How To Format Your Lyric Sheets – A Songwriter’s Guide
The proper way to format your lyric sheet is one of the most overlooked details in the songwriting business! Since starting SongTown, Marty Dodson and I have had the chance to see many songs lyrics presented in our publisher groups, song contests, and song feedback forums on songtown.com. We've seen some wild lyric sheets—or in many cases, even NO...
Write The Song In The Room: The Story Behind “History In The Making” With Darius Rucker
"As a songwriter nothing is more important than writing the song in the room and keeping the songwriting flow alive." ~Clay Mills "Let's write a romantic song. Your record is 80% done and there's no song on it about romance and falling in love." I said those words to Darius Rucker and producer Frank Rogers while sitting in a writing room...
How Do You Write Commercial Songs – Without Selling Your Soul?
Often songwriters in our SongTown classes ask, "How do I write commercial songs without selling out?" They are writers who would like to have commercial success and hear one of their songs on the radio or an album. But they want to know how to accomplish this and still be true to themselves. They don't want to sell-out. The definition of...
There Are Songs in That Guitar: A Christmas Holiday Reflection
This Christmas season, I find myself looking back and remembering people that have been an important part of my life. I think the winter holidays are a wonderful time for cultivating gratitude. There have been people who have been there for me since day one, and there have been those who were only in my life for brief moments,...
Recording At Home: Demo Process For The #1 Hit “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It”
People often ask me if they have to do full-production demos to present songs to publishers or major artist? I do a fair amount of full demos, but I also have had about half of my major cuts from pitching home demos done on a very basic set-up on my mac laptop. The Home Studio Recording Gear I Used... Let's break...
5 Stinking Thinking Songwriter Thoughts
These kinds of thoughts keep a negative cloud over you and your writing AND they actually decrease your chances of success. If these thoughts creep into your head, kick them to the curb before they derail your creativity and your forward progress. 1) "My songs are better than...." It doesn't matter at the end of the day. Comparing your work to...