Justin,
You're friend is coming with a home studio in a town that EVERY SINGLE WRITER has a home studio on their lap top? And no one is paying for studios at all anymore? Good move. Buckets of salt water in the middle of the Ocean. Good luck, but glad he has a plan to come back. Might not want to wait 4 months. The "Temporary" folks are treated somewhat like the "outsiders" are in Texas. Mostly, "don't want to be part of us? Why exactly do you think we would want YOU?" And don't let the doorknob hit you in the butt on the way out." Smelled out pretty quickly, shunned always and never get very far. But he will have a good few months watching other people perform and write and advance. Be a good education for him.
On how to deal with that question. To be honest, you really don't have any say so in what they are going to do. You could be like my so called friend (I use that term very loosely) who burst in uninvited to a RECORD COMPANY MEETING WITH THE HEAD OF MCA RECORDS, demanding that they either CUT HIS SONG ON REBA OR DROP IT OFF HOLD. Not only did he end his career right then and there with ANY CONTACT WITH LABELS, he also ruined the careers of EVERYONE WHO WAS WRITING WITH HIM. He was run out of town very quickly, and his name is still a joke around town. And to this day, he HAS NO CLUE. Just can't figure out why no one ever returns his call.
"Don't you know who I think I am?"
You are going to have to get used to the point that the music business is "write and forget." You hope that they will play it or record it. But you have NO SAY whatsoever in what they do. If they really like it, they WILL DO IT. ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS.
By the way, it is one of the most irritating questions I get asked. I write these songs, hundreds of them and the wrtiters, usually getting the best song they have written will ask "are you going to start playing it?" Sure. I don;t have any other songs. I don't have any CD's and I only play gigs where HALF THE AUDIENCE ARE MY COWRITERS EXPECTING ME TO PLAY THE SONGS WE WROTE!
I answer their question with a question of my own:
What are YOU DOING? Where are YOU playing it? What artists are YOU pitching it to? What demo are YOU PAYING FOR? What people are YOU playing it for? What web site or web sites are YOU POSTING IT ON? What group of high school or college students are you getting to do some form of video to put it on YOU TUBE or reverb nation?
Where is YOUR SKIN IN THE GAME?
Just like JFK once said:
AWSK NOT WHAT SONGWRITING CAN DO FOR YOOUUUU!!!! AWSK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR SONGWRITING!!!!!"
Gotta get over that, "what are doing for me" right now mentality. Doesn't work very well.
Write em', be polite, hope they do it. THEN WRITE MORE FREAKING SONGS!!!!!
If you do your job, it will be one of their favorite songs, they will want to play it everywhere and you won't have to ask a thing!
MAB