Dealing with anyone else, artists, publishers, producers, labels, etc. are ALWAYS a pain. There are two million reasons they can give you for NOT taking a song. Egos are a huge part of it, everyone has a bigger ego than yours and also, in music THEY ARE YOUR DIRECT COMPETITION. But unless you are the artist, have avenues, or own your own label, you need others to deal with, and even if you do own your own label, you still have to deal with others.

Everett, if you have your own sources, good for you. Most people dont. And even if you do, don't expect that to last long. All of these old methods are going away ,just like money in music.That's coming to an end and it ain't coming back. Sort of like saying "I'm waiting for the 8 track to come back." Not gonna happn.
The choice is often, do you want to help an artist get something out there, by working with them, or do you want another song sitting on your laptop, doing nothing,than no one will listen to. It's simply another piece of a puzzle. I've gotten other writers at least a dozen cuts by doing their songs, and in most cases, I paid for the recordings on it. Some I was a demo singer for them, and ended up using their songs in my own shows, or presentations. I once got a cut on a song that the person who cut it had already turned down. My version re-interested him in the song and ended up cutting it on his artist. It's all a crap shoot.

You don't HAVE TO DO ANYTHING. If things work for you, do that. This is what most of the rest of the world is having to deal with. It's not perfect, but if you're looking for perfection, you are WAAAAAAAY IN THE WRONG BUSINESS!

The reason I suggest writing songs WITH THEM is they are part of the process. And it is a bigger challenge when you are writing something with and about other people than just yourself. That gets really boring really quickly, writing about yourself, what you think, what you are about. I ran out of things to say about myself after about a year of writing, I'm pretty boring. But utilizing other people's stories, other experiences, lives, etc. and trying to find a way to write it in ways they didn't think of themselves, is what makes the world go round for me. When you sit across from a woman going through Cancer, and find a way to say what she can;t say herself, makes an impact. I;ve never cared much about cuts, money or any of that stuff when it comes to writing. I've cared about the creative process and TOUCHING people's lives. That I've done.

I'll take that any day.
MAB