Maximizing Music Xray: Pitch Your Songs DIRECTLY To Music Industry Pros! Paperback – January 19, 2015

As a songwriter I have had some success submitting songs to Music Xray's listings, and I've signed a few contracts over the past few years. I believe Music Xray is an honorable company and has the songwriter's interests at heart. However,I have found it's instructions and explanations of how the program's features work to be long, wordy videos that ramble and do not zero in very well on specifics.Alas, along comes Norman Dolph with his new book Maximizing Music Xray: Pitch Your Songs Directly To Music Industry Pros to save the day. The author shares his own experiential awareness and opinions of using Music Xray from the viewpoint of being an active user, which should be music to all of our ears, and it is indeed. Norman differentiates the different categories MXR offers songwriters to submit their work to (categories that in my opinion have become more difficult to decipher since MXR's latest redesign of the site), and shares the likelihood of which categories songwriters are most likely to see results from. MXR offers "Diagnostics" for songs submitted, which should provide valuable information for songwriters, and indeed it does...to a certain extent. Dolph questions and discounts certain "Diagnostics" which in all fairness MXR owner Michael says are still be worked out; Dolph's comments on areas like "The Needle" told this user that he wasn't missing something here after all, and indeed this info is amiss.The book's breakdown of completing uploads, formatting correctly, and increasing your submission odds by completing various optional categories is valuable info. In an industry where it's always been tough to get music placed and getting tougher and tougher, Norm Dolph's tips, explanations, and suggestions are a breathe of fresh air and a welcome boost for those of us who choose to work in this arena. The book is a quick read and valuable resource for anyone creating original music with the intention of placing it with artists , commercial work, advertising, film or TV.

I just finished reading this great book Maximizing Music Xray… What a great book! Thank you! It has truly opened my eyes to many things…I am new to songwriting and have only been doing this for a couple of years. To begin with I honestly thought that the music industry would be like most other industries, and I dealt with people accordingly… Quickly though, I realised that the music industry is in fact not like any other industry… And it has become quite obvious to me why the music industry is struggling like it is… In NO other industry would you be allowed to act like the MIP’s do… If you did, you would be out of business...Music screeners, A&R people and managers are WAY more pampered, spoiled, arrogant and patronising than any other professionals I have ever dealt with. And I have have worked with Fortune500 CEO’s over the past 25 years of doing professional sales and marketing….The music industry pro’s are oftentimes like children - only because no one dares to stand up… And if you do, you waste a potential chance of a succesfull pitch. The industry pro’s know this…So I guess I’ll just continue walking on egg-shells around the pro’s in the business… Would be nice though, if they could learn to have just a little bit of finesse and have a little bit of class… I mean, although they are busy and obviously under a lot of pressure, good style doesn’t take much time, and messages - good and bad - can be delivered in many ways without delay… It seems like everyone who ever enters the business must first of all learn how to deal with the MIP’s - because MIP's certainly would never even dream of changing…But that is a whole different type of book, right? :-)

This is an actual review. I read several negative reviews, yet ordered and just finished this book. Most of the negative reviews act as if the title of the book isn't "Maximizing Music xRay". If you are using Music xRay and submitting music, it is well worth 13 bucks. The book includes plenty of specific advice on tailoring your songs and Music xRay listings, and submissions for maximum effectiveness. Also, Music xRay through Song Diagnostics, their website, and through this book all but beg artists not to submit works that probably aren't going to make it. Even though I'd been using Music xRay for quite some time, I read this book carefully and found many common sense things that I was not doing that will help improve my results. Little things make big things happen. If you are using Music xRay, you probably should carefully read this book and just do what is in it. If you are not using or considering using Music xRay, and do not clearly see the title, you probably should not buy this book. My two cents. Good luck out there, artists!

Just read the book this morning, and loved it! I think it offers valuable insight not only into Music Xray's business model, but also into the music industry in general. This information is especially critical to writers/artists who are just beginning to expose their work, as it tells them what NOT to do as well as what to do. Obtaining access to a music industry professional/decision-maker who can make something happen with your music can be quite challenging, so you want to be sure you can deliver the goods when you have the opportunity! That means making your product as good as it can be by getting feedback along the way from like-minded artists/writers, songwriting organizations, etc. (not just family members who love everything you do). The book offers up several suggestions on how to do this.I think Music Xray itself offers numerous opportunities that are legitimate, so it's a great vehicle by which to place your music. I echo the comments in the book in saying that the better job we as artists do in submitting/targeting quality material, the longer music industry professionals will continue to be open to receiving material through this channel.The book does a great job in explaining the ins-and-outs of Music Xray. I learned several new things myself and I'm sure I'll will refer to it often!

A useful book for all of us trying to take our music further. I've made some submissions to Music XRay and must confess that I've not had any success as yet. However, I shall continue to submitOne thing that can be a little confusing is receiving that 'Not quite what we're looking for' comment after listening to the reference songs and feeling that your song is in the right place. It would, I think, be a great bonus to submitters to have a specific comment in the brief about why the MIP has chosen the reference songs, be it the lyrics, the energy, the arrangement, the type of voice, whatever.After all, to turn the tables, it's a bit like asking us artists to name bands that we sound like, something that we're told is essential. But when, under duress, we give some names, what aspect(s) of the reference bands do we think we sound like? For most of us, the comparisons feel pretty unsatisfactory, and I wonder if the problem isn't similar for the MIPS trying to describe what they want.Just a thought.

Only for songwrtiers, artists and producers who are users of Music Xray - a short book (read it on the train in 45 minutes) with a small amount of useful information which could have been provided free on the Musicxray site. If you want to present your songs in the best way the advice is useful although it leaves a lot of unanswered questions. It is clear when you use the site that the pro ratings are based on rating your song on professional production values and the author basically says that if your score for a song is below 18 you can more or less forget it so you can never get a good score with a simple home produced demo - although the author suggests it is possible to submit these. He suggests you should read this before submitting to Music Xray and it does at least explain why the site was messing up the lyrics I imported and how to input your lyrics properly. I would have appreciated some deeper analysis of what opportunities are looking for and perhaps some case studies. So you pays your money (and if you use site like this you know all about paying money) for another little piece of that jigsaw map leading to the holy grail - a song accepted, Best of luck!

Before you submit what you believe to be is the greatest song ever? buy this book. If you thought you knew everything about getting your music heard by the people who matter I would think again and read this book. Good, sound advice from someone who has been in the business for a long time. Much of it you may think is common sense but if you don't think this way to start with then following these tips could be life changing. Stage by stage instructions to minimize instant rejection.

The book is a nice overview of how XRay music works. However, the book only touches important points. It's more a collection of what we already know. Still, it's worthwile reading the book but don't expect to get fully illuminated.

This book does contain some good tips, however the chapters are very short and do not go into enough detail. I would expected more for the price.