Guys,

I want to refer back to the definition of Gherming, the reason I started this thread. It is the act of "forcing" your product on people that you don't know, who are in the business. There is a very simple way to get your material to people. Asking permission. it is simply talking to someone for a few minutes, finding out about what their life is like and then asking the best way to get them to listen to a song or two. They will tell you right up front. they either don't accept outside material, or in many cases, have a certain person that might "listen" to material. It is all about timing, time and place. If a hit writer, established publisher, person of note, are at a party, public event, showcase, playing a show, etc. that is not a time to hit them up to listen to things. Yet that is exactly when we are talking about. During dinner, trying to get into their cars, walking down the street. These are the times it happens.
For me, it is after a workshop or seminar or class,where someone comes up and tells me to "listen to this in your spare time." What spare time? I don't have any. But I try to be nice about it. If someone has taken my workshop, I usually will take the CD, although I rarely listen to them. If you do music from around 7:00 in the morning to around midnight, music is the last thing you want to listen to in your "spare time."
I have never met anyone who came to Nashville, who spent a little time, made the rounds, went to some writer's nights, met some other writers, who didn't find an avenue in a back door. Just takes a little perseverance and not being so insistant. It is really not as hard as it seems. If you will just "flip the desk" a little and ask yourself how you would like to be approached if the roles were reversed, you might see it from a different perspective.
Z. is right about new people coming in. There are two elements of Nashville to keep in mind. It is a small town. Everybody knows everybody. It is easy to get a reputation. That is the good news. The bad news is that it is easy to get a reputation.

MAB