How a Crappy Demo Can Kill Your Pitches


How a Crappy Demo Can Kill Your Pitches

How a Crappy Demo Can Kill Your Pitches

With the amount of time and energy you put into writing and pitching your songs, it’s often easy to lose sight of the second critical step to getting your song to market: the demo.
Demos are the salespeople that represent your songs in the intense, future-defining, heart-wrenching, life-changing pitch sessions with artists, publishers, and record labels. And just like an unlikeable salesman, a crappy demo can ruin a pitch session that could have otherwise gone well.

Crappy demos lack thought. They are cheap. They blend in with the crowd. They may sound outdated. They have a poor mix. Worst of all, they have 3 big consequences for your pitch session.


A crappy demo shows you don’t have faith in your song.

If your demo is mediocre or cheap, it shows. If you didn’t have the faith to invest more thought and money into your demo, then why should an artist or record label risk even more money to take it to market?


A crappy demo is distracting, which takes the focus away from your melody and lyrics.

A poor demo gets the decision maker thinking, “This is a bad demo” instead of thoughtfully considering the merits of the lyric and melody.


Ultimately, a crappy demo is easy to say “no” to.

The decision to cut a song or not is by nature subjective, but when a demo is painfully, obviously poor, it makes it really hard to say “yes”. Unless your melody and lyrics are outstanding, a “no” will come quickly, and the demo will be to blame.


Admittedly, demos are temporary. Your demo will likely never be heard by the masses. If your song is cut by an artist, it will be reproduced with the backing of a record label and top-notch producer. But in their short lifespan, your demos often make the difference between making or breaking your pitch results.

So spend more time prepping for your demo. Choose a great demo studio and invest a little more money. Pick a great vocalist. Choose your instruments well. Get that sound that really makes your song stand out, and you’ll increase your chances of getting that big cut.