Marc,
You have forgotten about TAXI who lists requests for songs every 2 weeks. Certaintly you don't put them in the Also Bogus Catagory?

Artists NEED hit songs. It would me nice if they could write all of them themselves but most artists don't write many hits.

Of course the Record Labels don't want to pay the full mechanical Statutory rate so they pass on most outside songs of which they would have to pay the full rate. That has been a fact for many years. I know it is all Big Business and the Artist doesn't have much say in what songs they will be allowed to record. Waylon Jennings had that problem as I recall. So it isn't just a lack of good songs or talent that puts a bottleneck between the outside song writer and the record label. It is the money angle.

And it has also been noted more than a few times that if a Major Artist on a Major Label ever makes a dime it is by pure chance. Yes I have been hearing about it for some time. And it has been noted that when an Artist signs a contract with a Major Label they are obligated for at least 7 albums. I'm sure you have heard about that. And the labels own everything. You may want to inform your artist friend about that if he doesn't already know.

Yes I'm aware of all the pitfalls of the music industry. The songwriter needs to inform himself of all the possible problems that can happen as he may get duped if he doesn't.

Ray E. Strode