Posts by Marty Dodson
Handling Song Feedback Constructively
Getting feedback on your songs can sometimes be very overwhelming. Then, once you get the feedback you have the questions of “should I re-write this song, leave it as it is or just write another song completely?” In this episode Clay and Marty talk about how to handle feedback and use it to your advantage…
Read MoreAnatomy of a Sync Song
Randall Foster is Vice President of Business Development and GM of the Nashville office of a digital distribution company called Symphonic Distribution. Prior to his current role, Randall was the leader of the Creative Sync & Licensing for ole music publishing where he oversaw a vast catalog of music copyrights and intellectual property and managed…
Read MorePeople To Thank This Thanksgiving: A Songwriter’s Perspective
Being grateful and giving thanks is a discipline that I try to practice daily. From a songwriting perspective, here are some things I believe all of us creative types need to be thankful for: The Believers My mom was a huge believer in me and my music. When everyone else was telling me “no”,…
Read More10 Do’s And Don’ts For Pitching Your Songs To Music Publishers
Pitching songs (playing songs for publishers, artists or record label people in hopes of getting them to record or help you get a song recorded), is one of the areas where songwriters make the most mistakes. And, those mistakes can be costly. You don’t get too many chances to make a good impression before you…
Read MoreHow Do I Submit Songs As A Songwriter To The Music Business? (Updated- 2021)
There seems to be a lot of confusion out there over the question “As a songwriter, how do I submit songs to the music business?” The truth of the matter is that there is no one way to “submit” songs to the music business. When you simplify the “song submission” idea, there are basically three…
Read MoreWhat Keeps Songwriters from Succeeding?
Multi-hit songwriters Clay Mills and Marty Dodson sit down to talk about what keeps songwriters from succeeding in the music business. With a combined 50+ years of songwriting and music business experience, both Marty and Clay have seen the highs and lows of the business, people come and go, and have had to reinvent themselves…
Read MoreSongwriting Perspective: A Powerful Tool For Songwriters.
I believe that “perspective” may be one of the most powerful concepts in our lives. Your perspective can totally change your experience of an event. Siblings can have dramatically different takes on a traumatic home situation because they take different perspectives on what occurred. When I was in high school, Nelson Eddy was my…
Read MoreBlueprinting Your Songs: How To Write Better Songs Faster
Something that has changed my songwriting in a radical way is a technique I call blueprinting your song. When you’re building a house, you hope that the builder is working from a good blueprint. That’s really the only way to make sure that the house you wind up with is the house you intended to…
Read MoreWhat Makes People Give a Crap About My Songs?
What makes people take notice and really care about your songs?! Writing from the truth. Hit songwriters Marty and Clay sit down and talk about writing from truth by taking a universal emotion and turning it into a song that almost everyone can connect with. If you are wanting to write commercial songs, this episode…
Read MoreHow Are Music Royalties Divided On A Song?
10 Time #1 Song Songwriter, Marty Dodson, has written songs for artists such as Kenny Chesney, Billy Currington, Carrie Underwood and many others. In this Quick Tip video Marty explains how songwriting royalties are divided among songwriters and publishers. For a more in-depth breakdown, checkout the SongTown video How SongWriters Get Paid.
Read More