Songwriting 2 How Do I Write For Someone Else and Get It Recorded?
Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 09:24AM Targeted Song Writing
I had lunch the other day with my friend Scott, who is a journalist by trade, but who is interested in writing songs, as well as books, articles, etc. He told me that he never writes any thing without first determining an audience and a place for the work that will pay him for his efforts. In this regard, he will send out queries to various magazines about an article he wishes to write. When a magazine says yes, we’ll pay for that article, then he writes it.
That is, of course, much the opposite of what any of us as songwriters do. For the past eight months, I have been concentrating getting my new solo CD, The Eternal Contradiction out. I have concentrated on booking, promoting, distribution, my space, email, post cards, posters, etc. I have not been in the studio to record anything since December. I have not actually written a whole song since October. I explained to my wife that I was sorely missing that aspect of my being. She suggested that I go over all my CD’s and rerecord the best eleven songs; that I didn’t need to write any more songs. But like a junky wants a fix, a songwriter wants to write. I feel constipated in the cosmic sense if I don’t get the songs out.
And I feel like being a good songwriter is, in addition to the work required, a wonderful gift. I feel like it’s a sin to not employ that gift and as I said before, any gift you are given that you don’t use, you will lose. So I think that anyone who wants to be or is a songwriter, needs to constantly be at least in the process of writing a song.
Now as an artist, I know who is going to be singing my songs—me. But my friend Scott, the journalist, wants to be a songwriter who has other artists record his songs. That is a lot trickier than recording your own songs. Remembering that he doesn’t like to write anything that isn’t already sold, I told him that songwriting is not like that. I write songs because I hear them or because there is something that I am compelled to say and I have no idea whether anyone else will ever appreciate it on any level.
But then I realized that there was a way to accommodate that and that it is something that I would suggest to all of you who are looking to have other artists record their material. Let’s say that you like a certain genre of music and that the songs you write sort of fall into that genre. Okay, now go into that genre and pick a few artists that you really like and who do material that is similar to what you do. Get one of their CD’s and listen to it til you know it by heart. Listen to the way the words are put together; how the chord progession flows; how complicated the progression is; are there modulations? Is it repetitive? Is it deep? What ever it is, notice that, understand that and absorb that. Now write a song like that. And keep comparing it to the CD. Is the song as good as the songs on the CD? When you can say yes, it’s time for step two.
Make a demo of the song, and make the demo of the song sound as much like the recording as you can. Get a producer if you can’t do it yourself. And realize that there is a financial commitment here. Once you have that, step three.
Go on the internet and find out the address of the record label and the phone number. Call them and get the name of the person running the A&R Department. Call or email that person and request permission to submit this song for this artist that you emulated who is on their label. Do the same thing with the attorney and the manager of the artist, the publisher of all the songs on the CD. If there are different publishers, then contact them all. Do the same with the booking agent of the artist. If you know a promoter who actually promotes concerts by the artist, do the same with him. All the way down to the baby sitter of the children of the artist; any way that you can get the song to that artist; anyone who might have a contact. You never know and you have nothing to lose but the cost of the copy and the postage. I don’t know why I’ve never done this…yes I do. I record my own albums and I write my songs for me, but I think I’m gonna try this and see what happens.
Please let me know how it works out when you try this. It SEEMS logical, but then..., this is show business.
Reader Comments (4)
James, hello again and if I can be helpful here, I'm glad to do so. For those of you who are fans of James', I don't have to tell you how good he is. For those of you who might be new fans of his or are discovering him, I think you're going to be very pleased. If there is one thing that he and I and just about every working musician I know will tell you, if you don't stay with it, you've got NO shot. If you stick with it, it STILL might not work out but your odds are a hell of a lot better than if you bitch, moan or quit. Now, bitching and moaning are our birthright as musicians but it does get old fast ;-).
Anyway James, continued success, you make wonderful music and I look forward to our singing together in the future.
Cheers,
Steve March Tormé
www.stevemarchtorme.com
Hi James,
I'm mainly writing to tell you that the photo you included with this blog entry cracked me up!
Enjoying your writing.....
steve, thanks for the post and your kind words. For those of you who don't know, Steve is a wonderful singer in the true sense of the word. In the tradition of the great saloon singers as Frank Sinatra described himself. Steve's taste, integrity and pedigree are impeccable. Check out his website, and yes, he is the son of THAT Torme.
sheila, thanks for visiting and i'm delighted that you found the photo amusing. my dearest friend, the late tom dundee and i were emulating those turn of the century french post cards when this was taken in laurel canyon at my home, circa 1982.