Ok--time for a bit of a rant and rave. I look at wannabe songwriter and artist message boards frequently and occasionally post. My rant today is that so many of the writers and artists who don't have deals--or have had deals and not achieved sales success--always want to blame some person, place or thing other than themselves. When in fact it is probably just that negative finger pointing attitude that is their main problem to begin with. Today I read a post at a songwriting forum by a poster who insisted that you have to be an established insider and a writer-artist to have a chance at getting a song cut in Nashville. Here's my reply to that post--plus a little bit more:
Unestablished writers get signed all the time. Some make it and some don't. Here's one example that quickly comes to mind. I represent Kelley Lovelace. I represented him when he signed his FIRST writer deal with a major about 5 years ago. To the best of my knowledge he had had no cuts--certainly no hits. Being a songwriter was not his primary source of income at that time. So he was one of those unproven writers--not "established". Some of the hits he has written since then are "Didn't Have To Be" (Brad Paisley), "Girls Lie Too" (Terri Clark); "The Impossible" (Joe Nichols), "Two People Fell In Love" (Brad Paisley). There are more. Kelley was an unknown when he signed his first deal. But he had spent time learning his craft and networking. There are many, many more who get in the door and don't get signed because they don't have the talent--and/or the honed skills. Creativity and talent is not enough. Learning and perfecting the craft is critical. And by the way--Kelley is not an artist--neither are most of the writers I represent. One of these days I will see a post where a writer says something like "I can't get a hit because I'm not good enough yet!" instead of blaming the industry, or the color of the sky, or whatever.
That's my rant and rave for today!