by Scott Turner

There was a time in the music business that a writer of hit songs could actually see, face to face, an executive or head of A&R/Producer, to play, in person, their latest song for an act on a label. During my tenure at Liberty/Imperial & United Artists Records, I always had an open door policy, meaning if I wasn't tied up with an artist (or paper work which I detested), just come on in and let's hear what you've got. The same situation applied to the giants in the industry like Chet Atkins, Owen Bradley, et al. In fact, many times I would venture over to Chet's office just to hang out.

Not so these days because I just heard a very saddening story from a close friend who has had numerous #1 songs. Apparently, he has a close friend who is a well-known producer and he called to ask if he could drop by and play whim a song for one of his acts. Rather than a reply of "Yes, bring it right over", the statement was made (and I hope I get this right because I'm computer dumb) "Convert your CD to an MP3 file. Email it to me and have it come as an attachment to the email." Now these are two very close friends who have known one another for over 20 years so where does that leave the "just starting out" talented writer?? I'll be damned if I know, but my writer/friend told me that he did the email deal one time and one time only. The next time he has a competitive song, he's going to make sure that the person who hears it will be sitting across the desk from him.

I can honestly state that some of my most enjoyable moments as a producer occurred when I heard a great song being played for me and telling the writer face-to-face that "I'm definitely going to cut that song, even if I have to find an act to do it". We all slept well that night because I knew I had a potential contender and the writer had good news to pass on to his family and friends. It's sad to see those days fade away because of a bunch of wires.