When it comes to pursuing a career in songwriting, there is very little room for songwriters to indulge in stereotypical “artistic” behavior. The reality is that flighty, irresponsible and disorganized creative geniuses rarely have any significant commercial success. Being organized yields measurable benefits above and beyond the obvious ability to find a pair of matching
Read More »
While there isn’t an official songwriting rulebook, there are quite a few tried and true songwriting conventions that over time have essentially become rules. In almost all instances, these “rules” are there because they tend to make songs more commercial or catchy or both. That being said, breaking these rules can be a very effective
Read More »
When I think about the mental state of my younger songwriting self, I see a mixture of bravery, idealism and a healthy dose of misinformation. While I wouldn’t trade any of my experiences, it might have been nice to receive a friendly warning or two along the way about the realities of my chosen profession.
Read More »
When I first started writing songs, I was inspired and fearless. I was so deeply immersed in my creative process that I didn’t give any real thought as to how the rest of the world felt about what I was doing. However, when I decided to start thinking of songwriting as a potential career, I
Read More »
Having spent more than two decades as a songwriter and musician, I’ve collected some wonderfully distilled pieces of wisdom from friends and music industry luminaries. Here are a bunch of my favorites that I find myself using/referring to often. 1. “They don’t call it the music ‘friend’ or the music ‘nice.’” – Kate Wallace I
Read More »
“Everyone has a plan ’till they get punched in the mouth.” – Mike Tyson In my years as a songwriter, I’ve found it’s not a matter of “if” but “when” you’re going to hit a rough patch. The key, in my experience, is not trying to avoid these tough times but, rather, to learn to
Read More »
Ever wonder how pop stars keep it all together while still staying creative? Singer/Songwriter, Lisa Loeb, has graciously agreed to give us some insight into her approach. Introduction I made a brief list of a few things I’ve come up with that help me balance my life to include creativity and songwriting. Above all, I try to
Read More »
I thought I’d start this article with an analogy. Verses are to a song as vegetables are to a meal. And, just as we should all eat our vegetables, we should make sure our songs have interesting, well-balanced verses. To that end, I’ve put down a few things to keep in mind if you’d like
Read More »
So often as songwriters we hold the publishing deal out there as some kind of holy grail. I understand the mindset as so much of our work is solitary and the kind of industry acknowledgement that a publishing deal represents can be a very tempting proposition. In fact, signing with a publisher is a business
Read More »
For songwriters who don’t have the luxury of living in a music industry town like New York, Nashville or Los Angeles, music conferences are an exceptional way of concentrating your education and networking efforts into a much shorter time frame. The key is to maximize your preparation so that long before you actually arrive in
Read More »
First of all, I want to congratulate you for taking a big step forward in your career as a songwriter. If you’re considering submitting one (or several) of your songs for a music business opportunity, then you’ve gone to the next level beyond just writing songs and hoping the world will come to you. This
Read More »
I thought I’d address some common misconceptions about life as a songwriter that tend to either slow down our progress or discourage us unnecessarily. The more educated you become about the mostly unwritten rules of the music industry, the less often you’ll be misguided and the better prepared you’ll be to make the slow and
Read More »