A CONTRACT, A CONTEST, AND A CLASS (OH MY!)

UPDATES first, this time. I got the draft publishing contract, and I think it’s mostly okay. My money is net after production costs, which isn’t usually how it’s supposed to work in these things (normally, 100% of production costs comes out of the publisher’s side), but I think I’ll say okay, anyway, because I think I trust the fellow. (It helps to know the folks you’re dealing with.) If it were an unknown, I’d probably shy away from a deal like that, because it’s too easy to juggle the books to make sure there is no “net after production costs”; I’m a good enough bookkeeper myself to do that, and I don’t even have “CPA” after my name.

I did buy a book—THE MUSIC BUSINESS: Career Opportunities and Self-Defense (3rd edition, 2003) by Dick Weissman, so I could understand what people were talking about. Found it at a thrift store. Joins Getting Heard, my 1970s manual on how to promote yourself as a working band. (Found that one in a thrift store, too.) So Joe the Music Publisher’s library now has two technical manuals. We are on a roll, here.

THE CONTEST: Three entries, I think, for the Goodnight Kiss Music contest. I listened to the girl singer the publisher is soliciting songs for (had to invest in iTunes to do it), and she’s got a good torch-singer voice; she says she’s “country,” but I wouldn’t classify either of the songs I heard as “country”—maybe “pop-rock,” instead. (Then again, my idea of “country music” is Hank Williams and Bob Wills. I just have very antiquated tastes.) The publisher is looking for uptempo songs; one of the songs I heard wasn’t uptempo at all, and the other not very. And one was a love song, and one was a he-left-and-I-don’t-care song. So there, I think, are the parameters, near as I can tell.

What I’ve got to throw into the pot are two songs by Marge McKinnis and one of mine. The two Marge songs are ones I wrote music for, and I probably have to take credit for it here, since I’m the one on the publisher’s mailing list. “About Love” is one of those songs that moves fast without feeling it’s moving fast (I think of it as Buddy Holly with a bluegrass band), and “So Far” is a slow, sexy (rather than sleazy) blues. Both got professionally recorded at last year’s Pineyfest Demo Derby, and the session players assembled by Mike Dunbar did a tremendous job on both.

My entry is “Rotten Candy,” the song that was rejected by American Idol last year, and the production on that one needs some work. The only recording I’ve got was just done on the little Tascam, and includes just vocal and guitar (rhythm and the usual plinks pretending to be a lead). I was going to have Wayne re-record it for the new CD, but we haven’t done that yet. I have played this in public with a band, and it does rock—but it needs a bass to carry it (the bass line is very prominent). And based on the two tunes I heard, I think the publisher is going to want to hear some production. Deadline for submissions is 31 July.

GIVING AWAY CDS: I’m giving some more “Santa’s Fallen” CDs away (since I made back production costs a long time ago, how many I give away doesn’t matter); one’s going to a writer in England (he’s sending me one of his in trade), one’s for a muscular dystrophy-type fundraiser in Pennsylvania, and some more are for a raffle by Just Plain Folks (www.jpfolks.com), one of the writers’ sites I subscribe to—they’re trying to raise $3,500 for a new server. I’ve also let them raffle off my services as a composer, to write music for someone else’s lyrics. Every CD I give away is another person (maybe a bunch of people) listening to my stuff in a place I’ve never been to. Good exposure.

PUBLISHING CLASS? I was asked by a couple of people if I could do a seminar, or class, or something on how to get published (since it appears I am getting published). My first reaction was “Wait a minute—what do I know about getting published?” But that’s not the right answer. The right answer is “Sure.” Just like when I was asked to teach a class in songwriting at the “Moograss” Bluegrass Festival, if people think I’ve got something to contribute, I will do my best to contribute it. If nothing else, we will learn something together.

Joe