Ray,

I'm sorry you feel I am doing a disservice by telling the truth on any situation. I didn't say outside songs have no chance. Every thing has a chance. You have a chance to run on the field at the Super bowl and steal the football from the center right before it is snapped and outrun everyone, get into the stands and out of the stadium too. Not a very good one and you will probably be beaten within an inch of your life before being arrested, spend some time in jail and being embarrased on You Tube and the news shows for years as well. But you have a chance.
You also have a chance to win the lottery by finding a ticket on the street.

When you are trying to pitch songs to the music industry in Nashville, you go up directly against about 25 people who are not artists who get more than one cut a year. There are around 3500 songs released on major and large independent labels. BMI, ASCAP and SESAC only survey 200 songs a year for significant royalty streams. There are 250,000 songs a year written in Nashville alone. Around 2 million worldwide, all trying to fit into those very narrow definitions.
And those songs are vying for attention on CD's that are 90-95% written totally with the artist's involvement. Even the songs of those top 25, have polished, radio ready demos because often the bigger writers cut their songs on up and coming and new artists as part of their deals. Thereby most artists have their entire CD's written months or years before the rest of the world even knows who they are.

So while I am sure you have had people say send some guitar vocal songs, most people do, as well as most people are hounded by song sharks, libraries, etc. trying to scam them for money. That is a great deal different than making that very narrow cut of 12-15 songs that are actually in serious contention for consideration on projects. For those slots, the demo, the production, the connections, the networking, the personal interest and involvement all come into play. And you are basically trying to get an artist to take your songs over their own. They most often have done the demos, the leg work, the networking. They have a dog in the hunt. Why exactly are they supposed to take an outside song over their own, or of those that they know.

In June of last year, Micheal Laskow of Taxi, had to have a special meeting in Nashville for TAXI members who were complaining they were getting no cuts, very few forwards and in short, very little attention from the industry. It was a panel discussion with major publishers, producers, song pluggers. A few songs were played to show the level of the demos even to be considered.

There was more than a few gasps from the three hundred or so members when they heard the quality of the demos. Actually more of a groan. When you hear what the really big writers do, it can be pretty dishartening. It is a constant struggle.
No one is telling anyone to do any of this. What myself and others here are telling you is what the rest of the world who are doing this have to do, myself included. How you decide to conduct your own journey is up to you. We can only lay out what we each have to deal with. I never say it is the only way. It is the only way I have ever seen work. And I kind of have seen a good deal.

MAB