In the beginning, Bartholomew Cubbins didn’t have 500 hats. He had only one hat.
In the traditional music business
model, you, the songwriter or artist would be under contract to a large record
company and publisher, who would then call all the shots. In today’s world of Independent
artists, YOU are the one who puts
others under contract to you. The
key is to know (a) what types of roles/tasks
need to be done
(b) which ones you can do
yourself
(c) which ones you need to engage
others for
(d) how to find the right person(s) to do the tasks you want to
contract out.
There are three parts in the
journey from creative inspiration to released recording. These are:
• Creation – (Songcraft):
the process of
conceptualizing, creating and
crafting
the song, including getting critique and
making revisions.
• Realization – (Studiocraft): the process of taking the
finished song from
paper (or in your head) to fully
arranged master recording
and/or
performable piece
• Proliferation - (Salescraft and Stagecraft): the process
of getting copies of
the
song as widely disseminated to as many people as possible
through
a recording or live performance
Within
these three phases, a number of different things must happen, each requiring
different types of skill sets.
Each related group of tasks that must be done comprises a role. In big label, big budget projects, each role may have
a dedicated person (or more than one person) doing those tasks. For the typical Indie artist, all the roles are filled initially by
you. These are the many hats you
have to wear. The reason it often seems so daunting is that the knowledge and
skills you have will fit some of the roles, but not others, and
when you come to a point where
those roles need to be filled by skills you don’t posses, you feel adrift.
If you know what each role is, when it
is needed, and the skills required, you will be able to make informed decisions
and you will be able to continue to move ahead with much
less stress. First, let’s take a
look at some of the key roles required to get a song from beginning to end.
Actual
songwriting occurs in the Creation phase. Realization involves arranging,
recording, and production, while Proliferation centers around distribution,
performance and promotion. Each of
the roles above is a combination of creative elements and technical elements,
but the skill sets and objectives for Realization and Proliferation are
different than those for the initial creation of the song.
A
song is traditionally and legally defined as a melody and lyric. For purposes of this discussion and the
Creation-Realization-Proliferation paradigm, Creation means the initial writing of a melody and lyric,
along with (optionally) the initial accompanying chords. Anything beyond that (for example when
the rest of the band or the producer starts adding parts) becomes elements of
Realization, i.e. deciding stylistic elements of how the song will be arranged
and produced. As songwriters, we
want to be able to create a lyric and melody which, if sung a capella or in any stylistic arrangement, will
always stand on its own as a well-crafted song. That is how a song gets covered by many artists across several
different styles.
As
a self-contained Indie artist, you
may indeed have to wear all 500 hats, but while you are acting as a songwriter,
you have to deal with only four roles:
Lyricist, Composer, Idea Generator, and Sounding Board. Remember that one person can fill more
than one role (e.g., you write both the music and the lyrics) or one role can be filled by more than
one person (e.g., two people collaborate on a lyric).
The
Lyricist role is the one which writes the lyrics. The Composer creates the melody and optionally, the initial
chord accompaniment. These
are well known and easily understood roles.
But
where do the inspirations for songs come from? What ignites the spark to want to write about something ? This is the role of the Idea Generator.
The one who has the “songwriter’s antennae” always extended, scanning life for moments to be
captured in a sonic snapshot. Many
songwriters generate their own ideas, from life experience, from an event in
the news, from a line in a book or
from seeing something on TV. But
just as easily, it could be someone else who provides the key idea for a
song. That person may not write a
single lyric line or melody note, but they can provide the spark, the hook, the
central premise that becomes a song.
In
that case, they are acting as the Idea Generator. It is important as a songwriter to always remain open to all
sources of inspiration. The person
who insists on being totally self-contained may miss out on some great ideas
that come from others. If someone
else provides the idea for a great song, an idea is not a copyrightable entity,
thus you are not required to credit them as a co-writer, but it may be good
business and interpersonal etiquette to do so. That becomes one of your early choices. If there is one less co-writer, you get a larger piece of the pie. But will it cause hard feelings and
possibly burn a valuable bridge?
Like all choices in the arts, there is not an absolute ‘right’ or
‘wrong’ decision. -- just the one that seems right for you, and you can only
make it if you stop to think about it.
The
fourth role in the realm of Creation is that of Sounding Board. This is one role which is usually
impossible to fill yourself, and it is an extremely important part of Creation. Sadly, many writers are afraid of this
role and leave it out of the process, to their own detriment.
The
Sounding Board is the person (or persons) whom you let hear your early versions
of the song, or see the initial
drafts of the lyric, to get feedback and constructive critique. The skills required in order for
this role to be valuable to you are that the person(s) filling it have no
reason to say they like or dislike your song for any reason other than its own
merits. This means that your spouse, your mom, you dog, or your
employee will not effectively fill this role (unless they are also a qualified
music evaluator whom you know can be objective) A music professional, a
knowledgeable teacher, a qualified songwriting coach, or a Songwriter
Association provide good sources of constructive feedback. Think of Olympic athletes – how would
they ever reach their full potential if they didn’t have a qualified, objective
person observing them and telling them what was good and what could be
improved. If all they ever got was
a supportive parent or partner saying “good job!” and “great effort” to
everything, without someone pointing out areas for improvement, there would be limited advancement of
skills and no intensifying of inner drive. However, there would be that warm fuzzy feeling of
affirmation, which everyone likes.
On the other hand, if all one ever heard
is relentless criticism, which unfortunately can also come from parents and
loved ones, there is no better way
to kill motivation and creative spark.
And in both cases, your eyes would certainly not be wide open to what could
really be achieved. Only you
can determine where the right balance lies for you. Many songwriters tend to
avoid objective critique, but it is one of the surest, fastest ways to advance
your skills.
In
my years of song critiquing, I’ve seen so many writers bring fully produced
studio recordings, representing significant time and money, to critique
sessions. This is clearly outside
the Creation-Realization-Proliferation paradigm, as a fully
produced song is ready for Proliferation, while the Sounding Board role as it
relates to critiquing the song (as opposed to the production), is part of the Creation phase. When good suggestions are made that
would really improve the song, the writers are faced with unpleasant
choices: go back to the studio and
spend more time and money to make
the improvements, or live with a
song they know could be made better.
(NOTE: The Sounding Board
role in the Realization phase relates to input on arrangement and
production. In the Proliferation
phase, the Sounding Board offers input on marketing strategies or live
presentation).
The simple way to avoid this
rock-and-hard-place situation is to get your constructive feedback early in the
process, before anything is fully committed to a final form. Then, adjustments are easy to make and
don’t cost anything. Rewriting and
revising is an integral part
of songcrafting, thus its value
lies in the Creation phase.
You
are always in
control of your artistic choices,
even when the options come from a source external to you. It is not easy to offer up
your creation for strangers to pick at, but to avoid critique is to deny yourself the opportunity to
make choices, and if your head is in the sand, you cannot choose with your eyes
wide open.
Once
you move beyond the Creation phase, there are many new hats to wear, each with
a different set of skills. Your
choice is always
(a) Do I do fill
the role myself, and
(b) If not, how do I decide who to get to fill it ? .
These are important decisions for
all songwriters and artists, and
they are discussed fully at www.songcrafterscoloringbook.com
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Bill
Pere was named one of the "Top 50
Innovators, Groundbreakers and Guiding Lights of the Music Industry" by Music Connection Magazine. With more than 30 years in the music
business working with top industry pros as a songwriter, performer, recording
artist and educator, Bill is well
known for his superbly crafted lyrics, with lasting impact. Bill has released 16 CDs, and is
President of the Connecticut Songwriters
Association.
He is an Official Connecticut State Troubadour, and is the Founder and
Executive Director of the LUNCH Ensemble. Twice named Connecticut Songwriter of the Year, Bill is a qualified MBTI practitioner,
trained by the Association for Psychological Type. He is a member of CMEA and
MENC, and as Director of the
Connecticut Songwriting Academy,
he helps develop young talent in songwriting, performing, and learning about the music business. Bill's song analyses and critiques are
among the best in the industry.
Bill has a graduate degree in Molecular Biology, an ARC Science teaching
certification, and he has received two awards for Outstanding contribution to
Music Education.
© Copyright 2010 Bill Pere. All Rights Reserved. This article may not be reposted
without permission of the author. Reproduction for educational purposes is
permitted with proper attribution.
For workshops,
consultation, critiques, or other
songwriter services, contact Bill
via his web sites, at www.billpere.com, www.ctsongwriting.com, and www.lunchensemble.com