These threads always seem to end up in a rut. Quality is good, co-writing is good, yes. Why? Because quality is good, and cowriting is needed to expand your network.

Nashville is a traditional meriocracy. If you are writing good songs at a professional (writing songs artists would want) level, you can move up through cowriting with songwriters that are closer to a cut, and thereby get closer to a cut yourself. That's the game, and you are probably facing a 7-10 year perspective if you are just starting out (and you are continuously learning and adapting to commercial needs). It can happen from outside town, but not very likely in the good songwriters circles. There's simply no incentive for those in Nashville, as all the knowledge you'll need is already there. So coming from the outside, you need to be respectful, cause otherwise you'd be looked upon like you are stealing the more and more scarce market shares of getting songs to artists.

Other routes can be to write songs that great that you get to write with staff writers (not just in Nashville, but anywhere), and at that route get to write with Nashville writers, and eventually get a cut. Time perspective is probably the same.

That's not only the Nashville game anymore, it's the standard throughout all of music business (it's really not that big worldwide, if you count decision makers).

No matter what and where, you need to be able to write commercially strong and sound songs, and in the first place, not to get cuts, but to build a portfolio that'll enable you to cowrite with songwriters with better and better networks.

So, if you are writing alone, and aiming for cuts without netwoking, you are actually trying to rob the bank without doing the work. The work is cowriting, not just writing. Philosphically it's way more sound to share than to go solo, as it raises your potential energy levels (which is needed to not block success). Even here in Denmark most songs are cowritten, it's the same all over the world. The loners just don't make it anymore within the established business circles. You can go indie of course, many do, but I often find a lot of complainers in those circles, just robbing your creative energy, getting nowhere, and getting more and more bitter. Some like to play the lottery and some like the knowledge games. Personally I'm a knowledge guy.

If you are serious, you got to play the games as they are, not as you'd like them to be. That's something you should have learned as a kid. Also, learning a new game is half the fun - when you get too good at it, it tends to become boring.

And what does this have to do with demo quality? Well, all of this IS actually part of a good quality demo recording. It needs to be cowritten and commercially sound to have any momentum, no matter how pro it sounds. A good quality demo needs to be done by good musicians, sure. If you are one, you CAN do it from home. Being a good musician isn't about playing with lightning speed and making clean, well balanced recordings, it's also a knowledge game. It's knowing your genre, knowing what works, knowing what doesn't, doing things with taste, and work for the SONG, not for the publisher, a&r guy ect.

Actually, there are quite few demostudios capable of this too, so any 'professional' studio can't deliver competitive demos. I've heard a lot of studio's work, that I belive just doesn't cut it. Especially in the lower region of rates. So you can't always just expect to lay down your money and get a killer demo, without doing proper research. You can pay 2000$ to get a good representation of your song, and you want to pitch it to say Miranda Lambert or someone, you phrased the melody so it matches Miranda's style, and then you want a contemporary country sounding demo, because that what you think she's about.

Then you get a great sounding track back with a good backbeat, not realizing that Miranda wants songs with a straight Waylon groove for her next record. Your demo wouldn't stand a chance if the groove for the artist is wrong, so your 2000$ on a fabulous sounding contemporary country demo is wasted, as your phrasing of the melody needs to be redone, to pitch it for another artist.

So, yes, good demo quality is eh.. good. But good is relative to who you are pitching to.

If you are a great musician yourself, and is on top of the knowledge and networking games, then you'll have great opportunities if you are doing your own demos, because then you can adapt your demos to your pitches in a whim. Today you really have no business in the music business, if you are not a great musician yourself or are a writer with relations to great musicians IMO. There are many contenders that don't, and they need to play it really smart to get ahead.

So, better than spending a million $ on vanity demos, that won't go anywhere because the knowledge and network skills are not matching pro level, is getting on top of the networking and knowledge games by listening and learning, and ally yourself with some great musicians that can do the job (you won't believe how many great amateur musicians there are out there), and it's a lot cheaper too, paying someone on the backend with half a copyright, only worth something IF the song (unlikely as it is) ends up being successful.

justmy2c