Timeless Art in a Consumer's World

In America, many of our daily decisions are made out of a consumer's mindset. Everywhere we look are persuasive ads about how we should make those choices.

This mindset unfortunately has contaminated how we create art. Instead of creating out of a freedom, we tend to restrict ourselves to the rules of a commercial game. We want to please those who open the doors to financial success. While writing a song, we say things like, "A radio station wouldn't play that kind of song, so maybe we should pursue another direction."

But I believe that when art has true integrity, a by-product is that it will be desired by consumers, and radio will play it. (It may sound naive, but how can I convince myself to create outside of the commercial boundaries without believing that?) So rather than trying to write a song that contains marketable characteristics, we can focus on writing a song that is great art, and as a result, will sell.

A lot of radio stations have played the same safe music for years, mainly because what has worked in the past still "works" today (there are still people listening). Rather than fixing something that arguably/presumably isn’t broken, record label promotion teams have reacted by shaping their product to the mold that radio wants. Like a line of dominoes falling backwards, the songwriters have also felt the pressure to adapt in order to be competitive. The songwriter who writes something outside the box hardly has a shot at their song being heard over the airwaves. The result of this cycle is that each song ends up sounding like a slight version of the one before. If everyone’s aiming at the same bull’s eye, there will only be so much variation. It seems fair to call these songs average, because by default, they are lacking special distinction, rank, and status.

Deep down I want to believe that the best songs make it onto albums and over the airwaves, but that unfortunately isn’t always the case. It often feels like there are more behind-the-scenes politics than a November election. The challenge to the professional songwriter is to be true to his/her own voice while making a living writing songs for an industry that doesn’t treat new voices kindly. It’s the new voices, however, that cause the craft of songwriting to grow.

Keep writing,

Ben

Rules, Schmules

There are plenty of rules that can be helpful when writing a song, but only if they are viewed as guidelines. Instead of using the rules as tools to build the skeleton of the song, The strongest lyric will share a lot of these common characteristics.

There is no concrete rule when it comes to songwriting, because you can find a great example that breaks every rule. It’s helpful to understand rules and guidelines as road signs, but it doesn’t mean you have to follow exactly where the map tells you to go. You can take a more scenic route and still end up at the finish line. It's often easiest to take the fastest, most direct route, but the path less traveled should always be a viable option.

A lot of times when I learn something new about songwriting, one of the first emotions that rises to the surface is a sense of lost time...a sort of regret that I may have been doing it "wrong" for so long. But as I mentioned earlier, it's important to view songs more as stepping-stones rather than the other shore (a means to an end rather than the end itself).

“There is no right way to paint...so just paint.” (Nashville's Helen King to her art students)

I would echo that by saying that there's no right way to write songs, so just write.

Keep writing,

Ben

"The Loneliest Day of My Life..."

“That was the loneliest day of my life,” said the songwriter. No, it wasn’t because his wife left him or his dog died. It was because he wrote a song that just made it to #1 on the Billboard Country Chart, and this is a true story. How could he be lonely, you ask? It’s because he had been looking forward so much to that day that when it finally came he didn’t know what to do next.

You know what comes after the next step? The next step.

Keep writing,

Ben

Developing a Voice

This is a large boot.

The fun thing about writing songs for other people is that you can skip genres from day to day. But the dangerous thing is that we can sometimes leave what we do best at the door. Write what you know, not what you think you know.

There was a point in my pursuit of a songwriting deal where, on my own, I began writing mostly country songs. I figured a Nashville publisher would expect nothing else. The problem was not so much the quality of the songs (they were awful) as the fact that I wasn’t being true to my own voice. As a piano player who grew up soaking in The Beatles' White Album, I was trying to operate in a genre where I had no real authority. I didn’t grow up wearing a cowboy hat on a ranch in Texas, but some other writer did. And they will naturally write a song about farm life way better than I ever will.

I would define a voice as "the style of one's message."

There is something that each of us brings to a song that we do better than anyone else in the world. It would boring if we all tried to have the same voice and write the same song (and thankfully, some publishers understand this reality). The last thing creativity should be described as is safe. If we are true to our own voice, we will create something fresh rather than safe.

Keep writing,

Ben

Rusty Gaston - What a Publisher is Looking For

Rusty Gaston - On What I Look For from Music Starts Here on Vimeo.

Fingerprints

Photo by Kevin Dooley. Used with permission.

We all have unique fingerprints. If we are true to our individual creativity, then those fingers will play melodies and write lyrics that reflect that uniqueness.

Sure, we are influenced by others, but we all have the ability to see the world as no one else has ever seen it before.

When creating art, we learn by doing. Setting out to write a song that’s original and “you” means that part of the process is figuring out what does and doesn't work (more on this later). Conventional rules should not apply.

On our way, we will come to forks in the road. We can either:

a) write what we believe in, or
b) write what we think someone else expects us to write.

Don't be afraid of trial and error. A lot of time we learn more from our "errors" than we ever do from our successes.  

Keep writing,

Ben

Fast - Cheap - Good: Pick Two

Here's a marketing tool that I've found helpful: in any given project, a product can be fast, cheap, and/or good. But it can only be two of the three. Let's look at this through the lens of a songwriter.

If you're interested in getting a song recorded, there are three scenarios:

1. Fast/Cheap

There's an audio engineer friend who is looking for some recording experience. He said he'd record your song at his place if you buy him lunch. Fast and cheap, but what level of quality should be expected?

2. Cheap/Good

There's a family friend who has had success over the years recording well-known artists. As a favor, he offered you the opportunity to come into his studio when it's available to record some songs. He even said he'd be willing to mix them. It's no cost, and the quality is top-notch. But how long will it be before he has a free day to mix your song?

3. Fast/Good

There's a professional audio engineer in town who has gained a reputation for not only getting great-quality recordings, but mixing them the very next day. Nothing's better to a songwriter or publisher than getting a final mix so soon, but how much is that going to cost?

The best audio engineer of all is the one who makes you feel like you got a recording that was all three of the above: cheap, good and fast. It's your job to figure out which one of the three it's not!

Keep writing,

Ben

Odie Blackmon - Humility Into Growth

Odie Blackmon - Having Humility from Music Starts Here on Vimeo.

What Not to Do

By Paul Zollo, as seen in American Songwriter

"I don't know how to write songs. But I know what not to do. So I just cut out everything that sucks."

- Lou Reed


The path to writing a great song is undefined. The journey is beautiful, exciting, scary and comforting at the same time.

Be suspicious of anyone who claims there are only six steps to songwriting success.

In Paul Zollo's book, Songwriters on Songwriting, I was fascinated that the actual writing process is described so vaguely by so many writers.  And he interviewed some of the most legendary songwriters of all time.

Keep writing,

Ben

Timeless Art in a Fast World

There is a fun app on my phone that allows me to take professional-looking pictures in almost no time. I can make the most menial object look epic, without having to pay a professional photographer. That's a blessing and also a possible hazard.

We live in a fast world, and we want high-quality things, quickly. A picture program like this is appealing because it cuts out cost and time. But that also means that a tool like this could potentially take away work from photographers.

What does this look like when it comes to writing songs? With professional-quality microphones and recording equipment cheaper than ever, anyone and their mom is able to get an album onto iTunes. The real issue when it comes to such available technology is that we are tempted and able to hit the recording button too soon. Instead of carving on and reshaping a lyric or melody, we attempt to make up for any deficiencies in the song by making a sparkly and shiny recording. But a great recording of a mediocre song is still only a mediocre song. Few will remember hearing it.

When more people have access to create timeless-looking art, the challenge is to encourage all to participate, while still preserving and passing on the integrity of the craft. The reality is that with everyone taking photos on their phones, we are potentially only adding more noise to the craft of photography. It becomes easier to be average, and more difficult to be exceptional.

In the end, time is what separates the good from the mediocre – in a photographer's photos and in a songwriter's songs. If we create something true and good, it will stand up ten years from now. But if we only write something that sounds like what’s currently on the radio, then it’ll just sound like that "other" song. And who just wants to blend in?

Keep writing,

Ben

The Journey of a Song

Between the songwriter’s pen to the listener’s ear, there are a handful of steps that the song must take along the business path. Here is a basic estimated unfolding of events in the journey of a song once it is written (with estimated length of time in parentheses):

1. Song is turned into publisher
2. Song is demoed (three months later)
3. Publisher pitches song to artists/labels/managers around town (six months)
4. Artist decides to record song (three months)
5. Album gets mixed and label promotes upcoming release (six months)
6. Album is release, and publisher and songwriter look forward to royalties (six-nine months)

Yesterday my publisher said to me and my co-writer, "You can kick off 2011 by writing something that will make you money in 2012 or 2013!" He was jokingly serious. Or seriously joking. Sort of. If you add up the months in parentheses, you get about two years.

For example, I co-wrote songs over two years ago that are just now on the Mosaic album (leaving me at step 6). Making money in song publishing is a long-term investment for both the publisher and the songwriter. Both are players in the waiting game, and expecting things to happen too quickly can only bring disappointment.

But this should not be a daunting reality to the songwriter. The long period of time can serve as a reminder that it doesn't necessarily pay off to try to simulate what is currently on the radio. A good song written today will certainly stand two years from now, regardless of what the top 40 landscape may look like. 

Keep writing,

Ben

Identify

Songs either connect with the listener or they don't. When two people hear the same song, what makes one skip to the next track, and another drop what they're doing? And what could the songwriter do to affect this situation? Identify.

When I think of the songs that I truly enjoy listening to, I realize that the reason I love them so much is because they identify with me. They speak into my life, my situation, my relationships. They are the lens through which life makes more sense. We all want to go through every day with a soundtrack playing in the background. And we as songwriters have the honor of writing these songs for those around us.

So how do I identify while writing a song? Keep the listener in mind. It's as if the initial time a listener hears the song, they are going on a "first date" with the melody and lyric. If the song only talks about itself without asking the listener any questions, do you think they'd look forward to a second date?

Keep writing,

Ben

Five Times

I recently wrote with a guy who had written a song that was recorded by one of the most successful female country artists of our time. We met at his place where he had a room dedicated to writing and recording. In addition to some family photos, I noticed a plaque hanging on one wall, congratulating him on the sales of over 5,000,000 records. Our conversation went something like this:

Me: “What an accomplishment!”
Him: “Yeah, my wife encouraged me to put it up, but I think it needs to come down.”
Me: “But why wouldn’t you want to display that?”
Him: “Because it just reminds me that I haven’t done it since.”

You see, he had written that song about five years before the day we got together to write. It made me sad that he must come into that room five days a week to create, but immediately feel the pressure not to fail again.

Photo by rafaelmarquez. Used with permission.

I realized that it is my human tendency to always be looking forward to the next thing. I naturally am always focused on reaching the next mountain peak. But I believe the key to enjoying a career as a songwriter is to write songs because you enjoy writing songs, and for no other reason. Everything else is icing on the cake, including a big hit or a #1 song.

When I think about looking back at the end of my career, do I want to remember being happy five times (when I made it to the mountain peaks)? Or do I want to remember being happy five times a week?


Keep writing,

Ben

10 Steps to Success...or Failure?

Photo by Kevin Dooley. Used with permission.

Possible Levels of Success:

1. Write a song
2. Get a songwriting deal
3. Demo a song
4. Get a song on hold
5. Get a cut on an unsigned artist
6. Get an album cut on a signed artist
7. Get a radio single on a signed artist
8. Get a song on the Billboard charts
9. Get a #1 song on the Billboard charts
10. Do it again

The inevitable truth is that every songwriter will achieve a certain level. However, most of these steps are only 1% of the life of a writer. 99% is the daily process of writing the songs. So which of the two should we focus on enjoying?

Keep writing,

Ben

Stepping-Stone Songs

Why end every post with the sign off, "Keep writing,"?

The best education we can get when it comes to writing songs comes by writing more songs. We learn from taking chances and failing. We learn from trying all over again. Songs are stepping stones.

For my parents the hardest aspect of what I do is the reality that most of the songs that I write will never be heard by the public. The reason this is difficult is because each song any writer creates has a value worth pointing to that shows it is in some way special and unique.

I had a good friend in college who was intent on perfecting his songs. Rather than calling a song finished and moving on, he believed that the original idea that spurred his song was worth spending multitudes of time on. He spent a couple years focusing on the same eight songs, and has since told me that he wished that he had written more.

A publisher told me once that there was a writer who showed potential, but just didn’t quite yet have the right caliber of songs to get any cut. The advice given to that writer was, not to go listen to a certain song or to specifically work on his rhyming or music, but, to come back after they had written 200 more songs. 200!

As crazy as it sounds, I think the publisher’s advice holds water. Over the past few years (after writing 200 more songs myself) I’ve realized that I've grown more from just writing more and more songs than I have from anything else. Only by writing more songs will I grow out of my mistakes. Rather than over-analyzing each and every song I write, I along with my publisher leave room for mistakes, which in turn spurs my growth.
 
On a side-note, I am more than excited that my alma mater is now offering a major in songwriting. My only concern is that students could enter and exit the program with a false assumption that earning a degree with the word “Songwriter” or "Songwriting" printed on it will translate into a publishing deal and a long career. If you go to school to become an accountant, you can go into a financial management company or a bank with somewhat of an expectation that you are qualified for a position. However, when it comes to songwriting, there is no conventional path to becoming a professional. I know plenty of writers who never went to college. In songwriting, every writer earns their degree from experience.

In addition to writing songs, however, I’ve found it incredibly valuable to be reading different books on the craft of songwriting. Here are some of my favorites, some of which I believe you would find valuable (there are links to purchasing these books by clicking on the "Reading" tab above):

          Modern Rhyming Dictionary - worth it for the 60-page introduction on how to rhyme.

          The Artist's Way - most effective way to get in touch with your creativity.

          Songwriters on Songwriting - a great compilation from great writers on great writing.

          Writing Better Lyrics - good, applicable exercises.

          The Future of Music - a speculation of what to expect as music hits new waves of technology in the coming decades.

          All You Need to Know About the Music Business - exactly what it claims to be.

I believe passion paired with enjoyment of music will be the cause of growth. So keep reading, and keep writing!

Ben