[stylist] Becoming a Lyricist/Getting my songs out there

Mon Jun 13 17:09:18 UTC 2011

Brad and Katie,
This is an excellent summary of the business with lots of great resources
and info. Brad, did you cross-post this to the Performing Arts Division
list? I think others would appreciate the answer even though the question
came from the Writers' list.

Katie, this is what I meant when I said the industry isn't really looking.
We used to joke that, if you want to know how many songwriters are out
there, take the current world population and add one. The other thing you
have to watch out for is  scamming. Some companies, which often have
authentic sounding names will offer to place, record or otherwise market
your music for a price. Be ware. 
Donna
-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Brad Dunse'
Sent: Monday, June 13, 2011 7:40 AM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] Becoming a Lyricist/Getting my songs out there

Katie,

Sorry for the delayed reply. I'm still climbing out of email from a 
week off and now down to stuff I want/need to reply to :). If you go 
to my web site http://www.braddunsemusic.com/ under the Songwriting 
area there's an html file you can download there with various links 
to songwriting resources and a listing of book titles. I haven't 
added much to it lately but there's a fair bit there. A good book is 
one called This Business of Music available from what was RFB&D that 
recently changed their name to something Ally... can't remember the 
name now. That aside here is a summary of how it generally works with 
songs in the commercial market.

I'll use Nashville as example but it is pretty much the same with NY 
or LA. Ninety-nine out of a hundred cases the rule of "Must be 
present to win" applies. What does that mean? It pretty much means 
you generally have a small  opportunity/chance to get a song in the 
right hands unless you live in a MMC, Major Music Center. e. g. 
Nashville, New York, LA. Why? The thing is although the music 
industry is a large one, the music community is really kind of small. 
In Nashville for instance  a few years back the general statistics 
were approximately 40,000 writers in town vying for probably 15 new 
song opportunities per year for airing . Granted not all songs cut 
are aired but that gives an idea of the balance and scale. What this 
does is cause the publishers, of which are a very small number who 
are getting stuff recorded, to be very cautious of who they'll even 
listen to. Imagine for instance, if in your email inbox you had two 
or three hundred emails to read and yet you had time to skim through 
maybe 10 of the ones you recognized the sender. The rest make the 
junk bin out of just shear lack of time. Publishers are basically 
forced to accept only material they know is coming in through a 
personal meet and greet or some other contact. No unsolicited 
material. Unfortunately nine out of ten times if you call there, they 
will not accept material at this time or deny a meeting. So how does 
one get published? Well this is why they call Nashville, a  five year 
town. Generally you  have to be there enough to get folks to notice 
you, write with other writers who have been published, working your 
way up to those who maybe are artists? And when you've paid your 
dues, they've come to a point of saying "Hey, haven't I seen you 
around town before?" you start to gain some opportunities. Granted it 
isn't  100% of the time as such because there are exceptions to any 
rule but it is 99.99% of the time this way. It is done purposefully 
really because they only want/can afford to deal with serious writers 
and  the process sort of separates the wheat from the chaff if you 
will. Ask anyone in the music business  that has been  in it a while, 
and they'll tell you it is really almost more of a relationship 
business more than a music business. You've got to take the time to 
develop the relationships, play the industry politics, schmooz with 
this writer, schmooz with that writer, go to writer nights, 
performances of others, join a Performance Rights Organization and 
get their help and get to know the rep, and just be in the face  of 
music folks in a good way. Often people fall prey to what is known as 
"gherming". Weird word I know, but it basically means this. You go to 
an outdoor concert, you happen to find yourself four feet from Kelly 
Clarkson as she's talking with folks near the stage, or maybe you won 
a backstage pass on a radio contest,  you go up, clear your throat, 
introduce yourself and while shaking your hand you give her a CD to 
listen to of your songs. Trust me, people have done this and as nice 
and polite as the artist will be in the moment, the first opportunity 
the artist gets, they'll chuck it in the waste bin without listening. 
There are reasons of just general turn off, as well liability reasons 
they will not listen to it which I'll save for another time.

Someone suggested correctly to get up with a musician and maybe 
co-write if you do lyrics only. Co-writing is huge and almost a 
rarity for anyone to get a solo write  cut these days. The 
independent market is huge and more approachable but many write their 
own stuff, but not all and if its a good song? They may prefer it 
over their own writing. Taxi yes is a good organization for your 
market. There is an organization called SongU.com which is Nashville 
based which is an educational site that also has pitch opportunities 
to major and indie artists alike. They have co-writing opportunities 
and a whole network and are just good folks. Its at www.songu.com 
Danny and Sara are awesome. It does lean heavy to the country market 
but not exclusive to that.

I don't mean to sound like its an uphill bummer of a ride, 
unfortunately there are a ton of  fishermen with poles in the water 
to catch the few trout swimming around. Plus publishers have staff 
writers they are paying advances on future songs cut who are building 
up a nice fiscal liability of which needs to be recaptured by the 
publisher. It is a business that just happens to deal with artists. 
So these writers will generally get their songs published. I used 
Nashville as example but it is very similar in LA or New York. This, 
plus the internet, and home digital studios, are reasons why the 
indie market has grown so much in recent years.

Sorry for the long post. Due note that someone has to get songs in 
these folk's hands and persistence always wins, always and 
eventually. Its just a matter of what one is willing to do to hang in 
there, how important it is. For some it is paramount and so they'll 
continue for however long it takes, years and years even to make the 
calls, be rejected for reasons that might have nothing to do with 
their music, invest into song demos, make friends and contacts, make 
networking their life with an eye for the next rung on the ladder of 
published music, and etc. , For others it is more about just getting 
their indie message out there on their own rather than play music 
business politics. Its just a matter of what you want to do and how 
it fits in with your goals and lifestyle. Again someone has to write 
them if they are going to be played or cut to CD so if that is your 
dream, go for it.

Brad

On 6/6/2011  11:07 PM Watson, Katherine M said...

Hello Everyone,
      I have written lyrics for over 60 songs, and would like to 
submit some of them to be used in mainstream music. (Think artists 
like Kelly Clarkson and Evanescence.) I think Brad has had some 
experience with this sort of thing, but I wanted to send this to the 
whole list to see if any of you know anything about how to go about 
sending songs in. Four of my songs, "Green Scapular," "7th Song for 
April," "No Running Back to You," and "Inspirational to Me," can be heard at
www.myspace.com/kmorganmusic
and I'd really appreciate any feedback. Click on "My Playlist" under 
the "Music" heading to hear the songs--there is a "play" button for 
each song. Thank you for your time and assistance.
--Katie Watson

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