songs. It wasn’t his wife’s personal email or some other inappropriate email. I was conducting business through a business email address.
No hype. No bull.
One quick glance at the message isn’t a turn-off. He could read it very quickly, so he was more likely to actually read it. Long emails are intimidating and look like too much work.
I opened with a few choice cuts to set myself as a pro in his mind. It increased the chance that he’d take my email seriously and expect a good song. If you don’t have these, just get to who the song is for. It’s better to skip this completely than say how you won a local talent show. Your song may be killer, but if you’ve only has small success (so far), they might think you only have small talent.
He called be back partly because I made it easy for him to find me.
Some folks don’t look at the lyric when they listen. Some do. I don’t take chances. I want them to have everything they might need.
The email was written to get the song heard. But getting the song heard doesn’t help if the song itself isn’t good or isn’t a good fit for the artist.
What about you? Have you had any success with cold emails? How did you word them?
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God Bless and Enjoy the Journey,
Brent
Brent Baxter is a hit songwriter with cuts by Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, Lady Antebellum, Joe Nichols, Gord Bamford, Ruthie Collins, Ray Stevens, and more. He’s written a top 5 hit in the US and a #1 in Canada… so far.
hi Neent! Thanks so much for sharing this with us. Question for you: ever since I moved to town it’s been hammered into my head over and over again never to send a song to someone unless they gave you explicit permission to do so, because it puts the receiver in a sticky legal situation. Certainly not trying to accuse you of breaking the law of the land or anything, I’m really really genuinely interested – did you know this guy before sending him a song? Or am I missing something completely when it comes to cold emailing MP3s to people? Thanks so much!!
Excellent!! Thank you, brother.
I take the liberty at learning and listening to the abundant and free copywriting information on the net; and your marketing strategies are aligned with those skills. The Holy Spirit is indeed my mysterious leverage.
In Christ,
nick
?
Of course you got thru to him…you already had cuts by major artists! While your general message here is somewhat commendable, you must realize that it will do absolutely nothing for songwriters who do not already have large successes on their resume. You were able to “drop names,” but most songwriters can’t.
Ron…
I wholeheartedly see and agree with your point because it is sensible and real. 99.99% of us and more would never even get our email opened, because our name aint known. We aint JACK! Lol!! Baxter is subtley basking in his success simultaneously with explaining detailed steps and skills that just might give somebody a little more leverage. Baxter is sharing a blessing that was given to him, I think.
Peace.
Which of these tips would you say hold up when sending a cold email as a singer/songwriter/artist?
Also, if an artist is having trouble getting attention, would you say it’s better to sit on song releases until the attention/Fanbase is there… Or to continuously released new material knowing the Fanbase is small but in hopes to grow it? I ask because I’ve released an album and a handful of demos I thought might help me get out there, but to no avail really. Afterword it feels like a waste of a release at all. So now I’m sitting on dozens of songs that keep building up to go nowhere lol
Adam..
I certainly have absolutely no experience in dealing with entertainment bigwigs/big shots, however, for me, personally, I keep pressing forward in the positive things I am passionate about because my spirit is willing…though sometimes my flesh stumbles. My faith in GOD is my song, and HE is my production manager my publisher, my everything.
Peace.
Thanks
Thanks for posting. This is great news except for one minor detail…not everyone has access to the label owner’s email address like you did. 🙂
Hi Brent:
I love the honesty and your fearless when it comes to promotion too and it’s great that you engage with your students and respond to their emails and attempt to inspire them to learn to be professional like you in their song pitching. Most people just write a book and hope someone learns from it and unfortunately most people forget what they read in a few weeks so this blog was needed to really help folks on a continuing basis.