The result has been the rise of the A&R (Artists and Repertoire) man and the recording company as the mecca of all songwriters and music publishers. The publisher has taken a secondary role; his songplugging staff has concentrated on disk jockeys (to get record plays on the firm's recorded songs).

Every phase of the business revolves around records, recording artists, and disk jockeys.

The songwriter, entering the business, is in exactly the same position as the long-established music publisher; he must secure a commercial recording of his song. The acceptance of a song for publication means little; the song is of no value to the publisher or the songwriter if it remains on the publisher's shelf; it must find an outlet on a commercial record.

In this situation, the songwriter can and does bypass the music publisher. It is not necessary to have a song accepted for publication first and then wait for the publisher to do something with the song.

Many publishers will take an option on a song and see if they can get a recording of it; if not, they relinquish their rights to the song at once and the songwriter is at liberty to deal with any other publisher he desires.

But many more songwriters go directly to the recording company and to recording artists. In many cases, they find them receptive to the songwriter and will listen to his material.

Most of the song material reaching the public today through hit-selling records had been written by unknown writers and published by the smaller music publishers. No longer do you see the names of established and well-known songwriters on the new songs. you find names that are totally unknown to you. In many cases, hit singers write their own material. Or they ferret out songs from people they know, or songs that fit their particular style.

The very first lesson, therefore, for the new writer seeking a recording of his song, is that he does not have to go through channels -- through music publishers. He can bypass this source and reach out to the record company A&R man or the recording artist. Once that contract has been made, and a song accepted for recording, any publisher in the business will take the song. Or, the recording company will place the song into its own catalog.

It is important to know that the most important thing is the SONG, not the person who wrote the song. A new writer has exactly the same opportunity to get a song recorded as a well-known professional writer. An A&R man and an artist consider the SONG itself, and not the name and reputation of the songwriter. The reason is very simple: the recording is going to sell on the basis of the SONG and not the writer. No buyer of a record ever asks who wrote the song, and no records are sold on the basis of the writer.

The songwriter, then, can -- and should -- go directly to the record source: the company and the artist. He should not put the music publisher at the top of his list, but at the bottom.

The situation now is that you have a song that you want recorded commercially.

Three availabilities are open to you.

1. The song can be accepted by one of the active recording companies and promoted in that company's catalog.

2. You can make a master record that you will lease to a recording company. You will be paid a royalty on the records sold. The record company will be spared the cost of making the master record.

3. You can produce the record yourself, under your own label, and sell it to distributors, music stores, jukeboxes, and promote it yourself to disk jockeys. You will be in business as a recording company and you will be in competition with all the other companies now in business.

In discussing the last suggestion first: do not do this except as a last resort. Do this if all else fails, if your song is turned down by every company, if you have tremendous faith in your own song, if you want to gamble several thousands of dollars with little chance of getting any of it back. Consider all these "ifs" before you enter the recording business yourself.

In presenting your song to a record company you need a very good demonstration record -- one that will show off your song to its very best attributes. That is your selling point. If it is a poor piece of merchandise, you will not make a sale.

Records can be presented in person (if you are in a city where companies are located) or you will have to gamble and send them by mail, with return postage, and with a good expectation that some of the companies won't take the trouble to return them. There is no list of guaranteed companies that will look at, review, and return your records. It is a gamble all writers take.

But do not send your records out helter-skelter just because a company calls itself a recording company. You have to be selective, and so does the recording company. And here is what you must do to be selective:

All recording companies have a roster of artists. The good A&R man fits a song to his artist. He will turn down a GOOD song if there is no artist on his roster who can do the song properly. A commercially attuned songwriter listens to records and the radio, and knows the various artists who are on records; he knows the style of these artists; he can tell whether his song fits an artist or not.

One singer does not sing the same type of song as another. Each one has a particular style that is accepted by the public; each has an "image" to sustain.

Therefore if you have a song that fits a particular artist you will send it to that artist or to his company. The easiest way to get a song recorded is to have a song that exactly fits the style of a hot-selling record artist.

The business of songwriting and song placing is -- a business. You study the current sales trends of the record business (all of the record stores tack up a list of the Top 100 sellers). You listen to the radio and find out what the current writers are writing, the current singers are singing, the current recording companies are recording.

Then you make your move.

The A&R man is not trying to change public tastes. He is out to sell records, if he wants to hold on to his job. He records songs and artists that will sell. Too many flubs and he's out looking for a new job. And there is no job in the music world with the fluidity of an A&R man's job. There is a constant game of "musical chairs." And no A&R man wants to give up his seat, no matter how hot it may be.

He looks at your song strictly as a business proposition.

Is it in the style of what the public is buying now? Will it fit one of his artists? Can he give it the sound that will make it a top seller?

If your song is a ballad when a rock 'n' roll era is in progress, your song gets a very quick turndown. If your song is not in the current style and mood, it gets an equally quick turndown. The A&R man is not patient, normally. He is on the lookout for something special.

If you were to produce a master yourself, the same expert attention will be given before the A&R man decides to add your master to his label's list. Your master must have a sound as good as the one that he himself can produce. So if you are aiming for a master-leasing project, make sure it is all in the hands of a modern expert, that it is produced in a good sound studio, that it in every way lives up to the records you hear blasted at you daily from jukeboxes and radio.

What you like is very, very unimportant. What you think the public SHOULD buy is equally unimportant. It is the A&R man's job to know what the public will buy, and the songwriter is simply one of the products on the assembly belt that develops into the finished product.

You, the songwriter, provide words and music and the artist provides the voice. The studio offers the unique sound. Blended together, the result could be a hit record. Individually, it could be a great big nothing. The best song is useless without the proper voice to match it, and a good voice needs the proper studio sound and arranging to give it the perfect touch.

The songwriter is a cog in the wheel that turns the music business. Many times the voice of the artist, or the sound created by the studio, sells the record, and the song is very incidental -- just a crutch on which to hang all the operation.

Understanding that the writer is not No. 1 in the record picture is a very important point at the start. When the songwriter knows this, then he goes on to the next step of creating songs which will fit the artist and the mood of the general public. He will know that he is laboring under many bosses, and the biggest boss is the one who puts down the money to buy a record. On that one action -- the purchasing power of the disk-buyer -- depends the complete present and future of the songwriter, the artist, the A&R man, and the recording company.

"How to get your song recorded" could be a basic procedure of going into a studio and getting a record made of your song. But if you look beyond that simple action, to the world of commercial recording, then you need to consider the artist, the style of music prevalent today, the recording company, the A&R man, and the public. The public is your "boss." You must cater to the buyer and provide what he will buy. The recording of your song, then, will depend entirely on how your song fits in with the public, artist, style of music. If you have a song that fits this category, the A&R man is waiting for you and your song. You will get it commercially recorded.