Songplugger

In 1978 after I graduated from college and all my friends were either getting married or working for IBM, I was listening to music and getting paid for it.

I have held many titles throughout out my career - Manager, Director, Vice President, Senior Vice President - but though my responsibilities grew and evolved, at heart I always knew that I was always a Song Plugger. A Songplugger is someone from a Publishing Company who pitches songs to Record Labels with the goal of getting them recorded and released.

My job description was simple - know all the songs in the catalogue, and match them up with the right artists. It was also my job to guide and coach writers to further develop themselves, and to set up co-writes between writers and artists.

First, they called our position "song demonstrators," employed by department and music stores in the early 1900’s to help sell sheet music which was used to advertise hits before recordings were widely available. The pianist would sit and play whatever the store clerk sent him, or patrons could select a title and hear it before they bought it. Songpluggers worked for directly for music publishers pitching new material to bandleaders and singers.

Throughout my career, I have pitched every kind of song to every kind of artist and band you can think of. Each time, it feels like I am solving a puzzle. Putting the right words with the right mouth.

They say, "do something you love and you'll never work a day in your life." I am very fortunate to have found a way to make a living doing something that I am so intrigued by and passionate about - Music.