How do you choose the best songs to demo? Recording a professional demo is one of the most important songwriting investment you'll make—not just of money, but of time, energy, and belief in your song. Not only do you need to decide when to record a song professionally, but which of your songs hold the most potential.
by SongwriterDemoService Staff | August, 8, 2025.
Home Demo or Pro Demo?
If your goal is to pitch your music to publishers, artists, or music licensing agencies, it's important to understand this upfront: a home recording isn't going to cut it. You need a demo that sounds polished and pitch-ready, not something rough or recorded on your phone.
📌 Not sure why a home recording won't work for pitching? Read:
Why a Home Demo Recording Won't Do for Music Publishers
Once you're clear on the need for a pro demo, the real question becomes: which of your songs are truly demo-ready songs? Let's walk through the criteria to help you choose.
A song isn't ready for demoing if it still feels like a rough sketch. If the lyrics feel half-finished, the melody meanders, or you're still questioning the hook—hold off. A strong demo starts with a song that feels structurally and emotionally complete.
Ask yourself:
If you're pitching to publishers or licensing agencies, select songs that have clear commercial potential. That doesn't mean every song has to be a radio single.
For example, music supervisors from licensing agencies are generally looking for songs with a title or message that aligns with a scene in a film or television show, or the theme of a commercial.
By contrast, music publishers are generally looking for songs to pitch to artists that have potential as a radio single. After all, artists who don't write their own material (and even some that do) turn to outside songwriters when they need a hit. If your goal is to place songs with recording artists, this should be your mantra:
In any case, your song should have a universal theme, a strong hook, and a genre-aligned structure.
Questions to consider:
If your goal is artist placement or sync licensing, everything above is an essential consideration.
Sometimes it's not about what's most "commercial"—it's about what connects. A song with a simple message but strong emotional resonance may be more powerful than one with clever turns of phrase or a catchy beat.
Ask:
This part is critical. Don't go straight from writing to recording. Once you've narrowed your top candidates, take a moment to pause—and get your song professionally critiqued before you hit the studio.
Why? Because once you demo a song, making changes later can become more difficult and expensive. You want to ensure the song is demo-worthy before investing the money.
Once you've identified your strongest songs, choose one or two to get professionally critiqued.
📌 Pro Song Critique Tips: If possible, submit the same song to two or three different critique services. That way, if you hear consistent notes—like a second verse that is just a retelling of the first verse with different words, or a weak hook—you'll know it's more than just one person's opinion.
➡️ Visit our Resources page for a list of trusted professional song critique services. Getting a second (and third) opinion before you demo could save you time, money, and missed opportunities.
Recommended reading:
➡️ How to Format Your Lyric Sheet for the Studio
🎵 At Songwriter Demo Service, we specialize in delivering demos for every songwriter's budget. Consider a guitar- or piano-vocal demo for ballads or chill songs, a full-band demo for up-tempo songs, or a radio-ready demo that adds extra polish and production to your song.
👉 Please scroll below to hear our samples, view our services and pricing, or contact us with any questions you may have. We're ready to help!
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