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HOW TO INTERPRET FEEDBACK ON YOUR SONGS

8/28/2020

Often, it seems like song feedbacks leave people confused. In one of my attempts at getting feedback early in my career, I send a song to a very prominent songwriting organization that I belonged to. The was called “It Don’t Get Better Than This” and it was about the way the “this” changed throughout a boy’s life. In the first verse, the boy held his first puppy and as it licked his face, he was thinking “It don’t get better than this.” The second verse has him kissing his first girlfriend and thinking the same thing. Finally, the bridge has him standing in his wedding ceremony and while his bride walks the aisle toward him, thinking the chorus again. The feedback I got was “Pretty well written, but it’s not possible to have three things that it doesn’t get better than.” I couldn’t imagine how the person giving feedback didn’t understand that what we imagine to be “the greatest thing ever” can – and does – change over time. The feedback left me confused and frustrated. Years later, as I gained more confidence in

my writing, I took another look at that song and realized that the feedback I got was not good at all. I’ve since discovered the reason for the weak feedback. The organization that I had gotten feedback from hired people to do feedback who had never had cuts. They were aspiring writers who were struggling and needed a paycheck, not professionals or hit songwriters who knew what they were talking about. Over the years, I have found these thoughts to be helpful in interpreting feedback on my songs:

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SONGWRITING ECONOMICS 101

8/21/2020

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I get the question all the time, “Why won’t a signed staff songwriter write with me?”. Most people are surprised to find out that the answer is economic and it’s all about business instead of being personal in nature. When you know how exactly the business side of music industry works, you wouldn’t be surprised anymore when a signed writer rejects writing with you. Here are the economics of why staff writer’s are hesitant to write with unsigned writers.

Other unsigned writers who have gone before you have not paid for their portion of demos. They ruined it for you, and probably you would find it unfair, right? But look at it from the signed writers’ point of view, and it all will make sense. Let me give you some personal examples of my previous experiences. I have had several unsigned co-writers in the past who didn’t pay their portion of the demo costs when we did demos for the songs we wrote together. When that occurs, guess who has to pay for it?

Me. After a few times that happened, it left a bad taste in my mouth. I’ve also had unsigned co-writers tell me after we wrote a great song that they can’t afford to demo the song. Even though I am trying to appreciate that at least they told me about it before we actually proceed to make the demo, but I still wish they had told me about it before we sit down and spend so much time and energy on writing a song together because now the time had already been spent but I can’t get it cut if we can’t demo it, so we wasted a day. Both are important economic issues. Why spend a day writing a song that no one will ever hear while I could spend that time on writing a song that actually could go somewhere?

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THE JOY IN THE JOURNEY

8/14/2020

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I met with a songwriter friend who is very talented and very frustrated with her lack of music business success. She was describing to me how she had thought she would be so much farther along by the time she reached the birthday that had just passed. I told her my story. It took me almost 6 years of writing full time to get my first cut. Another year after that to get my first single. And another year to have my first hit. There were countless days of self-doubt. There were heart crushing disappointments when “sure-things” fell through. The rejections were there, when I was so sure about a song and knew it must drive publishers crazy, but they simply listened and with absolutely no emotions they rejected it. There were near misses that could have changed my life if they had come through. She asked me how I stayed encouraged and positive over a 17-year music business career with that many ups and downs. "The joy in the journey" was my simple answer. It just made her more confused.

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HOW TO GET A STAFF WRITING DEAL?

8/7/2020

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Write with signed writers. As I mentioned, the relationship is one of the key factors for a songwriter to get a staff writer deal. To build these relationships, you can always approach the signed writers and write with them. This is a way the publishers and producers working with that writer will notice your work and maybe they will want to work with you. Or if that doesn’t happen in any given case, you’ve lost nothing, and you end up with a new song with a signed writer who can just help using his connections to push the song.

Get to know music publishers organically. If there’s a publisher you are interested in and you are able, go to writer’s nights where they are featuring their writers. Buy them a drink. Meet their writers. Mix and mingle. Go to events where publishers are speaking. Attend industry events. Publishers are much more likely to sign someone they know over a stranger. The more publishers you get to know, the better your chances are.

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HOW TO INTERPRET FEEDBACK ON YOUR SONGS

SONGWRITING ECONOMICS 101

THE JOY IN THE JOURNEY

HOW TO GET A STAFF WRITING DEAL?

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