5 ROOKIE MISTAKES SONGWRITERS MAKE

Act Like You Know! In the music business, your best bet is to try and ACT like you know what you are doing, even if you don’t. I don’t mean you should lie or bluff. But you want to come across to people like you know how things work in the big leagues even if you are just trying out for the farm team at the moment. The reason for this is that usually you only have one shot with each person in this industry and once they see you and feel you don’t know what is going on, that’s it. They will not remember your name or your face, or even worth, they will remember you as a person they don’t need around themselves.
Making these mistakes can tip people off that you DON’T know what you are doing, so don’t make these rookie mistakes:

Giving someone way too many songs. If someone asks you for your best songs for Katie Perry, give them one or two. Not ten or twenty. They have probably asked 50 people to send them songs. That’s 100 songs if they get two from each person. Ten each and you’re up to 500. They aren’t going to listen to that many songs. In fact, they probably will throw your CD away or close the drop box and not listen to ANY. It’s YOUR job to send them your best song. It’s not their job to sort through 10 and pick out their favorite. Not your favorites. Not the songs you want to pitch, but the 2 songs you think are suitable based on what they asked you for.
 
Asking for a meeting too early. If you only have a couple of GREAT songs, don’t try to meet with publishers or record producers. That screams “I’M A ROOKIE AND DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M DOING”. Spend your time writing more, better songs. Then, when you have a bunch of great songs, start meeting with people. When you meet them, you want to have something in hand. Prepare first, even if that preparation takes a couple of years.
 
Don’t tell anyone your songs are better than the ones on the radio. Industry pros have heard that a million times. Guess how many times it has been true? Zero. None. Nada. Saying that yours are better puts you in the “Crazy Cracker” category. Don’t go there. They will tell YOU that your songs are better than the ones on the radio if they really are. You don’t have to shine a diamond. It sparkles on it’s own. The only things you have to shine are… Well, you know the saying.
 
Taking up too much of someone’s time. Make it your goal to leave them wanting more of you, not less. Unless they ask, don’t tell personal stories or talk much at all. Let your songs do the talking. Play a couple and only play more if they ask you to. It’s always best to leave on a high note.

Author

Hangi Tavakoli is our in-house established and professional music producer with 20 years of experience in songwriting, music production, mix and mastering. He has written and produced more than 5,000 published songs to-date, including some major hits in international scale.