benjamingroff

Yes but the plutonium for the time machine to go back in time makes it cost prohibitive.

Great question. Sometimes, it's good to look at this from the flip side i.e. other side of the desk.

First, for me, personally, it doesn't matter. I have a proposal out right now to someone who's never had a release before - but the DNA of the songs are there, she's great - and I'm taking a creative leap of faith.

But I guess that's becoming rarer these days as everything becomes so data driven. But let's look at your situation.

We can do a "desktop" ball park audit of what your 8 Million streams are worth right now and this might help put into perspective from someone who is evaluating those streams and if it's worth getting in a deal right now.

So per 1 Million streams - that's about $850 or so of publishing revenue. I usually round up to account for other synchs and performances, at this point, that might come in and hey, it just makes math easier.

So you 8 Million streams might be worth $8,000 of publishing revenue - again, ballpark. Let's stay you are a 33% writer on these songs. Or let's say 50% for sake of argument. That would be then $4,000. So if a publisher were to do a co-publishing deal with you - ball park that would be $1,000 for the publisher (25%) and for you, its 75% or $3,000.

Now it might also take a publisher legal fees, and work to register those songs - which might cost $3,000 + ... so you can see that in short term it could be cost prohibitive "right now" ( and i say "right now" because that's important) for a publisher who is driven by what's in the pipeline and value to jump on board.

But would you want that "type" of publisher anyway? I think the best case is you do your diligent reach out - like you're doing here - and get your music in front of publishers and have them get an ear on it.

Then - if they love it - you already have a great start already on your streaming and cuts and that could be the win to your back.

The other answer is - if you REALLY want proper collection you really should, in my opinion have a real publisher doing this for you. After doing this for 27 years - I wouldn't even try to self administrate my own songs. Been there as a writer, done that. It's much better to find a pro on your team to do it.

But feel free to reach out to me via my contact form at BenjaminGroff.com - I'm happy to listen.

Hope it's helpful and pardon typos as I'm jumping through questions!

Hah - we're both Lancaster County-ish guys. I just want another season of MindHunter!

I'll answer this one first as it's a quick one. Savan at the time had a 4 song demo tape - on a cassette and no releases and living in Texas (hardly the songwriting business mecca). Simply put - he had some magical songs, and the DNA of hits there, and also a hustle and "there is no other option" attitude in making his career happen as a songwriter. I just loved his music and it was a great partnership. It's similar to other writers too that (maybe because I also had a past career as a writer for a short period), for me - it's just usually pretty obvious that someone is "that." And they rarely come up! (I usually sign 1 writer per year). Simply put - it's really about the material for me (and the person and mindset and work ethic!).

A) just one new song every week

You only need one awesome song to kick in the door. 15-30 songs becomes a "to do list"

I also apply the same thing when pitching songs to A&R people. I try to keep it to 1 or 2 songs. That's how I got my first cut ever as a publisher. I was an unknown publisher and sent a song to the Motown President at the time. Just one song - and he listened! It was my first cut, 98 Degrees "Invisible Man" (actually written for Boys II Men).