Hey Folks,

Donna, sorry I have not known what has been going on with you and the "search for the decent singer." Your experiences are pretty normal. There are a few things we have to understand in this era and I want to give a bit of the "other side" of things I always talk about.

As most of you know, I am among the biggest "FIND YOUR OWN SINGERS, BUILD YOUR OWN WORLD, CREATE YOUR OWN NICHE" people there is. I believe that if you are a writer, you can no longer wait for the "perfect pitch opportunity" with labels, producers, and publishers, or wait till the industry finds you. You have to go out and find people, BEFORE they are signed, to be vehicles for your songs. In my own experiences, I'm lucky that many come to me. And I am surrounded by them in a town that brings hundreds of thousands of them a year into town. Want to find singers in Nashville? Pick up a handful of rocks and throw them. You'll hit one.
But this is also true ALL OVER THE WORLD. There are an estimated 30-50 MILLION people out there who are trying to be singers writers, etc. I have been to some of the smallest hamlets and towns in the country and there are artists, wanna be's, people EVERYWHERE. Sit on an airplane and tell someone you are a singer (happened to me two weeks ago) and everyone around you tells you about their "son, daughter, friend. ,niece, nephew, grandchild, parent, cousin) who is a "great singer and just HAVE TO BE ON THE RADIO!"
And there are about one BILLION songs uploaded a month on the Internet .So there is really no problem finding singers for songs.
Online, like everything is trickier, because everyone is on there and you don't have a chance to vet them or find out much about them. That is why I prefer to STAY LOCAL. So you can be around these people. But I digress.

So having people that do this is a no brainer. But that is also the MAIN PROBLEM. And like all problems, it took a long time to get here.

Over 20 years ago in Nashville, those of us who were artists, writers, producers, etc. trying to find the next big thing, found record labels no longer asking about how "good someone was" they wanted to know "How good they looked in a pair of Wranglers." That was the advent of video into music, MTV, VH1, CMT, all became primary movers and shakers of public opinion in music. So they needed to look good.
And of course, this is nothing new. In the 50's, when Elvis hit, there were hundreds of Tab Hunter's, Frankie Avalon's, Tommy Sands, etc. anyone that wore those ducktails and could make their lip sneer were given record deals.
In the 60's, anybody with a "Beatles Haircut" could hold a guitar, dress in the same suits, and shake their heads, got record deals. The "Bugs", the Animals, The....whatever... all were on the scene with their screaming girls.

You can follow that throughout music, the psychodelic era, the disco era, the heavy metal era... hey, the entertainment business is ONE BIG FOLLOW THE LEADER business. Might as well get used to it. You just want to be the one that everyone else follows!

Then, in the modern era, along with the "Free music era" we have become the "everyone can do it" era. Everyone can put their songs and videos on FACEBOOK AND YOU TUBE, and their parents and friends love them and "LIKE THEM" online.
What they have forgotten is TALENT and DEVELOPMENT.

Donna, you ran into a singer that had to be auto tuned? Almost EVERYONE has to be Auto tuned. I remember engineers telling me once about working with Faith Hill. They had to tune and punch EVERY NOTE that she sang. Of course, she got better with time, and is a pretty good singer now. Taylor Swift got slammed as a "TERRIBLE SINGER" mostly because of one awards show performance where she was singing with her biggest hero, STEVIE NICKS. Well wouldn't YOU get pretty nervous with your hero, who was one of the biggest influences on your life and music? But she did need a lot of work. She was a tremendous writer but always weaker in the vocals. She's gotten past it. And doing pretty well.

But there are many, like your singer, that don't have the chops and never will, but can get by with auto tune and other effects. For a while. Pretty soon, people bore with that and they tune out. As you are seeing Donna, the thing to do is FIND MORE SINGERS. Which you are doing. Good for you.

It is stuff we have to get used to. Younger singers don't have the maturity, or have not developed their skills, and most of them ARE GOING TO BE GONE SOON So we have to spread it around.

If you want your songs OUT THERE, you are going to have to FIND YOUR OWN SINGERS. And some of those are going to be DUDS! just happens. Hopefully that will lead to others that rise above the rest. That is who you are looking for.

Every writer and publisher in Nashville work with DOZENS that don't work out. But you have to be careful how fast you dismiss them. Because sometimes you might just be on the wrong side of the equation. Never cut your nose off to spite your face.

One day you might be approached at a party with a young girl and her mother and people telling you :this is the girl you need to work with." And you might get a little bit in a snit and say "she is too young to work with." You might end up regretting that.

Because that was me. And the Daughter that was brought over to me at an ASCAP party was TAYLOR SWIFT.

You just never know. Stay at it and stay out there.

MAB