Demo Singing is like Getting Paid to Practice

When I started demo singing, which means people pay me to record a song they wrote, I started to realize I was getting a lot more out of this than just the money. This was like getting paid to practice. I was getting paid to become a better singer.

We have our own style, our own tendencies even. Some people are just great at riffing in an ascending melody and some tend to descend. I’m a descender! I also notice that I scoop into notes a lot rather than hitting them straight on. Things like that, right?

Well what starts to happen when hundreds of people over time, with so many different personal tendencies send you vocals to replace. As a demo singer, your repertoire seriously starts to expand. Not for nothing, recording every day keeps you singing every day, keeps you warming up and exercising your voice every day. So you really do start to become better and better at your instrument without having to set aside time to practice. It’s already part of your work day.

You will get challenged. I don’t know how some people fit so many words into songs - I get straight tongue twisters sometimes, and when the goal is to make it sound easy, you really do. I can even say my range has expanded thanks to demo singing.

When you become a demo singer, you also get super powers (I think). Before I started doing this, I had the flu at least 3 times a year, and bad! Once I started demo singing, I barely ever get sick. I can literally count 2 times I’ve been sick since I launched my singing business in 2019. I don’t have any scientific proof, except my own account, and I don’t know if this is just totally mystical manifestation because I just literally do not want to get sick now that my livelihood relies on being healthy enough to sing, so I don’t. Maybe there really is something to it, that by singing every day, by having a really fit voice, a healthy strong voice, it keeps the sickness away. That’s my testimony, I might just be crazy.

But there’s more - look, I’m getting older and I am just not super on top of what is trending all the time. I don’t have to be because my clients are, and I just follow their lead. I’m always asking them for a famous song reference, so they send me a song they like the vocal style of, and that’s honestly been how I stay on top of what is cool. I actually have used my clients references as my own when I write for sync licensing projects, and I feel like I’m super on the ball, but I’m kinda not. Researching what is hot takes a lot of time, especially in the EDM world where there’s a brand new subgenre popping up every five minutes. It’s been super helpful when DJs hire me for the hot new genre, and with that knowledge I go write and sell acapellas that fit the trending vibe. 

Another bonus perk of being part of the demo singing world is the incredible unexpected opportunities that arise. I entered this world pretty one track minded... The plan was to make this a side hustle. Get in there, get my money, and get out. But that would be leaving so much on the table. My credits now say I have worked with the EDM labels Strange Fruits, Future House Cloud, One Seven, Soave and more, and all of those that I just mentioned were because of connections I made through demo singing on Soundbetter.com. I’ve gotten placements in trailers and tv shows from gigs who’ve hired me online as well. That’s something I was already trying to do on my own, and those opportunities showed up through demo singing and custom songwriting. 

So I just wanted to share these little extra secret benefits of being a demo singer, and how you can use this side hustle to expand and flourish in other areas of your singing career. If you have questions about demo singing, I'd love to invite you to join our free singers mastermind zoom call, we meet up on the first Friday of each month. You can sign up for that at singerssuccesspath.com. And check out The Singers Success Path Podcast cuz I’ve got so much more to share with you about making money with your voice.