Question:
"Jimi, I don't understand why you want a staff writing deal.  I thought the way it worked is you have a song that is really great, you take it to a publisher, they sign the song and take a cut of the royalties.  Then you just take your next song to the same or another publisher and so on and so forth?"

Answer: 
So glad you asked! What you are talking about is called a "single song contract".  Sometimes (rarely) a publisher will hear a song that they think is unbelievable and sign it to what is referred to as a single song contract.  That means that they will be representing and pitching that ONE song of yours. Typically, they do this because they don't want to invest the money in you on a staff writing deal because they don't think the rest of your catalogue is strong.  In other words, you aren't CONSISTENTLY writing great material (yet).  On the other hand, sometimes your song may fit a NICHE in their catalogue they are looking to fill.  The downside to single song contracts is that in MOST cases, your song will not be as high of a priority to pitch as the songs that are being written by that publisher's staff writers.  Which moves us along to the first part of the question, why do I want a staff writing deal. 

Let's talk about WHAT a staff writing or publishing deal means?

Think of it this way.  Let's say you were an actor and you wanted to audition for the likes of oh, let's just say,...Steven Spielberg.  Would you just start calling random people in Hollywood trying to get the hook up?  Of course not.  You would try to employ the help of an agent.  That agent would give you advice on your work, invest money in improving you (maybe teeth whitening and hair plugs) they would set you up for auditions with the right people and try to get you work.  In many respects, a publisher to a songwriter is the same as an agent to an actor.

Here's how it works: (typically)
-A publisher will sign you as a staff writer under a contract that states you will write songs exclusively for their company.

-You keep 100% of your writers share and the publisher and you will decide before signing the contract how the publishing monies will be divided. Usually, if you are a writer with no cuts, you will have to give up 100% of your publishing monies. *Remember, once you've established yourself as a commodity, you can renegotiate your terms after your contract is up fo renewal.

-So that you don't starve, the publisher will usually offer up some type of "draw".  A "draw" is money that you can stipend from your publisher on a monthly basis (usually under 20k a year for a new writer).  This isn't a salary however.  You see that money they are giving you to live on has to be paid back to them when you get a cut.  Basically, they keep a ledger of every cent they spend on you.  Once you get a cut and it starts making publishing money, they pay themselves back on the money they invested in you (your draw plus demos). In other words its a recoupable salary.  It will keep you in the "red" until its paid back.  Its like a loan with no interest.  Get where I'm going here?  But virtually every writer on a deal in town takes a draw, its just part of doing business in the business.

-The publisher will set you up with co-writes you probably could never get on your own.  First you'll be writing with some of the veteran writers they have on staff (this helps bring your writing up a level and makes your songs more cutable).  Then they will set you up on co-writes with writers who are on deals with other publishers.  Why, you ask?  Think about it.  Say I am a writer on ABC Publishing and you are a writer on 123 Publishing.  We write a song together.  Guess what?  Now there are TWO publishers with TWO song pluggers out there pitching our song.  By you and I co-writing a song, we've just doubled our chances of getting it cut. Pretty cool huh?

Question:
"Jimi, I don't like to co-write, can't a publisher sign me and just let me write by myself?"

Answer:
While there are a FEW writers that do not co-write that have found success here, it is definitely the exception.  Reason being is the scenario I gave above, the more co-writing you do, the better your chances for getting a song cut by a major label artist.

Question:
I only write lyrics.  Can I get a staff deal?

Answer:
Lyrics are only HALF of a song.  There are some (very few) writers on staff deals here in Nashville that write lyrics only. But ALL of them co-write with melody writers to create complete songs.  You absolutely HAVE to have complete songs in order to even take a publisher meeting, much less get a deal.

Write a hit!
Jimi