Publishing-songwriting deals/contracts?

Steve - I'm by no means an expert but a while back I did do a fair amount of reading on this and took a couple classes. It can all be very confusing. I agree with you that some of your songs have potential to be of interest to the right performer.

In terms of writing for other artists, very often it's the publishing companies that go out and get those opportunities, then share the royalties with the songwriter. What's confusing about this is the term "publishing." We usually think of publishing as the printing of a book or magazine, but the term means something different in the songwriting world. If you find a good publisher, that person or company will be actively pitching your songs to artists likely to record them. I forget how it works but the songwriter automatically keeps something like 50% of the royalties and then I think the split between songwriter and publisher over the rest is negotiable. The royalties come from the sale of records to consumers. So, while the royalty for each song sold might not seem like that much, it can add up to a lot, particularly if the song is popular over a long time period.

Large publishers like Sony and Polydor try to acquire libraries of songs that almost automatically will generate a lot of revenue. So, whoever owns the publishing rights to Hound Dog or My Way, doesn't have to do much to get the songs recorded. In your case, however, you would want to find a small or medium-sized publisher who would be motivated to pitch your songs specifically to artists who might logically want to record them. Some artists do keep their publishing rights, meaning they don't share royalties with anyone, but for someone without a name reputation, it's not necessarily a good idea (although this really depends on the specifics of the situation). Adam Green might want to publish his songs himself because they will automatically generate revenue from being included on his records and why should he share that with anyone? On the other hand, a publisher might add something to the value of the songs by getting other artists to record them--so Adam (or someone like him) might determine it is valuable to work with a publisher.

Aside from "publishing" songs make income from other sources - BMI and ASCAP collect performance royalties - mostly from airplay on radio and TV and I assume, now, Internet (i.e. Pandora). Synchronization licenses are for TV shows, movies, and commercials.

One of my songwriting teachers pointed out that there are songwriting "tip sheets" in which producers and managers trying to find songs for artists advertise what they're looking for. I don't know which are the best ones but here's one I found through a quick Internet search: http://www.songquarters.com. This teacher said he'd sold songs that way. These newsletters can be expensive, but it may be possible to find creative ways to cut those costs.

I'm sure you've looked for info about this stuff on the Internet, but here's an informative article I found:

http://www.legaljungleguide.com/resourc/musician/articles/songwriting.htm

I've noticed that not too many Sidewalk artists make the effort to find publishing arrangements and get their songs recorded. I don't think it's particularly easy to accomplish this but I'll bet it's not impossible. Like everything else of this nature it takes a lot of determination. I think you know people who have publishing arrangements in place. Maybe some of them would help you get their publishers to listen to your stuff or just give you advice on how to proceed.

Another thing is that when I first started writing songs I took a class with a guy who was a publisher and he was teaching the class as a way of finding songwriters. It's possible to meet people like this through milking whatever contacts or networks you can find.

Although I can't vouch for this company, it's worth looking into: http://www.taxi.com

You probably already know a lot of this stuff but I hope it is helpful to you or someone else who comes along.