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REASONS NOT TO QUIT WRITING SONGS

11/9/2021

Many of us struggle with voices in our head saying things like “You’ll never make it.” or “You’re not good enough.” And, most of us, at one time or another, have thought about throwing in the towel. I can consider myself successful at this point of my career but believe it or not, I still hear those voices occasionally and once in a while I ask myself “What the hell are you doing by writing all these songs?”. But as an answer to myself, those voices, and your stinky thoughts, here are few reasons that encourage us not to throw in the towel.

If you were born with the urge to write, you will probably never feel complete if you give it up. Most writers are not able to just walk away without feeling regret and emptiness. Writing is part of us. Creating is in our nature. Without them, we are just some bodies, moving around, pointless and aimless. If a none writer read this might not understand what I mean by saying “writing isn’t just part of us, but we ARE the writing”. We can go by not talking let’s say for a month or two, but not writing for a week can drive us insane.

STOP ASKING THE WORLD TO LISTEN TO YOUR MUSIC AND WRITE SONGS SO GOOD THEY WANT TO HEAR THEM

11/2/2021

A few years ago, I urged a popular music forum to start a songwriting thread. The songwriters involved in it thought it was a great idea and I stop in from time to time to discuss writing and read comments. It started out really cool. Discussions about lyrics, melody, popular songs vs. classics, etc. Later on, I stopped in to read up on the discussions. I admit I hadn’t logged on in a few months. And guess what the most popular column on the songwriting thread was? “Post your demos here” 121,000 views & comments in the last 6 months. The closest column about actual “songwriting” in the Songwriting Thread was 718 views!

Now understand this was not a site where fans buy music or publishers go to find songs. It was just a forum for songwriters to discuss songwriting and to share their opinions and ideas on this one particular topic and nothing more than that.

SHOULD YOU PAY YOUR CO-WRITER TO DEMO YOUR SONG?

10/26/2021

Let’s talk about some co-writing scenarios. Sometime ago, we had a lively and awesome debate in the one of our sessions at Flipside with the young writers about whether or not a “track guy” (Or girl) should charge their co-writers for building a track/demo for their song. There truly no one’s answer is right or wrong to that question. There might be times when that is appropriate, but there are definitely times when it’s highly inappropriate. Let me illustrate some of the complex situations that occur in my writing and let you weigh in on the answer to that question.

Hit Writer/Staff Writer Track Guy. One guy I write with has had a number of hits and lots of cuts. He’s a great “track guy”. He has produced songs on some major label artists. He has a publisher, but they don’t have an office in Singapore, so we work together whenever they need to get anything done here and we let them to use our Flipside’s office and recording studio.

They are great with sync and pop pitches, but not really a player at all when pitching film music – which is my specialty in composing and in my heart, it is my personal preference to compose film music more than anything else. So, this writer and I wrote what we thought was a great pitch for one of major artists. I spent about an hour and a half the morning of our write working on ideas and found a great one that we used. I came in with it all mapped out and part of a chorus. We quickly wrote the song. Two days later, he sent me a demo. I got it pitched to that singer we had in mind and she put it on the hold. If we get it cut, we make the same amount of money since we have similar pub deals. So, what do you think? Should I have paid him to track the song? Should he have paid me to pitch it since we used my connections for pitching and he admitted, “never leaves his basement”? Is a great demo that never gets heard worth anything?

HOW SONGWRITERS GET PAID?

10/19/2021

Several people have asked about the different ways for songwriters to get paid. It seems to be a big question for everyone even inside the industry that how one can sit down and write music and make a living out of it! Growing up in Iran, where people appreciate music more than anywhere else I had ever seen, yet nobody wants their children to become musicians, I often had this problem that when anyone was asking me about my job and I was saying that I am a songwriter, their next question was, “No, what is your real job? How do you make money?”. To this date I can say this is one of the most common questions I get. So, here are a few ways for songwriters to get paid.

Publishing Draws for songwriters. This is a monthly amount a publisher pays to a writer that is on a staff publishing deal. This basically is same as any other sort of employment and the writer is being hired by the publisher as a full-time staff, getting paid to write a certain number of songs that would be approved by the publisher.

These are really advancing on royalties that have to be repaid out of incoming royalties. Once your catalog is recouped, the publisher pays you semi-annual royalty checks for money they have collected. This part can be taken as the “bonus” in business world. Basically, the more you write, the bigger your catalog would be, and the bigger your catalog is, the more semi-annual royalties will come to you.

DISCIPLINES IS A KEY FOR SETTING YOURSELF UP TO SUCCEED

10/12/2021

One of the biggest lessons I have learned in my years in the music business is that nobody wants me to succeed as much as I do. My publisher, my co-writers and my song pluggers all want me to do well. They are heavily invested in my success. But, at the end of the day, I’m going to have to do most of the heavy lifting if I’m going to succeed. They will help but they will do what they can do, and that’s my job to do “my job”. If they were up to do what I am supposed to, they didn’t need to work with me from the first place. And to do my job, I need to have a very strong discipline coming from myself, because in this industry we don’t really have such thing as “boss” or someone who force us to do anything. Everything, including all success or failures come, are direct reflection and consequences of our own actions. The way I always explain it for my mentees is, “We need to have a military level of discipline, and there is no commander to force us. We have to have it from inside our own will power”. Here are a few things I try to do every day to keep myself moving in the right direction:

PRESS RELEASE: xs - Save This Love

10/8/2021

xs is back with a new song Save This Love which is her second single since her debut album Good Girls Don't Speak Their Minds.

Written by xs and Hangi Tavakoli and produced by Hangi Tavakoli, Save This Love has an acoustic instrumentation, heavily relying on guitars and supported by distorted 808 drums, accompanied by a complicated yet simple vocals and adlips arrangement. It gives a chill vibes and listeners walk away with a warm feeling in their hearts.

In the song, xs tries to salvage the romance as she addresses her fault, seeks forgiveness and asks her partner to not give up the relationship.

HOW TO PITCH YOUR SONGS WISELY OR DON’T BE THAT GUY

10/5/2021

One of the biggest mistakes I see rising songwriters make is pitching songs improperly. This can ruin everything. When you are pitching songs, there are some little unwritten rules about it that can help you a lot in getting the attention of the publisher, producer or the artist you are pitching to. And not following those rules will tell them you are unprofessional, and you will be in their blacklist – the last place you’d want to be. I want to give you some guidelines to help you pitch songs wisely and to not be that guy/girl that burns bridges by pitching the wrong way. Here are some things to consider when pitching.

Follow instructions carefully. If they said, “Don’t pitch any beach songs”, you are better off not pitching one, even if you think yours is great. Pay close attention to what they have already and don’t pitch that. If you don’t care about what they need, why do you think they need to care about what you are pitching? These people are some of the busiest people in the industry.

You cannot expect them to open your song and listen to it while it is irrelevant to what are searching for something else. This action will have no result other than you, shouting to them that you are unprofessional and basically asking them to put you in the blacklist and never to open your emails again.

DO SOMETHING REAL.

9/28/2021

One time, I was playing a songwriter show in Tehran and had one of the funniest, yet most profound experiences of my musical life. After the show, the hotel’s entertainment booking person wanted to have an “after party” with all the writers who played and some of her special guests. So, after the show, we head over to the hotel’s cafe to hang out, shake hands and talk to the people that brought us there. The other writer who had played the show with me was a big pop producer who had also written several hits. We were starving, so we ordered some food and continued to schmooze. Before our food came, Mary, the booking person, brought in 4 guys that were in a band she was working with. They all had facial tattoos and piercings. They were dressed in leather and either wearing bandanas on their heads or had spiked up mohawks. Chains from their wallets to their pants. Metal spikes on the boots. You get the idea. I’m not judging. Just describing.

BAD MUSIC AND SONGWRITING

9/21/2021

“I want more than anything to get one of my songs recorded by a major artist on the radio.”
“Today’s music sucks. The stuff artist is putting out is crap and it all sounds the same!!"

These are two sentences spoken by an aspiring songwriting during a coffee conversation.

The other day in a coffee house an aspiring songwriter behind me in line recognised me and offered to buy my cup of black coffee and wondered if he could talk to me about songwriting for a few minutes. I was early for a writing appointment, so I said, “Sure.” He was a great guy. I asked him what he wanted more than anything. He said with no hesitation, “I want to get one of my songs recorded by a major artist and make a living writing.” “Great goal,” I thought. I told him that I had been in the same place 12 years ago! The next thing out his mouth was a small rant about how music today “sucks.” “Nothing is good out there” and “the artists look good but can’t sing.” He went on to say he spends most of his time listening to classic music. “Hmmm…” I thought, “this is something I hear a lot in writing forums on the internet.” Later that day I pondered the morning conversation about “today’s music” and this writer’s attitude towards it.

IT’S IMPOSSIBLE: MORE SONGWRITING MYTH BUSTING

9/14/2021

I don’t know how many times each week I hear the words “It’s impossible” when people get rejected to hear what they don’t want to hear. The ridiculous part of it all is that the things they are saying are “impossible” are not impossible at all. It just needs them to understand there is no such thing as impossible in this industry and to understand how they can defeat anything that might sound impossible to lots of people.

“It’s impossible to get a song cut if you don’t live in Nashville, New York or LA.” False. I am living in Singapore and every once in a while, I get a cut on an artist on a major label. Even a lot of times I wrote with the artist or other writers in the other side of the world using the magical power of technology, via Skype or even emails. Some names that you wouldn’t believe if I tell you, sat down on Skype and we came up with ideas together and wrote the song during the call!

On the other hand, I know people living in the same town as those major artists, tried to work with them and still didn’t get a cut on. Yes, I agree it’s hard to work when you are living somewhere far away from the music centers, but it also is far from impossible.

ARE YOUR DOING THESE THINGS THAT IRRITATE PUBLISHERS?

9/7/2021

I see a number of common mistakes songwriters make that leave the smell of a burning bridge in the air as they leave a publisher’s office. As a publisher myself, there are certain things that songwriters – and at times, artists – do that it is telling me why I don’t want to work with them next time. If you really want to tick a publisher off, try these stunts.

Show up unannounced. That’s disrespectful and not business-like. Not only for the publishers, but in general in business world. And always remember, the publisher is the businessman of music industry. You wouldn’t do that with a lawyer or doctor or any other type of businessman. But, if you really want to irritate a publisher, show up unannounced, tell everyone loudly that you are the next big thing in songwriting and demand a meeting. You’ll be off on the right wrong foot.

Flipside Live Sessions - 11.09.2021

9/6/2021

We are excited to announce Flipside Live Sessions' launch on Saturday, 11th September for the first time. On this session there will be lottie and Camille Miller performing alongside with Jurine Chia and Rine Avery.

The live stream will take place 8 to 9:15pm, Singapore time and will be streamed on multiple platforms including YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.

Be sure to add the date in your calendar, and give Flipside a follow using the links below so you don't miss it!

ARRIVING IN LIFE AND SONGWRITING

8/31/2021

The longer I live and the more I write, the more I realize that there really is no “destination” in life, unless it is death.

Short of the grave, we are all still on the journey, trying to figure out the world and our place in it. In regard to writing, we all – or most of us anyway – have hopes, plans and dreams. We have places we want to go. Things we want to achieve. Accomplishments we want to grasp before we leave the planet. There is no aspect of my music career that has gone according to my plans. I’ve determined that I may not be smart enough to come up with a plan for life or a career and that, perhaps, I do my best work when I just take each day for what it is.

Press Release: lottie - Indigo

8/25/2021

lottie has released her new single, Indigo. The song is available on all platforms to stream and purchase.

Indigo is the second single to be released from lottie’s debut album, set to be released later this year. It’s an upbeat 80's inspired track, infused with synths and an arpeggiated bass. lottie sings about the thrills of a newly blossoming relationship, the ups and downs and the inner turmoil of falling for someone who isn't quite right for you.

lottie, signed to Flipside, a boutique Singaporean record label, is originally from Essex, England, but has resided in Singapore for the past two years. Working closely with renowned producer Hangi Tavakoli, lottie released her debut EP, 'Dance With You', earlier this year. A proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, all her songs are voiced from a lesbian perspective.

DON’T LET YOUR NEXT SONG CRITIQUE DRIVE YOU CRAZY

8/24/2021

After receiving different song critiques of the same song from two different people, I often hear an aspiring writer complain that the critiques contradict each other. For example: the first person critiquing the song likes the second verse, but not the first; the second person, however, likes the first verse, but not the second. Usually, the aspiring writer’s next statement is something to the effect that it’s just somebody’s opinion, and the song is just fine as it is. This is overlooking the real value of this of song critiques by misunderstanding the feedback, and perhaps, the source it’s coming from. After doing thousands of critiques of my own songs, and of songs from mentoring students in my classes, I have a much different reaction to this type of critique.

Here how to weed through seasoned feedback and uncover the real value of a song critique:

POSITIVE THOUGHTS FOR SONGWRITERS

8/17/2021

I’m a big believer in positive thinking. I have a strong faith that there are some positive thoughts for songwriters which can help keep us moving forward in our music business and can help us to enjoy this long and tough journey, which is hard enough that if we don’t have that strong faith and believe we might give up, just like those thousands or possibly millions of other people who stepped in this path and gave up after a while. We must accept what we started is something that not everybody would dare to start and even from the people who started it, not everyone are strong enough to keep it up. All the financial instabilities, all the long hours of working and all the rejections as conclusion of standing by all these hardships. It needs an iron faith to keep going and keep writing until we get the desired results. Here are some of the topics that fill up my mind during the hard times at work, and they give me more energy to continue what I sacrificed everything for.

ARE YOU A PROFESSIONAL OR AN AMATEUR SONGWRITER?

8/10/2021

Over a weekend someone tagged me in a Facebook thread that had over 500 comments debating heatedly over whether or not a lyricist was an actual “songwriter” or lyricist is just writing the words. Well, I can say it was probably one of the most stupid questions I’ve ever heard. And trust me I get tons of stupid questions on a daily basis but this one was to a whole another level.

All I can say is who cares? I don’t mean that in a harsh way. You see, I’ve had over 150 major artists record my songs on 15 million albums sold. 19 Billboard hits. And you know what? I’ve been on writing sessions where I contributed only lyrics. Other times sessions I did only the music. And often both music and lyric. Some days I play an instrument on the session and others I won’t. Sometimes I just do the arrangement and some other times I do the mixing for the team. I’ve even been on writing sessions that all I needed to do was to record them. Let’s go further, on tons of sessions, I am considered as the “quality control manager” and I just tell the writers to keep this and change that!

HOW DO WRITERS AND PUBLISHERS SPLIT ROYALTIES?

8/3/2021

I get lots of music business related questions on my inbox and this is a very common one. The business side of music is not as complicated as it seems. The contracts and “rules” can look pretty confusing and complicated but once you get it, it will be very easy. Just need to get that on click in your mind and suddenly it’s like the fog had gone away and you can see everything pretty clear. Here are the basics of Writer – Publisher deals and how money is split:

There are two shares of royalties for each writer when a song is created. Each writer has a writer’s share and a publisher’s share. So, if there are two writers on a song, there are four shares assigned to that song. Two writer’s shares and two publisher’s shares. The way those shares are divided depends on the contracts that the writers have entered into basically it’s going to both of them as a whole and depending on the type of agreement they have between themselves it can be divided. In Flipside’s case, we sign the writers to an exclusive publishing agreement.

IF YOU WANT TO WRITE UNIVERSAL SONGS, BECOME UNIVERSAL

7/27/2021

During mentoring sessions, I am asked often how a writer can make their songs more universal. It’s easy to become frustrated when a deeply personal song fails to move your audience. My answer is to become a more universal musician/writer and stop focusing on the “fix” that will make your latest song speak to others. The Beatles wrote songs that touched more people around the world than any other band in history. But did you know, at one time, that the Beatles were, perhaps, the greatest “cover-band” on the planet? They played countless hours in a club in Hamburg, Germany, before they ever got a record deal or wrote “Yesterday” and “Come Together”. John, Paul, George, and Ringo were obsessed with the latest Rock music coming across the pond from America.

They learned Little Richard vocal licks, Carl Perkin’s guitar chords, and emulated the latest overseas songwriting. Students of style, they explored everything from Classical melodies to traditional Irish drinking songs.

Press Release: xs - 24/7

7/25/2021

xs has released her latest single, “24/7” on 24 July, five weeks following her debut album “Good Girls Don’t Speak Their Minds”.

The singer-songwriter has never been shy to use her music as a platform for expression, as we’ve seen in her previous songs.

But just when we thought her earlier single “Night Shift” couldn’t get any steamier, “24/7” takes it even further as she suggests her desire to share intimacy with her lover all day every day. If you listen closely to the lyrics, she also sings about cancelling their plans to get busy and causing the neighbours to complain about the noise.

The sultry lyrics is accompanied with a simple arrangement made up of synthesizers, drums and bass guitar, produced by Flipside's Music Director, Hangi Tavakoli.

Press Release: Khashayiar - 27 (Album)

7/21/2021

Khashayiar is an Iranian producer, composer, pianist, guitarist, and rapper. He also sings in Rock and R&B. His last album 27 has been released on July 7th, 2021 from Flipside Productions, Maghz Records and Radio Javan (For Iran’s territory). It is the first international album in Persian Hip-hop history. It contains 14 different artists from 14 countries, singing in 14 different languages. There are 10 tracks, except for the intro, all tracks are in Persian and at least one other language. As Khashayiar explains in the first track "Intro", he got this idea several years ago, but it took him a while to gather all the people and does the production and composition for all the tracks. He immigrated to Turkey a few days before the 27 album’s release date.

27 Album's guest artists are Cleo, Thas Legend, Ariy, Jae S, Alassandro, Zeen Sloshy, Swan, Bolt, Sezo, Hamed Fard, Thiaz, Jerp Walker, and Da Queero.

FIND SONGWRITING COMMUNITY NOW!

7/20/2021

No matter what your definition of Songwriting Success is, one of the most overlooked aspect of a songwriter’s journey is the community. I run into many writers who are writing pretty good songs, but they are doing it in a vacuum. In reality, it’s nearly impossible to succeed as a songwriter or anything without a supportive community around you. Being a member of at least one songwriting community will help you a lot to share your songs with other fellow writers, get their feedback and grow yourself, as well as being updated about the behind the scene of the industry. Plus, having a wider network is always great for your business, and please don’t forget that songwriting is your business and the songs you write are your product to be sold. Here are some reasons it is important to find community as a songwriter.

Songwriters are a different breed. It’s often hard for spouses, friends and family members to understand why we think differently.

lottie's interview with NFM Podcast

7/20/2021

lottie's recent interview with NFM Podcast, where she tells her story on why and how she started her music journey and what her music stands for.

KEYS TO WRITING COMPELLING SONGS

7/13/2021

Let’s face it, there’s nothing better than playing a song for an audience, a publisher, or a friend and having it move them. Excite them. Make them dance. Or leave them tearing up. As writers, we want to reach out and touch people with our songs. As a professional songwriter, I have written many songs that for one reason or another, have failed to move people in the slightest. I have also been blessed to have other songs reach millions and sell millions of records. Over the years, I’ve compiled a checklist that helps me move people more consistently with my songs. On a good day, I’m lucky to get these elements firing on all cylinders.

Believability. This might be the number one thing I check and recheck as I write a song. Asking yourself, “Is this believable?”. It is essential to writing a compelling song. “Does it feel real?” This seems like a simple thing to master, but it’s perhaps the hardest.

DON’T LIVE WITH SONGWRITING REGRET

7/6/2021

I spent the first half of my life to date living in fear. Fear of failure. Fear of taking risks. Fear of getting involved in any sort of conflicts. Fear of performing or speaking in public. Fear of God striking me down if I misbehaved. The list goes on and on. And, around that half of lifetime point, I noticed that those fears began to have a different taste in my mouth. They began to taste more like regrets. Regret for missed opportunities. Regret for chances I missed. Regret for wasted precious days of my life. You get the idea. A steady diet of fear leads to the awful aftertaste of regret. And those tastes are not easily brushed away. Even though I took a huge risk when I decided to be a full-time musician when everyone around me where surely telling me it is not going to go well but I took the risk. And luckily it worked – so far. But still when I look back, I’ve lost tons of chances and opportunities because I didn’t take enough risks when I had to. And now after years I still regret not getting in and take those risks.

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