The Cold Truth About the Cowrite Queue: How to Get Cowrites
Let’s stop pretending the industry is a meritocracy where the hardest worker wins, especially when it comes to how to get cowrites.
The “cowrite list” is a myth: a graveyard for careers where talented writers go to wait for a phone call that never comes. You think having a past hit or two gets you a VIP pass?
Maybe for one to three years. After that, think again.
Even if you have success under your belt, if you’re “Writer No. 7” on that artist cowrite list, you’re still in line in front of six other cowriters who are essentially already in that artist’s inner circle.
That’s right. The industry ecosystem isn’t built on fairness; it’s usually built on the inside and trusted circle. Often those are writers and producers who equally paid their dues with the artist in building their career.
Yes, artists and A&Rs have their “go-tos,” the core team they most often rely on for every project. They aren’t often looking to expand that circle; they’re looking to protect it.
When you ask for a cowrite, you aren’t just asking for time; you are asking to displace someone who has already proven their worth. If you’re waiting for a manager to tap you on the shoulder and invite you in, you’re standing in a line that isn’t actually moving.
On top of that, you have the “hit writer oligarchy,” as I call it these days. Generally 10 to 20 people who get all the first calls, be it producers or writers. And why do they get the first calls? It’s a safe bet for the labels and managers, not just in name recognition and status with their artists, but also, let’s be real, these people generally deliver hits more frequently than everyone else.
In other words, it’s simply the best use of everyone’s time, all things being equal.
So, until you are in either one of those categories, the front door is proverbially locked. The guest list is full.
Or is it?
So, the question remains, compliments of Jim Rohn (Tony Robbins’ mentor): Why not you? If the gatekeepers won’t open the door, it’s time to stop asking for permission and start strategically weaponizing your creative output.
The Strategic Pivot: Strategizing the “Song Start”
To cut through the noise and shatter the “trusted circle,” try this pivot on. Instead of selling yourself as a blanket cowrite, where who knows what the likely result will be (no matter what your credits are), start selling an undeniable reality.
Enter your greatest weapon in this battle. The “Song Start.”
This is the ultimate industry hack, a surgical strike designed to move you from the back of the queue to the center of the studio.
A high-caliber Song Start isn’t “just an idea”; it is a pre-written (and ideally, a tailored) piece of music that feels like a hit before a single verse is even recorded.
Here are just three ideas and ways to execute this:
The Sonically Fresh Track: A high-level production with a “hit” chorus already written and baked in. You leave the verses open, giving the artist a clear vision and an immediate hook while leaving room for their creative DNA. Note: this is not just any track and chorus. This is something that, when heard, the manager skips you to the front of the line, because they recognize the value of what you’ve delivered!
The Undeniable Melody: A melodic idea so infectious it demands lyrics. Look at this proof of concept: “Since U Been Gone” as recorded by Kelly Clarkson was famously pitched as a melody without actual words (just a vocal line with a powerful suggestion of what words could be). It was undeniable long before it was a record.
The Entrance Ticket Song: A completely finished, undeniable record. This is your leverage. It proves you can deliver a final product that meets, and exceeds, the highest industry standards. This is how some of the key writers, who were not even in that top 10 to 20 list, got in the room. They delivered a hit, and were immediately put to the front of the line.
The Anatomy of a Value Flip: How to Get Cowrites
Most writers fail because they approach a session with a “taking” mindset. They want the credit, the placement, and the access. I keep hearing it all the time: “just get me in the room!”
The Song Start strategy, when done right, succeeds because it flips the script from asking for a favor to providing not just value, but a solution. Because we’re all after the same thing: a career song and/or a breakthrough hit.
Think of it this way: you are actively de-risking the project and the artist’s valuable time for the manager and/or label A&R, by providing a potential hit right out of the gate.
When you bring “fire,” you aren’t a solicitor; you’re a collaborator bringing value. Yes, you’re someone who has already done half the work. You are no longer “Writer No. 7”; you are the person with the solution. YES! Their hit single, which everyone today is literally desperate to record!
Let’s say this another way:
Proof of Concept: The Sunday Call
Stay up to date on must read, new articles, courses and special offers.
I sent three songs to one of the biggest managers in the world. Two months had gone by. But out of the blue, I got a call from this manager on a Sunday afternoon. Because this writer’s material was so strong, it become an “instant bypass,” so much so that the manager didn’t wait for a business day. They called that Sunday (actually on Mother’s Day). By Monday morning, the writer was in the studio finishing the track with one of the biggest artists in the world. This is while every other writer on the “list” was waiting for an email response that might take months, if ever. Instead, a single piece of high-octane music created a career-defining session in less than 24 hours. Result: we ended up with three records on that project, including one of the biggest streaming songs on the album.
Execution: The Surgical Strike Action Plan for How to Get Cowrites
Here’s also the good news. You don’t need a massive network to execute this. You need great song starts, you need fire, you need an “annihilation song,” as I call it (click here to read more of that). You also just need a direct line of communication to someone (anyone) that can forward your music on to the artist. And yes, everyone is reachable these days. Personally, I love ROSTR, which is scary good at having everyone’s contacts in one database.
Stop overthinking the politics, waiting for your publisher or your manager, or for some magic door to open. Instead, open the door yourself, create value, and follow this suggested workflow (results are not guaranteed):
- Identify: Who’s the artist you want to get in the room with? Next create or select your “undeniable idea” tailor-made for them. It must be sonically fresh, high-caliber, and impossible to ignore. HINT: Don’t do what this artist already did or the “signature sound” from their last album; they most often move away from anything obvious.
- Locate: Use ROSTR or other resources to find the management team or use Instagram to slide into the DMs of the artist directly. And yah, if you’re shooting for Taylor Swift, maybe that’s a tall order. But the next Taylor Swift? That’s also part of your job, to identify those new artists likely to “own” the charts or be a headliner at Coachella next year.
- Initiate: Send the Song Start directly to that lead manager with some quick context, especially if you’ve previously had hits or even any type of social proof. And that you wrote this for their artist. Let the music do the talking.
Claim Your Seat in the Room
The traditional cowrite queue is designed to keep you on the outside looking in. If you stay in that line, you are playing a game designed for you to lose. The Song Start strategy allows you to stop begging for a seat at the table and instead bring something so valuable that they have to pull up a chair, to you.
Stop waiting for your turn. Stop asking for cowrites. Start bringing hits.
Why not you?
Lastly, I mentioned this earlier, but most writer-producers and songwriters these days are developing artists.
That’s right. They’re already in the inner circle from day one!
So, is there an artist out there whom you could develop and be a part of their foundational team and future victories and hits? It’s a longer path, and more work.
But so is everything these days.
That’s the ultimate pivot flip.
