Yes, where are the members you were supposed to recruit Melissa? Might have to give you demerits...
Interestingly, whenever we talk about something, a corresponding situation happens to me. All the talk about publishers, made me remember a lot of things in my own experiences. And then of course, it moves forward.
I ran into MY publishers last night. We had a great talk and they just did something for me yesterday after many years of not being able to. Shows how the relationships go on and on and on.
Larry Sheridan and Robin Ruddy comprise BEST BUILT SONGS, and THE PARLOR STUDIOS. We were friends for many years, not long after I got to town. Larry was a former contractor and custom furniture builder, who had done quite well in business over the years, and decided to open a publishing company. Robin is one of the best pedal steel guitar, banjo and dobro players in Nashville. She has played with everyone, from Vince Gill, Shania Twain, Lynne Anderson, and a great three year stint with ROD STEWART.
She also played with me for a few years before starting the publishing company. So we were great friends before that even got going. Part of their decision to start a company was to build it around me.
For six years we worked together, I wrote for them, we had parties,retreats, shows, constantly tried to do the thing. Every year, we would have a big party celebrating the re-signing of my contract. Every year was "going to be our year!" We would get cuts, Patty Loveless, John Berry, David Ball, but we never got the big singles, and just never got that big pay off. We were always doing charities for other people and sometimes were all guilty of putting other people's needs in front of our own.
About year five, Larry decides to build THE PARLOR studios, a beautiful, state of the art place, that has recorded people like Lee Greenwood, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney. The vocals to 'Live Like You Were Dying' was done there. But the problem with having a big studio is the cost of that studio. It is very expensive. To defer costs, Larry built upstairs offices which he leased out.
And the thing about anyone in this business, we all have tons of other sources of income. Robin, in addition to performing with a dozen artists, doing sessions, and writing and performing her OWN songs, got her real estate liscence. She has been selling commerical real estate and also other studios. She engineered the multi million dollar deal for Southern Ground, Zac Brown's new studio.
Around Christmas of 1999, they had to have "THE MEETING" with me, telling me that they could no longer pay me to be their writer. They had to let three of us go, and it was one of the hardest things all of us had gone through. I knew it was coming just because you can't continue to be paid when you bring in little or no income to a company. Gotta be real. Songwriters always only think about themselves, but I never did. I always understand the health of businesses because I learned that from my Father. The business goes down, you all go down.
I had another deal put together by my friend and co-writer "David Vincient Williams (I'm Moving On) and was going to leave Best Built for that one with Warner Chappel. During the negotiations, and while I was out of town, my attorney, sabotaged me by throwing the contract back in the face of the president of Warner Chappel, my perspective new boss. It destroyed my deal and my reputation and I wouldn't even know about it for weeks.
That is when I got into teaching.
But Larry and Robin and I always remained close friends. That is why the RELATIONSHIPS are so important. And why the "reversion clauses" really don't mean much. When we first started I had signed some songs to a different company with no reversion clause.Larry, Robin and I had to go get those songs back. Sometimes even the 'no reversion clause' doesn't mean anything. Pretty much anything is negotiable if you have a good relationship.
Over the past few years it has gotten further and fewer between, we are still close. Last night, we all got together because we were all doing a show. Alice Bargeron has taken over a Wed, night at 360 BURGER, and Robin, Bonnie Lee, RiDawn, and some others were all doing that show. I had managed to double book myself, so I had to play early on the feature at the COMMODORE, then race over to do a second set at 360 Burger.
After I played, Robin and Larry and I talked for a while. They had a new intern they are working with as an artist and writer. That girl has been going through my song catalogue and pulling out songs that she couldn't "believe weren't cut." During the conversation she went on and on about that and Larry, Robin and I kind of laugh and roll our eyes. We have known that for 20 years. But what you gonna do? They get cut or they don't.
Actually,yesterday they had found a "nugget" that we all had forgotten about. They came up one song short on a demo session at the studio and needed to add one. The Intern found a song called "Must've Been Good in a Past Life' that I wrote with the brilliant Lisa Carver, about 15 years ago. They added that to the session and said it came out pretty well. I really like that song (unfortunately I like a LOT of my songs) so it is cool that it is getting another look and new demo.
And that is really the key to this publishing/writer relationship. And the craft of writing songs. As a writer, how well will your songs hold up in 15-20-25 years? Last night I performed about five of them around that old. And one that is nearly 30 years old. Sounds like I wrote them yesterday. and it is funny when you have an audience filled with people you don't know, who only want to eat their burgers in peace and talk and THEY shut up for every word. Part of it is the performance. But you have to have a killer song in order to perform it properly. I can do that.
And then the part of the publisher relationship. That they still care enough about you after two decades to bring out some of your old songs and include them on things that cost THEM money.
That is the real deal, and what single song contracts, while possibly starting the ball rolling, are really only the price of adimission. I would suggest to you that you let that current song go and not think about it. Quit thinking of your songs as such essential pieces of your life, let them go, put them in someone else's hand, and WRITE MORE SONGS!
I can assure you, that you will. You will wonder WHAT YOU WERE SO WORRIED ABOUT!!!" Even if you feel so strongly about it. Hand it off. Many songs have a long lifespan. Might take years to get them out there. Long distance marathon relay. Gotta get out of your own way. Here is the way you should look at songs:
I was taken in an interview with Jimmy Buffet once. Someone asked him, "Do you ever get tired of doing MARGARITAVILLE?" He said, 'It is not my song now. It is the world's. I gave it to them. If they want to hear it, it is my duty to play it. They have paid a lot of money for that song. They can do with it whatever they want. But it is not mine anymore."
That's how you should feel about your songs. Be passionate about them. Work hard at crafting them perfectly. Re-write them constantly. Work with other people constantly. Make them as good as you can get them. Write more songs. Do the same on every song. Record the ones that work, get rid of the ones that don't. Then pass them on to their intended purposes. Artists, listeners. Purchasing public.
Get out of your own way.
ACTIVITY=PROXIMATY=OPPORTUNITIES.
Gotta drive to Gatlinburg.
MAB