A La This, A La That

[songman]

Quote:When faced with choosing between a song by a known hit writer and a nobody, the record label will always be more comfortable choosing the hit writer's song, especially since that writer's name will also be recognized by radio station PD's and MD's, and thus the song is more likely to get airplay.Since when do PD's and MD's actually pay attention to who WRITES the songs? Why would they do that? Radio is all about the artist..

[hookstownbrown]

Quote:Since when do PD's and MD's actually pay attention to who WRITES the songs? Why would they do that? Radio is all about the artist..Hi songman,That's a valid supposition, but you can bet they do pay attention. If Darryl Worley and Keith Urban both release singles to radio on the same day, one with Craig Wiseman's name on it and one with an unknown, the PD's will listen to the Wiseman tune with enthusiasm. For the labels, they are competing for the PD's ear and any slight advantage can break a song into rotation. PD's and even DJ's know the names of the best songwriters. Call a country station and ask a DJ who his or her favorite songwriter is. You'll get educated answers from the majority of them...Best wishes...

[songman]

Quote:Hi songman,That's a valid supposition, but you can bet they do pay attention. If Darryl Worley and Keith Urban both release singles to radio on the same day, one with Craig Wiseman's name on it and one with an unknown, the PD's will listen to the Wiseman tune with enthusiasm. For the labels, they are competing for the PD's ear and any slight advantage can break a song into rotation. PD's and even DJ's know the names of the best songwriters. Call a country station and ask a DJ who his or her favorite songwriter is. You'll get educated answers from the majority of them...Best wishes...Seems the odds are stacked higher than I thought against a relatively unknown songwriter. I did not realize that PD/MD's even CARED who wrote a song.My, how times have changed..

[guscave]

Quote:Since when do PD's and MD's actually pay attention to who WRITES the songs? Why would they do that? Radio is all about the artist..Unfortunately, Radio is ALL about advertising. The way radio works today, music is simply what plays in between commercials. That's why satelite radio is so promising. Quote:Seems the odds are stacked higher than I thought against a relatively unknown songwriter. I did not realize that PD/MD's even CARED who wrote a song.My, how times have changed.Sad but true...

[songman]

Quote:Unfortunately, Radio is ALL about advertising. The way radio works today, music is simply what plays in between commercials.Yes, I know advertising dominates the music. I meant between the songwriter and the artist, the artist wins in preference.

[thekez]

Quote:Seems the odds are stacked higher than I thought against a relatively unknown songwriter. I did not realize that PD/MD's even CARED who wrote a song.My, how times have changed..Radio has always cared about such things, and DJ's are always talking about who wrote this or that- where have you been?

[shayne]

Guess I've been listening to the wrong radio stations..they never mentioned the songwriters.

[hookstownbrown]

Many country stations will jump at the chance to live-interview the writer(s) of a newly released song. But...1. Radio stations have a difficult time getting most songwriters to do any kind of promotion.2. The majority of songwriters, 99.9%, don't have the financial means to pay for a radio tour.1+2=33. Radio stations won't promote a commodity that isn't available.

[dagg]

Soundman asks right questions. Success in commercial music boils down to writing a hit. And nobody here mentioned this fact, ever.So, (speaking in commercial music terms - suceeding onto Billboard chart and on commercial radio) to have a success, one have to write a hit. With all rules there is about hitwriting (and there ARE rules).Since songs from members here never land onto Billboard charts, it means:1) songwriters here don't know how to write a hit, or2) haven't enough talent to write a hit, or3) don't want to be involved in commercial hitwriting If you as Taxi member ever write a hit, second happiest person would be Mr. Laskow (read: Taxi is very interested for your success).Yet, hits are very scarce commodity, which means that it really isn't easy to learn required skills. It is much easier to become lawyer, dentist, architect etc. Let's be honest to ourselves. If there are 100x more successful lawyers than hitwriters, it means that hitwriting is considerably harder task to acomplish. It's up to you, folks. And don't say that you are not interested, because No. 6 on Billboard chart can bring you as songwriter over $ 700,000.-. You still aren't interested?

[bbm]

Dagg,There's a lot more to having a hit song than just writing one.You have to get the song to right people at the right time and hope that it will be produced well, and performed well, and that there will be the money available to promote the song in such a way that it will get the exposure necessary to rise to its hit potential.I can tell you from personal experience that you can get many of those elements aligned properly and still fail to chart. Everything has to fall into place, and everything includes way more than just the song.We've had covers by major recording artists that failed to do much because one or more of the elements I mentioned above didn't happen to line up at the time. Everyone of the songs had the potential to be a hit, but it just didn't happen that way.Primarily there has to be the will from the record company to "work" the song. Radio is very important and very very expensive.There probably is such a thing as an undeniable hit song, but even a song that commercial can be scuttled by poor promotion.You're correct in that it all starts with the song, but it's just the beginning of the process and it guarantees nothing.Frustrating, ain't it?lolbbm