1423 Music Nashville - Music Publishing, Song Plugging and Artist Management

Tips for Submitting Your Songs & Lyric Sheets for 1423 Music Nashville Song Critiques

Thank you for considering 1423 Music Nashville to offer you a professional critique of your song(s). We're providing the following guidelines for you in order to give you, the songwriter, the tips necessary to make a proper presentation of your songs and lyric sheets. It's amazing to us how many songwriters just simply aren't aware of what it takes to prepare their songs and lyrics for submission to a publishing / song pitching company in the music industry. A little care on your part at the beginning will go a long way to make it through that first critical impression that can mean the difference between having your songs receive a proper and honest review, or being rejected upon arrival. No one likes rejection, so get it right and we'll give you our very best throughout the whole process. Fair enough? OK, let's get started.

1. If you're submitting your songs & lyric sheets to us by mail (see Tip 3 if you're submitting your songs by email), you must also complete the payment process through PayPal before we can follow up with critiquing your song(s) for you. You do NOT have to have a PayPal account in order to submit your payment.

A brief Cover Letter to introduce yourself is highly recommended if you're submitting your songs to us for the first time.
A paragraph or two to tell us about yourself, your songwriting experiences, any affiliations with songwriting organizations
If you're a new songwriter don't be embarrassed if you don't have a long list of accomplishments yet. We all started there, too, and there's nothing more valuable to a new songwriter than honest evaluations of their songs! We're always looking for new and relatively new songwriters to work with so we can give them the best shot possible of finding success with their songwriting.

2. This cover letter must include the following contact information:

First & Last Name
Street Address or PO Box
City, State or Province, Zip or Mailing Code
Country (only if other than the United States)
Phone Number
eMail Address
P.R.O. affiliation, if you have one (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, SOCAN, etc.). If you don't have one that's OK, you may still submit your song(s).
If you have a website where we can initially hear your songs please include that information here as well. This will not preclude you from sending us your songs for personal critique.

3. If you're submitting your songs to us for the first time by email, please write to us first to introduce yourself and give us the information requested in steps 1 & 2 above. If you wish, you may also include your first song along with its lyric sheet. We request that you also include the name of the song as a part of the subject line of this introductory email. Do NOT send us your song & lyrics in a ZIP file!

Each additional mp3 should be sent, along with its lyric sheet, in it's own separate email, with the title of the song as the Subject, to critiques@1423Music.com.

4. It's not necessary for a song to be heavily produced before submitting it to us for review. While they're certainly great to listen to, it's not necessary for you to go to the expense of getting a full studio demo (multi-instrument, mixing, etc.) completed before submitting your song(s) to us. A simple piano & vocal or guitar & vocal demo is fine, as long as we can easily hear your voice and understand the lyrics.

5. The following information must appear on each lyric sheet:

First & Last Name
Phone Number (plus the best time(s) to reach you)
eMail Address
Name of the song
Name of the writer(s)

6. If you're sending your songs to us on a CD be sure to include the following on each CD:

First and Last Name
Phone Number
Name of the song
Name of the writer(s)

7.   Lyrics must be typed in size 11 or 12 font ONLY, no larger or smaller, and preferably in Arial or New Times Roman. If a line of your lyrics won't fit on a single line with that font size, it's too long. Re-write it!

8.   This next tip may seem obvious and elementary, but we're so surprised by the number of songwriters who don't get it right and their songs are simply rejected. When creating your lyric sheet be sure to clearly separate your verses from your choruses (and bridge, if you have one). Our staff does not have the time to re-format your lyric sheet prior to conducting our song critiques. If they're not formatted correctly when they arrive (according to the above guidelines), they'll be rejected, and we'll send you an email to advise you that we've rejected your submission and why. Save yourself the time and effort (and expense, if you've mailed your CD's to us) by getting it right the first time. No CDs mailed to us will be returned.

9.   No more than three (3) songs may be submitted for review at one time. If you feel your case deserves special consideration then write to us first and let us know how many songs you'd like to submit and explain why we should allow you to submit more than 3 songs. For example, if you're sending us a CD with 5 or 6 songs (or more), then just tell us which 3 you'd prefer for us to critique first at our next session, and then, once you've paid for the additional critiques we'll be glad to add them to our next critique session.

10.   All songs received and approved for review by Noon on Wednesday of each week will be included in the next Song Review Session held on Thursday morning of that week. Submissions received and approved after Noon on any given Wednesday will be reviewed at the following week's session.

11.   As soon as your songs have been received and approved for review, one of our staff members will send you an email to confirm that we've received your songs and lyrics sheets and when they're scheduled for review.

12.   Normally we respond to each songwriter by Friday afternoon of the week we review their songs. Occasionally we may hold one or more of their songs over for an additional review at the following week's Critique Session. In that case we'll still contact you by the Friday afternoon following our first review of your song(s) and advise you which song(s) we've held over for an additional week, and we'll follow up with you with our full response by Friday afternoon of that following week.

Just so you know, all of our decision makers at 1423 Music Nashville are songwriters. We know what works, we know the difference between good, better & best, and can also see and hear potential when it's presented to us properly. So even if your song doesn't receive the highest marks from our critiques don't let discouragement get to you! If we see genuine potential in your lyrics and songs we'll follow up with you to determine more specifically what your goals are in the music industry and then we'll see if your participation in our Artist Development Program may be of value to you. Our Artist Development Program provides invaluable information and resources to assist songwriters develop their understanding of the craft of songwriting.

Finally, have confidence in yourself! You've invested time in creating your songs, so give us the opportunity to critique them for you and give you an honest assessment of their worthiness to be presented to music industry and artist representatives. Some may only need a few minor adjustments before they're ready, while others may need much more, but either way we'll let you know where you stand.

When you're ready simply follow the guidelines above for submitting your songs and lyric sheets to us by mail or email and then pay with PayPal (you don't need to have a PayPal account) and click on the "Song Critique" link. We'll follow up with you to verify your payment and materials have arrived.