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Meet the SongU Special Event Pitch Guests

Join us for the latest “Staff Writer For A Day!” Special Event Pitch which is running during the months of February and March 2021. This is an exclusive opportunity to be selected by Ciara Shortridge, Senior Creative Director, Publishing of Curb | Word Music Publishing for a chance to find out what it’s like to be a professional staff songwriter for a day. This includes a meeting with Ciara and a CO-WRITING SESSION with Grammy nominated songwriter, Bobby Tomberlin! Additionally, Ciara will be listening for potential signings for single song contracts. Ciara says she’s happy to be participating in this event and looking forward to hearing our songs. You can read more about our special guest below.

Creative Director, Ciara Shortridge

About Ciara Shortridge: Having Joined Curb/Word as Sr. Creative Director, Country Publishing in January of 2020, Ciara previously held the position of A&R Manager and served as the main creative point of Disney Music Group’s Nashville-based publishing office. In her role, she was responsible for signing and developing songwriters, placing multi genre catalog, and connecting Disney internal and international collaboration opportunities with the Nashville community. Ciara’s career at DMG began in September 2009 after graduating from Belmont University’s Mike Curb College Of Entertainment & Music Business and included previous roles as A&R Coordinator and A&R Representative.

In her newest role, Ciara helps curate writing and catalog placement opportunities for the Curb|Word publishing writer/artist roster and catalog, including hit writers such as Kyle Jacobs, Hannah Ellis, Chris Gelbuda, Billy Montana, Adam Wood, Phillip Lammonds, Bobby Tomberlin, and many more.

A Webster, New York native, Ciara felt the intangible magic of Nashville at the age of 13, ultimately making it her permanent home in 2007. Through various college internships and countless writer rounds, she found her true passions were rooted in the far-reaching impact a well-crafted song can have on someone, and in championing the incredible songwriters that bring them to life every day.

Hit Songwriter, Bobby Tomberlin

Bobby Tomberlin is a GRAMMY, CMA, and ACM nominated songwriter. He started his music career at age eleven as a disk jockey in his hometown of Luverne, Alabama. Bobby’s position at the radio station provided the opportunity to interview some of country music’s biggest names including Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, and Keith Whitley. With a childhood so closely intertwined with country music and its legends, Bobby developed a deep-rooted respect for the genre. His signed his first publishing deal with Mel Tillis and he is currently a staff writer for Curb Word Music Publishing. His first number one hit at country radio was “One More Day,” a career song for Diamond Rio. Bobby’s songs have been recorded by Barbra Streisand, Willie Nelson, Blake Shelton, Jerry Lee Lewis, Faith Hill, Kenny Rogers, Josh Turner, Rodney Atkins, Thompson Square, Tyler Farr, Chris Young, Dylan Scott, Pam Tillis, Little Jimmy Dickens, Joe Nichols, Sundance Head, Terri Clark, Joe Diffie, and The Oak Ridge Boys, just to name a few.  

As the old adage says, “You can’t play the game when you’re sitting on the bench.” Whether or not you win the co-write session or a song contract, you will have done the work of a songwriter by putting your song out there into the world. Good luck to all!

Update: Our Fall 2020 Special event winner, Brad McKinney has a co-writing appointment scheduled for mid-February with hit songwriter, Danny Myrick. In the meantime, for inspiration read the interview with our Spring/Summer 2020 Staff Writer for a Day winner:

Kelly McKay, Winner of “Staff Writer for A Day,” Tells Us About Her Experience.


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Pitching in the Time of Corona: A Dispatch From our Publishers

With all the transitions and changes going on these days, I asked the music publishers and song pluggers we work with regularly to give us an update on pitching in the time of Corona. Here’s what they said:

“Still pitching strong and I think our decision makers are more at their computers listening to songs than perhaps ever before.”

Jeffrey Nelson, Song Plugger

“Song pitching continues uninterrupted…The dynamics of pitching have, of course, changed recently in that social distancing has made in person pitch meetings, at least for the moment, not possible. I do however, continue to maintain communication with industry decision makers and continue to pitch them songs via links and mp3’s, much of which I already did anyway.”

Additionally worth noting, “This is the time of the year that acts who are going to record Christmas records are beginning to look for songs.”

Dallas Gregory, Publisher, Song Rocket Music

“There will be no personal one-on-one meetings but the selected songs will be sent to my contacts and they will be considered. Recording dates etc have been altered and moved to unspecified dates due to the coronavirus. Keep writing great songs and keep the faith.”

Bob Dellaposta, Publisher, My 3 Kids Music

“There has been a definite halt in some of the film / TV show productions. The music supervisors are emailing and saying that we have a couple weeks to send in songs rather than 24-48 hours. But there are lots of TV shows already in post production so we are continuing to get requests for songs. The ad agencies work a long time on a client’s branding so we are getting requests for those also.”

Nancy Peacock, Licensing Agent, Washington Street Music Publishing

Thanks to all these sincerely dedicated music professionals for keeping our songs out there and getting us placements and cuts!