Little Steps Along The Way
A couple of weeks ago in New York City, I found myself doing some things I never dreamed of doing. In fact, I never set out to do them. They just needed to be done and I was the only one in the room who had the skill set to pull them off. The play…
Read MoreMy Song Is On “Hold”… Help!!!!
Now that a number of SongTownians are getting songs pitched and some of them are being put on ‘hold’, I wanted to talk about what a hold means and how to act when you get one. First of all – what is a hold? A hold is when an artist or an artist’s representative asks…
Read MoreIf I Can Become A Pro Songwriter, YOU Can Too!
In many ways, I am the least likely person to become a hit songwriter. I grew up with serious self-esteem issues. I’ve always been short and was self-conscious about it most of my life. I was never popular in school. I am painfully shy and introverted. I grew up believing that you should ALWAYS…
Read MorePro Songwriting Terms Defined
In the ever changing world of the music business, many terms get thrown around in ways that are confusing. If you are interested in playing in the “big leagues” as a “pro” writer, it’s important to know what people in the music business are talking about when they use these words: Pro The dictionary defines…
Read MoreEtiquette For Songwriting (and life)
Our pitch to publisher webinar on Thursday reminded me of several points that I think bear bringing up every now and then. Almost everyone involved in the song submitting process behaved professionally. One or two did not. One of those people e-mailed us after the event claiming that we must not have listened to their…
Read MoreGood News For Songwriters: Hard Work Beats Talent
Some of you have heard me tell this story before. Early in my writing career, I had enjoyed all the family activities I could stand and I needed a little break. So, I went to our publishing office to work on some ideas and plan my strategy for the upcoming year. The music business in…
Read MoreLyric Sheets: Which Songwriter’s Name Goes First?
My first publisher, Kim Williams, was an inspirational person in many regards. He taught me many powerful lessons about writing AND about life. Kim had been an electrical engineer and had been burned over most of his body. He spent over a year in the hospital and wasn’t given much chance at survival. When I met him, he…
Read MoreSongwriters: Don’t Turn Around Now!
In the past week, I’ve had conversations with several SongTownians who were thinking about quitting songwriting. They were on the verge of never writing another song. Their frustration at their lack of commercial success had proved to be a crushing blow to them. In every case, they had turned over their joy to the fickle…
Read MoreThe Darius Rucker Effect: How 2 Hours Can Change A Songwriter’s Life
ASCAP #1 Songwriter Party for Clay Mills & Darius Rucker I remember 6 years ago driving with my publisher Kurt Denny from Tennessee to Kentucky, where I was about to climb on the Hootie and the Blowfish tour bus. Kurt had arranged my first major artist co-write with rocker Darius Rucker. I was quiet the…
Read MoreLove Can Build A Bridge Pt 1 – Co-writing Mistakes Songwriters Can Learn From
I wrote songs for about 5 years before the first time I had anyone at a ‘professional’ level chime in on my writing or critique any of my songs. (Disclaimer: that autocorrected to ‘I wrote dogs for about 5 years’….and I’m not all that sure it isn’t accurate.) There were bits and pieces of goodness…
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