Steve Jobs' Mindset

One of the more important things I've learned lately has been the importance of seeing your vision through in the creation of art. In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, Andy Kessler commented that Jobs was successful because he focused on "figuring out what he wanted and controlling the process until he got it."

On a similar note, the documentary about Pixar on Netflix echoes this mindset. Producers at Pixar said that they were able to have such a successful track record due to the fact that they simply made movies that they themselves would want to watch. This seems like an obvious question, but do you write the kind of songs that you would want to listen to? In the publishing world, it can get pretty confusing whose taste you are trying to appeal to--your own, your publisher's or the listener.

Keep writing (songs you would want to hear),

Ben

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Would you or someone you know like to go on a songwriting retreat with industry professionals? Visit SongbirdCamp.com for more details!

Some Wisdom From Bill Withers, Part 2

(This is a guest post by my friend Matt Slaughter, which will began yesterday.)

How can a songwriter create as freely as Withers, have artistic integrity, and make a living doing it? Granted, that's a multi-billion dollar question, but I believe it goes much, much deeper than that for songwriters. It’s the feeling in your bones when you see someone picked on. It’s the rush you feel when a dear friend speaks your name. It’s the gut-wrenching loss of appetite when a loved-one passes away. After acknowledging the Thoreau quote about men leading lives of quiet desperation, Withers said, "I would like to know how it feels for my desperation to get louder." True art must be created from the soul!

• Forget about the potential fruits of your labor- just create! Even if you can’t afford the sheets you sleep on with your music, it’s OK. Remember, it is an enormous privilege to even have the time and space to write. “It’s ok to head out for wonderful, but on your way to wonderful you’re going to have to pass through alright. And when you get to alright, take a good look around and get used to it because that may be as far as you’re going to go.” This is hardly a charge for mediocrity; rather, this is a charge for humility while pursuing a dream.

Maybe the declining profitability of the music industry is a good thing. In the same way fasting is healthy for the body, may this decline present an opportunity to ruthlessly weed out those looking for validation, fame, or riches at the expense of great art. Now, be your authentic self, find some real inspiration, and get to work!

For the love of music,

Matt



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Would you or someone you know like to go on a songwriting retreat with industry professionals? Visit SongbirdCamp.com for more details!

Some Wisdom From Bill Withers, Part 1

(This is a guest post by my friend Matt Slaughter, which will be completed tomorrow.)

I'm a little late to the party on this one (as it came out over a year ago), but the documentary "Still Bill" about Bill Withers has truly rekindled my love affair with songwriting.

There is this certain wisdom about Withers. Here are a few takeaways…

• Investigate your vulnerabilities, strengths, and weaknesses. Instead of singing about romantic love all the time, write a love song about your grandma, or a friendship song (i.e. “Lean on Me”).

• Resist the validation of the mainstream. When interviewed, Withers spoke of how he ran into trouble because he didn’t fit into the loud R&B style of his day; to which he replied, “I’ve got a good job making these toilets, I don’t need your cash.”

Stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow...





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Would you or someone you know like to go on a songwriting retreat with industry professionals? Visit SongbirdCamp.com for more details!

Washed Up Art

A couple days ago Peter Cooper posted his thoughts about the current state of country music radio programming. Read it here.

There's one key thing that I take from Cooper's blog post, along with the ensuing 228 comments: Temporary art does not satisfy.

While there's room for mindless, fun songs, I believe most people, most of the time, desire to hear music with some substantive depth. And I believe most songwriters, most of the time, desire to write songs with substantive depth. As listeners and creators, all we can do is point to the art that is worth pointing to.

The gatekeepers in the middle will rarely be a good, honest compass leading to fine art; there are too many ulterior motives at play. With song services like Rdio and Spotify (both are like Netflix for music, providing unlimited, on demand streaming of any song) becoming readily available, the role of the traditional gatekeeper is diminished. We don't have to let someone else tell us what songs to like, but have the entire musical world at our fingertips.

Today I am going on a musical exploration of sorts, exposing my ears to music they've never heard. I feel like I'm back on Sanibel Island with a bucket in hand, searching the ground for shells of any color, shape or size that happens to grab my attention. There's plenty of room on the beach...

Keep writing,

Ben

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Would you or someone you know like to go on a songwriting retreat with industry professionals? Visit SongbirdCamp.com for more details!

Walt Disney - The Early Years

We all know about Mickey Mouse and the incredible library of Disney films and characters. It's easy to sometimes assume Donald and Daffy Duck just hatched one day and that Disney World just grew out of the ground. However, in the recent documentary (available on Netflix), "Walt - The Man Behind the Myth," we are given a look into the life of the visionary behind it all, Walt Disney.

As a 22 year old, Disney shot "Alice's Wonderland" with less than $100. How's that for bootstrapping? People had previously merged real people with animation, usually overlaying animation over real scenes. This, however, was one of the first films where the real life actor entered the animated world.

Though it's harder to see almost 90 years later, Disney thought so far out of the box that he created a new one. "Steamboat Willie" was the first cartoon to incorporate overlaying sound with effect (previously there would just be background music). With "Snow White," he created the first feature-length cartoon. After "Snow White" came "Pinocchio," "Fantasia" and "Bambi"--all of which pushed boundaries and created new technologies.

Though I don't claim to be a big cartoon watcher, I can appreciate a man with enough vision to change the world of animation.

Who is Harry Nilsson?

Over the past couple weeks I've been listening to Harry Nilsson's greatest hits. Who is Harry Nilsson, you ask? I wondered the same thing, and really enjoyed the documentary with the same title (watch it on Netflix here). I figured if The Beatles claimed him as their favorite artist, then I should probably check him out.

Listening through his career's work, I feel like I'm hearing a songwriter's catalog rather than that of a boxed-in, formulated artist. What I mean is that he goes from singing "Everybody's Talkin'" to "Coconut" to "One" (which Three Dog Night made famous) without blinking an eye. He also does an amazing version of the standard "As Time Goes By" with Sinatra's orchestrator.

And one of my all-time favorite YouTube videos is from Hungarian Idol where a woman phonetically butchers Nilsson's hit "Without You" (also made famous by Mariah Carey).

Below is Nilsson singing a live version of his song "Without Her." I love how his phrasing sounds so conversational and syncopated, similar to the style of "The Girl From Ipanema."



Keep writing,

Ben