JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Songwriter Message Forum Looking for publishers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm a songwriter and I write in the genre's of country, country rock, oldies, blues, and pop.People really seem to like my music and I think you might also if you can take the time to listen.My music is being played in Nashville and on european radio stations.You can contact me ....rogerratliff@hotmail.com .Have a GREAT holiday season.

Welcome to the JPF. How can we listen to your music? Do you have any links at the most common music hosting sites. Don't make it hard on us!

Sorry Kevin,
you can go here...

www.reverbnation.com/rogerratliffcreations

www.americansongspace.com/rogerratliff

www.soundcloud.com/roger-ratliff-creations

You have very good sounding stuff, getting a publisher these days is another thing. Pretty much these days both the record companies and publishers are holding their cards very close. If you have a connection to get your stuff heard by any of them or artists, that is the best chance to get heard or co write with a name writer. Those are about the only tickets left for those of us that are relatively unknown.
Merry Christmas, and wish you good luck!-Bobby

I gotta say "In the Doghouse now" is a really honky tonk winner! I'll bet this one could set a roadhouse on fire!!

Hey Muzikguy,

I think the whole publisher thing these days ( in the true sense ) is simply a myth. The publishing rights seem to be more of an afterthought than anything else. In that the publishing may be assigned after the deal is completed eg place a song in film/vission or get an artist to cover it.

There are plenty of pitching opportunities out there where a director or musical director wants to deal directly with the writer. Is a "real" publisher really necessary ? I'm told publishers in Nashvilee are falling like a house of cards, most probably because they are being consigned to the dinosaur bin.

Perhaps I'm wrong, or don't hang with that crowd, but that's the way it appears to me.

cheers, niteshift

Who's doing all those demos, they sound pretty dang good! Are you co-writing with artists? If not, then that is what you might think about start doing. .. and yes, co-writing can improve your writing ... and it increases your networking which seems to be really, really important these days (of course, it has always been important!). I don't co-write enough and I should be doing it more.

Nice stuff.

Hey Roger,

Had a quick run through, and every track sounds great.

I wouldn't bother with publishers, your tunes are broadcast quality, and can easily be submited direct. Try musicdealears.com ( free ), or hitlicence.com ( $5 per submision ) or any reputable music library from musiclibrary.com You'd probably find some success from Taxi.com ( a JPF sponser ) not free, but the free convention more than covers the subscription cost.

Good luck !

cheers, niteshift

There may be no good reason to look for a Publisher at present. Publisher's usually can get thru doors you may not be able to. Getting a Publisher to take your material may be difficult as most are already loaded up with songs. If and when you get something placed you may be asked for publishing as well. If you don't belong to Pro, maybe you already are, you should join. It makes little difference which one you join as most will have affilations with all the Pro's. If you have registerd you songs with the Library of Congress, have a Pro, the next thing is find places to pitch your songs. A starting place is the Songwriter's Market, published yearly about Novenmber. The New issue should be avaliable now, on line and at Bookstores Good luck.

P.S. you can only join one Pro at a time. Publisher's will set up different business with all the Pro's.

Thanx Bobby......I know, it's very hard to get your foot in the door.They have certain ones they go to and don't stray out to newcomers which is a shame because there is alot of untapped talent out there.

Thanx Dan, thats one of my favorites to. It's getting alot of airplay right now. Hope someone picks it up.Happy holidays

Hello Nightshift.....it seems like your right. I just don't know how to get lucky enough to talk to anyone that knows how to make things happen.This business is a craaaaaazy one as we all know.Happy holidays buddy

Kevin, thanx for the compliment, truely appreciate it buddy.I have my songs professionally done in Nashville, they are pro's singing them. I do all the writing for lyrics and music but my voice isn't what it used to be so I have others do it for me.I've got a small studio in my basement that i've got to start using tho because I can't keep dishing out money like that anymore...lol. I have co-written on 3 songs to this point and want to do more.

Nightshift.....Thank you for the heads up on the dot com sites.

EVERETT.....THANX FOR THE COMPLIMENT BUDDY.

Everybody's looking for a publisher. Problem is, publishers have hundreds of their own songs they can't do anything with.

Jim is right, he's there in Nashville. The best course of action are music Libraries, or, trying to place your song with an up and coming artist. Getting into the majors in today's marketplace. Years ago, playing clubs in New York City, we get a business card sent up onstage from someone saying they loved our songs. It was from Peter Paterno. Google him, the next night we were playing for 1,000 a man and getting attention all over the place. He was the music attorney for Guns and Roses, Nirvana, and still represents Metallica. Biggest thing is you gotta be out there in some form, strong, to garner attention and make that next step.....

Great stuff, if you are not out there playing, you need to start.
I think another way is to get young band together and manage them.
As they climb so do you.
Good Luck

Ah publishers ... as stated here, they are dropping like flys out there. The country genre was the greatest 'digester' of songs at one time in the music world. Tunes lasted about 4-5 weeks on the radio and new ones got cycled in on a regular basis. Since there are so many sources and ways to 'customize' one's playlists today, many radio stations changed formats in order to stay relevant, and opportunities for new songs to be heard dried up. The stations that play music play only the 'safe' established artists.
Performers will still use publishers to find songs for their shows and other work, but they tend to only use the long established publishing houses with reputations. If you sign with a 'fringe' publisher, your chances of success will be low, but who really knows when an opportunity will come round. The smaller publishers are becoming 'specialized' in ways that are attracting the attention of performers looking for particular genres of work. The bigger publishing houses won't give an unknown the time of day unless referred. Smaller 'genre specific' publishers could be a good way to go for the future. The trouble is, finding them.

If you get airplay on European stations, that means you should be getting significant royalty checks in the mail from your PRO right? I am curious how you are doing in that endeavor? Europe pays much better than US airplay even in small markets. If you are getting airplay, but not receiving royalty checks for it regularly, I question whether the stations are real or if they are vanity stations which many scammers use to rip people off for fees for useless services. It's a long sad rip off that has been going on for decades. All internet airplay is tracked and payments are made through Sound Exchange. Radio play earns you money from your PRO, even if you use BMI or ASCAP for example and your radio play is in Bulgaria, you will still earn real money.

So Muzikguy, are you getting paid for your airplay? I am just hoping you're not a victim to one of these scam artists.

Brian

It will take up to 18 months for airplay royalties to filter back to you for airplay in Europe.I know because that is how long it was for me.

Under what name are your songs registered? I couldn't find you either with the title "honky tonk woman" (that I like a lot) or with "born to roam". If the PROs can't identify you in their database (I used the public view of the ISWC database) they won't be able to assign any royalties (actually, radio stations would not be allowed to play your stuff either).

As for the 18 months - that's optimistic. It takes more than a year to assign German royalties for German performances to their German creators. Maybe they use our money to speculate in US mortgage funds ;-)

Bernd

Oh, I see, it's "ADAMS EVERETT" (should have tried the name first), and for other songs (multiple entries - obviously in different national databases; ISWC uses a meta-search).

Cheers,
Bernd

It's hard to find publishers because they all write and have their own songs.