Industry Insider: Sherrill Blackman

Jun 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Michael Cooper

SONGPLUGGERS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR GETTING YOUR SONGS PLACED IN NASHVILLE

On recording projects for major acts, country music uses more “outside” songs — those not written by the recording artists or producers — than any other genre does. And when a major-label artist in Nashville records an outside song, it has usually been placed due to the efforts of a songplugger. A songplugger is someone who pitches songs for a songwriter or publisher to get them placed with a recording artist or in a film or television project.

A good songplugger won't pitch just any song. The plugger acts like a filter for label A&R staff, producers, managers, and artists by bringing them only the best songs in the catalogs that they represent. Because of their track record for finding hits, veteran songpluggers are heavily relied on by decision-makers and can often arrange meetings to play songs for them in person. As a result, writers who have a songplugger pitching their songs have an advantage over those who are hawking their own wares.

To learn more about songpluggers and how they can turbocharge a songwriter's career, I talked with Sherrill Blackman, owner of sdb music group, a music-publishing and independent songplugging company. Blackman was named Songplugger of the Year by Music Row magazine in 2004, 2005, and 2006.

You're an “independent” songplugger. What exactly does that mean?

There are two different types of songpluggers: in-house and independent. In-house songpluggers work for publishing companies. They're on staff, they get paid a salary, and they work with the writers who are signed to those publishing companies. Independent songpluggers don't really work for a company per se. We have our own companies. We hire ourselves out to writers and publishers to try to get their songs recorded.

How do you pursue getting a song cut?

We use our connections to get the song as close to [the people involved with] a project as we can, pitching directly to the artist, manager, producer, and record company A&R. Or to anyone else that may be connected to the artist: an accountant, hairdresser, housekeeper, or whoever.

What makes you decide to represent a songwriter or publisher's work?

Finding songs I believe in, am passionate about, and feel will fit a certain project. Most independent songpluggers will sift through a whole catalog of songs and cherry-pick out what they feel they can run with and get activity on. Even if the catalog has 200 or 300 songs, they may only come away with ten or 15 or 20 they feel they can run with across the board.

Do independent songpluggers ever work on a single-song basis instead of representing an entire catalog?

It takes a catalog of songs to make [our services] cost-effective. Most of us are going to charge hundreds of dollars per month to represent a writer or a publisher. Representing only one song wouldn't be cost-effective for them. A plugger who is legitimate and honest will not take advantage of a writer or publishing company like that.

That raises another question: How can a songwriter know if a plugger is legitimate and won't just take their money in return for empty promises?

I would ask the plugger what their track record is. More importantly, ask who can they get in to see and play songs for. There are some pluggers who haven't had a lot of success but they can get in to see just about everybody. Access is very important.

I would also be really careful about someone who just hypes and blows smoke. Most legitimate pluggers are going to be pretty humble. [Scammers] hype and drop big names, almost like a carnival barker. That's a red flag.

Can you be more specific about how much songpluggers charge for their services?

The retainer is based on the size of the catalog that's being worked. For a handful of songs, you're probably talking $200 or $300 per month. [For a large catalog,] it would be close to $1,000 per month. It's not cheap to do this. We have expenses to pay: Blank CDs, printing, phone calls, postage, and all the other expenses of running a business come out of our pocket. That's what the monthly retainer helps take care of.

Are there alternatives to paying a monthly retainer?

There may be some pluggers who will consider working in exchange for a percentage of the publishing [income].