Mastering Co-writing: Strategies to Overcome Obstacles and Avoid Breakups

Cowriting songs can be challenging, but it doesn’t have to end in a breakup. Clay Mills & Marty Dodson share strategies to overcome obstacles and avoid breakups when writing music together. Learn from real co-writing scenarios and master the art of collaboration! Adding More Heart To Your Songs : Online CrashCourse Change the way the…

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How To Write Commercial Songs – Without Selling Your Soul

  Often songwriters in our SongTown classes ask, “How do I write commercial songs without selling out?” They are writers who would like to have commercial success and hear one of their songs on the radio or an album. But they want to know how to accomplish this and still be true to themselves. They…

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Exercising The Songwriting Muscle

My very first publisher used to read me this quote. Over the years it has always served as a constant reminder to keep my songwriting muscle in shape…. “Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers,…

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9 Things Skilled Songwriters Do Differently

So, what does it take to be a world-class writer? Early in my career, a Hall of Fame songwriter offered me an invaluable piece of insight. He said many people make it 95 percent of the way to greatness, but very few finish the last 5% of the journey. That statement has fascinated me, and…

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The Loop/Keys/Vocal Worktape

Hit Songwriter Clay Mills is a ten-time ASCAP awards winning songwriter/producer, penning #1 hits for Darius Rucker (“Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It”), Diamond Rio (“Beautiful Mess”), and Kimberley Locke (“Fall”). Along the way collecting Grammy Nominations for “Beautiful Mess” and Trisha Yearwood’s “Heaven Heartache and the Power of Love”. Clay has had over…

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SongTown – The Power Of Community For Songwriters

When I first started writing songs I was obsessed with listening to records. Songs and sound just turned me on. I was thoroughly engrossed with my favorite artist. I read books about Bob Dylan, I read liner notes and interviews with the Eagles. Deep down, I felt I was part of their world through their…

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Songwriters And Artists: Writing Real Vs. Really Clever Songs

Perhaps the most common songwriting mistakes that I’ve seen kill a song… If I had to choose one songwriting mistake I’ve seen over and over in mentoring sessions through the years, it would be “writing clever instead of writing real.” Throughout the entire writing process I am asking myself, does this feel real? Could this have really happened?…

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Songwriters: Are You Using The Power Of Metadata?

Let’s talk about a powerful tool that I use daily in my songwriting life, Metadata. Metadata is the key to mastering your song catalog and making better pitches. It organizes your songs and helps you target with what they’re looking for. And most importantly, when you send your song to a publisher or producer or…

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Songwriting Hack – “Lyrical Opposites”

In this episode, Hit Songwriter Clay Mills talks about lyrical opposites and how you can use them in your songwriting to create hookier and more powerful songs. Chapters: Chapter 1: Titles Chapter 2: Implied Opposites Chapter 3: Setup Lines 1. Titles Check out these titles: “I Hate Myself for Loving You”, “Beautiful Mess”, “Nobody In…

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Bad Music And Songwriting

“I want more than anything to get one of my songs recorded by a major artist on the radio.” “Today’s music sucks. The stuff artist are putting out is bad music and it all sounds the same!!” (Two sentences spoken by an aspiring songwriter during a coffee conversation.) The other day at Bongo Java Coffee…

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