Posts by Marty Dodson

On Any Given Day You Can Create A Magical Song… One of the things I love about songwriting is that I can go into work on any given day and come out with a hit song that makes hundreds of thousands of dollars. You never know when those days are going to happen. It was…

The line between pro songwriters and aspiring pro songwriters is primarily a line of thought.  Pro songwriters learn to think differently as they write.  That different line of thinking usually involves a series of questions that they keep asking as they write.  Those questions cause the song to be more commercial than it would have…

Most songwriters I know have a lot of people who have helped them get to whatever level of success they are enjoying – even if it is simply being able to write regularly.  Here’s my list.  I’m guessing many of you have similar lists. My mom. When I was a kid, I would sit on…

I posted on Facebook one day that I had “worked really hard” to get on a particular album and had failed to make it. Someone asked me to explain what I had done to “work really hard”.  So, I thought I’d lay it out for you here so everyone could read it. I had heard…

Writing songs with artists is a completely different game. Writing songs with artists is a completely different game than writing songs FOR artists or simply writing with another writer to try and craft the best song possible.  When you write with an artist in the room, the goal is to help that artist find their…

Writing songs for artists is a guessing game. When I’m shooting for a particular artist as I write, I’m trying to guess what that artist wants to say.  Not only that, I’m trying to guess what they haven’t already said so that I can help them say something new. I look at it this way.…

Songwriters tend to have this “win or lose” mentality.  When I play my songs for someone, I either “win” and they take a copy, or I “lose” and they reject my song (and by default, me). I would suggest that we look at those opportunities as “win or learn” opportunities.  Again, if they love my…

Today, I’m sitting in a hotel room in Reno, Nevada. Last night, I played the second of 5 shows in a row at Harrah’s Casino. As I sat on stage, looking out at a crowd I couldn’t even see because of the bright lights, I was thinking about all of the amazing things I have…

Often in my mentoring sessions, I find mysession asking aspiring writers this question, “How bad do you want songwriting success?” “If you want something bad enough, you’ll find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse” This quote always hits me right between the eyes. In some areas of my life, I’m still very much…