JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum Song pluggers?

Any recommendations? What about these guys?

http://springbarrelsongpluggingservices.com/

They charge $100.00/mo per song and they want more if the song gets cut. How much do pluggers usually ask for once they get you a cut? The advantage of using one is that you still own the publishing and this can be the thing that gets you a cut. On the other hand, if they want the publishing, it seems to me that you would be better off going with a publisher.

That's a good question.
I would like to see an ongoing report from folks that have used pluggers.
Success rates, etc.
I was told by a Nashville insider to be very skeptical. Ask for a history.
How many cuts they have had and with what artist? How many cuts that made the charts, etc?
Judging from what I have seen here not many folks have had cuts. For the ones that did it would be nice to know who, what, where, and how.
I know some Pluggers are very selective on what they will take. They have huge catalogs and you need to be better than what they already have.

This one I would avoid.

$100 a month plus a bonus IF they get you a cut. I don't think so. The only independent song plugger I trust (if you can call them that) is TAXI a JPF sponsor.

With TAXI you pay an annual fee plus a very small ($5 I think) per song submission fee. You also get a regular tip/request sheet to let you know who is looking and what they want at that time. If your song gets forwarded by TAXI you then deal directly with the publisher/artist/producer/etc. to negotiate your deal with them.

One song for 4 months with these guys would cost you more than 2 songs for a year with TAXI and their reputation is rock solid.

Wayne

Why do you need a song plugger? Just wondering, as most people here in town that pay for one, really dont need one. Furthermore, there are LITERALLY a handful of them that are worth [naughty word removed] and those few are independently plugging back catalogues for some of the hottest and most successful writers in town.

I am speaking in hypotheticals at the moment. But it seems to me that if you could get a cut via a successful plugger you could keep at least half of your publishing.

I understand what you are saying about the most successful writers in now being at the top of the list, but just because a writer has had cuts and hits does NOT mean that every song in his/her catalogue is cut-worthy. When the artist is looking for a song to cut, who wrote it is meaningless compared to how good the song is and how it relates to the artist. I honestly believe that a GREAT song will eventually get cut regardless if it is written by Jeffrey Steele, Tim Nichols, or Joe Nobody from Podunk, Nowhere!

what I mean when I say those handful of pluggers that are worth a crap are already pitching hit writer's back catalog's..is they typically are NOT interested in adding another writer to who they rep because they already have their hands full with the catalog's they are currently pitching. In fact, I know a lot of writers with hits and cuts that are waiting in line to have some of the pluggers in town pick up their back catalog's as well.

I realize hypethetically it seems like if someone in Nashville heard a HIT they would do everything they can to get it cut AND that people are LOOKING for hits to pitch...but the truth is they aren't. There is a TON of politics here and personal relationships win out over song quality every day here.

That is why it is very difficult to get a song cut here if you aren't here working it every day. There are always exceptions to this of course, but for me I wanted to play in favor of the odds, move here and get in it.

Jimi

I understand your points, but a lot depends on the quality of the song you are pitching. If you go to a plugger with a song like 'Live Like You Were Dyin', at least one of them would pick it up. All the top writers in Nashville started out as nobodies who got a break, which means it is not impossible. If you dwell so much on the odds and the unlikelihood of ever making it in Nashville, you will probably give up.

Not every songwriter, good or bad, can uproot and go to Nashville. Else your population would explode into the millions, and there is not enough jobs there for everyone. That said, songwriter should not be barred from pitching songs, good, great or bad, just because they don't live there. Great songs can and are written all the time in all corners of the world( I know the world is round). So if you don't live in Nashville, you can't pitch, that means the world only gets to hear the best of the worst that Nashville has to offer. Sad.

You are right, all of the top writers in Nashville started out as nobodies, I know that more than most, as I am now writing with a lot of them. But all the writers I know didnt start out as a nobody, randomly send in a few hit songs, a plugger picked the, up, they got a cut through the plugger, made money and then moved to town. Actually, I dont personally know one writer where that was the case.

The writers I know and write with, moved here or ATLEAST made trips here, networked and got to know people, landed pub deals (in most cases) and then got cuts.

Again, Im NOT saying you have to move here, Im NOT saying things like that dont happen, Im just saying it's a long shot.<--that is a fact, not really up to debate. Randomly sending a song (even if it's a hit) to a songplugger, them picking it up, pitching it, getting it cut and it racing up the charts is suuuuuch a longshot. It's been done I guess, but again, its certainly not the norm.

I tell you this from experience. Do I have a huge cut yet? No. But I've been here 4 years, now write with some of the biggest writers in town, am being courted by a few publisher and I am on the row every freaking weekday, writing, taking meetings and networking.

Granted, my view is not the holy word, but this is my observation but I'm telling you all this from the inside.

I just remembered that I had written an article about this a couple months ago... from www.jimiheath.com

"FISHING IN THE SAND"
Can a songwriter really get cuts/have a career in Nashville and not live there?
By Jimi Heath
Ya know, I get asked this question all the time via email and phone calls by people who have visited my website. The answer I always give people is two fold:

ON ONE HAND…
It is so incredibly hard to get a cut when you LIVE here, it is near impossible to do so when you don’t, and the integrity of the writer really has little to do with the equation. Getting cuts here is all about networking. Why? Simple: you have to know people to get a song to a specific artist. How do you network? You hang out. You co-write, You demo your songs where other songwriters will be recording their songs., etc. et al.

Then there IS the aspect of your writing. In MOST instances, no matter how good a writer is in LA or NY, they usually don’t get up to par with what’s here in Nashville until they start writing and co-writing here. I hate that it is that way, but it just is. I thought I was pretty good when I got to town, but I wouldn’t be caught dead playing those songs I wrote when I didn’t live here, or even when I first moved here to a publisher. My writing has just improved that much (I believe) since I’ve been here for a while now.

ON THE OTHER HAND…

There are a handful of writers that do not live in Nashville and have carved out successful careers in the country market. I do however, want to stress that it is just a handful.

How’d they do it? They make frequent trips here. These writers look at their writing like their business and coming to Nashville is like making a sales trip. Most come AT LEAST once a quarter. If this is the path you choose it is imperative that you absolutely make the best of your trip(s) and that means careful planning. Here’s a checklist I use to use:
-Set up a meeting with my PRO Representative.
-Set up 3 co-writes. (You can meet people online that will co-write with you.\
-Attend a writers round at least every other night for the duration of my stay.

screw THAT, I’LL JUST HIRE A SONGPLUGGER

Uh huh. Wanna know the reality of how many SUCCESSFUL independent songpluggers there are in Nashville. About 7…maybe less and these 7 songpluggers are plugging back catalogue of some of the best writers in town. All the other good pluggers that are worth a crap are working for a publisher in town.

I’m sure I’m gonna get a lot of emails from people saying their plugger “gets me tons of holds”, blah blah blah. Wanna know what a hold is? Hmm..let me tell you what it’s not…it’s NOT A CUT.

You are better to take the 300 bucks a month you’d pay a plugger that isn’t doing a thing for your writing, and career and make an ANNUAL investment by joining TAXI. They are the ONLY Independent A&R group in the FREAKIN WORLD that gets it right…every time.

So in summation, do you have to live here? You don’t have to, but if you want to catch a fish, you have to be on the water. If you can’t or aren’t ready to get on the boat, you are best use the suggestions I provided above.

Hope that helps.
Write a hit!