“I dont know anything about Mark, Im sure he's very good. But why not be a professional songwriter, instead of having a service?If I had a road to success in Nashville, or anywhere, id be there, and doing what I love to do.”

Since this question was asked about me, I thought I would try to answer it best I could. Since some don’t care for some of my answers, since they tend to be long, because there are not easy answers, might as well be ready to scroll down.

First of all, you need to understand the overall realities of the music business. If you read many of the other threads here, pay attention to other sites, learn anything at all about the music industry, you will know that almost NO ONE now is getting paid as purely a songwriter. It is now an “ARTIST/SONGWRITER” business, with a majority of music being self contained, that is from the artists themselves, their producers, their controlling labels and publishers, or very tightly controlled writing circles. Most else is simply not even considered regardless of the talents of writes, publishers song pluggers, etc. In this business, it is not who YOU KNOW, but who KNOWS YOU AND HOW THEY KNOW YOU. And even the best songs, the best artists, the best relationships, the best recorded product, life is not fair and everyone simply doesn’t “make it.” It is closer to a lottery or a casino, and those are not exactly the surest bet for financial success either.

In Nashville, like the rest of the business, less than a percent of a percent of a percent make any significant money. If a song is not a huge hit single, with staying power, and very high visibility, it will probably not pay for the recording of the demo. The people that make over $100,000 a year is probably around 15-20. Out of the reported 150,000-200,000 writers who attempt to interact with the industry a year, from thousands that live here to hundreds of thousands that are trying to “send in” songs, employ pluggers, enter contests, enroll in pitch libraries, Taxi, and other services, probably less than 50 get more than one cut a year. There are very few songs that sell much of anything with most music being “free samples’ we give away to draw attention to our product. Most make nothing. Even some of the great ones.

This is nothing new. When I attended a writers conference in 1998 with some of the top writers, publishers and label people, along with some ‘tech people” who were representing this new force called the “Internet.” When one of the tech people said very matter of factly, that “in the future, songwriters are going to have to get used to doing without royalties, because they won’t be there.” The entire room went silent. When one of the top writers at that time, sitting next to me, said “How are writers supposed to earn a living?” The tech guy said “You WON’T.”

That is where we have come. We went from 1460 “staff songwriting deals” in the early 2000’s to around 310 now and the majority of those are split among young people who have potential to be artists, and the established “old dogs” who have had success in the past few years. Very easy to become a dinosaur and be replaced very quickly. And all are at some point or another. If you look at the industry as professional athletes it makes more sense. Ten-fifteen years of training, building skills, building political connections, being broke, struggling through it all, then with a break through, getting into the thick of it, being everywhere for about three years, then replaced by someone new. And those are only for a very few. Most sit the bench and never really play.

Another aspect I have always noticed about Nashville is the fact that almost NO writers derive their entire income soley from songwriting income. They own other businesses, they own studios, are session and live players, producers, have copyright recapture businesses, teach seminars and workshops, write books on the business and craft, and most own other non-related companies. One day I had a guy working on my toilet for his plumbing contracting business, at the time he had just come off his third number one song. His plumbing business is where his steady money came from. I have had writer’s sessions interrupted by calls to go show property for property management business, deliver supplies for construction contracting business, etc. all by writers with rooms and walls full of Gold and Platinum records. The ‘writing a song that sets you for life is mostly a myth.

Why do I have a service instead of being a professional songwriter? Because I do both. I am a professional songwriter as I write songs, and am paid for my songwriting talents, as well as collecting income from that. But I also teach the craft of songwriting and the business of music. I am paid for my knowledge, processes and personal experiences it has taken me decades to learn. I work with writers and artists from all over the world on their writing talents, song critiques, performance critiques, networking, and understanding and navigating the often insane world of the modern music business. I help them meet co-writers, get booked in venues, produce them in studios, arrange meetings with industry people, and build their skills and awareness to a point they can move on to a higher level, be that becoming a large local draw in their home town or finding ways into the tight writers circles that are standard in this town.

Basically I teach a person to fish.
I try to show this to people so they AVOID the rip offs, the scams, the “sounds too good to be true” deals that permeate any business people desire to be in. The Internet is full of these things and most writers and artists get hit by them at one time or another. I try to keep that from happening. I show people where the water is. Whether they drink or not is up to them. I try to show them directions for an overall career instead of getting in, spending a lot of money, wasting time, losing financial well being, relationships, marriages, jobs, personal sanity etc. Have seen far too much of that.

I try to bring some of that knowledge to sites like these. If writers and artists care enough to be involved with dialogue, share information and be a part of a community, they deserve to get as much information as they can. In many cases, it does filter back to me in the form of clients. But the main reason I am here or anywhere is to pass forward information others have passed on to me in the 38 years I have been doing this.

The music business is VERY COMPLICATED. Most of it is now FREE, regardless of the well intentions of efforts of anyone. That is just reality. Writers and artists are having songs streamed MILLIONS of dollars and not even making enough money to pay for another recording. So writers have to reevaluate what it means to “make it.” They have to be careful of how they spend money, they have to work harder on their writing, they have to work MUCH harder on building relationships. And they have to inject REALITY into their DREAMS.
If they pay attention, they can make great friends for life, they can write the best songs of their lives, and they can touch the lives of others. They may not ever make a lot or even any money at this. But they can have a pretty cool journey.

And that is the key of this. It’s NOT the DESTINATION, it’s the ROAD THAT GETS YOU THERE. Having a road map is no guarantee you are going to find gold at the end of the rainbow. Only means you know where you start out and the direction you need to go in.

MAB