The problem of cutting the publishers out of the deal makes the idea of promoting music on a popular level nugatory. There is no incentive for the publisher to promote the song. That wouldn't bother me but it could upset the music biz applecart.

Perhaps under the onus should be placed on the author to promote his/her own work in order to prove it's pop validity. Let them handle administrative costs, finance demo recordings and spend more time marketing than writing. Maybe this would be salutary for the development of better songs in that the writer would have to really go to bat for songs they believed in. The demands of the marketplace would have to change.

Frank Hamilton