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The CLIMB Show by Brent Baxter, Team SWPro on June 30, 2023
Do music publishers WANT to hate your song? Do they want to LOVE your song? Or do they just want to shut you out of the music business? Here's the truth in only 3 minutes (or so)! Listen up!
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TRANSCRIPT:
Today, I want to talk about the truth about music publishers. And do they really want your songs? Are they open your songs? Will they listen?
Here's the deal. It is hard to get a music publisher to listen to your song. They have so many songs coming at them, and it's impossible to listen to all of them. Math just says they can't listen to everything. But that doesn't mean that they don't WANT to like your song.
A lot of people may make excuses, though, like, "Well, publishers aren't open to outside songs, they don't want to hear them, they, they just cut them down as soon as they can- just to keep people out of the business."
No, that's really not the case. A publisher wants to like your song. If they're going to take the time to listen to it, they'd rather be good than not be good. They'd rather it be great. They want it to be magnificent. They want it to be the kind of song that's going to keep the lights on at their publishing company for the next three years because it makes so much money. Because THAT helps them solve THEIR problems.
So they don't want to hate your song. They don't have time for bad songs. Believe me, it's annoying to listen to a whole bunch of songs that aren't good enough. It doesn't do them any good. They're not getting paid to listen to your song. They get paid to get CUTS, and average songs can't help them do their jobs.
So one reason it's so hard to get publishers to listen is because they go through trusted sources. Like the writers they have on staff, other pro writers that they know, people they've been hearing buzz about from the PRO's.
Other friends in the business that recommend songwriters to them could be other publishers. And they will listen to those first, because that has the best chance of being a song that is going to help solve their problems. And remember- their problem is they need to get songs on the radio.
And I don't think they really care where that next hit song comes from. So just because they don't know you, or they don't know you well, doesn't mean they don't want to like your song.
However, math says that your song is probably not good enough and probably not going to solve their problem. That's just math. That's not personal. That's why they go to those trusted sources first because they don't have time to listen to everything. But it's not because they don't want to like your song. It's not because they want to screw you over keep you out of the business. No, they would love to find an amazing writer that no one's found yet.
They want to like your song, because that helps them feed their families.
This has been 3 Minutes & The Truth.
God bless,
Brent
PS- Thanks for stopping by Songwriting Pro! I appreciate it. As a matter of fact, I want to give you a gift just for your visit. It's my FREE PDF e-book, "6 Ways To Make Your Songs More Commercial." It'll help you write songs that artists want to sing and fans want to hear. You can get this awesome gift at 6simpleways.SongwritingPro.com.
Who is Brent Baxter?
Brent is an award-winning songwriter with songs recorded by Alan Jackson (the top 5 Country hit "Monday Morning Church"), Randy Travis, Lady A, Joe Nichols, Ray Stevens, Steve Cropper, Andy Griggs, Buddy Jewell, Lonestar, Gord Bamford (the #1 hit and CCMA Single Of The Year "When Your Lips Are So Close"), The Sound (the #1 hit and Dove-nominated Southern Gospel Song Of The Year "Can I Get A Witness"), Wilburn & Wilburn (#1 hit "Hallelujah Homecoming"), The LeFevre Quartet and more!
