NATD offers students, others an inside look at the music business

For the second time Thursday, Murray State University students heard the insiders’ perspective of the music business at the Nashville Association of Talent Directors College of Knowledge.

Close to two dozen publishers, songwriters, performers, executives and marketers sat on the Lovett Auditorium stage for panel discussions of  different aspects of the business. Julie Roberts, best known for her hit, “Break Down Here,” was part of one panel, as were Sherrill Blackman of the Nashville Publishers’ Network, songwriters Chris Carpenter, Lyndsey Highlander, Jesse Keith Whitley and many others. 

Panel subjects included “It All Starts with a Song” and “The A Team – Building an Artist Team.” Tony Conway, president of Conway Entertainment Group, moderated the discussions. Students in the audience, many of whom were music business majors, were encouraged to ask questions. The evening closed with several of the songwriter/performers playing and talking about some of their songs.

In the first panel, Pat Finch, founder of Pat Finch Music Publishing/Southern Crossroads Music, talked about how chooses which songs to publish or not. 

“For me to pull the trigger, I have to hear that one song. I call it ‘That One Song,’” Finch said. “I don’t listen to songs in my head. I listen to songs in my heart the way all of us grew up listening to songs. Whenever I hear ‘That One Song’ – whatever it is, it could be up-tempo, it could be a ditty, it could be a ballad, it doesn’t matter – but I gotta hear that one song that speaks to me. I’ve got pretty normal taste, so if it speaks to me, it’s going to speak to a whole lot of other people. When somebody comes and plays me songs, that’s what I’m looking for.”

Blackman, who also co-founded the Independent Pluggers Association, said he encourages songwriters to focus on the substance of their work and to not think about who might record it.

“You can cast a song for somebody and it’s usually not that artist that cuts it; it’s usually somebody else,” Blackman said. “So that’s why I always encourage writers, don’t write a song with somebody in mind, trying to cast it. Just write a great a song for the sake of it being a great song that will fit 40 or 50 different artists, male or female, so you have a better chance of success with the placement of that song.”

Publishers also talked about how they make money from many different avenues, including album sales, radio play, sheet music royalties and getting songs in movies and TV shows. There are also more unconventional means of revenue, such as when the writers of the Lee Ann Womack hit, “I Hope You Dance,” made half-a-million dollars each from the book spin-off of the song, Finch said. Blackman agreed that there were many opportunities to make money that people don’t often think of.

“You’re only limited by you imagination as to what songs can do,” Blackman said. “I’ve got friends that have had songs in singing figurines, like you push the button on a teddy bear and it plays the song, you get paid for that. When you open up a greeting card and it plays a song, if that’s your song, you get paid for that. So, it’s endless. Some writers look at publishers as an adversary or a necessary evil, but a good publisher will make sure that not only do these uses get licensed properly, but make sure you get paid. Because just because somebody uses your song doesn’t automatically mean you’re going to get paid.”