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MISTAKES THAT CAN KILL YOUR SONG DEMO

4/10/2019

So, you’ve written a great song and you want to record an amazing demo to present it to the world. But there are certain things you need to know and follow before, during and after writing your demos. Believe it or not, the presentation of the demo sometimes can be even more important the content of the demo itself!! You can have a great demo and a bad presentation can make music supervisors and producers to don’t take it seriously, or opposite, you can have an “okay” demo but a good presentation and attract the attentions towards what you had done. Here are things I have learned in a 15-year career and more than 3,000 demos.

WHY WON’T A HIT SONGWRITER WRITE WITH YOU?

3/20/2019

I’ve been asked hundreds of times “Why are staff writers hesitant to write with writers who don’t have a writing deal?”. The short answer is that the people who have gone before you have ruined it for you. Here are the most significant reasons signed writers hesitate to write with unsigned writers.

WHEN YOU HAVE TO WRITE BUT YOU CAN'T

2/23/2019

We all have been there. When have to write something specific that might not be our current mood but the project we're working on requires us to write it now. Or those times that you really need or want to write something but the "writers' block" is doing its job which is freezing the brain and not letting us to focus properly. For me personally when it comes to these situations, I do either one or a combination of few of these things to come over the block and do what I'm supposed to do. To write!

SUCCESS IN MUSIC WITH TEN TIPS

2/20/2019

Win the battle in your own mind first. Surround yourself with family and friends who share a similar vision and avoid those who have a negative attitude. Before you win the fierce battle with your competitors, make sure you've won battle with your own mind to persist no matter what it takes. When I left Kansas, friends told me I was just a church organist and not a Vegas singer. After nine years, I had sung and played every room in Reno, Tahoe, and most in Vegas. When I left to go to LA to write, musician friends said, "you're just a musician, you'll never make it as a writer." Now, 100 cuts later I don't hear much from them.

HOW OFTEN TO RELEASE SONGS?

2/13/2019

This is a question I've seen many artists; especially new ones are struggling to find the answer. Some love to release a song each few days and some believe only in "perfection" and they don't hesitate to work even a year or two on just one single track before releasing it. But the main question is that how often to release songs and albums to be active enough yet not to be a spammer!
Well, when it comes to such topic, there's no right or wrong and it's really up to the personal mindset for indie artists or the managers of label for signed artists. And here is my personal opinion based on my 15 years of experience.

THE FIVE MOST IMPORTANT PARTS OF A SONG

2/2/2019

I’m sure we would all have our own opinion about the most important part of a song, but I’ve compiled a list of my top 5 most important parts. All of these areas deserve extra special attention. In no particular order:

The hook. The title of the song is worth getting right. The better and more original your idea is, the easier it is to turn it into a hit song. A weak idea is hard to turn into a hit. It’s worth spending lots of time finding great ideas.

The opening line. Either peaks the listener’s interest or loses it. Killer opening lines increase your chances of keeping a listener interested or getting an artist interested in your song.

HOW TO PITCH YOUR MUSIC

1/23/2019

There are a lot of people approaching me or respond to my approach for either publishing their music or using their demos for pitching to the bigger names in the industry. I can say about 40% of the demos are receive are okay in sense of professionalism but the other 60% usually have some sort of issue which makes the project to don't move forward. Here I list down some of the common issues and the solutions for them.

Decide what you want. Before sending your track or your demos to a publisher or a producer, make sure at least you know what you want, and it would be even much better if also be open for their suggestions too. When you are sending them a demo, do you something in mind? If you had the power to get the song in whatever direction that you wanted, what would you do with it? All these and things like these are what you need to prepare before sending your demos out. Don't be confusing and don't make people confused. At the end of the day, this is your project and you want it to move forward, right?

SONGWRITERS WHO ARE DREAMERS

1/16/2019

Through years of working at Flipside, I met a vast array of people wanting to become professional songwriters. People of all ages, races, backgrounds and economic situations, most of whom would love to achieve some degree of commercial success with their music. As a student of people and a guy in love with studying psychology, I have studied what causes some people to succeed and others who are equally talented to fail in that quest.

HOW TO RESOLVE SPLIT DISPUTES IN SONGWRITING

1/5/2019

Today's international music industry is extremely dynamic. Such a large and evolving industry comes with questions of song contribution, so how do you determine who created what? Two words: Split Sheets.
It is extremely common for songwriters to collaborate with other co-writers to create new pieces. Many songwriters are left unpaid as a result of split disputes when co-writers cannot agree on split portions. The performing rights organization and record company involved will withhold royalties for a song if a dispute involving ownership arises.

TODAY’S MUSIC SUCKS!

12/1/2018

Years ago, in Iran, my publisher convinced two different Hall of Fame writers to write with me, the new kid in the industry. I had been writing for years and written hundreds of songs, but never with writers this big. I was pumped!

STAYING TRUE TO YOURSELF WHILE WRITING COMMERCIAL SONGS

11/24/2018

Here are some ways I try to stay authentic to myself while at the same time trying to get a cut from the commercial song we are working on, specially when the song is ordered by a client to be in a specific way or topic or direction.

4 THINGS I LEARNED FROM MY FIRST CUT

11/21/2018

1. It takes a LOT longer than you think it will in the beginning. I had written for 3 years on my own and about 3-4 years into a writing deal with ZERO cuts before I landed that first one. I was really fortunate that it went to #37 on the charts and became my first Top Forty hit.

2. There is a huge learning curve when you are trying to write commercially. It’s not as simple as “writing a really good song”. There are lots of other elements that go into making a song commercial and getting a song cut.

WHY DID YOU START SONGWRITING?

11/17/2018

Even as professional songwriters, sometimes we get to the point that we keep asking this question over and over to ourselves. Why on earth I started writing in the ﬁrst place?

The situation can get rough. There can be times that you might think of doing any other job, and just give up on writing, at least professional writing! But that exactly is when you need to remind yourself about your goals and dreams when you ﬁrst started this path. What were you looking for? Where were you seeing yourself in 5 years from the time you started? Had you achieved those?

GUIDE TO BECOMING AN EMPOWERED OR NON-EMPOWERED SONGWRITER

11/10/2018

It struck me today that there are basically two kinds of writers I work with. There are empowered writers and non-empowered writers. Here is how I describe the difference:

4 WAYS A SONG BECOMES “BETTER”

11/3/2018

I’ve been songwriting for years before I started teaching songwriting. The more I have tried to teach, the more I realize that I can only teach what I’ve learned, so I’m continually studying and trying to learn and improve myself. Whether you are trying to write songs for the commercial market or are just writing songs for your own pleasure, here are some things that I think make a song “better”.

THE SONGWRITER’S GUIDE TO CO-WRITING

10/24/2018

One of the skills a successful co-writer will learn is ﬁguring out who they need to be in the room each day. As I start writing each day, I’m trying to ﬁgure out exactly who I need to be in the room that day in order to come out with the best song we can possibly write. The extent to which I play my role best is usually directly proportional to the quality of the song we create.

Here are roles I might play on any given day.

EVERY ARTIST IS A MEDIA COMPANY

10/20/2018

Every company is now a media company. This isn't a new take or an innovative take. It's the reality of today's business landscape. It's the standard. CEO and Marketing expert, Gary Vaynerchuk has talked about it. Consulting firm PWC has written about it. With the barriers to entry to media creation shattered by innovative technology, there's very few reasons not to play in the content creation game.

In most instances, the focus is on traditional businesses evolving as media companies, but I want to talk about why this is essential to artists and how they can employ similar tactics.

IT’S IMPOSSIBLE: SONGWRITING MYTH BUSTERS

10/17/2018

I don’t know how many times each week I hear the words “It’s impossible”. The ridiculous part of it all is that the things they are saying are “impossible” are not impossible at all. Here are some examples I hear all the time: “It’s impossible to get a song cut if you don’t live in U.S. and more particularly New York or LA”. – False.
It’s impossible to get a song cut unless you write it with the artist. – False. I’ve had a number of #1 songs. One was written with the artist. Out of 10 top forty hits, 2 were written with the artist. Out of more than 90 cuts, less than 5 were written with the artist. Writing a great song often trumps writing with the artist.

DOING THE RIGHT THINGS

10/13/2018

I’ve come to believe that successful people do “the right things” more than unsuccessful people. Part of the trick is finding out what the right things are. Early in my career, I wasted a LOT of time doing the wrong things. I bought equipment that I would never use. I spent days and weeks learning how to use it. I continued to write with people even though we didn’t write well together. I wrote ideas that were not likely to be cut. I was working hard, but I wasn’t working smart.
I finally realized that I was going to lose my writing deal if I didn’t step up my game. I looked at successful writers I knew. I saw what they were doing differently. I started figuring out what the right thing were. And I started doing them religiously. Here are the “right things” that I began doing and that I still do.

DON’T BE THAT GUY

10/10/2018

If you want a career in music, great co-writes, meetings with publishers, artist co-writes and the like, you CAN’T be “That Guy”. You know, the guy (or girl) who does these things or anything similar to these. These pointers are symbolic ones, talking of some of the worst behaviors one could so subconsciously.

Drops off a CD with ten songs. Let’s be real. Nobody has time to listen to 30 minutes of music from someone they don’t know. If someone has requested that I send them songs, I usually limit it to 3-4 songs. If they haven’t requested them, I keep it to 1 or 2. Less is more. You want them to ask for more, not to throw your CD in the trash because you overload them.

BRIDGES

10/6/2018

One of the most difficult moments in the process of writing a song is “bridge time”. I have been in many co-writes where we agonized over whether we need a bridge. At one point, early in my career, I came to my publisher to ask him if I needed a bridge in a song I was working on. He asked, “Is there a river to cross?”. I had no idea what he meant, so he said, “Don’t build a bridge if there’s not a river to cross”.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU CHASE

10/4/2018

You can tell a lot about a person by what they are chasing. Some chase money. Some houses or cars. Some chase relationships. Some chase better jobs or promotions. Some chase dreams. I watched an interview one time with Ted Turner. The interviewer asked him what it was like to look at your net worth and, for the first time, see $1,000,000,000. A one and nine zeros. Ted sat there thoughtfully and then he spoke some profound words. With a sigh, he said “It‘s an empty bag, but you don’t know it’s empty until you get it”.

THE 10 CO-WRITING COMMANDMENTS – FOR SONGWRITERS

9/30/2018

Co-writing: The art of sharing your heart felt ideas with another person and trusting the 2 of you will create songwriting magic. This can be tremendously rewarding and often frustrating. But there are some guidelines to make this experience often a great one. If Moses came down from the mountain with a tablet or two on co-writing perhaps this would be chiseled in the stone!

You shalt put nothing else before the song. The Song Is King. Leave your ego at the door. Let the song develop as it wants to develop and not as you are determined to force it.

CALM THE STAGE FRIGHT!

9/19/2018

We have a choice to be “problem” focused or “solution” focused. Fright or fear comes from focusing on problems, real or imagined. If you identify the problem for even a second, then switch to solutions, things often improve right away!

People won't like me. Re-frame the thought to “What can I give to my audience?” or “What can I share with them?” or “How can I help them have a better day?” Perform to individuals with eye contact and share the meaning of the song. Become the actor or better to say, become the character in the song.

5 THINGS THAT MAKE A CHORUS BETTER

9/15/2018

The chorus is the most important part of a song. It’s the piece that (hopefully) people will be walking around singing for years to come. So, spending a little extra time on this section can make your song much better. Here are some things I always try to keep in mind.