Posts by Marty Dodson
5 Reasons To Co-Write
People often ask me, sometimes skeptically, why I almost exclusively co-write instead of writing alone. I have some reasons that I find pretty compelling, so I thought I’d share them. 1) Not many people I know are world-class at melody AND lyric. There are plenty of people who do both, but doing both and excelling…
Read MoreHow Valuable Is “Exposure” for Songwriters?
If I had a dollar for every time someone offered to let me entertain them for free in exchange for some songwriter exposure, I could buy a new car. I’ve had offers from TV shows, wanting me to grant them a license for my song for free so that I could “pad my resume’” and…
Read More3 Exercises To Strengthen Your Songwriting Muscles
Songwriting skills are like muscles. The more you use them and challenge them, the stronger they get. Sometimes when I have a few spare minutes, I use these exercises to keep my writing muscles in shape. 1. Choose a song from the music charts and come up with a response to it. For instance,…
Read MoreYour Life Situation is NOT a Song Idea: How Pros Find Titles
Hitmakers Marty Dodson and Clay Mills explain the big difference in your “life situations” vs. song ideas. Knowing this Difference is key to writing great songs. Your life and relationship situations aren’t enough to make people care about your songs. This songwriting podcast episode will help you dig deeper into finding great song ideas that…
Read MoreTarget Writing: How The Pros Write Songs
Multi- #1 songwriters Clay Mills and Marty Dodson share the secret weapon pro songwriters use to get major artists to record their songs. Incorporate “target writing” into your writing toolbox and you’ll reach your songwriting goals faster. These are not “tips and tricks”, they are real-world techniques used by top writers everyday. Clay & Marty’s…
Read MoreFinding Your Place In The Music Business
When I first started to pursue a career in music, I set out on a path to try to become the best at everything. I saw people making their own demos, so I went out and bought a ton of gear. I saw people coming up with really cool guitar licks, so I started working…
Read MoreSongwriting Is TOO Hard
Legendary songwriter Kim Williams signed me to my first writing deal and for that, I’m forever grateful. I absolutely wouldn’t have the life I now have if Kim had not believed in me and given me a chance. There is no way I will ever be able to repay the time he spent mentoring me…
Read MoreBlow Them Away With Your Songwriting
Clay and I often run into people who are doing all the wrong things in their pursuit of success with their music. Most of the time, the thing they need to be doing is improving their songs. That’s often the one thing they aren’t doing. They are meeting with publishers and people at PRO’s (ASCAP, BMI and…
Read MoreFree The Angel: Supporting Your Song’s Big Idea
There is a famous quote by Michelangelo that says “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” That is a beautiful description of what songwriters must learn to do. We get a song’s big idea and we see the “angel” inside it. So we carve and carve until the…
Read MoreRaising Kids and Writing Songs
The more I write, the more I see parallels between raising kids and writing songs… When my first child, Matthew was born, I knew that I knew NOTHING about parenting. I had read a lot of books about it, but I had never really done it. In fact, I had never changed a diaper until he came along.…
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