Everett,

Happens every day. Right now I am seeing that situation up close and personal.

A few years ago, I wrote a song called "My Wish." It was kind of a tribute to songwriters, that I did at the end of my workshops and shows. I even made a greeting card out of it and it was around for a while. One of the guys I did several shows with and knew fairly well was Jeffery Steele, who is pretty much the top dog of all writers in Nashville and one of the top money makers in the world right now.

Last year I started getting conglaturatory e-mails, and phone calls about my new Rascal Flatts cut, My Wish. The only problem was it wasn't my song. It was one written by Jeffery Steele. now did Jeff steal that song? Of course not. We write all the time and titles pop up all the time. Happened 13 times ot me in 6 years.

But what happens is it renders your song un pitchable. Just the way it is. Any publisher or record company sees the title and goes, "Uh, there is already one out there." So you move on to other songs.

Right now, two friends of mine just got signed to Big Machine, Taylor Swift's label. they are "Steel Magnolia" a duo that I have known and worked with for about three years. They jsut won a major television show here. There first single has been shipped to radio. It is called "Keep on Loving You."

Now the problem is that Reba McCentyre, just released her brand new CD. It is titled "Keep on Loving you." And aside from that, it was a BIG hit from the 70's on a group named REO SPEEDWAGON and is still played continually on classic rock radio.

So they all have a problem. Reba is Reba and has been very successful so whatever she wants to do is going to have sway. She can also claim the other song was in a different genre and thirty years ago, so she can be somewhat clear.

Steel Magnolia have another problem. They are a new band and will have to see what the test market is. If people identify that with Reba's CD, they will have to drop that song in favor of another one. Which happens in some situations. If a song doesn't "Test well" it can be dropped very easily, just as an act will be if they don't sell well.

That is why I don't go along with the "The public will buy what they are told to" nonsense. Just doesn't hold up in reality. And if there was a way to do that, record companies would never have anything that fails on their lables. People don't just throw away millions of dollars and the "Tax write off" silliness is a myth. Nobody throws money away. Nobody. Well, the government, but they just print up more. Companies can't do that.

So the answer to your question is you never put all your eggs in one basket. You understand that if another one comes out, and is from a bigger source, yours is sunk. If you were to write two songs with the same title, there is nothing wrong with it although you create confusion for yourself. And in this day and age, self created confusion is the last thing anyone needs.

MAB