DON’T BLOW YOUR SONGWRITING CHANCE

If you get a chance to write with a producer, an artist or a writer bigger or more experienced than you, there are some key questions you can ask that will give you a better shot at getting a cut on their record. Those opportunities are valuable, so be sure to ask these questions before you start writing!
 
What’s been going on with you? I always start there for two reasons. I truly am interested in what’s happening with their career. And it helps me know what to write when I hear the answer to that question. Often, they will say something that sparks a song idea. When I’m mentoring younger writers I always encourage them to go out there and talk to people. Ask them questions, learn about them, understand them. Each person is filled with thousands of interesting stories and as writer who have a voice in the society, it’s our job to be their voice and say their stories. That being said, who could be better than your co-writer? When you get the ideas from your co-writer and working on it together with them, during the process they can contribute more too because they feel close to the story.

What have you already recorded? If I can get them to play me a couple of things they have already recorded, then I can tailor what we write to fit in with the songs they already have. It also helps me avoid writing something that is too similar to what they already have. There’s no better way to understand the direction they are going in than to ask this question. Or in some cases that the artist or the writer is already big enough that you know about their work, then you should listen some more before the session and understand their work the best you can, also it’s great if you can show them some of your work and let them to understand you better too. By doing so, you would know what they are already doing and what you can do to give them something new, but still in their current direction, to be the perfect match.
 
What do you feel like you are missing? I asked this question one time and it led to two #1’s with the same song. I asked the artist what he was missing from his record. He said, “Well, I really need a big stadium song – like a show opener.” I said “Do you have any idea what you want to say?” He replied “I have this little idea called “Fire Up”. The artist was Iranian and “Fire Up” is the direct English translation of the song he wanted. Even just the title itself was self explaining and instantly we knew what have to do to get the song done. An hour later, we had written his stadium song. It went on be the tour title and album title as well as a #1 for that artist and another one who put a cover of “Fire Up” in his album. I always ask this question!

Author

Hangi Tavakoli is our in-house established and professional music producer with more than 17 years of experience in songwriting, music production, mix and mastering. He has produced more than 3,000 and written more than 4,800 published songs to-date, including some major hits in international scale.