Colin:

You're absolutely right - exposure is the key word.

BUT (big but!) - you have no guarantee that an artist is gonna interpret your song in a way that makes you happy. Once you let that baby play on the playground, it might be gigglin' or it might skin it's little knees. I've had artists (of the "highest caliber") make wholesale changes in my songs - without so much as asking for permission. I write about that in my book. That's something we have no control over.

I make a plea in my book to artists and producers to respect the writer - we make the choices we make for good reasons. For them to decide spontaneously that a chord change or a lyric or a melodic phrase should be re-written on the fly is incredibly disrespectful. It happens more often than you might think, and it's infuriating.

However, Toby Keith actually improved "My List" by changing a single phrase of lyric. The original first chorus included the line, "Bate a hook and cast a line." Toby (a pretty decent song scribe himself) took it upon himself to change that line to "Wade the shore and cast a line." At first I wondered why he'd done that, and it kinda pissed me off. Then I realized that he really knows his audience: picture, if you will, a wiggly worm being forced onto a barbed hook; now picture the fisherman wading in clear, placid waters. Which is the more pleasing image? Aha! The song is now a better song with wider appeal.

So, on a rare occasion the artist might make your song better with a change in composition. It's more likely to drive you crazy. But, know you're not alone. Every songwriter goes through that. And, hopefully, just hearing that little song you made up one day being performed by some gifted musicians and singers will be thrill enough (even if they do play the wrong chord in the bridge).

Rand Bishop
songwriter/producer/author Makin' Stuff Up - secrets of song-craft and survival in the music-biz
www.makinstuffup.net

Rand Bishop
Songwriter/producer/author