Songwriting As A Livelihood

Songwriting As A Livelihood

Many people I’ve talked with have a somewhat romanticized notion of writing songs, hearing them on radio or in a movie, and watching the money roll in.  If you are one of those folks, or even if you have less lofty ideas for making money as a songwriter, please let me offer a few observations which might be useful for you.

First and foremost be aware that the business of songwriting has changed dramatically in the last decade, and it continues to change and evolve constantly.  And yes, I said business, because the money side of songwriting is business.  The advent of digital music and streaming services have radically changed the potential cash flow for a songwriter, slashing the revenue return even for hit writers.  I won’t detail it here, but please do your homework, and learn what the true potentials are.

As in any business, it takes a while to become established, learn the ropes, and begin to see some return.  My advice is be sure you have, or can create, a reliable source of revenue to support yourself before relying on income from songwriting.  I’ve seen many, many disillusioned songwriters come and go in Nashville because they were unable to support themselves by writing.

To be successful as a business you must spend money. The days of walking into a publishing house and having them welcome you with open arms and pay all your demo costs have long since passed, with very rare exceptions.  Ditto landing a paid staff job with a publisher.  So, this means you must be prepared to invest your own resources in producing demos, buying equipment, paying for materials, networking and many other things.  The cost of quality full production demos in Nashville runs about $700 to over $1000, and sometimes considerably more for extras.  Radio ready masters are even more.

Know that getting a song contract signed with a publisher doesn’t guarantee that your song will ever be recorded, or that you will receive income from it.  And if you do, remember publishers don’t work for nothing.  A typical publisher will have hundreds, or thousands of songs in their catalogs at any given time.  They make money on their share of royalties from songs they get recorded, so you are facing a lot of internal competition to even have your song presented to an artist representative.  Make sure you understand any contract you sign, and preferably get an experienced entertainment attorney to review it prior to signing it (another expense from your pocket).

One last thing:  Beware of sharks in the waters of the music business.  It is, and always has been, a pretty tough environment.  Move carefully, get good advice, check references, and use common sense to avoid common, and not so common pitfalls.

It’s not all gloom and doom out there.  It is possible to make it, and some do.  But the numbers are far smaller than in the past.  Also, there are many other kinds of revenue sources you can explore, such as film, tv, and advertising licensing.  Again, the competition for these opportunities is fierce.  If you are a singer/songwriter you have the possibility of making money performing and selling merchandise at your shows. 

I have just scratched the surface on this subject, but I sincerely hope this information can help you on your songwriting journey.

Best wishes for success!

THREE CHORD TRAPS

THREE CHORD TRAPS

Most songwriters I know, including myself, occasionally experience being in a writing pattern where everything sounds very similar, or is written in a style that seems stale.  It is a very annoying and frustrating place to be.  What to do about it?

One of the main culprits which causes this is often the instrument the writer uses to write with.  I call it the “Three Chord Trap”.  It is especially common with new writers and those who are new to playing an instrument.   Writers with years of experience sometimes fall into it, too.  An old maxim in country music is that all you need is “three chords and the truth” to write a good song.  While there is a lot to support this idea, sometimes those three chords lead us down a path that results in very stale feeling or sounding songs.

There are many successful writers who write only lyrics and rely on someone else to add melody and arrangement.  But there are far more who write with a guitar, keyboard or other instruments.  Most of these folks write melodies to go with their lyrics and are the most susceptible to the Three Chord Trap.

A very successful songwriter friend of mine started his career without any ability to play an instrument.  His technique is to write a lyric and then sing and record every possible melody for it he could think of.  He would then pick the best, and work with a musician/arranger to fine tune it.  He wrote a number of songs this way that became huge worldwide pop hits for a female artist.  I sometimes use this technique to help pull myself out of a rut (still waiting on that worldwide hit, though…).

A big culprit in writer’s rut is the instrument we write with.  It is very easy to fall into a comfortable pattern of chords on guitar or piano, and fit lyrics into that pattern.  This often causes each song to have a similar sound.  Another way to get out of this, in addition to occasionally not using an instrument, is to try writing with a different instrument if you can.  My main instrument is standard six string guitar, but I sometimes write with a bass guitar, a resonator slide guitar, a mandolin, banjo, or a ukulele.  I’ve even written with a steel guitar, and a cigar box guitar.  Invariably, the change of instrument will lead me to a different musical idea for a song.

One last tool to get past a rut is to write in a different genre than you are used to.  If you write country songs, try writing blues.  If you write pop songs, try writing country.  You get the idea.

All these ideas are ways to force yourself out of your comfort zone and allow you to jump start your creativity.  There are many others, indeed there are whole books which address techniques for improving creativity.  A last piece of advice, if you want to improve as a writer, is to write.  Write a lot.  Analyze and learn from your work, and don’t be afraid to step over those ruts.

WHERE DO GREAT SONGWRITERS COME FROM?

An associate I work with in music production made the comment recently that “anyone can put words on paper to make a song”.  This led to some discussion, and I asked him if he had ever written a song.  He had not, but next time we had a session he produced a couple of songs he had written and asked me what I thought of them.

While I gave him credit for his effort, I had to point out the many flaws in what he wrote.  His work was full of the mistakes and clichés that plague new writers.  We discussed what was needed to correct them and to improve on his effort, and he is still working on doing that.

Many people believe, as my friend did, that they could easily write the next hit song if they wanted to.  After all, they think, it can’t be hard to put words on a page, throw in a rhyme or two, set it to a three-chord melody and send it to their favorite artist.  Indeed, sometimes we hear songs that do sound like they were thrown together as afterthoughts.  But those are exceptions.

The really great songs are almost always written by writers who have not only talent, but significant training and honed craftsmanship from long study and experience to develop their skill.  Great writers are seldom, if ever, simply born.    

One of my all-time favorite writers was Guy Clark.  I have recommended to many budding writers that they study his music, and how his songs are constructed.  Another great writer I admire is Alan Shamblin.  His work ranges from the hit by Bonnie Raitt “I Can’t Make You Love Me” to Miranda Lambert’s “House That Built Me”.  Alan is also a master of the art of co-writing, as shown with both these songs.  There are many other examples.  The common thread among all of them is they have worked very hard to get where they are.

The art and craft of songwriting is something every writer continues to study and learn.  The really great ones never stop learning, and practicing.  There is a lot of value in the old adage of “if you want to learn to write, write”.  I would add to that “never stop studying”.

If you are a songwriter, or want to be, I recommend that you seriously study the most successful writers and learn as much as you can about the craft.  And, above all, write.  It is the only way to get better at it.  I wish you great success if you choose to follow this path.

WHAT IS “YOUR SONG”?

What is “your song”?  Or, you and your loved one’s favorite song?  That one song that captures a moment in time that takes you back as vividly as the time, and circumstances, when it implanted itself in your awareness.  Everyone has one.  What’s yours?

For my wife and me that song is “Wonderful World”, by Louis Armstrong.  It’s been recorded by many others, but for us, that is the one. 

I’ve analyzed it a lot, to understand why it seems so powerful to us.  It seemed to define many important moments in our time together, and to be playing somewhere every time we were on a date.  We heard it the night I proposed to her.  It seemed to just weave itself in and around what we were doing at that particular time in our lives.

Why?  Consider the lyrics:

           I see trees of green, red roses too

I see them bloom for me and you

And I think to myself what a wonderful world

I see skies of blue and clouds of white

The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night

And I think to myself what a wonderful world

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky

Are also on the faces of people going by

I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do

They're really saying I love you

I hear babies crying, I watch them grow

They'll learn much more than I'll never know

And I think to myself what a wonderful world

Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world

(Written by George David Weiss, Robert Thiele • Copyright © Carlin America Inc, BMG Rights Management US, LLC, Imagem Music Inc)

What a beautiful, positive message those lyrics have.  It’s a love song, but it’s also a Technicolor palette of images we can all relate to.  Coupled with the beautiful music, and unforgettable Louis Armstrong voice and arrangement, it has stood a long test of time. 

I will still stop what I am doing, and simply listen, and be carried away by the magic of this song.  As a songwriter, I hope that someday I might write a song of that enduring quality, to earn a place as a cherished memory in the lives of others.  I think that would be the true test of musical artistry.

A GREAT SONG IS A GREAT SONG

I visited the Museum of Appalachia near Knoxville a while back.  They have a great collection of traditional instruments and lots of memorabilia about artists native to the area.

One of the displays details Red Stewart, a popular singer and songwriter in the 1940's.  His experience is a good lesson for songwriters today.

He and another artist of the time, PeeWee King, were traveling from a show in Kentucky about 1947, where PeeWee had performed a song called the Kentucky Waltz at a show.  While driving along, PeeWee remarked to Red that there ought to be a Tennessee Waltz, too.  So Red wrote it, with some assistance from PeeWee.

Red offered the song to a Grand Ole Opry artist named Cowboy Copas for the total sum of $25.  Copas declined the offer.  Red sang it on a radio station in 1948, then it was recorded by several other artists.  None of the recordings had any success.

Eventually, Patti Page recorded the song to complete an album.  It was released as a single in 1950, and sold 5 million copies.  It was the most popular song in the country for about 6 months.  According to the museum display, as of a few years ago the song had sold over 65 million copies worldwide, and climbing.  It is still being recorded by traditional artists, and still getting radio play.

In present day there are many other examples of songs just needing to find the right circumstances.  "Bless The Broken Road" had been around, and recorded by several artists, for 7 years before Rascal Flatts made it a huge hit.  "The House That Built Me", a Grammy winner and career song for Miranda Lambert this year, was written around about 11 years ago. 

I am always amazed by stories like this.  They affirm my belief that a truly great song will eventually find its path and realize the success it deserves. It encourages me to take a long term view of songwriting.

Keep writing the best songs you can, and maybe one of them will turn into another "Tennessee Waltz"!

Writers' Night Follies

One of the things I really like about Nashville is the writers' nights all over town.  You can find one any night of the week and there are always new ones starting up.  Here, gentle reader, from a writers’ night veteran, are a few observations about writers’ performances, some of the things they do, and an occasional suggestion for anyone who cares.

“I WROTE THIS HERE SONG, AND IT GOES SOMETHING LIKE THIS…” Well, of course it goes like that! He or she wrote it, didn’t they?  They should know exactly how it goes! This line is so hackneyed it’s painful.

“YAK YAK YAK, BLAH BLAH BLAH…” Telling the audience your life history before each song is not a way to gain fans.  Unless you are Jeffery Steele or Craig Wiseman, people don’t really care to know how you got there, all of life’s pitfalls you have endured, or all the minor details of why you wrote the song.  There is some old advice that really applies here: “SHUT UP AND PLAY!”

“I WROTE THIS SONG WITH JOE BLOW 30 YEARS AGO…” First off, no one cares.  Secondly, if you don’t have anything newer, you probably aren’t working at it much.  Third, see above!

“I HAD A REQUEST, BUT I’M GONNA PLAY ANYWAY…” Tired jokes are just that: Tired!  If you don’t have something creative and truly funny to say, then don’t.  See item 2 above.

“I CAN’T REALLY SING OR PLAY, BUT I’M GONNA ANYWAY…” This is like telling the audience you are a rank amateur, but your ego is so big you’re going to make them listen to you in spite of it!  Never, never set yourself up this way.  The audience will surely find reason to believe you!

“I JUST WROTE THIS SONG SITTING AT THE BAR, SO HERE GOES…” This is another way of telling the audience you are an amateur and setting yourself up for criticism.  If you just wrote it 2 hours ago, or two days ago, keep it to yourself.  It doesn’t matter at all to the audience when you wrote it.  They just want to hear a good song.

“I AIN’T PLAYED THIS IN A LONG TIME, HOPE I REMEMBER IT…” If you don’t think you remember it, don’t play it!  And don’t stop in the middle of your song to think about it, then start all over again.  This is highly annoying to the audience, and marks you as an amateur.

“I JUST PUT ON NEW STRINGS, AND THE DANG THINGS WON’T STAY IN TUNE…” Duh!  Never, repeat never, put on new strings just before a gig!  There is nothing more irritating to an audience than listening to you spend half your time tuning, unless its listening to you play out of tune.

I’m sure you can think of others to add to this list.  Feel free to comment with any observations you have!

10,000 Hours

10,000 Hours

It was interesting to see a number of new interactive music programs for learning guitar and other instruments at the summer NAMM show. The "Guitar Hero" craze has fueled more interest in guitar than anything since the Beatles.

The programs on the market today are far better than what was available in the past. Plus, there are all kinds of instructional materials available through YouTube and other commercial resources. Its a great time to be a budding guitarist.

Guitar Hero and Rock Band games have sold more than $3.2 billion since their release. Thats a lot of pretend players. But research indicates most people who play those games don't really have an interest in learning the instrument. The fun comes in pretending. It takes way too much patience to learn the instrument for most.

How much patience does it take to become a true master of the instrument? In the book "Outliers", the author makes a case for it taking 10,000 hours to be the most successful at a particular endeavor. He cites Bill Gates, the Beatles and others who basically invested 10,000 hours,or more, in honing their skill before they reached the top of their field. I believe this is an accurate picture of success that applies to musicians as well as many other things.

Study musicians like Yo-Yo Ma, Van Cliburn, Andres Segovia, Chet Atkins and other highly successful musicians and you will no doubt find they spent thousands of hours practicing before they became the best at their instrument.

I doubt that some of the revered rock players of today are at that level, but they have certainly invested a lot of time to become as adept as they are. Bottom line is the average person is just not willing to invest the time and patience it takes to become even moderately adept at guitar. Many people have learned, after buying a guitar, that it wasn't as easy as it appears. The guitar winds up gathering dust in the closet.

The point of all this is that if a person truly wants to learn, and has the patience and motivation, there are many great aids available now to speed up the process. But none of them will take the place of good, old fashioned practice. In the end it comes down to investing your time. The more you are willing to invest, the greater will be the return in improved skill. The learning curve also shortens greatly by working one on one with a teacher, and playing with other musicians.

Very, very few of us will ever invest 10,000 hours in mastering our instrument. But you will be surprised at how far even one hour practice each day can take you. If you are patient, you can develop a truly enjoyable skill.