Imagine that there is a huge funnel into which hundreds of songs are poured at the beginning of each recording project. As the producer, my first order of business is to meet with the artist to determine the goal for this project. Will there be an overall message or theme? What image does he/she want to send to their audience? Which of their personal beliefs, likes and dislikes would influence their choice of songs? What are their vocal abilities, limitations, style, range, etc.? Secondly, we would decide the logistics of the project. How many songs are needed? How many (if any) will the artist write? Have they filled some of the slots with songs that they have already found?

Once all of these questions have been answered and the criteria set, a song search begins. I may put a listing on RowFax or other pitch sheets specifying the artist, producer, recording date, and style of song we are looking for. This brings us back to the funnel. As hundreds of songs pour into my office, my job is to listen to them, searching for those that fall within the boundaries we have established for this project. Some producers listen to every song that comes in. Others have assistants who screen them to eliminate those that obviously don't meet the criteria (i.e. we asked for only power ballads and the first four bars of your song sound like Shania Twain on a caffeine high).

This first process of elimination is to weed out songs based on:
a) song quality (songs with unfocused messages, overused hooks, trite lyrics, boring melodies, poor musical structure, etc); and
b) demo quality (With hundreds of songs on my desk, I don't have time to imagine what it could be if what it is hurts to listen to. The demo doesn't necessarily have to blow me away with great production, but it should not scare me away either. It should represent your song in a way that spotlights the positive elements of it and makes it pleasing to listen to.)

As the funnel narrows, the songs that make it from the wide top into the narrow shaft will be given a second, more serious listen. Here, songs are filtered out that don't fit this particular artist. They may be well written, well presented songs, but they don't meet the criteria for what he/she wants to say, or don't match where they are in life at that moment. Many will be eliminated simply because the artist and producer are not equally moved by the song. Others will fall to the wayside because the artist doesn't feel he can sell the song, or because his mood or view on life has changed since the initial guidelines were set.

Finally, the songs that make it out the mouth of the funnel are those that are deemed a close enough fit for this artist to warrant trying them on. The artist may take them home and work them up just to see how they sound in their voice, and whether they enjoy singing them. They may ride around in their car listening to them for a few weeks to see how they wear. We may even take them into the studio and do a preliminary recording of them. There may be fifteen or twenty songs left in the hunt at this stage of the game. It will be pared down to ten by deciding which songs best fulfill the needs of the project.

This is where luck really kicks in for the songwriter. There are so many pieces of the puzzle that are so totally out of your control that luck often seems to be the determining factor between commercial success and obscurity. Songs could be dropped at this point because there are three great waltzes in the final batch of songs, but only one designated waltz slot. Or, the artist may have written one since the song search began, and that they want to use that one. One song may be deemed more "radio friendly" or marketable than another based on the current market climate. Oftentimes, there is no clear-cut explanation for the song choices made during this stage, except for instinct. Your song may be recorded or not based on who is producing the project, who is in the A&R or marketing departments of the label the artist is signed to, which (or how many) publisher's and songwriters are involved, etc, etc, etc.

Now that you understand a little more about how the selection process works, the best way for you to increase your chances of having your songs cut is to help as many of them as possible reach the final stage of that process. Remember that someone is going to be left standing in the final ten. If you do everything to control the elements that you can control: writing, producing and pitching competitive songs at the right time, to the right people, someday it will be you. Eventually, the odds will fall in your favor.

So then, should you aim for quantity or quality? The answer is both.

If you put all of your hopes on one or two songs, produce great demos of them, and then shotgun them to every producer in town, it may seem like you are increasing your chances of a cut. And you might be, in the short run. But, eventually, you will run out of pitching opportunities for those songs. Then you run the risk of losing respectability. You may no longer be taken seriously, or listened to, once people realize that you are pitching the same song for every project.

You need a catalog of quality songs to draw from so that you or your representative (publisher or independent song plugger) can pitch based on what they want, rather than what you have. If I like your song but, for whichever of the aforementioned reasons, it does not make it on the project, I may ask to hear more from you, and/or will eagerly listen to the next song that crosses my desk with your name on it. However, if that next song is not as powerful as the last, you've lost my attention.

The pursuit of cuts is a long, winding journey through a maze of intricacies. You should do your best to try to see the picture from every angle, and then eliminate as many of the obstacles as you can between you and your goal. Write great songs (learn your trade). Dress them for success (great demos). Give them great representation (someone who believes in them enough to sell others on them; you, your publisher, or an independent song plugger). And, lastly, position them for success. Put them in the right hands at the right time.

There is no denying that luck is a factor in getting songs cut, as it is in life. But I believe that those who take the initiative to understand the game, and have both the ambition to succeed and the courage to fail create their own luck.