Blog Archives

WHEN IS IT TIME TO GIVE UP?

12/29/2020

I have had numerous people share with me their struggle to maintain hope and self-motivation and to keep trying to pursue their dream in the face of great adversity. Obviously, there is no one pat answer that applies to everyone and all their struggles but, in general, my answer is this. You keep going until the cost of giving up is less than the cost of keeping on. Remember how much time, energy and money you had invested in your career so far and how close to the goal are you? Does it worth to give up now and let all your investment to turn into nothing? If your answer is yes, and if you are that cold about sticking to what you are doing, then no one can change your mind anymore. But for me, personally, nothing is impossible and it’s just matter of time, and I would try harder and harder to reach where I always wanted to reach, and meanwhile, whenever any bumps come to the road, I just remind myself why I had started it and where I want to go with it, and that is enough motivation for me to keep up.

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ARE YOU PITCHING YOUR SONGS WITH A MACHINE FUN OR A RIFLE?

12/22/2020

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In one of our Staff Writer Crash Courses I was teaching; we had a number of songwriters concerned because they could only submit one song for consideration for the week’s assignment. The prevailing attitude was that “more shots equals a better chance of something great happening”. I want to dispel that myth and to explain why pitching your songs with a machine gun is not the best way to hit your mark.

Not too long ago, one of my pluggers sent out an e-mail to all of our writers asking us to send him only one song pitch idea for a big shot singer. Well, I had the singer's first single ever, so I thought to myself “I’ve got tons of songs that would work for him”. I proudly sent my plugger a list of 8-10 smash hits that I thought he would kill. In my head, they were all pretty good shots. And, I thought the plugger could pick his favorite (or two or 5) to play for him. Immediately, I got a reply that said “I’m about to walk out the door to go to this meeting and I don’t have time to listen to 10 songs from every writer.

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BLOW THEM AWAY WITH YOUR SONGWRITING

12/15/2020

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I often run into people who are doing all the wrong things in their pursuit of success with their music. Most of the time, the thing they need to be doing is improving their songs. That’s often the one thing they aren’t doing, and they’re usually wondering why this whole songwriting business is not working for them. They are meeting with publishers and people at PRO’s (ASCAP, BMI, COMPASS, SESAC, etc). They are trying to get co-writes with big writers. They play shows, hoping to get noticed. Basically, they are doing anything they should be doing according to the “textbook” but the problem is that their songs aren’t just good enough. No publisher or PRO rep can help you if you don’t have songs that are great. Not good. Great.

If you get that writing appointment with a big writer and you aren’t up to writing at his or her level, you probably won’t get another appointment. So, I often find myself reminding people that the “secret” to success is to write undeniably great songs.

You know the feeling you get when you are listening to the radio and all of the sudden, a song comes on that is way better than the previous song? It stands out because it is just flat out better. If you have songs that are undeniably great, it won’t take many meetings or shows for you to garner some interest. If you aren’t getting that interest yet, then just take a deep breath and invest your time and energy into writing better songs.

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WILL YOU BE READY WHEN YOUR DOOR OPENS?

12/8/2020

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“He got lucky. That will never happen again.” After celebrating my first number one song, a friend of mine told me that a big successful songwriter spoke these words about me. I can’t blame him. He had been writing big songs for years and he’d seen a lot of young songwriters come and go in this industry and maybe it was a bit surprising for him that a new boy is in the industry and got a number one hit. He understood that while it’s not easy to write a hit, and it’s even more rare to write another. If you don’t believe that, there are lots of example of one hit wonders to back up his theory!
Here’s what usually happens; A songwriter writes a great song, has success and the door opens. All of a sudden, artists, producers, and A&R folks notice him and say, “Show us what else you have.” This is where 90% of songwriters fail.
They play everyone the few songs they have, and often, there are no songs on the same level as the hit they wrote. And the door closes. Their success comes before they have developed their skills.

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THE SONGWRITER’S PITCH TO PUBLISHER CHECKLIST

12/4/2020

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Before you even agree to the meeting, ask yourself – “Are my songs really ready for recording and for going to the radio? Are they my songs going to compete with everything this publisher hears every day?” If you can’t honestly answer that question, then you don’t need to take the meeting. I will be just a waste of time for yourself and more importantly for the publisher. I said more importantly because when you waste their time, they will put you in their “waste of time” list and next times when you actually might have something to offer, they will refuse to meet you because, well, why should they? The last time the spent time to meet you, they got their time wasted. I have heard songs pitched to me – as publisher – that were so bad that an artist would never cut them in a million years. Get lots of good feedback on your songs from the people you already trust that they don’t hesitate to tell you if your song is bad, and you know for sure they will tell you the truth. I refer to those people around me as “safe people” that I know no matter what, tell will tell me the truth.

Safe people are people that aren’t going to hold it against you if you play them a bad song and they most probably will tell you what they think is wrong with your song and even they might give you some suggestions to make your song better. You can consider their opinion, work on your craft and then show it to them again and see what they will tell you. Publishers are not safe people. They usually give you one chance and it is best for you to use your that one chance wisely.

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IF YOU DON’T WRITE SONGS, YOU PROBABLY THINK IT’S EASY!

12/1/2020

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Some people sleepwalk, some people sleep write. “It was a spring morning in 1965 when Keith Richards rolled out of bed and noticed a new tape somehow wound its way through 45 minutes of usable tape. Curious, he rewound the tape and pushed play. A three-note guitar riff came blasting out of the speakers, followed by some basic chords and a simple refrain. ‘I can’t get no satisfaction,’ went the melody, sung by Richards in a sleepy, half-conscious voice. Richards had apparently woken up with a melody in his head, recorded it with his acoustic guitar and then fallen back asleep.” — Andrew Leahy, “Behind the Song: ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction'”.

I know what most people are thinking. Anyone that isn’t a songwriter probably reads this quote and thinks this writing thing is easy, guys just do it in their sleep. While we never know when a “seed” or “idea” for a song will come to us, the real work comes in growing that “seed” into a well written song.

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WHEN IS IT TIME TO GIVE UP?

ARE YOU PITCHING YOUR SONGS WITH A MACHINE FUN OR A RIFLE?

BLOW THEM AWAY WITH YOUR SONGWRITING

WILL YOU BE READY WHEN YOUR DOOR OPENS?

THE SONGWRITER’S PITCH TO PUBLISHER CHECKLIST

IF YOU DON’T WRITE SONGS, YOU PROBABLY THINK IT’S EASY!

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