Making music demos: How careful should you be when making tracks for the first time

This article looks at the best ways to get your music into the public eye and more importantly informs new bands how they can avoid making costly mistakes that result in a huge loss of earnings later down the line.

Getting one's music to the right people is something that anyone producing demo CD's would regard as the best case scenario. There are risks, however. One is, essentially, putting their music out in the world where it is subject to the same sort of piracy as is any other music. Unsigned musicians may be very happy to hear their music being played in any venue, with or without royalties, but music rights are serious business and, should a band's music demos contain a hit within their tracks, they may find themselves bereft of potentially millions of dollars.

Leona Lewis is a good example of this. The winner of the X-Factor talent show and now a very successful recording artist, she had recorded music demos with a soul band, Silent Earth, long before she appeared on the television show that would launch her into international stardom. One of the demo tracks was remixed by one of the band members and posted as a downloadable track by an independent record label. Whether or not the song ever becomes a hit, the lack of music rights on Lewis' part ensure that royalties for the work are unlikely to be collected by her. Such situations can easily turn a dream into a nightmare.

If one is part of a band, the situation with making demo CD's is somewhat easier. Provided all the band members participated in the writing of the songs, they all have some claim on the music rights, and thus the royalties, to those songs. The band members have a vested interest in sticking together should one member decide to pull out and steal the material for themselves. In situations such as Lewis', the dynamic is more difficult.

Those who are auditioning for a place in an existing band will likely be asked to audition by learning some of the band's material. The situation becomes sticky when recordings are made of the material. If these recordings are simply made for demo CD's that may be used by the band without generating any revenue from the recording, there is no monetary loss to be had. If the band, however, releases the single commercially, the artists who lent their talents to the recording will likely be left out of any resulting royalties. While music demos may not have been recorded with commercial use directly in mind, anyone would agree that this is something of an unfair situation. Especially in cases where the musician being denied royalties is the principal reason the track generates any interest at all.

Securing one's music rights requires a bit of work but the payoffs can be huge, should the band happen to have created something with a great deal of commercial potential. Any music demos a band produces should be copyrighted and should be noted as being copyrighted on the packaging in which they're sent to record labels. For individuals auditioning for a band, it's not inappropriate to ask for a signed agreement regarding music rights before any music is recorded. The music may never generate interest and may simply disappear without a trace. Then again, if that musician were to become famous, early recordings of their work would certainly be capable of generating a large amount of royalties. Music demos should be treated every bit as seriously as would recordings made specifically for mass release.

Thanks for reading; we hope this article has helped you understand how you can distribute new music and avoid the risk or at least understand them. The article was written by Ooizit, a music portal for new bands like you why not signup today?