MAB'S MUSINGS" 8-28-17
"RECRUITING ARTISTS"
This is for the people who consider themselves primarily "writers' as opposed to "Artist/Writers." In other words, people who are writing for other people to do their songs. There was a time when this was very prevalent, there were “Songwriters” and then “Artists. This blurred in the 60’s with the advent of groups like the BEATLES, who wrote all their own material (except quite a few of existing hit songs, which at that time were STANDARDS.) With the 70’s singer/songwriter era, with James Taylor, Carol King, Harry Chapin, most artists WERE THE WRITERS. In country, the SONGWRITER continued until the early 2000’s, where more and more artists either wrote their own songs or were part of smaller teams and publishers, keeping the entire process INSIDE their writer’s circles.
There are still cuts, but fewer and farther between, and usually the artist has a connection (RELATIONSHIP) with the entity, the hit or established writers, inside publishers, producers, or physically are writers for others, themselves, and are signed to record deals on the strength of having songs recorded by other artists. It is a VERY INSIDE GAME, and if you are not interacting with those companies or artists themselves, you are simply not in the game.
So for someone who is NOT an artist, WHAT TO DO?
Well, you keep trying to pitch, you are ALWAYS trying to do that. Having well written songs with a great sounding recording, and building a lot of networking relationships always UPS THE LEVEL OF YOUR ODDS. But if you REALLY want to be participating, you HAVE TO RECRUIT YOUR OWN ARTISTS.
And in this day and age, you will do yourself great favors if you GET THAT ARTISTS INVOLVED IN THE WRITING PROCESS.
Think about it. What if you made the time investment, once a month to visit a local writer’s night, open mic, even karaoke night. Searched the Internet and web sites and find local and regional artists and then SPENT SOME TIME GETTING TO KNOW THOSE PEOPLE. Who are that? What are they doing? What can YOU do to help them?
You have your songs. You have your recordings. What if you also have your own ARTISTS? That allows you to pitch both the song and the artist at the same time. If it gets attention and helps you to a cut, so be it. But having something out there ACTUALLY being performed, beats something sitting on a computer or going to a web site seen by nobody any day.
Some people don’t like CO-WRITING. Fine. You don’t have to. But you also will probably have a lot of songs sitting on your computer doing nothing. And there are things about CO-WRITING, particularly WITH ARTIST’S, that will teach you something about yourself. Dealing with actual people. Finding ways to say things you might not have thought of by yourself. Doing types of songs you didn’t think you were capable of.
And if you have MULTIPLE songs with MULTIPLE artists, you UP THE LEVEL OF YOUR ODDS.
ACTIVITY=PROXIMATY=OPPORTUNITIES. Works every time it’s tried.
You have to challenge yourself to get inside someone’s head and see things from their point of view. To say what you want to say “in their voice.”
Now be aware, it is not as easy as just finding an artist. Artists today, don’t want people to put words in their mouths. They want to be in the process. They have their own emotions, realities, experiences. They want to sing about THAT, not someone ELSE’S emotions, realities, experiences.
You will find people who personalities don’t gibe. Who don’t get along well with others. Who simply don’t want to be a part of what you are doing. Fine. That is LIFE.
But there is nothing like hitting that “sweet spot” of a song, and the person you are working with LOVES IT. Wants to perform it EVERYWHERE. Records it. Puts it on their web site and SPOTIFY, I TUNES, PANDORA sites.
It has a cumulative effect. And today, you really don’t have a choice. Part of the modern era of music. Now go find some artists.
MAB www.marcalanbarnette.com