John Moxey On Songwriting and Music

Today's Independent Musician - Building A Team

2011-10-06T04:42:00.000-07:00

Teamwork For Songwriters And Musicians

Musicians working together goes way beyond just being in a band. What many musicians are not aware of is just how much strength lies within working together with other musicians, bands, songwriters, and other music professionals towards common goals.

Think about it.

One major thing that large record labels and publishers have over independent bands is their ability to draw together a team of people all working towards a focused goal, synchronised to a schedule. That is where a major part of their costs lie. People. Their money pays for lots of people.

You Do Not Need To Go It Alone

Individual musicians, or even bands, are but a speck in the music universe. The internet may have provided you with the ability to get your music to untold millions, unfortunately the number of bands and artists who are using those tools to reach fans has gone through the roof. Take a look around MySpace, Twitter or Facebook and the number of bands out there is staggering.

With top music industry commentators and music industry insiders now actively recommending bands to do it themselves, not go looking for record contracts etc, there are many professional level bands competing for the attention of fans on the internet. Only the best and most clued up get anywhere. This is your competition.

The simple fact is that with so many bands trying to get attention it is becoming harder and harder to get fans to hear your music. There are several ways to do this but doing it on your own reduces your chances greatly.

Being a speck is all well and good but when you dream of being something more, why not maximise your chances?

I would go into explaining the benefits of a team but seriously, I think everyone understands that a properly coordinated team can achieve great things. The problem within the music business is that too many make a stand on their own (as an artist - band or individual). Each artist is an island, fighting over getting fans. In addition too many bands stumble along with absolutely no plan, no direction. Planning tends to be limited to "getting some gigs" and the occasional push towards something more out of their comfort zone.

The thing is, if the same old thing is not working... why keep doing it?

Time To Try Something New

There is no super secret. Collaborating with other writers, musicians and producers is common place within the music industry. What we are talking about is working collectively towards common goals. Using strength of numbers as well as harnessing the skills of individuals within that collective. A cooperative group.

So why not apply this mechanism towards your marketing and promotion, graphics, video editing, mixing, mastering, session work and more. They are all easy skills to trade.

Mechanisms to help manage such groups vary to help ensure all group members get treated fairly, including any financial implications. You could for example work on a credit based system, or indeed a financial system, quid pro quo or completely loose and informal. It's up to you what arrangement works best for you. The overhead in setting it up depends on which you choose but it doesn't need to take a lot of effort.

Often what works best is some form of credit system combined with a basic tracking of what is done and by who. Neither takes much to put in place. A set of rates, a credit usage speadsheet, a task spreadsheet and an action spreadsheet are all that is essential.

The whole point in doing this is to save you time and effort, to allow you to play to your strengths, and to allow you to trade those strengths with others. A small investment of time will allow you to do that and give you a net gain in what you achieve.

A Quick Example: Promotion Trade

Lets just look at the promotion side as a simple example. As an individual there is only so much you can do in terms of promotion tasks, either online or within the real world.

How many web sites are you active on? How long has it taken to grow friends or fans on those websites? How long has it taken to get to know those people?

So why not work with some other individuals or bands? Those bands would perhaps love to get their music exposed on those networks, and likewise you might want to get your music exposed to people on websites those individuals and bands hang around on. In a matter of moments you could multiply your web footprint, the amount of reach you have (the number of people who you can touch).

A Second Example: Skills Trade

You have an agreement with 16 individuals to work as a team. You plan to release a new album, perhaps graphics and video work has been carried out by or via the team, in exchange you have carried out some session work and carried out a small amount of song promotion. In addition over the last few months you have helped promote some of the others in the network. Sometimes this was within the forums and social networks you are a member of. Sometimes by following exact promotion instructions detailed by other members in the team and once by sticking up some some posters in your neighbourhood. All this has gained you creit with the team.

Now your release is ready to roll. You have a promotion plan to help get the message out there quickly. The peak of traffic as people are exposed to your music will help push you up the download charts, which in turn exposes your music to a higher number of people. You prepare the team members to be ready. They have links and promotional materials. They know where and how they will promote.

On the release date you call in your promotional credit. 16 people are available to promote on that date and for 7 days after that, Perhaps only 30 minutes each on each day. So each day 8 hours of dedicated work is collectively carried out on your behalf, reaching people you wouldn't have otherwise reached

A Third Example: Collaborative Products

You meet and form a team with a graphics artist, a video producer and a music marketer. None of them are currently known for their work, but they are all talented individuals trying to make a name for themselves.

Each want to be noticed. As a team each member can benefit by working together.

The graphics artist does an album cover, logo etc for an album he knows will be promoted.

The video producer is at college and needs a video to submitted as acredited work. That video needs music. In producing that video together (they do the video and editing and you supply the music) you both get what you want.

The music marketer has a quality product she can promote, plus a team she can direct to carry out specific tasks.

You get graphics for your album a video and a professionally designed marketing campaign all in exchange for those individuals being named as part of the team.

The team members get to add it to their work history / achievements which in turn gets them some paid work.

Building Your Team

It may take some time to find the right people with the right attitude. Part of the time to find them may simply be learning where to look. Time and determination will get you there.

What Sort Of People Should Be In My Team?

Ideally you want your team to be:

motivated
skilled/talented
prepared to work hard
prepared to learn
reliable
friendly
prepared to work for nothing or at cost

Resources

Look to local art and music schools and colleges to provide potential team members. Students tend to be cutting edge, have low overheads and have access to quality tools. They also want experience!

Visit this Music Industry Community now to help you get started with finding some potential team members. Songstuff has thousands of members with many willing to collaborate. Most have valuable creative and business skills they may be willing to trade.

Conclusions

When it comes to your music career it doesn't take much imagination to see how useful teamwork can be. It doesn't need a lot of effort to set up, and your ongoing contribution will either educate you or be built on your strengths and easy to do. Financially it doesn't need to cost you a cent.

The only real risk with this is the time you spend on tasks for other team members in a trade. When working in a collaboration there isn't a huge risk at all, assuming you have high standards when selecting team members.

This is a solution for bands and individuals that can work with both the real world and the internet. As a strategy it can allow you to achieve far more than you could otherwise achieve, allow you to work faster, cover more ground, and more intensely.

Why Is My Band Not Famous Yet?

2011-08-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

"Why is my band not famous yet?" Have you ever asked yourself that question? It's a common enough question between band members where their band has been around for a year or two and they still haven't got anywhere.

I was thinking about the different kinds of approaches to being successful I see from bands and how those approaches impact their success. Not for the first time I looked at a number of successful bands at different staes in their career and compared their activities with unsuccessful bands and my observations of many bands through the years.

Are You Serious About Your Music Career?

Do you stumble along playing gigs and looking good, waiting for the right place right time or situation to find you and change your life? Or wait until someone hires you? Wait for a band or promoter to contact you about performing, or maybe wait until you see a band that you could work with when you just happen to be out at a bar?

Or perhaps you work at your music career with as much dedication and dependability as you would any other job? Do you try to come over as a professional musician? A professional recording engineer, producer, band, band manager?

The essential question is:

Do you make it happen?

Approaches To Band Business

In a business sense there are 5 typical categories of approach taken by bands overall. Bands can move between categories given the right circumstances, but few bands intentionally change their approach and follow through on it:

Bands who claim "it's about the music" and refuse to do anything really "career development" related
Bands who wait for success to be handed to them on a plate.
Bands who would work, if only they knew what to do next.
Bands who do work, but have no big picture giving their actions direction
Bands who work hard, know where they are going and how to get there.

Unsurprisingly, bands with little interest career related who believe it is all about the music and bands who wait for success to be handed to them on a plate represent the largest groupings of bands, and the smallest rate of success.

For bands who, career wise, wait for success to find them it purely comes down to luck, and the odds are not good.

Bands who would work if only they knew what to do next is still a fairly large group. At least they have potential to move to forwards towards something more meaningful, but too many get stuck hiding behind the "if only" excuse. In that circumstance they often slip back towards doing nothing meaningful at all, waiting for success to find them, as they realise much of their effort has gone to waste as it lacked direction. Don't get too hung up on this, the fact is that bands in that have the smarts to at least understand that they should be doing something at least have a chance to help themselves.

It will come as no surprise that bands that know what to do, when to do it with a clear direction in mind and who are prepared to work hard is by far the smallest group. This group has a far higher success rate within the music industry AND in the alternative scene.

Taking Your Music Career Seriously

If someone tells you there is an easy way, they are lying to you.

If someone says that it is guarranteed they are lying to you.

There are tools that can help your chances, but they are only that. Tools.

You'll notice that I use the term work quite a bit. The reason is that it takes a lot of effort to do what is required.

You need to be organised to take on the music industry. Without organisation you simply tread water, and as you know with treading water it buys you time but gets you absolutely nowhere.

Band managers are a possibility, but if you take one thing from this blog post, don't wait for anything. There is no "easy way". If a good manager comes along, and they bring good value to you, then great, but don't wait for them to find you before you start planning (yes I really do mean plannning) and organizing exactly how your band is going to progress.

Smaller bands do not need a manager. They may be nice to have, but you will serve yourself far better in understanding the music industry and how it works if you learn to manage your own band first.

This means learning about some very unglamorous topics, hours spent working on tasks for your band when you could be playing your instrument or partying.

How Are Bands Organized?

Most bands are driven by only one or two individuals. These are the people that arrange rehearsals, find gigs, get things fixed and generally come up with most of the band's promotion ideas. Often these are the ones that also come up with most of the songwriting ideas too. Many band members are quite happy that they are not doing these tasks and someone else has the hassle. After all they might get lucky, right?

Even where bands are ruled by votes, and everyone contributes to the writing of the songs there are issues with members carrying their weight.

The fact is that all the band should be pulling together. That might mean that an individual leads the way, but all should be involved in planning, buying into what should be done. Every member, no matter their level of musicianship should take part. Every member should learn about the business.

Why Do All Band Members Need To Work On the Business Of Music?

Lets try and underline this. Your band is competing with millions and millions of other bands. Hundreds of would be startlets posting on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and YouTube. There is no easy way. If you are going to stand out from the noise of all those other bands, you need every single advantage you can get. You need the advantage of pulling together in the same direction.

After the stage of standing out from the seething masses, at that point you are in competition with other bands who also relatively have their act together. To stand out from them you really will need to know what you are doing. To stop your band imploding or ripping itself apart you definitely need to be bought into what you are doing and where you are going.

Recommended Resources

I recommend the following top music resources:

Experience And Advice

If you are looking to talk to other bands, or music industry professionals of many kinds, then you will get some from professional bodies of various kinds on different aspects of your career. you also need access to a quality community of musicians with a broad range of experience where you can get the chance to discuss your career, gain the knowledge of your peers and seasoned pro's alike.

Don't wait. Make it happen!

Visit The Songstuff Songwriting and Music Community Forums right now and take a step towards the lights.

5 Tips To Become A Successful Band

2011-08-07T11:15:00.000-07:00

Here are 5 tips to become a successful band. There are many pathways to success but the following tips will substantially improve your chances of achieving success as a band.

5 Tips To Become A Successful Band

1. Follow Success

Rehearse and record where local signed and successful bands rehearse and record.

Look at what the successful bands do in terms of promo, venues they play etc, and do something similar, play the same venues etc. Don't exactly copy the idea, just the actions.

It is a great idea to get to know local bands. It gives you a great opportunity to benefit from each other's experience and contacts.

For example: A band has a gig in a new area and they have a very successful marketing effort, resulting in a gig with a sell out attendance.

Get the answers to these questions:

What was the quality of the leaflet? (design, paper etc.)
Where were the leaflets dispersed? What streets, times etc?
How many leaflets?
How long before the gig did they distribute the leaflets?
Where is the gig?
What day is the gig on?
What else did the band do to promote the gig?
Where and when before this has the band played "near" this gig?
Do they have any contacts they could / would pass on? Give you an introduction to?

Gathering this sort of knowledge from bands you know, meet etc can be highly valuable. Make sure you ask the right questions and note down the answers. It's definitely worth your while.

2. Get Smart

Educate yourself on standard music industry processes, procedures and organizations. You can get a lot of help and support, source funding etc plus gain understanding of contracts and how the various music industry businesses interact.

When it comes to negotiating contracts this sort of info and understanding is invaluable.

Gather intelligence on your local and national scene. Knowing the key venues in not only your local area is not enough. Get to know the key venues in the main cities you would like to play in. Where are new bands breaking on the scene? Where do the A&R men go? The tastemakers and song pluggers? Music press? Local celebrities and bands? Where do they all go to see new and exciting bands?

3. Network

Networking and cultivating local and genre specific music industry contacts can make a huge difference. Learn to Schmooz.

Who are the important people? Local DJ's and radio program controllers, music journalists, band managers, promoters, agents, music lawyers, indie labels... even music gear manufacturers!

Get to know them! Go to gigs, parties and events where you can mix with these people.

Networking brings not only contacts but opportunities. Opportunities that you otherwise would miss out on. So make sure you network!

4. Build A Mailing List

Keep in contact with your fans, give them the news about your band directly. this is your best chance to have an active fan base and to minimise the impact of illegal downloads on your recording based income.

Build your list online, and by getting people to sign up at your gigs. I would recommend that at gigs there is an extended band member (manager, roadie etc) who will man a "stall" with info about the band, any merch, and getting people to sign up to your mailing list with their email addresses. Ideally whoever is manning the stall should have internet access and be directly able to add the email address to your database.

5. Build An Online AND Offline Presence

It doesn't need to be either / or. Build both!

Make your efforts pay off in both worlds. For example using your online mailing list to get fans to a gig, but video the gig and then post it or parts of it up on the web. For example, 1 song is available to the general public, but for members of the mailing list they perhaps get to see the whole (edited) video.

Build a website for your band. Include music, videos, images, news, special offers to site members etc. Use social networking, forums, blogs to get breadth and then focus on a few to build some depth. Consider hiring an online music promotion servce to help promote your band.

If you are a bedroom musician obviously the internet offers the more obvious option, but you should perhaps think about what you can do in a real world sense, even if that is playing acoutic or unplugged gigs. Videos of these can be a nice bonus for fan club members, and they can raise awareness of your music on a more local basis.

Following The 5 Tips To Become A Successful Band

It doesn't take much to write out, but it takes dedication, hardwork, creativity and time to apply all of the above tips. That is why bands have helpers!

Resources I recommend to help you become a successful band are:

Music Industry / Music Business Info
Music Industry Community

Nothing can guarrantee success but rest assured that your chances of success will increasingly improve if you apply all 5 Tips To Become A Successful Band

Recording Using Ubuntu

2011-07-29T06:59:00.000-07:00

You know I am into my recording, right? :)

One of my friends Mahesh, an excellent singer and songwriter, has started a blog all about creating music.

He's just posted an excellent introduction to Recording In Ubuntu.

For those unfamiliar with Ubuntu, it is a popular Debian based operating system.

It's a new blog, but I think it will be well worth subscribing.

5 Critical Elements Of Your Band Bio

2011-07-16T09:38:00.001-07:00

One of the fundamentals of the modern band and band web site is the Band Bio. Many bands struggle to write an effective bio.

With a little thought and by paying attention to the following guidelines your bio will stand out by it's quality alone.

5 Critical Elements Of Your Band Bio

1. Who Are You?

The most important elements to include are fundamental to any bio. You should include:

Your band name

Your location

Your contact information

A description of your music

Your influences

First impressions really, really count. Your bio is often the first impression that people get of your band. Simply put, the first paragraph of your bio is very important.

Your first paragraph has to grab attention and hold it. It has to be interesting, informative and engaging.

Don't make huge unfounded claims about how fantastic you are, that sort of bio text does not give a good impression. In fact unrealistic or fantastic claims actually work against you as people often read it as "unrealistic". Far better to tell them the facts in an interesting way and let them be impressed by that.

2. What is your Band Doing Currently?

You should also include some info on your current band activities. For example do you have a planned tour or are you touring just now? Are you releasing a new album? Or busy recording songs towards a new album? Are you writing new material? You get the idea.

3. Background

If you include any other background information, make sure that it is relevant.

One of the most common mistakes is to include information along the lines of “Rick has been playing violin since he was 4 years old. At 7 he began learning the guitar and performed his first gig at only 9 years old. At 10..."

Uggh.....

Industry pros will just toss your bio in the trash as soon as they stop yawning.

By all means include something about your relevant musical history but be brief, keep it interesting and present it in a way that it doesn't simply become a list!

4. Highlights and Achievements

You definitely want to list your successes. You may have had your music played on the radio, have collaborated with a musician or music producer, won a battle of the bands or similar competition.

Make sure that the most attention grabbing, flattering story about your band is featured in your bio!

5. Your Band in the Press and Media

You can include press quotes in other parts of your bio, for example to help describe your band sound, or the power of your performances, but you should try and include at least one press clip in your bio.

General Band Bio Tips

Apart from the critical elements of your bio mentioned above there are some more general things that you should be aware of:

No Typos

If you think that a typo or two would not count against you, think again. A simple rule: NO TYPOS (now that I have mentioned that, I bet someone finds some in this post!)

Honesty

Under no circumstances make up things to enhance your bio. It will be found out, and when it is the consequences are simply that professionals will not work with you and your reputation can quickly be ruined.

I'll say that again, don't make stuff up!

Create More Than One Version of Your Band Bio

You should make several versions of your bio so that it suits the purpose and needs of the moment. You should create the following versions:

Elevator Pitch - Be able to describe your music in 30 seconds, i.e. only a couple of sentences.
Short Bio - 1 paragraph
Medium Bio- 3 paragraphs
Long Bio - 1 full page

The various media outlets, festivals and conferences all have different requirements. Being prepared with different versions to hand means that you can react quickly to opportunities with a minimum of stress. Writing on spec when you are presented with an opportunity will lead to sub-standard pitches, which will do you absolutely no favors.

Images

If you include any images alongside your band bio, make sure they fit well with your band image and they are of a good quality. Images help to break up the text a bit. You do not need lots. One, possibly two, will do as you will have some form of folio in your press kit or website (I hope). Images can also bring a distinctive quality to a bio, so make sure it stands out for all the right reasons!

Keep Your Band Bio Up-to-date!

When you achieve something more, get featured, play a huge gig etc make sure that you add it to your band bio

Useful Related Links

Electronic Press Kits

Songstuff Music Industry Articles

Songstuff Music Business Brief

Conclusion

It really doesn't take much effort to put together a good Band Bio and it is well worth the time to make it as good a quality as you can.

What To Do Before Posting Your Songs On The Internet

2011-07-01T04:40:00.000-07:00

There are millions and millions of songs posted on the internet by aspiring artists that have failed to take the simplest steps BEFORE posting their song.

So what do you need to do?

3 simple steps to protect your rights, and any income from your music.

Step 1: Register Your Songs With The US Copyright Office and National Libraries

If you are not living in the United States, this section STILL APPLIES TO YOU. As soon as you put your music on the internet in any form they will be crossing copyright regions into the United States as soon as a US visitor plays or downloads your song.

If you plan to sell your songs registration with the US Copyright Office is absolutely essential.

The US Copyright Office is part of the US government. They maintain a database of songs with copyright claims of ownership on a certain date. It's cheap at about $35 per submission. Submissions don't need to be a solitary song, you can submit an album worth of material and the cost will still be $35.

There is an online submission site for the US Copyright Office:

Electronic Copyright Office

For further information please visit the US Copyright Office.

Write out Lead Sheets for your songs and then submit them to your national and other important libraries. Submit your lead sheets to, for example: the British Library, Oxford & Cambridge Library, The National Libraries of Scotland and Wales, in the UK, Trinity College, Dublin; and in the USA: the U.S Copyright Office - Library Of Congress etc.

Note:

I would strongly suggest that you write out lead sheets for your songs and then submit your works to the big libraries before sending anywhere.

Step 2: Create An ISRC Code And Encode It Into Your Recording Master

An ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) unique to you and the recording and is added to your track master. It identifies the specific recording of the song as being yours. This makes the job of logging radio airplay and that makes royalty collection much easier.

The RIAA no longer supplies ISRC codes. US citizens should now apply for ISRC registrant codes to the USISRC

USISRC Website: https://usisrc.org

In the UK you should request your unique base ISRC Code from the PPL.

PPL Website. http://www.ppluk.com/

From the base ISRC code you can create an entirely unique code for each recording you intend on releasing.

For general ISRC information please visit
http://www.ifpi.org/content/section_resources/isrc.html

When you send your music (in any recorded form) to a radio station, make sure you include a TYPED PAGE containing the ISRC codes for the submitted songs.

Notes:

Radio stations do not extract ISRC codes from wav files, MP3 files, CD's or CDR's.
ISRC Codes are not embedded into the audio files on a CDR
ISRC Codes are not embedded in MP3 Files when they are converted from wav files
ISRC Codes can be included in MP3's using ID3 Tags to add information about the song name, artist, copyright etc to be embedded.

ISRC codes are not "embedded" into the actual audio files on your mastered CDR (PMCD, "Pre Mastered CD").

Sending someone a mastered CDR does not automatically provide them with your ISRC codes. You need to supply accompanying documentation.

To encode an ISRC yourself yo uwill need a redbook capable CD authoring program. Both Wavelab 7 Retail and CD Architect 5.2 are capable of doing this. Adobe Audition CS5.5 I understand no longer supports this format but they are reconsidering reintroducing it. Make sure you review the specifications before you buy a product as specifications DO change!

Step 3: Register Your Songs With A Performing Rights Society

Depending on exactly what country you are in will make a difference to which rights society you register your songs with.

To start off with you will need to register with the appropriate performing rights society , and then register your songs with them. When you register your songs you will be able to include your ISRC codes in the song registration.

Many performing rights administrators provide software to easily allow you to register your songs and edit any song information that you place in their database.

In the US ASCAP, BMI and SoundExchange in the UK PRS For Music are common collection agencies. Each country has one or more collection agencies representing songwriters and publishers. There are many more. You can find a list of collection agencies here:

Professional Bodies

Recommended Links

If you would like to talk about this article or any of the points raised please go to:

Songstuff Songwriting and Music Community

Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave a comment below!

The Power Of Song Hooks

2011-06-20T02:43:00.000-07:00

Many songwriters don't understand hooks. I have seen arguments between writers about the importance of melody versus lyrics to the extent that some claim that lyrics are not important at all while melody is king. Producers that aren't aware that production hooks exist, even though they accidentally create them! Hooks come in all shapes and forms and the more you understand what a hook is and how it works them more easily the hooks can be used in future compositions and recordings.

What Is A Song Hook?

A song hook is in essence something that grabs you and makes you want more. You can have good hooks, bad hooks, weak hooks and strong hooks. You can also have no hooks! A good, strong hook for example is something that gets your attention, something that is memorable and something that makes you want more.

Hooks can compliment each other, the sum of parts being less than the whole, and hooks can compete with each other and so dilute their strength.

Most individuals only have a vague understanding drawn from their life experience of liking and not liking but there are formulae that govern hooks (although some are more like loose guidelines). By "vague" I mean that they don't have a formal understnding of hooks. They have not been taught about them, and perhaps have not thought about them.

Genre

Genre has a large effect on the relative importance of lyrics, but the same is true for all aspects of a song. All have to be at least of a good standard and deliver on some level. What you are looking for in essence is something that supports or compliments the emotional mood the song sets, be that happy, sad, joyous or mournful.

Many writers and bands think of hooks as being the main melody but listeners factor in all kinds of things and each of these attributes and associations can be honed. Each of them can have a hook.

Lots Of Song Hook Types

Lyrics can be thought of on a multitude of levels, roughly divided into:

story / meaning
deeper meaning
evocation of emotion
rhythmic
imagery

Each of these aspects of lyrics has the possibility of being a hook. Each hook has the chance to grab a listener.

the same is true of melody:

rhythm
evocation of emotion
repetition
range / tone
variation

or a specific singer and their voice

evocation of emotion
tone
quality
image

Not a complete list by far (even for those listed) but you get the idea. All have their hooks.

The same is true for each instrument, for the arrangement and the production.

That's a lot of potential hooks.

Make The Most Of Your Song Hooks

As mentioned before, hooks are in part genre dependent and so is the emphasis that is placed upon them. Not so much that an individual types of hook stops working altogether, more that according to genre the emphasis that appears to be placed on them in that context is less. When writing songs it's the writer's job to create appropriate hooks, in the appropriate place. Some hooks work out better when used only once, most however benefit from multiple repetition. Think of chorus hooks. Melodies and key lyrical phrases are repeated to emphasise and reinforce the strength of the hook. Repetition of course helps the hook to be remembered.

A completed song may contain many types of hooks. Ideally you want those hooks to combine in a way that they compliment each other strengthening the link between the song and the listener.

Hooky Songs

Songs are sometimes decribed as "hooky" or "catchy". In the pop market hooky tends to equate to instantly catchy, whereas in other genres there is more of a leaning toward more subtle, longer acting hooks. While changing taste does account for begining to like songs that previously you didn't get, but not always. Sometime the hooks themselves are slower acting, but sometimes just as powerful as the more instantly catchy.

More instantly catchy songs also tend to age faster. Their popularity declines faster. The opposite is also true with songs that take a while to get into tending to keep their popularity longer. There is absolutely nothing stopping songwriters and arrangers from using a mix of hooks to achieve a song with more balance to it.

Lyrical Hooks

In lyrical terms more instantly catchy hooks tend to use common phrases that reflect very common ideas and aspirations. Slower acting hooks tend to be hooks with multiple levels of meaning where the levels of meaning are slowly revealed. Similarly hooks that are more abstract fit into this category. For example, one line that always stays with me is from David Bowie's "Life On Mars":

"It's on America's tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow"

It might not seem like a hook, but it is. It is memorable. It provides something you think about and chew over the meaning, yet at the same time it is an abstract and silly image. It is a strong hook yet not the main hook of the song (arguably). It isn't repeated and it is in the middle of the verse. This is because a hook can be pushed on the user by repetition or by placement or both, as in choruses, but abstract hooks don't often work as well like this because the act of pushing them cheapens them. In keeping this hook buried and not repeating it David Bowie left the listener with a long burning thing that could be chewed over and smirked at for a long time. Had it been a main line in the chorus it's appeal would have dissipated far more quickly. Luckily he was full of ideas so the song has hooks of most kinds.

In looking at many new songs across a broader range of genres there is undoubtedly a trend towards shorter term hooks, the more instantly appealing. Many songwriters on songwriting forums regularly state that lyrics are not important and point to this hit or that hit as an example, but they are simply wrong. The lyrics, either by intention or accident, in those hits were appropriate to the market they were selling to. The same is true where lyricists sometimes believe that the lyrics are the be all and end all. Breaking news, they are not.

The Whole Is Greater Than The Sum Of The Parts

Songs are a unique combination of music and words. Their strength and appeal lies completely in the phrase I used earlier "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts." At least a song has the potential to be greater than the sum of the parts! Combine the wrong parts in the wrong way and exactly the opposite can be true.

Take Control Of Your Song Hooks!

Due diligence. The songwriter's craft is in part to do exactly this. So the next time you are writing a song take some time to review the hooks in your songs. Don't rely on accidents happening.

The first step is to become aware of song hooks. Take alook over a range of hit songs from across the years. Look for the hooks. Look for how they have been used to attract attention and to keep it, and how they can create in the listener an appetite for that song. Look back over your material and see where you have used them and where you have abused them. Observation and analysis is a big part of more rapid improvement.

You will only understand song hooks and how they work together if you take some time to look at them and understand them. If you do you can place them with intention, understanding their effect. This makes for muc more effective songwriting and songs that, for the right reasons, are more memorable, more attention grabbing, that make the listeners want more.

Simple huh?

Useful Links

If you would like to discuss this or other songwriting and music related issue, please visit Songstuff, an essential resource for songwriters and musicians. Take part in the songwriting and music community and exchange ideas and views with you r fellow writers!

More next time, until then, take care!

How Do Modern Promoters Manipulate The Market?

2011-06-13T05:54:00.000-07:00

So, just how possible is it for a modern promtion company to manipulate the market to buy their product?

Well, let me tell you a little story...

Getting Started With Talent Show Promotion

Imagine your promo company started by setting up a television based talent competition with national coverage. Eventually international, but that comes later.

That automatically gets you lots and lots of promotion just by being broadcast. That is of course the tip of the iceberg. You also go for magazine articles and interviews, coverage by news programs. Fans get behind individual performers, which of course you harness in many ways. For example by setting up the ability for the fans to select the winner by voting on the phone line (which of course you earn a few milllion based on this alone), you set up a website where fans can talk about their acts. Magazines and TV magazine shows have their own chat rooms spreading the buzz too. Lets not forget the social networks. You create a Facebook page so the fans of the show and fans of the acts can interact and be kept up to date.

Sound familiar?

Onto The Next Stage

Yet again you can start releasing recordings of the winners and make a lot of money there, add in releasing recordings of final contestants and a tour of the competitors. Releasing free videos onto a YouTube channel provides some basic viral spreading content, food for the social networks.

This all sounds predictable. You know the message is going to be pushed, pushed, pushed, but at this point manipulation of the market is understandable (if in your face). Is this the extent of what you can do?

Of course not!

Creating Competition and Using It

You underline competitiveness between contestants, creating controversy, polarizing fans, creating more conversation, more buzz, more activity. This increases phone voting with fans voting for people they don't/do like with a frenzy to demonstrate for one singer, against another.

So you develop consecutive independent love hate polarized competitiveness with other acts. They all benefit too with the "Keep ******* from winning!" going strong. In fact highlight an act you would nevver want to win because that motivates the public to vote for even the worst, most terrible acts. Freak show style promotion is used.

This is ideal as there is an "anti-show" campaign running and this gets all the people who hate the show to phone in and vote for these acts to win, ensuring you make even more money!

The Competition Winner! But Wait...

This of course works right up until a winner is announced and you are faced with trying to get a Christmas number one single.

Of course you have had the biggest promo campaign in the country rolling for several months so you definitely have an advantage. You have lots and lots of fans that you can contact fairly easily through TV, radio, internet, magazines to the point you saturate the market place.

How can you squeeze even more from this?

Squeezing Out Some More Money

By underlining some acts that your act will compete with! It pulls out your fans in force to buy the song! fantastic!

So you develop a love hate polarized competition with this other act. They of course benefit too with the "Keep ******* from Christmas number 1!" going strong.

Facebook wars ensue with "make them No.1" and "keep them from No.1" campaigns dominating the network (or at least some neighbourhoods).

This is all done in a very visible way with misdirection being used to keep the target moving in regards the public being certain what is going on, or that they may in any way be being manipulated!

Chinese Bloggers

But wait! Surely there are ways to maximise even this? To make the word spread further?

Of course there is. You can, behind the scenes, hire people to set up blog profiles to blog about what is going on, people to set up facebook pages and interact on social networks. These people are professionals. They can set up multiple "character" pages. Male, female does it matter? They are after all just personas.

This collection of people heighten the excitement, add to the buzz and fuel debates, especially the love / hate campaigns and the freak show campaign. It's simple. They start a campaign, or find a small campaign that normally wouldn't have gone past 10 likes and turn it into a national campaign. It seems everyone and their dog are talking about this show and it's artists!

Surely there can't be that many people doing this though? Well in China alone there were 10 million english speaking students working in this industry and that is only one of the countries with a significant english speaking tech savvy populus.

Of course you have a huge budget, and the investment in 1 million bloggers setting up many accounts and personas really isn't that large in comparison to the return on the investment.

Feeling manipulated yet? These people are not buying records or downloads so there is no direct manipulation of the charts! Amazing isn't it?

Of course your persona bloggers are involved in both campaigns, to the extent that your promo company controls both ends (within a margin of error). No one knows! Ideal.

I mean would you feel manipulated by all this?

But I Want More Money!

But wait, you've missed an opportunity to earn money. Back at the christmas single competition... that's it.. you'll have a share in the market of the anti competition show act so that NO MATTER WHO PEOPLE VOTE FOR OR BUY, YOU WIN!

You're Rich! Richer than rich.

And you all live happily ever after. The End.

Manipulating The Market

Would you feel manipulated by this level of market control by this ficticious show? By this level and type of promotion?

Of course the only way to not be a part of it, to vote against it is not to watch, not to like on facebook, not to phone at all, and not to buy the records.

At least, this for the cynically minded is how it is possible to do such a thing and bears no resemblance to any actual shows or how they operate. This sentence is of course not added to stop someone trying to sue me but it does have that handy side effect. *whistles*

The Lesson For The Independent Musician

There is a lesson here for the less money grabbing promoter. Coordination and timing are so important. Modern campaigns run across multiple media types. Don't rely on people to form opinions based on just the music. Interact, talk to them and don't be afraid to encourage them to help you in your quest to further your career.

Where you draw the line is as much an ethical decision but lets be honest, for many it is simply a financial decision. What is outlined above is an example of what you are up against when you compete against at least some larger organizations.

When you are only interested in the beauty and integrity of your own music it is however a bit of a body blow. At least you might think that if there were great opportunities that so far yo uwere not taking advantage of correctly. More on this to come for the musicians among you.

To Sum It Up For Fans

If you are a fan and stumble across this I encourage you to forward this on so that your fellow fans can be equally well informed!

If you find this article interesting, useful, informative etc then please share it! Like it! Like my blog and please post comments :)

EQ Holes

2011-06-07T05:15:00.000-07:00

A common issue with mixing is coping with tracks where there is a frequency overlap. A good example of this is with vocals and a string pad. When the strings are turned up it makes the vocals sound muddy and indistinct, so you boost the vocals and now they are just too loud in comparison to the rest of the mix. You bring the strings and vocals down and the strings are too quiet again. It's a frustrating loop.

The solution is pretty straight forward. Using EQ you cut holes in the less important instrument, in this case the strings, in order to let the vocals pop through. You only need to know what frequencies to cut and by how much.

Both can be worked out by ear but most DAWs now include a spectrum analysis. This allows you to see exactly where the vocal frequencies lie. Then using EQ you cut those frequencies, using a notch filter, in the string track. Use your ears to set the cut level.

This will allow the strings to be turned up without making the vocals muddy.

You will notice the effect on the strings when the vocals aren't singing. You can either manually go through the track applying the effect or a better solution is to only apply the EQ to the strings when the vocals are being sung using a noise gate to trigger the EQ.

You might also find this EQ Frequencies article a useful guide when using EQ. It doesn't exactly cover instrument rangesbut it does give you a guide to frequencies targetted at specific characteristics of each instrument and EQ holes can of course be applied to just those specific frequencies too.

Just a quick post to mention a topic that really deserves a fuller article to explain it properly. With limited time however a quick post is all yo uwill get today with a promise to re-visit the topic at a later date.

Audio Mixing and the Home Studio

2011-05-30T06:48:00.000-07:00

Audio Mixing

Audio mixing is one of those tasks that I think works best when done spread over several sessions.

The reason is fairly simple, to help keep perspective on the track. Working too long causes your ears to become tired and before you know it that tiredness skews your mix. Apart from that it's good to leave a track and come back to it to see if the ideas you have been working on truly are working out.

When working on mixes I regularly make a mixdown that i can play on a number of systems, checking that it sounds pretty good whether you listen on an ipod or a car stereo or your home hi-fi. It's amazing how much this simple process of listening on different systems can reveal. The differing frequency responses of the systems and the differing listening environments have an effect, coloring your mix and highlighting potential issues.

Closing the loop you then return to your mix at some later point with fresh ears and fresh perspective ready armed with the lessons learned from listening to your mix on a variety of audio systems.

The Home Recording Studio

More and more now I work on arrangement as I mix. That's the flexibility of having your own recording system. I dread to think about how much it would cost to do something comparable in a professional studio. True it has cost me up front to set up a decent home recording system (and believe me there is still much room for improvement!) but the overall benefit is the luxury of being able to spend time experimenting with recording, mixing and arrangement. Sometimes I write a song and at the same time record it, which for me is definitely a luxury worth paying for. Especially as it is actually cheaper in the long run.

The benefit to my mixes and to the song over all is, in my eyes / ears, like night and day. Creatively it is far more fulfilling and the finished product is far more likely to make it as a "keeper".

Songstuff author Cheryl Hodge captures the evolution from recording studio through home studio towards a professional home studio very well in her article "Protools And Me (The Singer / Songwriter)"

If you write your own songs I can honestly say that the investment of time and money in setting up a professional standard home recording studio is well worth the effort. Go on, benefit your songs and invest in some gear!

The Most Important Asset Towards Becoming Successful In Music

2011-04-24T03:49:00.000-07:00

"How To Become Successful" Poll

I recently created a poll under the heading "How to become successful" about what single asset or tool would musicians and artists consider the most important.I see artists promoting themselves in quite creative ways but from discussions between artists I could see that understanding of how things fit together was often a bit confused. Here are the results of that poll.

Voters were given these choices:

Your Own Website
YouTube
Blog
MailingList
Twitter
Facebook
Myspace
Access To Forums For Promotion
Reverbnation
iTunes
CDBaby
Soundcloud

There are quite a few in that list that potentially offer so much to musicians and artists, but only one of the truly offers the most.

Which one would you pick?

Why does it matter?

Surely the combination of these is best? Yes, it is true using these tools and assets together is the best solution but only if they are used together. Artists want to gain and keep fans. Fans buy records, merchandise and they make possible the creation of better recorded songs with better quality videos. They also feed egos too.

The point is, it all depends on getting full value from your tools and assets. Where you spend your time has to depend on what is most beneficial. Your time is valuable, understandably you want make the most of whatever time you spend on something so unmusical as promotion had better be worth it!

What is important?

Artists need fans. Fans buy records and merchandise. An active fanbase helps grow both the fanbase and your popularity. Fans spread the word and recommend you to their friends. Fans need encouraged. Fans need information. You are responsible for getting them the information they need at the time you want them to get it.

Your music and everything about your act has to be provided to your fans in a way and at a pace that they can digest it. They need to know when songs and albums will be available, tour dates and locations, when you will appear on TV etc, and it is up to you to tell them.

In music promotion timing is important, and so is the process. Timing and process are used to form marketing campaigns.

Overall there is a need to control your communication with your fans, whether that is through a website, social media, press, tv, radio, internet radio, email or otherwise. The tools that give us the best coverage, the best control and the most flexibility become your strongest individual music industry asset.

Lets be very clear, it is NOT that you only use one tool, it is that you use the tools wisely. Knowing the most important tool at least helps you put the emphasis of your effort in the right place at the right time.

Growing Your Fanbase

This is a major part of what we are talking about. Getting new fans whilst keeping the existing fans. Even as an amateur artist you need fans. We all want people to like what we are doing and we all wnat those people to come back again, maybe bring some friends who might be interested.

Controlling Communications

This is another major part of what we need to do as artists / labels / promoters. We need to be able to control what we say, how we say it, when we say it, and how it is presented. As we want to communicate at a time of our chosing (to synchronise campaigns for album releases etc) we need to be able to control the time that the message is delivered as best we can.

Durability

We need something that will stand the test of time, where as much as possible WE own and are responsible for method being used. Otherwise we risk being left with nothing should a disaster happen (site closures, changes of policiy or going out of fashion).

The Results

Your Own Web Site 33.33%
YouTube 14.81%
Blog 0.00%
Mailing List 18.52%
Twitter 0.00%
Facebook 7.41%
Myspace 3.70%
Access To Forums For Promotion 11.11%
Reverbnation 7.41%
iTunes 3.70%
CDBaby 0.00%
Soundcloud 0.00%

Social Networks

YouTube, Myspace, Twitter, Facebook, the social networks of our time. Each has it's benefits and drawbacks as far as artist promotion goes. Each gives you the opportunity to communicate with your fans and to grow the number of people who are exposed to your music and to your promotions.

The trouble is that social networks can go out of fashion. You've just spent months or even years building your social connections when the site disappears (mp3.com - ok not a social network but it was the biggest promotion possibility for artists at one time) or becomes unpopular because of band spamming (myspace).

One thing is sure, the majority of websites are only popular for a while, even when they are the largest of their kind. All your carefully nurtured connections are virtually worthless overnight. That is their biggest weakness.

While they have their uses, remember contacts added like this are volatile 3rd party contacts and shouldn't be relied upon.

Blogs

It's a sign of the times that no one thought of their biggest assest, yet it can be of considerable use as blogs get subscribers. In other words you post a message and it is pulled by other sites and blog readers, or notifies via email. People still visit blog sites all the time and subscribe to blogs they like.

Another benefit is that you can import your blog to Facebook and Twitter so from the effort of making 1 post on your blog you can also feed your info to your fans, friends and contacts. Your blog can also be listed on Network Blogs anad Technorati, two main stalwarts of the blogosphere, mixing social networking with blog ranking.

Music Sites

Sites like Reverb Nation (OMDs) allow you to upload your audio files, create an artist page, gain fans, sell your music and gain chart position. Unlike many sites Reverb Nation gives you access to your fan's email address, which somewhat insulates your efforts should the site disappear or become unfashionable.

The big problem with most Indie music sites is that the membership tends to be predominantly other artists. They are not fan centric.

Sites like CDBaby are a bit more focused on fans but they provide less tools for artists and don't provide access to email addresses. The biggest benefit for CD Baby is their integration with iTunes.

iTunes is a mainstream music retailer combining main stream acts with Indie artist releases. Unfortunately they provide no info on the fans you have gained. What they do offer is realistic charting and a broadly used platform that directly interfaces with the most popular mp3 players in the world.

Sound Cloud is still very much in the world of Indie Music, offering uploads and more but saddly lacking when it comes to building fans.

Forums

Forums can be useful, but they require quite a bit of effort to become a high profile member. They don't provide email addresses or fan info but they are excellent places to develop industry relationships, and relationships with other musicians or for getting feedback on tracks in development.

There are plenty music forums out there that do focus on fans but they don't often react well to Indie Music.

Yet again forums as a tool are somewhat volatile. Sites can disappear or become unfashionable.

Your Own Site

Your own site gives you a lot of control, it gives you a place to host your audio and video and fundamentally it gives you a place to call home. The big drawback is that it can take ages to build traffic. They are useful news portals for your music but you have to get people there first. As far as dispersing your promotion messages goes, posting on the site also needs your fans to visit your site first before they get your message. A major drawback (It is better to push your message out at a time that suits you rather than wait for it to be pulled via a newsreader etc).

Mailing List

Mailing lists are collections of email addresses. They give you direct access to your fans (or as direct as you can get). They allow you to push the message out when it suits you. You get to keep the addresses so if the mailing software become unsupported or the mailing server you use goes bust, you are insulated from any damage.

You do need to keep your list up to date as people do change email addresses. This is an ongoing task and with decent mailing software you can deal with this automatically.

You can add sign up boxes to your site and often to other sites too, including Facebook.

Conclusion

By comparison the mailing list beats the other methods hands down. Sure build your Facebook, your twitter, grow your site audience, join forums and music sites, but remember- the gold you are looking for is the fan's email address. The whole thrust of your web sites and web presence should be towards signing people up and getting their email address so that you can keep in contact with them.

Visitors to your site may of course buy or download one of your songs, but once they are gone they are gone, unless of course you get their email address.

Your biggest asset towards success is without doubt your mailing list. Built it and you build a lasting connection directly with your fans.

Having music is of course a pre-requisit!

Become Your Own Promoter - Earn Money and Play Better Gigs

2011-04-02T05:55:00.000-07:00

So you're in a bit of a chicken and egg scenario, you can't get decent gigs until you have fans and a track record, you can't get fans and a track record until you get gigs...

This usually means getting poor gigs with bands that don't compliment each other for ages while you build your own fan base playing gigs at the low end of the gigging circuit. Overall you are working at a disadvantage.

Become Your Own Promoter

The obvious solution is to become a promoter and run your own gigs. Hire a hall or small venue and sell tickets to make your money back, hopefully with some profit.

Pros and Cons of Being You Own Promoter

Pros

You stand to gain experience gigging
You get to grow your fan list / mailing list
You have an opportunity to make some money
You learn more about how the music industry works
You have more control

Cons

You have to work
You have to Learn
You have to use your imagination and creativity
You have to put your money and time where your mouth is

Costs

Typically you might have to pay for:

Venue hire
PA System hire
Lighting hire
Ticket Printing
Fliers and Poster Printing and Posting and Distribution

Some venues will be happy to let you rent some or all of the venue at no cost. They will just be glad to see their venue busy. Others will insist on payment. Some venues may supply lights and PA, even an engineer to work them, other halls will provide nothing at all. You might have the gear to print up your own tickets and posters.

You might also want to find places that will sell your tickets. They will take a percentage commission and will want to know what you are doing to promote your gig.

You should be able to do this a few times before the whole friends family thing begins to tail off. By then you should have a hundred or so people on your fans mailing list, more than enough to recover the cost of hiring many venues (remember many venues you can get for nothing).

Spreading The Financial Risk

If you are confident enough in your own playing ability, take the step of being your own promoter. Of course you can take this further and create events with multi-band line ups. You get other bands to play on the same bill and take on responsibility for some tickets. This has several advantages:

You pick the venue
You pick the support bands
You spread the risk of selling enough tickets
You get the opportunity to put your music in front of some new potential fans

Spreading the risk is a fairly straight forward thing. You want other bands to bring along their fans. if you just give them tickets they may sell a lot because it's pure profit. Alternatively you could sell your tickets to other bands at a reduced rate. This encourages them to sell more if they want to make decent money. From your stand point this gives you money to go towards your costs.

Setting up the gig is just part of it. The other main parts are promoting your gig and selling tickets.

Promoting Your Gig

This is a pretty large topic on it's own so I'll only touch on the basics here and leave some more detail for another article.

There are lots of ways to promote your gig. There are a few core groups of businesses and people you will work with:

Local Press
Music Press
Radio
Internet Radio
Friends

Here you can approach all of these groups from two perspectives.

A Promoter
An Act

Write up press releases, there are plenty of online guides for writing a press release including "Guidlines For Writing A Press Release" on Songstuff.com. Put together an Electronic Press Kit, and a real-world Press Kit to provide the press with suitable background information. Check out my earlier article "Create A Killer Electronic Press Kit (EPK)" for some advice on creating an EPK. A real-world kit contains much the same information, only the medium for presentation is different.

Friends are useful, both real world and on the internet. They can help you spread the word. Word of mouth is a great way to get new fans and a pretty good way to sell tickets too. A quick message can be sent to their social network friends. You can even offer to write a basic post that they can customize. Friends may also be willing to help with fliers and posters.

Selling Tickets

Even if you sell tickets to friends and family that could be quite a few tickets. they bring friends etc too and everyone who sees you is a potential fan.

Having a music shop or ticket center willing to sell your tickets is very useful. Any deal will be a negotiation, but the advantages are many. For start people will know where to go (your poster and flier and radio listings will tell them where tickets are available) to get tickets without you needing to be there. Ticket centers in particular are experts at selling tickets and may be willing to offer more of a push for a larger percentage.

Offer bands on your bill tickets at between 70 % to 30% of the face price, they commit to a number of tickets that you stipulate (part of the deal when you sign them up). The percentage will be decided by how many they will commit to, what percentage of overall tickets that is and how much you need to recoup in order to pay your costs. If they commit to a low percentage of the overall seats then they pay more per ticket. Either way they owe you that whether they sell the tickets or not. It is an incentive for them to make money and to get more people to the gig. Ideally you want to be bringing more fans than all the other bands on the bill added together.

If you are the only band on the bill that might seem obviously not an option, but in essence all the band is is an "affiliate". So you could try recruiting "affiliates" locally and / or online. Same deal, they sell tickets they get a commission, the more tickets they sell the higher percentage profit per ticket they will make. This can be a good way to leverage friends of friends, and their friends too.

Grow and Make The Most Of Your Fan Base

Take along a pad and pen and try to get people to sign up to your mailing list with their email address at the gig. Even better would be to do that using a laptop and an online form. One mistake bands make time after time is to neglect their fans. A mailing list of fans is an ideal way to directly contact fans to let them know about upcoming gigs etc. but they are useful in many other ways too.

Getting more people to sign up to your fan list is so, so important. Have people at your gig dedicated to this task alone. They should not sit and stare, they should be actively encouraging people to sign up, so use anyone with good sales skills in this job.

Remember merchandise is effectively an advertisement, a little reminder of your existance in a fan's daily life, so make sure you take along any recordings and merch you have for sale.

Conclusion

My advice is to always put on a better show than most would expect for a particular venue. People will come away more impressed and with the feeling you should have been on a bigger and better stage.

All this gives you fans, track history, and experience which you can use to get on the main gigging circuit, but I would still continue running my own shows like the way I just described, after all it is what big bands do. My two cents is, if you want what big bands have, do what big bands do.

Any money of course that is left over can be stashed away in your band account. "Of course!" I hear you all say...

Creating a Song Title

2011-04-01T09:22:00.000-07:00

Creating a song title can be a daunting prospect. The empty page looms before you, filling you with it's nothingness, draining you of every creative thought you've ever had and branding them cheesy.

The best solution is of course to write, but write what?

This article introduces the basics of creating a song title, and the purposes that song titles should fulfill.

Purposes Of A Song Title

Song titles have to fulfill a number of purposes. Ideally they should

Be Evocative
Be Interesting
Be Memorable
Arouse Curiosity
Hint at Something Original
Refer to Something Universal
Not Reveal Everything
Be Imaginative
Use a Small Amount of Words (5 0r less if possible)
Be Reflected in the Main Lyrics Hook (depending on genre and perspective)

This is difficult to achieve in 5 words or less!

Brainstorming Title Ideas

For all your title should ideally fulfill all of the above, don’t think too much about coming up with the perfect title. Once you have your topic come up with several draft titles by brainstorming, work out what you like, what you don't like, why one works and another doesn't etc

There are various brainstorming techniques you can use including:

Lists

Write down long lists of nouns and adjectives, mix them up to create word pairs. Same goes for verb-verb and noun-noun pairs. Select ones you like to develop or to help take your word lists in new directions.

Research Other Media

Read online articles, newspaper articles, magazine articles etc to generate base ingredients of titles and song lyrics. Researching other media for songwriting suggestions is described here in detail

Prose On A Topic

This is a technique I sometimes use. I select a topic I am interested in writing a song about. I then proceed to write free flowing text on that topic, exploring the emotions and emotional perspectives, scenarios and conclusions. I then use that text to create phrases and word pairs as the seed to creating a title.

Creating The Title

Using words and phrases you’ve written down and that appeal to you (selected from your trusty notebook or from brainstorming exercises like those described above) combine them to create a phrase that reflects the premise of your song.

To select the best for purpose, try measuring it against the checklist of purposes a title needs to fulfill near the top of this article. Depending on genre and other factors some may be more or less important, but each should at least be considered.

This at least gives you one or more working titles to choose from. Not only do you have the title but you also have some phrases you can use in your song, a better idea of the theme, a fuller idea of the message you want to send, and perhaps your chorus hook.

Now that wasn't too difficult was it?

Take Advantage Of Your MP3 Tags

2011-03-14T15:52:00.000-07:00

I've lost count of the number of independent artist mp3 files I have listened to that haven't set the MP3 file tags at all, let alone correctly.

Just about any audio editor and CD maker will allow you to set the MP3 file tags and properties. It's even built into the Windows 7 file browser (right click on file, properties, details).

What Are The MP3 Tags?

The MP3 file tags are a collection of information embedded in the MP3 file, including the name of the track, the name of the artist, the name of the album, the release date, copyright information and track / album art, producer, label and more.

This is the information that MP3 players use to pull in album art, or to display track and artist information on the MP3 player screen while the track is selected.

No matter where your track ends up your information is embedded in it.

So make sure that your MP3s are properly tagged.

Simple Promotion Suggestion

So here is a little suggestion for those who are releasing individual tracks that are not on an album:

Use the album name field to include your website address. That way whenever your track is selected to play your website address will be displayed on the player screen.

Simple but effective advertising.

Create A Killer Electronic Press Kit (EPK)

2011-03-13T04:36:00.000-07:00

The name of the game these days is to stand out from the huge number of online artists. A high quality EPK is one of the essentials artists now need.

Your EPK is your showcase to the industry. Don't cut corners and don't settle for second best. Below I have included 5 Top Tips for creating your killer EPK.

1. Invest In A Quality Main Photo

It's amazing just how much your photo will convey about you as an artist. It's worth getting it right. It takes time and effort to convey the right message in the briefest of glances. Your music does not exist in isolation and the first thing someone viewing your EPK will see is your main photo. It sets an expectation of the music to come (or not if they decide to click away). So make sure your photo compliments your sound, is eye catching but appropriate.

2. Only Use High Quality Audio

This is your showcase! Do not include sub-standard, poor quality audio. No longer can artists expect to provide demo standard recordings to industry professionals. Why? Simple, the music world is a competition of sorts where you compete with other artists to be noticed. With low cost professional recording gear available more and more bands are providing high standard, professional recordings. If all you do is provide a rough demo what it says is "I don't care enough about my music, or believe in it enough, to create a decent recording" but it also says to the listener "I don't respect you enough as a listener to give you something decent to listen to". Not exactly the message you want to be giving out, especially to an industry professional.

3. Write A Descriptive 30 Second Pitch

If you only have 30 seconds to talk about your music, what would you say? True, this is your chance to grab attention, but you also have to give the reader what they are looking for, and that is information about your music!

Whatever you do avoid vagueness. Avoid arrogance or repeating common cheesy phrases, or making huge claims. Nothing turns off more than "This is the best music you will ever hear!" or "You have never heard anything like this before!" etc.

What can work is to include a quote, award or similar to help give credence to your music and your decription of your music.

4. Include A Full Up To Date Gig Calendar

This is one of the most important parts of your EPK. It's valuable particularly to promoters to get a handle on where a band is in their career by seeing what sort of venues they play, on what nights they play, and how often they play.

Include both past gigs and upcoming gigs. Past gigs provide some track record, and future gigs offer the opportunity of seeing a band before they are booked. Don't rely on anyone clicking through to your site, myspace or other page in order to find out more about your band.

5. Select Your Best Press Reviews

Cherry pick the best quotes from the best articles and include them in your EPK. This gives vital credibility as this is someone else's perspective on your music which instantly gets more credibility than you making claims about your own music. This doesn't need to be quotes from the top newspapers, but any press coverage is useful including any comments from bloggers.

Preparing a Mix for Mastering

2011-03-07T05:18:00.000-08:00

A small foray into the world of recording today.

Lots of bands and home studio musicians record and mix their music, but few take the step of getting their material mastered, and fewer still prepare their music for mastering correctly.

For example, it amazing how many tracks are sent for mastering that use effects like EQ or compression on the main output / master buss. If you do anything, do not do this!

So, here are a few tips on preparing your mix for mastering:

Leave some headroom for your mastering engineer to work with
Make sure that none of your individual tracks are clipping
Make sure none of your individual track effects are clipping
Don't put any effects on your main output / master buss
Make sure your main output / master buss isn't clipping
When you bounce your mix down, make sure you keep it at the same resolution ie use the same bit depth and sample rate that you recorded in.
Bounce to AIFF or Wave file, not MP3!

How do you give yourself the best chance of being happy with the mastered track?

Well the best chance is to be able to sit in on the mastering session, but lets face it, if you are working with an online mastering engineer that is just not going to happen! Here is a quick checklist:

Don't hire a mastering engineer until you have heard their work. You may be able to get a short section of your track mastered to serve as an example, or you may be provided with example works.
Check whether revisions are included in the price
Make sure you have tested and are happy with your mix on a number of consumer audio devices including ear bud headphones, headphones, your car stereo, your home hi fi with and without sub woofer, your computer speakers
Don't just listen to your mix at a high volume. Make sure you are happy with the mix when you play it back at a low volume
Don't hire a mix engineer to do a mastering job

When you have several tracks to be mastered, why not use one track as a test track and send it to a few mastering engineers to see who does the best job and achieves the best sound? You are looking for a great pair of ears, so don't settle for second best.

That's all folks....

The Internet - The Great Leveler For Musicians

2011-03-06T06:29:00.000-08:00

How many times have you heard this in recent years? Is it true?

First off, I will apologize for the rambling nature of this post...

Well like many changes in the way things work, the internet has brought both advantages for bands and writers and disadvantages. A level playing field? I fear that is just an illusion, in fact I know it is.

For example, it is very true that bands have the ability to reach out to fans around the world, but as I am sure many bands are realizing, the same is true for every other band, bedroom band and playstation guitar player. This is one of the main double edged swords. The world is being overwhelmed with bands and songwriters all clamoring for their attention. Add to that bands very rarely take advantage of all the benefits they could, and many that do don't take advantage of them to their maximum or any where near it.

It isn't enough to upload your music and invite your friends. The not so breaking news is - the fact that your music is on the internet does not mean success will find you. Far from it. The challenge now is in standing out from the crowd.

The notion that it is a level playing field is just that. The record labels have access to just the same tools every band does... plus a whole lot more. They have large budgets to spend too, although those are much reduced from what they once were. The large labels also have far more access to other media than they ever did before. TV talent shows are the tip of the iceberg.

So, where can independent artists learn from what the labels do?

Mailing lists. It pays to keep in contact with fans, who are after all customers. Many bands don't even have one! Apart from that what labels have mastered (at least the good ones) is how to mobilize their fans to help promote their products to their friends.

Networking. There are several areas where artists can benefit from networking. For example building industry contacts, building press contacts etc. The most accessible is to network with other bands.

Social Media. You may be detecting a theme, and that is making connections with others and making the most of them. Create pages for your band on Facebook, Twitter, and although much less important than it once was, Myspace.

The fact is that just about every way that you can connect with your fans is important. Each of the topics above is worth a large article in itself, but just being aware of their importance is a start.

Where labels really gain advantage (well one way) is the number of people they can bring to the party when it comes to exploiting and growing the benefit of these tools. I say tools, because that is exactly how labels and promotion companies view them. Nothing more.

A couple more things to mention before I finish this post... labels and promotion companies promote music as part of a coordinated campaign. They don't drip feed songs onto the internet, unless it is part of a coordinated plan. They time releases. They promote according to a formula that works. Everything has it's purpose, and each drives people in the end towards becoming a fan, towards becoming a customer.

For bands, fans are their means of making a living. They also give the ability to launch the next product more easily. Why? Once they are on a mailing list or other contact list they help launch the product. As I mentioned before, labels and promotion companies are masters at harnessing the power of their fans to get the word out there, to persuade others to become fans.

Viral Marketing, the appearance of competition with other bands, the clever use of merchandising, working with the media, these are all techniques and tools used by promo companies, but sadly neglected by independent bands.

There is so much on each of these topics.... but alas this is but a blog post to raise awareness. Who knows, maybe I should write a book?

Nah...

Songwriters On Songwriting

2011-03-04T10:27:00.000-08:00

Where better to learn about being a songwriter than from the mouths of the best in the business? Covering many genres of popular music this is a must read for modern songwriters.

Songwriters On Songwriting: Revised And Expanded by Paul Zollo, includes ten new interviews including Alanis Morissette, Lou Reed, Lenny Kravitz, and others, building on the stack of interviews from previous editions which includes Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Frank Zappa, Sammy Cahn, David Crosby and Graeme Nash, Madonna, Richard Thompson, and Bruce Hornsby to name but a few.

In total 62 of the greatest and most influential songwriters around talk about their experience of songwriting. It's nice for a change to hear such successful songwriters exposing their muse and voicing their thoughts, feelings, and opinions about songwriting.

The author, Paul Zollo is a singer-songwriter and the editor of SongTalk. He has written for magazines including Sing Out!, Acoustic Guitar, and Musician.

Side Note: Interestingly Bob Dylan states his belief that the world doesn't need any new songs. Just what songwriters everywhere want to hear! Way to go Bob!

The True Value Of Songwriting Critique (And Surviving The Process)

2011-03-03T03:29:00.000-08:00

I've been involved with Songstuff.com for almost 11 years now. In that time I have seen thousands of writers and artists post up material for critique. Over that time I've come to appreciate the real value of critique, and I'll give you a clue, it's NOT receiving critique for your own work.

Writers do have a variety of wants when it comes to critique, and often the motivations are not one simple perspective but a mix of perspectives.

What Is Critique?

Critique is not simply someone listening, observing, and offering a constructive comment. Critique is a constructive discussion that uses observation, analysis, opion and advice. Please note the use of the word discussion. It is not simply one way traffic. The point here is to achieve an understanding of the points being made and for the writer to make an informed decision. Not seeking to understand the perspective and observations of both the writer and the person offering critique is to tie our hands and wear a blindfold. We fail to see, and we fail to act.

Getting Critique For your Own Work

In some cases writers approach it as a purely transactional thing:

I post my song
You tell me what you think of it

and there it ends.

For others it's more of a self-promotion, or an ego stroking exercise:

I post my song
You tell me you love it or I will become defensive or simply ignore you

While both of these approaches may fulfill some immediate need in the writer they both completely miss the main benefits of critique. By far the majority of so called songwriting critique or lyrics critique I have seen on the internet falls into these two categories.

Note there is no statement of desire from the writer. The number of times I have seen writers receive comments only to be upset that the critique offered does not focus on what they really wanted comments on, so, state what you want from the critique!

As the writer, be open to suggestions and listen to the comments made. Seek to understand the points being made, the ramifications and any advice that is offered.

As mentioned critique should be a discussion. A conversation between the writer and the person performing the critique. Seek to engage anyone performing a critique and remember to thank them for taking the time to listen to or read your work. It can be very disheartening if you are the one to perform a critique, spending a significant amount of time on somone else's work for your effort to be simply ignored or dismissed.

Invariably writers who show such lack of response will get:

Less and less critique of their work
Poor quality critique to the extent that eventually the only people who will respond will provide one line pats on the back

Recommendations For Writers Seeking Critique

State clearly any focus you desire for the critique or if it is completely open to the person performing the critique
Listen to comments made and work to understand them and any implied effect
Work to understand any advice being offered and the implied effect acting on that advice may have
Discuss constructively with the person performing the critique. It is not an argument, or I am right you are wrong. Listen, discuss, consider, discuss, consider some more, decide in private your course of action to take if it you believe that would in any way descend into an argument.
Try to avoid being precious (my precious) with your material.
Try to avoid being overly defensive. Put forward your points for discussion, but avoid being sensitive to the comments.
Don't take comments personally.
Thank them for taking the time to go through the critique process with you

Offering Critique

Over the years I have read tens of thousands of critiques. Sadly many fall into three categories:

One line pat's on the back
My opinion rules, I am right and you are wrong
I have commented on yours, so comment on mine

Offering critique, and I don't like calling it that in the circumstance of number 1 above, is pretty well a waste of time, and is often offered by people who reading between the lines (or line ) are actually doing number 3

If you take the perspective of number 2 you are more likely to offend, more likely to provoke a defensive reaction. Not only is that unpleasant, but it wastes the time of all concerned as the writer whose work is under critique will be very very unlikely to open their ears and listen to your points and after an argument your opinion is going to be dismissed.

Critiques of the form number 3 require some mutual back scratching. As such opinions tend to be diluted, advice tends to be superficial. All in, a not very productive use of time.

Offering detailed critique is by far the most beneficial aspect of critique (giving or receiving), and by far the most underrated.

I say that because offering a detailed critque has many benefits to you as a writer in your own right:

You are exposed to many genres, ideas and concepts. Far beyond those of any individual writer.
You exercise and develop your Observation Skills.
You exercise and develop your Analysis Skills
You exercise and develop your ability to Come Up With Solutions

This means that you hone your own skills across a far wider spectrum than you would encounter with your own writing. Your own lyrics, melodies, recordings and productions will benefit allowing you to spot possible issues, and possible benefits at a higher level, way before you seek opinions on your own work from others. This has the knock on that when you do get critique, those performing it are already starting with a more evolved work and the points they raise are likely to be more focused on fine detail.

Offering critique really offers you, as a writer, musician, engineeer or producer, the best chance of knowing and understanding the difference between songs that really work, and songs that really don't. Fundamentally it helps you understand trade-offs, where to adhere to guidelines and where not to, and understand why.

Useful Reference Articles

I have included a couple of links below to articles I have previously written for Songstuff that have touched upon critique. Although targeting lyrics writing in particular the concepts and approach regarding technique equally apply to melody, arrangement, recording, production, and of course the combination of both lyrics and music into a song.

Other Resources

I am of course involved with Songstuff, so you will not be surprised that I would direct you towards the Songstuff Songwriting and Music Community as a resource. The site staff and members actively help create a comfortable and friendly environment. For critique purposes I would specifically direct you towards two boards:

Lastly

Take the initiative. Don't wait to receive critique from others before you critique theirs. If everyone does that, no one will receive any critique at all! Add to that receiving critique is less beneficial (generally) to you as a writer than giving, so don't wait about. Help yourself, help others and get an all round warm and fuzzy feeling.

If you have any feedback on this article please leave a comment below.

All You Need To Know About The Music Business

2011-03-02T04:50:00.000-08:00

I was conducting a highly enjoyable Q & A, via a Skype video link, with a songwriting class in Canada last week and the course of discussion inevitably turned towards the mechanics of the music industry, copyright, contracts and the implications for songwriters. At that point I had absolutely no hesitation in recommending "All You Need To Know About The Music Business" by highly respected music industry insider Donald S Passman.

Covering both the US and UK industries in detail this is an essential addition to your bookshelf.

This is a completely revised and updated seventh edition of "All You Need to Know About the Music Business". Offering music industry executives and artists, novices and seasoned veterans lots of very useful information on the music industry and it's workings, it's a pretty indispensable resource.

Donald Passman offers information on:

An overview and detailed view of record deals
How to find your way around songwriting, music publishing, and copyrights
Concert, touring, and merchandising deals

360 model record deals where record labels share non-record revenue
Ring tones, streaming on demand, and digital downloads
Building a team, for example personal and business managers, agents, and attorneys. Plus info on commission structures, percentages, and fees

All You Need to Know About the Music Business: Seventh Edition

Enjoy!

Guerrilla Internet Music Promotion

2011-02-27T05:23:00.001-08:00

Let's face it. most bands have little budget available and marketing and promotion often come some way down the pecking order with recording and new gear being the most common first spends.

So that leaves bands trying to promote their recordings (and everything else) with almost no money. Not ideal as marketing and promotion often take the lions share of the spend with larger more established bands. The trouble is getting over the hump of "no money available".

Meanwhile bands have to make the most of their situation. In this respect the internet is a great leveler. There are a great many cheap ways to promote your music available. Most bands only employ a couple of basic ways to get their music out there. Each takes time, knowledge and patience, and in that way they are not necessarily "cheap".

The trouble is that for all the internet is a great leveler, there are so many bands fighting for attention that somehow your band needs to stand out.

There are five core parts to guerrilla (free) promotion:

The product being promoted
Your promotion goal
Your perspective on that item, know your market!
The promotion strategy
The mechanics of that promotion

The product being promoted is the most obvious one of the 5 perhaps, but often bands do very little in terms of smart packaging of that item. For example the base packaging itself with little thought given to appeal. Here marketing can help... ask opinions!

Setting a promotion goal will ultimately help and is one of the most important facets of a promotion campaign. After all, how will you know a campaign is a success unless you have a goal to measure it by? A clear goal gives you something positive to aim for, and it gives you a direction.

Your perspective on the item being promoted is important too. This is really part of your promotion strategy but I thought it important enough to list on it's own. For example, a product is a product, what makes the difference is the perspective on it when it is presented. think of all those TV advertisements. Some use humor, others use sex appeal etc. they all gain an understanding of who their potential customer base is (by asking, by demographic research etc) and then construct a presentation that will appeal to that market. A common one to appeal to females when pitching household goods is showing how inadequate men are at household tasks with the female "getting one over on" the male, perhaps with a shrug or a laugh. This is because they know that it is a perspective that will appeal to housewives!

Well the same applies to music. Know your market! If you understand your potential buyers, then you can construct something that appeals to them. Not just the end product, it's how you present it!

The promotion strategy itself can encompass a diverse means in order to achieve your campaign goal. For example: You decide on a video as a promotion means, it uses your song, excerpts from your song video mixed with promotion messages of some kind. You choose a humorous perspective with a strong sexual appeal to teenage males (because your homework tells you they are your most likely buyers). You would like to promote this in a viral way. That might involve:

A street team (virtual and / or real world)
A few blogs you run
Social networks
Forums
Mailing list
Internet Radio
Other means

This requires a plan, and coordination so that you can make the most of your promotion efforts. Fundamentally it involves timing!

Lastly comes the mechanics of achieving all this. This is not simply "How do I post on a forum?" or "How do I use my street team?", it is also the mechanics of coordinating your plan, of launching your product using all the means you plan to use for that specific promotion.

There are of course tools available for many aspects of realizing each step in this process. Were I to specify them all here that would be a very large post. So look out for more as I build upon this post. Meanwhile you might find an article I wrote for Songstuff a while ago a useful reference.

Make The Most of Your Music On The Web

The Craft and Business Of Songwriting

2011-02-26T03:55:00.000-08:00

A great combination of songwriting craft tips intermingled with practical music industry lessons make this a very handy book for the songwriter's bookshelf.

Craft and Business of Songwriting 3rd Edition (Craft & Business of Songwriting)

It contains lots of examples and useful career advice drawn from successful artists in a variety of music genres, from country to hip-hop. An ideal book for beginners who want an overview of the business of being a songwriter.

Writing awesome songs is only part of the work of becoming a successful songwriter in this day and age. It is vital to understand music business concepts, and to manage your career well. This book at least gives you a fighting chance. In addition to dozens of exercises and examples, anecdotes from successful songwriters including Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow, and Paul McCartney are provided. An ideal resource for the insider secrets songwriters need to make them more competitive what is fast becoming a very crowded marketplace.

The author, John Braheny co-founded and directed the Los Angeles Screenwriters Showcase, is also a journalist, teacher, talk show host, and consultant.

Sonar X1 Producer

2011-02-24T03:54:00.001-08:00

I've just upgraded from Sonar 8.5 to X1 and i have to say I'm pretty impressed. Some major changes in the interface with the ability to save "screen sets" of screen set ups making it much easier to move through different recording phases.

With this update they've also introduced some nice tabbing features making it far easier to navigate features and just about everything can be dragged and dropped including docking / floating components.

One of the other nice new features is a smart tool that changes functionality depending on it's context. That alone saves the hassle of regularly changing the tool you are using, allowing you to focus far more on the creative aspects of what you do and not what you are going to do it with.

One new feature that's pretty yummy is the ProChannel channel strip that's built into every channel offering quite extensive control.

It seems to be much more stable. I've tried it on Win 7 64-bit and on XP 32. I still find less issues on XP 32.

Some nice advances in the packaged plug ins too wind Dimension Pro getting some needed attention and Beatscape being a very nice addition.

That's all for nnow, more after I've explored it a bit more. So far it's a big thumbs up with some very welcome improvements.

Successful Lyric Writing by Sheila Davis

2011-02-21T11:07:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd add some posts looking at the books in my own collection, offering my opinion on each book.

Successful Lyric Writing by Sheila Davis

This is an excellent book for those fairly new to serious lyrics writing. Covering the broad strokes of lyrics writing including theory, principles and common song forms Sheila's book provides a good foundation for those wanting to move from writing from the hip to an increased awareness of what the hell is going on when they write, why one song works better than another and so on.

As a workbook it also contains lots of examples and exercises to work through plus a useful set of definitions and explanations.

There are no rules in songwriting, guidelines yes, but songwriters frequently ignore those guidelines. Where books like this fit into the equation is in helping aspiring songwriters to understand what they trade off when making decisions about song lyrics. Making informed choices is a powerful thing.

Overall I found it an interesting book, a useful reference and definitely a handy book to have in your collection.

Scansion for lyrics writing

2011-02-16T07:24:00.000-08:00

I'm thinking on writing an article about using scansion for lyrics writing.

It's a term many lyricists aren't familiar with, yet it can be a very useful tool if you are writing lyrics before the melody, and perhaps are unlikely to have much contact with the music writer. So it's ideally suited to the isolated lyricist.

Basically scansion helps you tidy up the meter of your lyrics so that the meter of the lyrics will be more consistent, with stressed syllables landing in the right place so that the melody works consistently through the song.

It's a tool that originated in poetry writing but when applied to lyrics it's a very useful technique in that realm too.. There's not a lot of info out there on exactly how to apply it to lyrics, so who knows... time to bite the bullet and dive in?