SHE DOESN’T EVEN GO HERE–A Cheerleader’s Lament I am not generally a peppy individual. I don’t like things like “exercise” and “being in shape,” nor do I care about literally any sport other than college football. Actually, if we’re sitting in the real Tree Of Truth here… most of my passion for college football has…

A SongTownian writes: If I don’t like the way a song turns out with a co-writer, am I free to take the idea and write it with someone else? Mailbox Marty responds: Not really. Generally, once you write an idea with someone, you are in it for good with them. It’s considered very bad form to…

Who would want to say this? An artist is a brand. If a song doesn’t fit their brand, they aren’t going to sing it, no matter how good the song might be. If you can come up with a handful of artists that might think your song fits their brand, you are on the right…

Songwriting is a frustrating profession. The reward to hard work ratio can be very small. It’s hard to stay motivated at times when you keep hearing “No” over and over. But, I wanted to share my story in hopes that it will inspire and encourage some of you to keep chasing the dream and keep…

I can’t count the number of times I have had this question asked of me… What makes a hit song?  Someone will play me a GREAT song and express their confusion over the lack of interest they are getting from the industry when they play it for people. So, I thought I would lay out…

One of the biggest lessons I have learned in my years in the music business is that nobody wants me to succeed as much as I do. My publisher, my co-writers and my song pluggers all want me to do well. They are heavily invested in my success. But, at the end of the day,…

Here are some habits that I’ve noticed are common to highly effective and successful songwriters. The first step toward becoming a pro songwriter is learning to think like one. Here are the common habits I see in my friends who are successful songwriters. They are always on the lookout for great ideas. Their antennae are always…

1) Marty Dodson and Clay Mills wrote together years ago, but were not frequent collaborators when they started Songtown. Now, they talk multiple times a day. Every day. 2) The big question Marty and Clay wrestled with before starting Songtown was “Will people stick around if we tell them the truth?” They saw multiple Songwriting…

Since we have a lot of new members, I wanted to share some etiquette questions that are asked frequently. These are not only SongTown etiquette guidelines, but are usually practiced by pro writers in any genre: 1) “Extra” titles thrown out in a co-write are not yours to take and write with someone else (unless…