Tom,

Be around this for 22 years and it pretty much becomes automatic. We ALL feel we have something special. We have things that come to us, ideas, thoughts, melodies, etc. And in our home town we go through one of two reactions from our friends, significant others, parents, etc.

When will your royalties start rolling in so I can quit my job?

or
Why are you wasting that money I want for my couch on that demo?

This builds up. And we either want to prove the first one right or the last one wrong. Call it pride, ego, or just natural drive, that happens. So we start planning to make moves. We either make trips to a music center, start doing more in our neighborhoods or get on every Internet resource we can find.

At some point, about 10% of people who do this decide to make that big move. They either make a few trips before or just pack up and go.

And they all do pretty much the same thing, go to a couple of meetings or workshops, go to the Bluebird, see a bunch of other people JUST like they are and decide THERE HAS GOT TO BE A BETTER WAY! The thought of waiting all night to play one song on an open mic, after hearing Horrible songs over and over that night, or just the feeling of having to start over in a new job or ten, is overwhelming.

So some try to jump over the process, go to ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, or hire a song plugger and get THEIR songs out there. They feel like that if they are JUST HEARD by the RIGHT PEOPLE, the skies will part, choirs will sing "AAAAHHHHH"""", all will bow,someone will say "OH HOSANNA, THEY ARE HERE, THE ONE THAT THE PROPHECY HAS FORTOLD TO US!!!!!"

The reality is that they find their songs are really not that much better than everyone else's. They sit with somebody at a PRO, who gives it a yawn by looking at the title, and seeing the same titles that are on 65 Cd's already sitting on his desk, and the same songs that he has pretty much been listening to for the past 6 months since he got this job. There is nothing different, nothing interesting, nothing that stands out, because it was basically written by a former real estate person from Des Moinse, who's biggest connection with the music industry, was going to a Reba concert in their hometown casino.

Why don't the publishers/PRO's or other people tell them this? They try. But most don't want to listen. You get tired of people arguing the validity of their songs. You get tired of them geting upset and the whole "Wait till they get a load of me!!!! You are all wrong and wouldn't know a hit if it fell on you out of the sky!!!!"

So there is the polite "I'll give a listen and call you later" thing. The publisher, or PRO representative has twenty five other people to see that day and they are all going to be about the same time. The are forgotten the moment they leave the office.

This happens over and over. They go to meetings at other places. Same reaction IF THEY CAN GET SOMETHING HEARD. Everywhere they go there are 85 people standing in line and 20 are going to get heard. And when they are heard by some publisher or music person, they listen to a verse and chorus, and move on to the next song. That is what you hear more than anything else "What else you got?"

They go to writer's nights and it is terrible. The writers range from the very young 13 year old kids with their parents, the 23 year old hot blonde model wanna be's, the former baseball player dudes who look great but couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, and ALL the songs sound awful! They sound like every other Awful song they have heard from every other singer and writer out there. And they keep thinking "Man, if they could only hear me!"

Their song plugger keeps asking for money but doesn't really have much to report. The reason is the songs, but they want the money to keep coming in, so they will never say "hey, you know these songs are really average!" No one is going to talk their way out of business.

They get on web sites with people who are not as good as them and EVERYBODY LOVES THEIR SONGS! "Sounds like a HIT!" keeps coming on the "comments" box. Of course to those people about anything would sound like a hit or they really don't want to deal with someone getting defensive on their songs. "WAIT'LL THEY GET A LOAD OF ME!!!"

After five or six months of this, people start to realize that this isn't going to happen overnight, they are running WAY low on cash, that 401 K is looking like a 201 K and people back home are asking all the questions, "When will I hear your songs on the radio?"

Most people leave by the 6th month. About 100 a week move here. About 300 a week move home. not to mention the hundreds that come in every week trying to "see someone!" They are called "musical tourists" and guess what they are doing?

THEY GO TO BMI,ASCAP, SESAC, NSAI and sit with people who tell them "Keep doing what you are doing, and they will call them back in two weeks!"

Personality.
Perseverance.
Songs.


If someone hears something in what you are doing, they will start the referal process. "Hey, let me introduce you to so and so." "You know, you should meet..." "Let me hang on to this song to play for someone else.." or most important, "Let's get together and write something..."

Until people are doing that every time you enter a room and play something, you are not at the interstate off ramp to the parking
lot to the ballpark. Pure and simple.

And with the current meltdown in the industry, expect a LOT more of that.

This is the nature of this beast. And it is hard to understand.

yesterday some of the biggest players in labels, pros, publishers, all got fired or quit.

Spotify, the supposed "Savior of the industry", a new online music streaming service, that is supposed to be THE new music model for the 21st century, paid Lady Ga Ga a whopping $165 for a million downloads on her "Poker Face" song. Some new business model.

There is a total business meltdown in the entertainment industry. Movies, television, music, etc. The rest of the world is following suit on pretty much every business out there, we just feel it first because we are a luxury item.

It as if whatever you have done for a living your entire life has suddenly been made "FREE!" No more money for that ever. Sorry. Welcome to life.


That is what the people like Ralph here have to understand. Some things stand out in his statements that are red flags to everyone in this business:

"Writer's nights are out for me because I am not a competitant enough performer."

Well, that is unfortunate, because EVERY SINGLE contact you make in the first four years of existance here, are all through writer's nights. That is it. you don't jump line, or get places without it. Everyone else has to, so what makes you so good you don't have to. And I don't mean to perform or get discovered. I mean to make the relationships, find co-writers and be a part of the society here. That is what we do.

Some advance pretty quickly, I got a cut my first night in town (at a writer's night) but most struggle through it. If you are not a performer, you are going to have to get some quick. Welcome to the world of co-writing.

And "what would be the reason if you can no longer make money or get discovered", you say?

My question would be, "Why are you here?"
"What did you expect?"

This is what this business is. A neighborhood of writers, artists, producers, publishers. It is not some solid "Big Machine" that model is dead. No one controls anything anymore. Everybody is looking for the same breaks. You earn those.
You earn it by being around, being a friend, meeting other people. Participating in what everyone else has to participate in.

Everybody has their own issues. Health issues. Financial. That is what this is and always has been.
And everybody wants the same way to "skip all that."

You can't. End of story.

What did you expect?


MAB