Q: When paying for a demo, should you pay for live music only? How much does it cost? I've heard $600 a song or even more. What do I look for?

A: Yes, it costs that much or more. You have to really know that your songs have a shot before spending this kind of money. And you have to really know that the place you are going to creates demos that are acceptable to the ears of the industry.

I spent between $600 and $900 per song, demoing 7 songs 3 or 4 years ago. What's that, about $4000? None of those songs have ever got a deal.

I thought they were good, my producer thought they were good, etc etc. But I didn't know, I didn't understand, what 'commercial' meant. If I'd spent $100 someone like John Braheny or Jason Blume could have critiqued my songs. It would have been hard to take, to hear that what I thought was good was poor. And it would have been even harder to understand that even anything good isn't good enough. Nothing less than great will even get a look.

Secondly, those costly demos... were a mix of live and midi. Nothing wrong with midi... if it's worked with so it is indistinguishable from the real thing. Nothing wrong with EZdrummer if it's worked with properly. But the midi on my demos is obvious to the experienced ear, and the virtual instruments used to give sound to that midi are not of good quality. I hear that now, but then I was so excited about my songs coming alive... and I didn't even know that would be an issue.

In addition, I did not have the experience to even know what to ask for. I should have, for example, taken in a couple of recordings of hit songs in the genre I was shooting for, and talked to the producer about having that kind of arrangement/setting for my song. And finding the right singer. Someone who sounds something like the "a la" artists I intended to pitch the song for.

IMO I foolishly hired someone who didn't have the necessary experience to take my songs from worktape to effective, pitchable demo. I don't blame them, I blame me. I didn't know what I was doing. Buyer beware. In the end it didn't really matter because the songs themselves were not worthy of the money spent upon them. An expensive lesson.

I recommend that you take what you feel are your top 3 best, killer songs - and have them critiqued by professionals. NSIA, SongU, John or Jason, Harriet Schock, Pat & Pete Luboff. In all cases the feedback is the opinion of the person writing the critique, but this will give you a fairly good idea if what you think is great, is commercially viable. If the results of this exercise are good, then start shopping for a producer who produces songs that sound as close as you can get to the hit songs in the genre you are going to be pitching in. Make sure the singer used on the demo is excellent. The singer sells the song.