john

The Devil Went Down To Georgia - Charlie Daniels band

Try changing how you approach writing. Write the melody first, then the words. It's what I find successful. For years I never thought too much about writing. I just wrote, words or music first as the random notion took me. Many times I found it similar to yourself. In writing melody first I set a meter the written word would use. By training myself to work that way around I was less precious about the lyrics, I was less attached, less invested in the lyrics being as written. The fact is they never were written in stone, but sometimes it felt just like that. By writing the melody, taking the rhythm and using it for the meter of the lyrics I knew what i had to work to right from the start. Make sense? To be honest, listeners tend to hear melody well before they follow lyrics despite the fact that genre affects whether lyrics or melody are given more weight. So in my mind melody wins out. I know I can write no matter the rhythm/meter, the difference is only in that sense of attachment. It's a good thing to get used to, not being too precious with your songs. One thing worth noting when digging out that edit scalpel, the original still exists no matter the changes. Work is not wasted, you either use it and learn, or don't use it and learn. Going back and forward making tweaks, too afraid to carve it up, dissect what works and what doesn't etc, now that is a waste of time. It must be said, working with the critique boards helps with that. If you find yourself getting defensive, it's usually that over protective, overly precious monster whispering in your ear. It's about the song when it comes to critique, not the writer. Sure the writer and the critiquer both learn, both explore and exercise their songwriting tools, but the focus is what is good for the song, what ideas would help or ruin it. If you remain too precious of lyrics or melody or mix it acts as a block. your mind is not open. This is no doubt where you are stuck, even though you may be acting as both critiquer and writer on your own songs. I also recommend doing a lot of critique of the works of other writers. To be honest I think you learn more giving critique than receiving. You get to exercise almost all songwriting skills, improve your observation and analysis, and solution finding, without being in the slightest bit precious of the work. It's not your song, so the decisions are not yours and you are not invested in any one part being any special way. Both help you gain the needed objectivity, an objectivity that is easier to turn on and off, allowing you to get in the emotion of the song, remain connected, but to drop into a more objective role when needed. I hope this helps. Cheers John

Welcome to Songstuff

Mull Of Kintyre - Wings lol

Do you mean sending messages to subscribers to your list, or do you mean people who have previously no contact with you and are not subscribed? In the first instance the trick is to engage your lists with "valuable" content about you, the artist. This could be anything from tour dates and announcements, new merch, free mixes of previously released songs, video interviews, acoustic or other performance videos.... get creative. The point is to try and create content people are interested in and a lot of which people want to share, so they help drive people to your site and ultimately to your lists. in the second case, it's a bit trickier. It greatly depends on situation. If there is a community, forum or otherwise, then avoid drive-by-posting. ie don't only make posts about your music, your site etc. Take part in the community and you get a far far better response. drive-bys are next to useless. Always do it on-topic, and always within the rules of what you are allowed to do. The same rules apply on chat rooms. The most fruitful are where someone is interested in your music. Try and encourage them into asking for your link. That way you will not be accused of spamming. For example, don't take the approach of making your music front and center. Instead try talking about an artist who is similar to your sound, or who has influenced your sound. Perhaps bring up how that artist recruited fans (in more fan friendly language). Then drop in the conversation that you are in a band that is heavily influenced by, or similar to the artist you were talking about. Recording your song could have given you a new appreciation for the similar/influenced by artist. Also work in you are working away trying to introduce people to your music but it is harder than it looks, when you don't want to be spamming anyone (something you are keanly aware of and trying hard to avoid). Let them bring up "Do you have any music online" "Do you have a link to your music" etc. that is your in. Hit them with a link and directly ask them "if you like there's a newsletter/blog you can sign up for (give a second link if appropriate). Also add, if you like it please share it with your friends! the good thing about this approach is that when someone searches for topics on the "similar to" artist they might find your post (For example start your topic with the similar to artist name somewhere in the thread title). the type of people the topic is likely to attract is anyone who is a fan of that artist. Ideal, because there is a higher likliehood that people driven through that topic are more likely to like your music (if your music really is in that ballpark) and then sign up and share, which is what you ideally want - fans driving their friends to your music. Music recommended by friends is FAR more likely to be liked by a new listener, than music they just stumble across. that is the whole reason viral marketing is so successful, so... viral! Last point is, the best place to hunt fans is not music forums, it's fan forums. That's where the fans hang out. Identify artists in your genre, of a similar style or approach, find the fan forums and become a member. get to know key members, try and subtley recruit them. The whole point is, engineer being asked for your music. Drop hints! Lead people to your music. Don't drag them! A very good point.

Hi There is a Facebook like exchange thread somewhere in the musician's lounge. maybe one of the other boards. I'll drop by your page Liked!

Minnie The Moocher - Cab Calloway

Welcome to Songstuff Marc. I'll look forward to hearing some tracks

Hey T-Ray, welcome to Songstuff