Congratulations to our newest “Play For Publisher” Top Ten songs and songwriters!
First of all, BIG thanks and congrats to each of you who took a chance, took positive action, and submitted one or more songs to the “Play For Publisher” event with Courtney Allen of BMG Music. Ya’ll are just plain awesome.
Out of over 200 songs, it took a while to whittle it down to just 10. We have country songs, pop songs, cowrites, solo writes, male songs, female songs, full demos and a worktape!
There were a lot of worthy songs sent in, and I felt bad about leaving so many out. If your song wasn’t chosen this time, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t a good song.
By the way, here’s a little about how I pick these songs. Brave, awesome songwriters like you sent in your song or songs. I downloaded them and listened – BEFORE I looked at who the writers are. I picked the Top 10 and On Hold songs, THEN I looked up who wrote them.
So these were picked based on the song, not on the songwriter. As a result… some folks got more than one in the Top 10 and On Hold. Congrats to them for doing good, consistent work.
You know, one time I turned a song in to my publisher, and they didn’t know what to do with it, so they didn’t want to do anything with it. My cowriters wanted to demo it, and the publisher said they wouldn’t pay for a demo.
The song was called, “Crickets,” and we got it cut by Joe Nichols. It’s the title track to one of his recent albums.
That’s right. The song my publisher wouldn’t even pay to demo got cut anyway. (My cowriters did an out-of-pocket guitar/vocal, and we pitched it ourselves.)
Welcome to Nashville. So while I listened to each and every song and did my best to pick the ones that have the best chance of catching Courtney’s ear… I could be wrong. That’s just the way the music biz works. So if your song wasn’t selected, it doesn’t mean you should give up on it.
Okay, here are the Top Ten (in no particular order):
“Furniture” by John Watts
“I Can’t Blame Her” by Doug Folkins & Keesy Timmer
“What’s It Gonna Hurt?” by Janine de Souza & Russell Fogg
“Cake” by Ashley Taylor
“Vintage” by Dave Quirk, Troy Castellano, Victoria Banks
“Up” by Mikalyn Hay, Maddy Rodriguez, Johnny Simmen
“You’re Not Gonna Hurt Me Anymore” by Mary Hartman
“Fireball” by Davis Weir
“Just Friends” by Donna King & Joe Slyzelia
“Tupelo Trippin'” by Todd Dickinson & Kevin Rowe
(The Songwriting Pro community would LOVE to hear your songs, so if you have a link you’d like to post to your “Top 10” song, please post it in the comments below or in the Songwriting Pro Facebook Group!)
Congratulations! Courtney and I look forward to hanging out with you on March 19. (In the days before the event, I’ll email the winners the instructions about the online meeting.)
Like I said, the 10 songs above aren’t the only good ones I had the pleasure of hearing. There are several more that were put “on hold” for the top 10 songs. This list could be quite a bit longer, but I’d like to spotlight a few of them, too. (Ya’ll feel free to link up your songs in the comments or in the Facebook group, too!)
“ON HOLD” songs…
“Like That” by Betsy Walter, Adam Doleac, Steve Mitchell
“Pictures Of Us” by Davis Weir, Russell Sutton, Kyle Coulahan, Elvie Shane
“Float” by Davis Weir, Elvie Shane, Russ Sutton, Drew Green
“Short Enough” by Ibby Hausman
“Stars In The City” by Cody Coggins & Cheryl Jividen
“Closer To Home” by Kerry Meacham & Christen Cooper
“The Devil Talks” by Chelsey Stallings, Cody Robbins
“Like A Rose” by Eugene Hanes & Wendell Hanes
“Vibe” by Todd Dickinson & CT Robinson
“All You Do Is Take” by Joe Slyzelia, Mary Beth Stone.
These songs, along with others, were in there battling it out with the top 10, so be encouraged!
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God Bless and Enjoy the Journey,
Brent
Brent Baxter is a hit songwriter with cuts by Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, Lady Antebellum, Joe Nichols, Gord Bamford, Ruthie Collins, Ray Stevens, and more. He’s written a top 5 hit in the US and a #1 in Canada… so far.
How often is the competition run?
Hi, Vanessa! I try to do this once every 3 months. So the next one will open up in May, I believe.
Can the writers whose songs weren’t taken ‘sit in’ on the online critique as well?
Oh, yeah! In the days after the event, each writer who submitted a song will be sent a private link to watch the replay. So while you won’t watch it live, you will be able to watch it later.
I SURE DO WANT TO GET IN ON THIS NEXT ONE; IN ”MAY” I MISSED MARCH COULDN’T BEEN HELPED .ONE OF ”LIFE’S BEND IN THE ROAD ,SURGERY”I’M GOOD, I WAS(AM) IN GOOD HANDS; (GOD) ..I FULLY DON’T UNDERSTAND , IT ALL ,BUT I AM THINKING ,THIS ALL COMES WITH STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS …I DO HAVE A QUESTION..BACK /80’s ,WHEN I WROTE THE SONGS, NASHVILLE HAD A AD , ”SEND IN SONG , WE MAKE DEMONS, 50/50 CONTRACT , X AMOUNT OF $ $ ETC.” I NO LONGER HAVE THE CONTRACT, LOST IN THE MOVES..NO LONGER KNOW WHERE IN NASHVILLE OR WHO ;..DOES THIS PUT ME IN A SPOT OF ANY KIND? (THE CHAIN OF DEMAND). I HAVEN’T READ ALL OF THE E-BOOK. WHILE PRINTING IT , I NOTICED MIDDLE PAGES MISSING(my printer). FOR NOW I CAN READ OFF THE COMPUTER. Thank You Brent,
Lolita Sharp (F/B I AM LOITA