I have some experience with this. I've found that most are full of crap, and will tell you that your stuff is great and they'll be glad to plug away for $500/month or so. In the end, there are only about 20 people in Nashville who are really in the music business.. everyone else is just playing and stoking their egos by being able to say they have a "publishing deal", which means nothing in and of itself. I'm not trying to come off as cynical or anything, it's just how it is. If you don't have a direct link to the artist or to one of these 20 or so people, you might as well forget it if you are an independant writer. The labels have their own stable of writers and will rarely go outside of that circle unless you get really lucky or write something that is so obviously a cash cow that they can't live without it. My approach has been to hook up with a publisher who also supposedly plugs the material. She will get 50% of the publishing of anything that she gets cut. Outside of that, I've been developing relationships with writers who do get regular cuts and also with up and coming artists who want to write together etc. It's not an impossible nut to crack, but beware of someone who promises the moon in exchange for a monthly fee. One smart thing you can do if you want to check out someone's B.S. factor is to put a CD together with your three best songs and one song that is an absolute turd. Then you can really tell who will be honest with you and who is just blowing smoke. Good luck!

Doc

Last edited by DocHolladay; 10/11/11 04:00 PM.