john

Good news Donna. Keep us up to date on what your PRO says

As some might find it useful, here is an article I wrote for Songstuff on the subject of song hooks a while ago... http://songwriting.songstuff.com/article/power_of_song_hooks/ Understanding and using song hooks well is without doubt the biggest factor in particularly commercial songwriting, but I wouldn't underestimate their importance with any level of songwriting. We do not write songs so they can be forgotten, or so they will have an audience of one. Taking time to recognise, and understand good hooks is probably thee number one, hands down thing you can work on that will have the biggest impact on the standard of work you create.

Good topic Pat Melodic hooks are certainly needed, and one of the more important facets of a good song, but let's not forget that there are hooks of various kinds, including at a gross level lyrics hooks and rhythmic hooks... Even production hooks. But all can and should be broken down further. Getting a balance is important. For example, with lyrics, one obvious strong hook can work to the best advantage of the song if it is the title of the song... Because we want listeners to remember the name of our song, if only so they know what to ask for! If we have a second weaker hook we can add a depth of interest and a second reason for a listener to want our song. If we make the second hook as dominant as the title hook it can work against us as listeners can't easily remember what to ask for. This is often the case when we see songs with parentheses in the title "Reach Out (I'll be there)". Add more of this "memorable phrase" style hook and it gets way too confusing. So we add our main title 7 times, a second phrase hook say 3 times... Is that all? No. We can play with rhyme hooks, or phonics, or even combine them all together like David Bowie's "Changes", where the main title hook is given an additional hook quality by a phonic /alliteration repeated numerous times as "Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes" or a similar idea with The Who's "My Generation" where the concept of the hook is repeated "P-p-p People try to put us down, Just because we g-g-g get around", while not being the same each time. As I say the same can be done with more conventional alliteration or even lyrical rhythm. Rap is founded on that one hook concept. Of course there are rhythmic hooks, think of Queen and "We Will Rock You" for example, or Harmonic hooks, melodic hooks (as you mentioned) of various types including musical key hooks or scale hooks, production hooks, conceptual hooks, even frequency hooks! Some are within the control of the writer, some the performers and some the producers... and more. Some overlap across different roles too. The point is while your song can reach saturation of one or another of these, a good song tends to have representation of a variety of these key hook types. They are arranged in such a way that the listener doesn't develop hook fatigue, instead they find songs with many reasons that the listener will not only remember it but so much so that they cannot forget it for several reasons... Ie the hooks work together adding into a literally unforgettable song, for all the right reasons. As I say, too many of the same type of hook causes individual hooks to compete, to work against each other. Too few hooks and a song is not memorable enough. Over do an individual hook, we get hook fatigue and we can remember a song for a negative reason. You get a similar reaction when a song over saturates with too much airplay. We get sick of hearing the song to the point that if we never hear it again that will be too soon. When we hear of songs not having enough "ideas" in the mix, it is this collection of hooks we are really talking about. a truly great song is packed with ideas (hooks), but for all those ideas to work together we need a variety of types of ideas and sufficient repetition to drill the hooks home without causing hooks to compete or cause hook fatigue. Like you Pat I collect hooks, melodic and otherwise. I repeat them to myself over and over. I record them, I leave them and come back to them, I sometimes try them on other people. I combine them, adjust them and recombine them over and over. One good and simple test is... Record your hook (lyrical, melodic, whatever). Leave it 48 hours before coming back to it. Challenge yourself to remember the hook. Check it to see if you remembered it accurately. If you do it is a good start. Try the same again but leave it longer. Why? Simple, for a hook to work it has to be noticeable, likeable and... Dun dun dun...memorable.

In such a circumstance, although they may prefer to leave it up to the member, it is up to Kompoz to remove any offending content. I would strongly suspect that he has already uploaded it elsewhere. Out of interest, if you did sue him, because your song was registered he would be liable for court costs and legal fees. I believe that not only would he be instructed to pay commercial recompense, but he would most likely be liable for punitive damages. David would be better to advise on that. A cease and desist letter should be sent ASAP, I am fairly sure. No word from the PRO yet?