Last September Jeff Newton visited Queenstown courtesy of The Songstars Trust and took time out to speak to a group of aspiring songwriters and students from Wakatipu Highschool. The purpose of his visit was twofold; we wanted to show Jeff that there was a thriving and living original music scene in Queenstown and we wanted to get a few pointers from Jeff about what elements are essential to get your music played and supported on air to the greater NZ community.
Here's some of the points we picked up from Jeff:
Nobody can really offer a formular as to what makes 'hit' but when you hear it, you know.
The best tool you can use to get yourself out there is a video to go with your song. If you want to be taken seriously by the music industry, make a video.
Social media is essential. Get a page, Soundcloud, YouTube account.
NZ on Air fund over150 projects a year. They award 4K for recording (2K of which you contribute) and 8K (2K of which you contribute) to put towards a video. They choose according to song more than any other factor.
And finally:
"If you really want to get your music played, get busy, and write a killer song".