Sync Licensing Secrets: Tucker Scott on Writing Songs That Land in TV & Film

By Clay Mills, SongTown Co-Founder This past month, our SongTown crew had a special guest: Tucker Scott, Creative Manager at The Bus Music Publishing. If you’re dreaming of hearing your song in a TV show, commercial, or movie trailer, Tucker dropped a goldmine of advice on how to craft sync-friendly music that actually gets placed.…

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The Songwriter’s Pitch To Publisher Checklist

  There’s an art to a songwriter’s pitch to publisher opportunities. You can avoid many of the mistakes I made early on if you do these things when you get a chance to pitch to a publisher. 1. Before you even agree to the meeting, ask yourself “Are my songs REALLY radio/recording artist ready? Are…

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What a Hit Publisher Wants: Lessons from Elizabeth Brahan

By Clay Mills, SongTown Co-Founder I had the pleasure of sitting in on a Zoom meeting led by hit publisher Elizabeth Brahan, and wow—there was so much wisdom dropped, I just had to share it with you. Elizabeth works every day with rising artists, A&R teams, and major labels, and she’s in the trenches pitching…

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Don’t Be This Co-Writer: Mistakes Every Songwriter Should Avoid When Co-writing

Early on in my songwriting career I had enough bad/weird co-writing experiences that I acquired vast database of material to draw from for co-writing no-no’s. So here is my list of things NOT TO DO in a co-write… 1. Write down ideas that your co-writers throw out so you can use them later. When you throw out…

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How to Find Your Unique Voice as a Singer

I gotta tell you about the time I walked into Brett Manning’s studio thinking I’d just do a few vocal warmups, maybe stretch out the pipes a little. I left that place hitting notes I didn’t even know I had. No joke—I went from topping out at an A in the office to belting a…

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5 Pro Tips for Writing a Great Song Every Time

By Clay Mills & Marty Dodson When it comes to writing consistently great songs, it’s not about chasing trends or being the cleverest writer in the room — it’s about crafting something real that resonates. Marty Dodson and I share five essential tips (plus a bonus!) that will elevate your writing every time you sit down to…

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5 Things I Wish My Amateur Songwriting Self Had Known

If I could go back and mentor my younger songwriting self, I could help him avoid a lot of the disappointments he experienced and help him succeed much faster. So, I thought I’d share some of the wisdom I would give to him with you. Here we go: It takes a LONG time to become…

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5 Free Songwriter Tools To Keep You Organized

These days, most songwriters I know are busier than ever managing lives, families, jobs, social media, writing, performing – the list goes on and on. Our time is precious and valuable! Here’s a list of 5 free songwriter tools I use to streamline and organize my writing process so that I have more time to…

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Songwriting And Life: Lessons That Apply To Both

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 and the answers we give are really just…

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“Do I Have What It Takes?” The Songwriter’s Million Dollar Question

The biggest songwriting question that every songwriter I know struggles with is “Do I have what it takes?”  I’ve asked myself that one hundreds of times.  So have Clay and every other pro songwriter I know. So, if you’ve ever looked in the mirror and asked that hopeful songwriter staring back at you that question,…

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