Nina Jenkins found her passion for the music industry—in particular, her passion for working with songwriters—on Music Row when she was sixteen years old. After just two weeks of shadowing at THiS Music, Nina became hooked on working with writers. In 2014, she entered the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business program at Belmont University in pursuit of a career in music publishing. Throughout college Nina worked a series of odd jobs while interning at Word Entertainment’s newly established country publishing division, Word Country. At Word Country she was able to work closely with talented songwriters like Jason Blaine, Steven Dale Jones, Justin Ebach, Hannah Ellis, and Brice Long. Nina was provided the rare opportunity to learn from a seasoned publisher—Janine Appleton—at a young and exciting company. In just a few short years Word Country established itself with over 150 cuts and three No. 1 songs at country radio—‘Sleep Without You,’ ‘Heartache On The Dance Floor,’ ‘Singles You Up.’ In early 2018, Word Entertainment and Curb Entertainment merged Nina was hired as the Creative Manager. Nina currently works at Curb Word Music Publishing.
Have you ever thought: “Wow I think I have a really good song. If only I could get a legitimate publisher to listen?”
One of the most important elements of this service is that you will be connecting with a publisher, creating a relationship with this publisher and learning the pitching process professional songwriters utilize every day.
At GSC we always want you to know the real journey of a song from the pen to the publisher. With that in mind we want you to be aware of these facts.
1. Paying to Pitch a Song: GSC wants you to know that professional songwriters do not pay to have their songs heard by a publisher. Professional songwriters have worked years at developing their songwriting craft and earning the respect of the publishing community which earns them the opportunity to have their songs heard.
2. The Demo: GSC wants you to know…If you had a publishing deal and was a staff writer for the featured publisher, this publisher would hear your songs every day in their most simple form of a guitar vocal or keyboard vocal. If you were pitching your songs to a producer, artist, manager etc then you will need fully produced and well produced demo’s for these types of pitches.
3. The Listening Process: GSC wants you to know…Often, when a publisher is listening for songs for a project or artist, they can usually tell if it is a song they would be interested in for that project in less than 30 seconds. Through the POP event the publisher will be listening through the first verse and chorus in its entirety. However, in the future should you pitch a song to a publisher in their office and they turn your song off after only the first half of the first verse, we want you to know that is a normal part of the process.
4. Pitch Ready Songs: The reality is that some of your songs may not be ready for pitching to a publisher. However, there is much to be learned through the pitching process. Please consider a song evaluation session before pitching a song.
5. The Follow Up: If the publisher should take your song for consideration, we will be excited with you and it does happen! Below is the GSC recommended follow up process. Correct follow up is essential for success.
a. If your song is taken by the publisher you will be provided with the publishers contact email address for follow up.
b. If you do not hear from the publisher within 5 to 7 business days of them taking your song. We recommend you email the publisher, thank them for participating in the GSC POP program, thank them for their interest in your song and list the TITLE of the song as a reminder and ask if they should need anything further.
c. If you do not hear from the publisher within three weeks, make a phone call to the publisher office. You will most likely be leaving a message. If so, just leave your name, contact number and that you are following up on your song and list the title.
d. If the publisher does not return your call, do not call again. Simply send a physical thank you card, thanking them for their interest, recognizing that they are a busy industry professional and that you hope to have the opportunity to play them more songs in the future.
At GSC we know it would be disappointing to have your song taken by a publisher and then not hear from them. Unfortunately, this process is part of the song pitching process. Thoughtful and professional follow up is essential to success and is appreciated by busy, overworked publishers. They won’t forget your professionalism. Sometimes you may not hear from the publisher who took your song for months and then out of the blue, when they are ready and working on the project, you get the call. Many times I have kept a member’s song for over a year and then gave them a call for the just right opportunity. Songs will often be pitched over and over again for years before they land on just the right project.
