http://www.americansongwriter.com/2010/01/street-smarts-some-things-never-change/ American Songwriter Magazine Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:40:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.4 http://www.americansongwriter.com/2010/01/street-smarts-some-things-never-change/comment-page-1/#comment-6189 Country Music Hall of Famer Carl Smith Passed Away; Tom T. Hall to Headline WCRS Live!; Stream Patty Griffin | The 9513 Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:02:43 +0000 http://www.americansongwriter.com/?p=30881#comment-6189 [...] American Songwriter Senior Editor Michael Kosser on the fading prominence of songwriting mentors: The songpluggers are concentrating on their hottest writers, all a sweat to get enough cuts to keep their jobs for another year. And major publishers tend to hire pluggers who have demonstrated their ability to get a cut, not for their song-mentoring skills. They see songs as ready or not ready for demos, ready or not ready for pitches, not almost ready as in, “If you do this, this and that to the third verse, I think you’ll have a hit.” In fact, I’m not sure that songpluggers get as emotionally involved with songs as they used to, as in, “I love this song and I won’t stop pitching it until it’s a hit single.” Let a promising song go through a month or two of rejection or languish on an album without being considered for a single slot and the pluggers may forget about it. [...] [...] American Songwriter Senior Editor Michael Kosser on the fading prominence of songwriting mentors: The songpluggers are concentrating on their hottest writers, all a sweat to get enough cuts to keep their jobs for another year. And major publishers tend to hire pluggers who have demonstrated their ability to get a cut, not for their song-mentoring skills. They see songs as ready or not ready for demos, ready or not ready for pitches, not almost ready as in, “If you do this, this and that to the third verse, I think you’ll have a hit.” In fact, I’m not sure that songpluggers get as emotionally involved with songs as they used to, as in, “I love this song and I won’t stop pitching it until it’s a hit single.” Let a promising song go through a month or two of rejection or languish on an album without being considered for a single slot and the pluggers may forget about it. [...]

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