Paramount Song

[john]

Oh and just because the bottom feeders in the industry run contests etc, doesn't make it the way business is done.

Labels and publishers don't give a toss about competitions or any of that rubbish. What they are interested in is bands and songwriters with pulling power. Do you know where most A&R men do their basic research? MySpace, Soundcloud etc, where they can see the size of followings etc. followings equal potential customers. Got a decent following? Then they click play.

A decent label or publisher doesn't need to run contests, or even scour the earth for talent. Every month they receive loads of unsolicited recordings even when they are not currently accepting submissions. When they put out the word that they are accepting submissions... They get buried!

[john]

That is true Mike, and no sleight on Nashville intended.

That said I don't rate taxi. While they have had a few small successes, they really are small considering how long it has been running. Fees are not big by industry standards and while they stop short of making promises they do big up their contribution, big time.

True there are gatekeepers, but they are gatekeepers for the masses. By that I mean people in the biz don't use them. They are the shiny silver paper to draw your attention while the real biz is done by non public listed companies working in a closed industry... Good managers and studio owners know how to make and develop those contacts themselves. They know what music press to buy to get info, what entertainments lawyers and accountants to use to get the inside line. They do not use taxi.

[justsoulin]

Jon, I worked for a company for many years, looked upon as a reputable company, the biggest of it's kind in the area it worked. I even 'began' as a telesales person, but we weren't called that. It was a commission only sales job. We had to scour every known and unknown resource to find a name and contact details, then contact those names with a script. We said anything to make an appointment, to make everything sound 'PLAUSABLE & ABOVE BOARD", just so they'd say yes. No mention whatsoever at anytime of money. 100% gullible, because once they were in that meeting, they weren't allowed to leave until they'd signed = money.

 

You ever been in a Timeshare companies office? I hope you never find yourself in one!

 

You've made this plausable because you read and understood the way you want to read it. If you take offense at my candid words, it isn't meant for that, it's meant to give you a proverbial wake up call.

 

I had a very well spoken young lady call me the other day, stating she was a Junior Consultant and that she wanted to offer me a free consultation with a Senior Consultant. FOUR times I said no thx, giving her the reason and FOUR TIMES she didn't listen, just went right on asking me when would I like the meeting to take place.

 

Now zip over to Nashville, and an unknown songwriter trying to get 'their' foot in the door. To pay the rent, they take a commission only job. Their job is to scour the internet world for 'would be you's' that put their contact info in plain sight. Then send out a script to every single one, and see who takes the bait. It's a numbers game. He might hate doing this job, but hey he's got to live and if you're fool enough to fall for this from the get go, not his problem, thank you very much for my rent cheque.

 

Since we're all trying to save you time, energy, getting your hopes up etc, and at the end of the day money - I can't wait until I read you prove us all wrong.

 

Go for it.

 

Any newbies reading this, please do your homework through searching the net - don't just take 'our' word

 

Good luck Jon

[midnighthowler]

Amen

[LadySeda]

Well... This is a year old forum, and it is still relevant today because I just got my first letter from Paramount and twittered on the edge of "maybe", "Could it be real?" "I'm not really that good am i?" "Oh gosh I shouldn't trust anyone who wants money." and on... and on.... and still on... and the damn contract is now sitting in a folder on my desk with the words ignore on it. 

 

So this bring up a question, from this new girl who has no clue... How important is it to find an agent, or to hook up with legal people to help you make the right decisions, or to help you find the right people? Thankfully I have very good, protective friends who kick me if I need a check back into reality, and I have the drive to research and learn all I can on my own... but when, how, and who are the questions running through my mind... and I just got here lol 

 

Just call me frazzled, frenzied, and fantastic.... it's all good you know. 

 

Rebecca

[TapperMike]

How important is it to you?

 

Is it the only one you've ever had? Can you crank out more?  Are you shopping for other publishers?

 

No one wants you to throw away good money after bad and have your heart stomped over. And yet we'd love for you to be the success story.  If you've written well and you are pleased with it then it could mean you can write more.  Personally I'd go with a reputable firm like Taxi or Harry Fox Agency. HFA won't push your song on someone but they will monitor it's distribution as a "co-Publisher" to insure you are getting a return on your copyrighted material.

Edited April 16, 2015 by TapperMike

[LadySeda]

How important is it to you?

 

Is it the only one you've ever had? Can you crank out more?  Are you shopping for other publishers?

 

No one wants you to throw away good money after bad and have your heart stomped over. And yet we'd love for you to be the success story.  If you've written well and you are pleased with it then it could mean you can write more.  Personally I'd go with a reputable firm like Taxi or Harry Fox Agency. HFA won't push your song on someone but they will monitor it's distribution as a "co-Publisher" to insure you are getting a return on your copyrighted material.

Thank you this is helpful. 

 

I have pages and pages of stuff that I haven't shared. I sent them toss outs because I wasn't sure. I will check into these two places you mentioned 

 

Rebecca

[Music60s70s]

You know, reading this category reminds me...

 

One should write a song, about "discovering" a great career, read from a matchbook cover, (where they used to have cheap ads for silly stuff).  Today, that "matchbook cover" would now be the net/marketing machine, and all the varied shills - be it Nigerian prince scams, or "recording" companies in back rooms of run-down buildings.

 

--Pat

Edited April 20, 2015 by Music60s70s