Frances and Harry Date
Song Agents
Song Matchmakers Network
Frances and Harry Date created Song Matchmakers Network so artists and songwriters from all over the world would have an opportunity to have their songs represented by a Nashville publisher.
“You never know where that song may come from," says Frances. "We started Song Matchmakers Network for songwriters, artist and bands to connect with us if they have that incredible song for artists, movies, and TV.”
Frances and Harry agree with that well known adage, “It’s all about the song,” and they decided to give the songs the attention they deserve. There are so many great writers unable to get a publishing deal because of the changes in our industry. Artists are also finding it difficult to get record deals. We want to provide a network for these talented people to have someone believe in them and work for them.
Harry explains: “The ‘song’ is our client. Although we are music publishers, we do not conduct business in the traditional way. We don’t have staff writers, and we’re not song pluggers collecting a monthly fee. Our interest is in finding great songs in and out of town, getting them heard, and getting them cut or placed in movies and TV. Being songwriters ourselves, we know how hard it is to write that magical song, so we decided to champion the cause of those great unknown songs.
We're finding songs in all music styles for artist, movie, TV, and Indie cuts in the USA and Europe. If we believe in a song, we’ll do everything possible to get it heard. Then it’s up to the song to do the rest.”
Background
Frances and Harry Date are TSAI (Tennessee Songwriters Association International) award winning songwriters and former public relations directors for eight years. They have lived in Nashville since 2000 and are well known and respected on Nashville’s Music Row.
They network with and interview top Music Row people, such as Tony Brown, Producer; Teddy Gentry, Alabama; Lisa Ramsey-Perkins, Sony A&R; John Ozier, Curb Records VP A&R; Jim Catino, Sony VP A&R; Mark Bright, Producer; Michael Knox, Producer; Craig Weisman, hit writer; and other top industry people.
In movie and TV, they have interviewed many network executives and music supervisors, such as: Anastasia Brown, Format Entertainment; Andrea von Foerster, Firestarter Music; Dawn Solér, Senior Vice President – TV Music, ABC Studios; Frankie Pine, Music Supervisor/Consultant – Whirly Girl Music; Julia Michels, Music Supervisor– Format Entertainment; Tony Von Pervieux, Director TV Music. ABC TV Studios; and many others.
As Songwriters
Frances and Harry have been writing country songs for 20 years. They won the Tennessee Songwriters International (TSAI) Co-Writers Award in 2002. Frances won the Most Promising Female Writer in 2004, and Harry won the Most Promising Male writer in 2008.
Their songs have been on the TSAI Gold Nuggets, a program that compiles the top songs by TSAI members and puts them on a CD that is distributed to Music Row executives.
They have co-written songs with many of Nashville’s hit writers, including Karen Taylor-Good, Brian White, Jim Femino, Dylan Altman, and Byron Hill. Their songs have been recorded by several Indie Artists and are on projects of varied types.