Think about it.

Let's say I live in Nashville and I know some people in the biz who, if they find a good song, can get it heard by others who can make the decisions that bring that product to market. We've developed a relationship over time and they know I write songs. I have a new song. Since I know them I can get them to hear my song.

You don't live in Nashville. You don't know these people. They're not the only people who can get a song to market, but you don't know those other people either. Some 45,000 other 'song writers' are trying to find out who these people are and figure out how to get them to read their lyric, and, if they have audio, listen to the music. They can't tell your email, letter, or phone call about your 'great' song from the other 44,999 'song writers' who email, write, and call about their 'great' song. They may take a chance on some of them, 'soliciting' your submission, but the odds of yours being one of the ones they blindly pick just on the chance it may be a good one, are remote.

But they've heard me sing and the songs I write, and they know that I wouldn't be wasting their time if my new song wasn't in the ballpark.

Also, they know they can ask me for co-writing credit, getting themselves a piece of the songwriting royalties, or a nice piece of the publishing royalties, so they're more inclined to go with my song, even if they DO hear yours. Now, if yours is truly good, and you're willing to let them or the artist change one word and get co-writing credit, maybe they'd go with yours, IF they heard it.

Even if yours IS good, they might figure they want to tie it up by getting you to sign a publishing deal for a few years and keep you from offering it to anyone else, so it can't compete with ours for a while.

Between not being able to produce high-quality, broadcast-ready recordings to submit, not knowing who to submit to, not knowing how to get permission to submit (solicited), and being in competition with other product they've been trying to get to market for years, you're locked out. That may be the case even if you DO live in Nashtown. You're the competition.

Despite all that, sometimes an outsider does get in. I remember a couple years ago seeing some young girl on TV saying how amazing it was that "...two weeks ago I was just a girl sitting in Kansas, and now my song's a hit..."

And, I believe the music industry needs some new 'blood'. Pop musician David Bowie has a song on his "Hunky Dory" album (I found in in 1973) titled "Song For Bob Dylan" that calls for Dylan to take a look in his old scrapbook and give us something new. He sings, disdainfully of the product he's hearing at the time, "Here she comes! Here she comes! Here she comes again! The same old painted lady, From the mind of the superbrain."

It rang a bell with me, as I was feeling that same-old same-old in the music biz, in several genres.

There's a path in though. Find it. Keep trying if you believe in your product and are willing to do the work. There's no fast-magic, no easy way. Study the biz, the how-to's. And endeavor to persevere. Where there's a will, there's a lawyer. I mean 'a way'! Where there's a will there's a way.


There will always be another song to be written. Someone will write it. Why not you? www.garyeandrews.com