Some of you have heard me tell this story before. Early in my writing career, I had enjoyed all the family activities I could stand and I needed a little break. So, I went to our publishing office to work on some ideas and plan my strategy for the upcoming year. The music business in Nashville shuts down from...

  The proper way to format your lyric sheet is one of the most overlooked details in the songwriting business! Since starting SongTown four years ago, Marty and I have had the chance to see many songs and/or song lyrics presented in our Pitch-to-Publisher events, song contests, and song feedback forums on songtown.com. We've seen some wild lyric sheets—or in many...

  “The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.”  ~Hunter S. Thompson   There is no doubt that the music business is tough. But so is the “Medical” business, the “law” business, the “teaching business”, etc. You get the picture. Things are...

As a songwriter, I have always felt like I was a little bit "different". I have never seen things the way other people see them. I related to the story of the "Emperor's New Clothes" because I think I'm that guy. When everyone else is saying things are clearly "white", I'm seeing "black". When things are logically explained, they don't make sense to...

    Looking back on my songwriting career, there have been a number of pivotal moments that really changed everything. There was the day when, after trying to get the songwriting thing going for 2 years with no success, a friend of mine offered me a job. Actually it was a career. Great salary, benefits. Writing instruction manuals for companies. I agonized over the offer. I was...

  There seems to be a lot of confusion out there over the question "How do I submit a song?". The truth of the matter is that there is no one way to "submit" a song. When you simplify the "song submission" idea, there are basically three categories of song submissions that a songwriter should educate themselves about. I'll cover each...