I'm a big believer in positive thinking. Here are some positive thoughts for songwriters that can help keep you moving forward and help you enjoy the journey. 1) The only person I have to beat is me. If I continually work at writing a better song than I wrote yesterdat, then I...
5 Morning Songwriting Inspirations to go with your coffee! Today is a new start. Today could be the day that I write that first cut or my best song. It doesn't matter what has happened in the past. I have a clean slate today. I will make the most of it. I am...
Someone pointed out this weekend that my posts often have as much to do with life as they do with songwriting. That made me think, and I realized that it's probably because songwriting is just a reflection of life. So many of the principles we talk about in our posts...
Songwriting "rules" can stifle creativity. If you learn to communicate clearly with your songs, you have learned everything you need to know to write a great song!
We get lots of music business questions in SongTown and this is a common one, so I thought I'd answer it in a post. The business side of music is not as complicated as it seems. Here are the basics of writer/publisher deals and how money is split. There are two...
I believe that it is good for all songwriters to stay in touch with what made them want to write a song in the first place. For me, here were some reasons that I put pen to paper and created melodies: I had a crush on the girl down the street...
I have discovered that there are many reasons people write songs. Sometimes we assume that everyone writing a song must want a major artist to record it. While that is true for many writers, it's not the real motivation for many others. Here are some of the more popular reasons people write...
Most of us tend to gravitate toward the same kinds of things when we write. We write grooves and feels that we like. And we tend to write topics we like as well. Use these exercises to stretch your writing boundaries. 1) Write...
I had a conversation this week with one of my song pluggers. I have worked with this guy for more than 20 years. I consider him my best friend in the music business. Why? He tells me the truth. Always. At one time, I turned in a song I wrote with a...
Here are some fun songwriting exercises I do when I want to sharpen my songwriting skills and just have a good time with it, putting no pressure on myself. Hope you enjoy! Thumb through a magazine looking for song ideas. Sometimes when I'm on an airplane, I pick up the inflight...