WHO CAN STOP YOU FROM WRITING SONGS?

I think that’s a valid question for every songwriter to ask themselves from time to time. We all had been there, thinking about it and we all will come back to thinking about it. On occasion, I hear songwriters say things like “It’s not really worth writing a song if I can’t get a publisher to listen.” Or “Why bother writing another song no one will ever hear?” Or even “It’s so hard to get on the Billboard Charts or make money with music these days”. When I hear those comments, I challenge the writers to examine their motivation for writing. So, I’ll ask you the same questions I ask them. Maybe they will cause you to think about your own motivation. Would you keep writing if you knew you’d never make a dollar with your music? Is your motivation solely based on money, or would you keep writing for other reasons even if it never paid off? Could lack of publisher interest make you give up? Do you really want to give them that much power? Does the size of the potential audience for your music factor into your decision to write? 

If you play your songs for someone you love and they love it, is that as satisfying as 60,000 people you don’t know hearing it at a concert? If a few people ever hear your songs, does that make them less valuable or meaningful in your life? Is your interest in writing affected by how hard or easy it is to get a song cut? If it’s hard, do you just quit, or do you work harder? So, I ask you, “Who can stop you from writing songs?”
 
The answer I’d like to suggest is that there is only 1 person in the world who can stop you. Look in the mirror and you’ll see their pretty face. If you want to write songs – if writing songs feeds your soul – if you will keep writing songs no matter what comes your way, then you are on the road to a happy fulfilling songwriting journey. It’s all about a healthy songwriter’s mindset. Success in the music business generally comes to those who are on that journey, not those who are chasing money, or fame or an easy career. This industry might be the only one – as far as I can think – that your best business strategy would be not worrying about the business aspect of it! As ridiculous as it sounds, it is true. Being a songwriter is not about business, but it is about the nature of music and the love of writing. If you do it right, the people who are in charge of taking care of business side of it will notice you and they will turn your love for music into bread and butter. But this is not something that you need to be worried about. What you have to focus on, is to write the best songs you can possibly imagine and not to hide those songs in your computer. You should create and create and create and keep your creations presentable. Money, fame and whatever else you can associate with songwriting will come naturally but if they are your motivations and songwriting is just a tool for you to achieve those motivations, the bad news here is that your chances for getting successful will be really thin!

Author

Hangi Tavakoli is our in-house established and professional music producer with more than 18 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.