A problem that anything when it comes to the music industry, and in particularly in regard to Nashville, is the SOCIAL element of the business. The real players in the game all know each other, and have built HUGE RELATIONSHIPS for years before people are even allowed to participate. If you go back in time and businesses, you find the same thing. The Jolson's, Crosby's Sinatras, KNEW the COLE PORTERS, THE GERSWHINS, THE IRVING BERLINS. They all partied together, went to all the right clubs, golfed together, vacationed together. The Brill Building in New York was the center of the songwriting world and the direct relationships were the key to the business.

In the Motown era, writers like Marvin Gaye, Holland, Dozier, Holland, and Smokey Robinson, were also producers, and in some cases, artists themselves. LA, in the 70's, was the same. In the Laurel Canyon area, were Jackson Brown, the Eagles, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt, etc. all hung around each other, wrote together, and were close friends BEFORE any of them had deals.

Nashville was the same. In the 60's there was TOOTSIES, the downtown bar which at that time had a back room where Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Roger Miller, would all meet late at night and have "guitar pulls" (everybody playing, and you had to PULL the guitar out of someone else's hands in order to get your turn.)
I can't count all the late night parties, guitar pulls, golf outings, writers retreats, festivals, and other events that I've attended. And this is where the business would develop. You would hang out with the people in your "CLASS." (Just like high school and college, Freshman, Sophomore, Junior,Senior) And the circles of friends would expand and contract. This is where you would meet the people who in the next few years would go on to be come the hit makers. People like Garth Brooks would meet the writers he did demos for and later would become his own group of writers.
The first time I met Rascal Flatts, was in a crowded bedroom of a guy whose house I don't even remember. Maybe around 30 people crowded in listening to these tight harmonies around a piano and guitar in this room. As I think back I remember a half dozen writers in that room who would go on to get big Rascal Flatts hits.

I remember a place on Thursday Nights where a large group of us would gather at a wharehouse with a stage in the middle and have all night drinking and playing parties. In those groups were the people would become the Music Mafia, Big and Rich, Grethen Wilson, and others who would become huge stars. But the problem of that for "outside writers" (even those who might think they are on the inside) is that often these artists, were sewn up before most people even knew they existed.

As the 2000's began and money began to decline in songs, more and more companies went totally inside, with the pubilshers being the producers, the record labels the developme of artists, etc. And as time went on, less and less people who WEREN'T artists weren't signed. Now, it is more likely that the artists of tomorrow are first signed as writers and developed for a couple of years before their artist deals kick in. People like Chris Stapleton, Kacey Musgraves, and Maren Morris are more likely to have hits on other people before they even get a shot at their own record deals.

When American Idol and the Voice came along with the "360 Degree Deals" everyone were trying to be involved on the ground floor to get a percentage of the merchandise, touring and endorsements. And the advent of the "era of celebrity" forced songs to the background. Now, all types of arguments can be made as to the quality of that arrangement, but again, it is what it is. With the advent of the Internet, everyone is looking for the "latest viral sensation." Which brings us to where we are.

Are there any answers to any of this? Nope. But it is the way of the business.
MAB