Hey songwriters and artists, here’s something that literally should change the entire game for you and finding your best song ideas. I’m serious, and in my opinion, this should be the default approach to your co-writes.
Not only changing the game, but getting your name much quicker on hits and creating important, perennial songs.
It’s so simple.
But to attack the below, we also have to presume a certain comfort level, trust, and transparency in the first place with your co-writers.
This article focuses on the very concept of starting a song, including how you measure the merit of a song start/idea in the first place. YES! Does this song start have the right “signals” to take the time to finish the song?
Note that this concept is going to work much better if you already have a strong rapport with your co-writers. It’s important to point this out, because whenever I bring this up, the first response I get from writers is:
“Well, it’s awkward because we’re meeting for the first time, and I don’t want to be the person that is the vibe killer in the session saying, ‘This isn’t good enough.'”
Here’s the real takeaway. First, if it was me, if you’re the person who’s helping run quality control, I’ll probably love you speaking up.
And I get it. Especially in a first session, this might be awkward in being totally authentic with your creative opinion. Then again, there’s a way to start the session with some ground rules and intentions that everyone can get on the same page with. (More on that later.)
But most importantly (this is key and pivotal), if you’re not starting with a “hell yeah” idea, or “OMG, this is INCREDIBLE,” or what I would simply call an “A+” song start idea, it’s very and highly unlikely that your end song result is going to be something anyone is going to care about.
Sorry! But follow my logic here and realize it’s the truth.
Saying this another way: an average song start, or even at best a “B+” song start, will likely only result in something that’s either average or “pretty good.”
And that doesn’t help anyone. It doesn’t help you, your publisher, your manager, or possibly, in your case, even your family that might be relying on you.
So, why are you selling yourself (and everyone else) out with starting and building upon a “B+”? Hell, even an “A-“?
The world has too much of “pretty good” and not enough of, “This is amazing!”
THIS IS THE ONLY PLACE FROM WHERE YOU SHOULD BE STARTING.
That’s right. The obvious path to making great songs is just to start with the A+ best song ideas in the first place.
As an analogy, if you were in Las Vegas, for the best bets, you’d want to find the slot machines that actually pay out the most, right? This is just one metaphor for how you should start a session. How? With your A+ song start! Pull that slot lever. Ka-ching! Yeah, baby, because you started in a place where the payout is already predicted to be HIGH!
To continue the above metaphor, you wouldn’t intentionally put your money in the low-paying slot machines that continually lose. Yet that’s exactly what most songwriters and artists do! And often from a place of “being nice.”
How much is that costing you?
So, I’d like to ask you this important question.
Can you, and with all the writers in the session, collectively agree to be “kindly militant” that the session “does NOT pass go” until you have an A+ song start?
Gandalf said it best.
And let’s get clear. What exactly IS an A+ song start? This could be an incredible track, a song title/concept, a production direction, a melody line, an opening lyric, etc.
In other words, something that jumps off the page and makes everyone say, “Wow! Hell yes!” Something you’d stake your name and career on! (And besides, that’s what you’re doing in the first place.)
So, why doesn’t this happen in every session?
Let’s be real. Everyone is just too damn nice and worried that people will think they’re a negative Nancy or a downer Dan. Or they’re worried their opinion has less value, especially if they’re objecting to the person who has bigger credits than they do.
This is the thing we need to all acknowledge and get over. The hurdle for excellence often can be just escaping your co-writers’ song vortex and being comfortable with saying (and also hearing from someone else), “Yeah, this isn’t good enough. Or this idea can be beat.”
Instead, here’s what happens in most sessions. If there’s not any A+ best song ideas, most writers will just go along with finishing the session just to finish a song, just to keep rapport going, instead of speaking up.
There’s a misconception that a finished song is better than no song at all. And I don’t agree with that.
In completing a B+, unfortunately you’re wasting EVERYONE’S time.
This is going to piss everyone off…but it must be said.
By just “going along” with and finishing a song for the sake of finishing it in one day (something that’s become a routine, and maybe not even a good one), you’ve not just likely wasted your time, but you’ve sold yourself and your co-writers, your fans, and your label/publisher who’s betting on you, too.
You’ve denied everyone your authenticity and the best you can be, and gave it up to a group collective to be “nice” and accommodating.
And guess what, your co-writers in the session might even likely be thinking the same thing. And if someone spoke up and said, “We don’t have an A+ song start idea,” someone might join in and say, “You know what, I was thinking that too. You’re right.”
Now, can a B+ song end up being a home run success? (I can already hear the objections coming in the comments.) Sure! It happens all the time. In fact, the very first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 I ever placed as a music publisher, both myself and the writer thought it was a B-level song.
But we’re not looking at the exceptions; we’re looking at the standard level of excellence which you will aspire to on a daily basis.
Enter the “finish a song and a demo in a day” fallacy.
IMPORTANT: in this article I also want to 1,000% dispel this terrible notion that every songwriting session has to end with a finished song and demo.
That’s total bullshit in my opinion and is one of the biggest problems in creating legacy songs today.
Your productivity and merit is totally not dependent on whether you finish a song by the end of the session. We need to get over this.
Your merit only depends on how good any piece of writing is that exists by the end of the session, and, of course, whenever the song is actually done.
As a publisher, I’d be way happier for one of my writers to deliver one bona fide hit chorus by the end of the week (or even month) rather than four or five mediocre songs that we can’t do anything with. I’d take one of the best song ideas that actually has the potential to become something over five songs that are merely “pretty good.”
Because to be real here, I hate to break it to you, but those four or five mediocre songs are probably worthless. In today’s saturated climate, this is the honest truth today. And this applies whether you’re an artist or a songwriter looking to get your songs recorded by others.
I’m not sorry I said it. No one can move the needle for you with B+ material. And even if that B+ song got released, what are we looking at? 500,000 Spotify streams? Maybe 5 million if we’re lucky. To say it another way, this type of song is just not something that has the “jet fuel” to go the distance.
Best Song Ideas Myth: “Yeah, But, Benjamin, It’s a Numbers Game!”
This hang-up of writing and finishing a song in a session comes from an old mindset of thinking that this is simply “a numbers game.” And in my opinion, it IS a numbers game, just not in the direction that you think it is!
Less is more!
I’ll say it again. As publishers, we don’t need more songs from you! We only need a handful that really count for the year.
Let me also illuminate this premise further. Particularly the idea of “more songs is better.” The goal isn’t to create more songs; it’s to spend your time finding and developing the best song ideas.
I asked my friend, global mega hitmaker, and my first signing ever, Savan Kotecha, in one of our “mindset-of-a-billion-streaming-songwriter” calls with our writers: “Savan, how many songs did you and Max Martin write that year at the peak of your run?” The answer? “10.” 10 songs! And guess what, half of them were global Top 5s!
This is the complete opposite of “it’s a numbers game!”
In Max and Savan’s case, that’s not even one song per month! Imagine if you took that time and patience to hone in and perfect just one song per month. What would that look like?
The difference here is not just perfection, but, more importantly, actually knowing what an A+ is and sounds like in the first place! In my opinion, Max and Savan would probably not have gotten those 10 great songs starting with just a “pretty good” song start.
That would be insane, right?!
Does this make sense?!
So, let’s get to some solutions here and what you can do to pull this into your reality. This would be great if you could step into LIVING and WRITING this way, right?
On that note, I have a challenge. I’d like to challenge you to take a snapshot of the below “session scorecard” (or print it out) and to CALIBRATE your writing session an hour from when it begins (or whatever feels right).
The idea here is for you and your co-writers to review the below with honesty and openness.
Think of this as a checklist that you all agree you’re going to review at some point in the session on whether or not you’re going to move forward on your song idea.
Pre-Session Mindset
Before the session starts, get everyone on the same page. You can even say, “Hey, I read this article from Benjamin, and I want to try out the below.”
Someone can read this out loud, and everyone mutually agrees.
1. It’s okay if we don’t 100% finish a song today. An A+ chorus or even a hit concept is much better than a finished B+ song. Agreed?
2. Not having an urgency to finish a song in one session takes the pressure off of us. We can be more experimental, be more intentional, and even have more fun. Agreed?
3. We can and will be open to other people’s truth and candidness with no judgment, even if this is the first time we’re writing together. Agreed?
4. By making sure we start with the best song ideas, we’re exponentially increasing our chance for success. (Producers, this is good news and means you’re not on the hook for finishing a production, comping vocals, mixing, etc. on a B+ song!) Agreed?
5. Our value as writers is predicated not on how many songs we write or finish but on how many great ideas and A+ song starts we actually decide to finish and take all the way to the finish line. Agreed?
6. It’s a numbers game, but not in the direction most people think. Less is more. Agreed?
7. For producers, acknowledge that while you may be in the chair and “driving,” you’ll be open to listening to your collaborators in the room. Note: people are usually intimidated about “speaking up” to whoever’s leading the session (and often who also has the better credits). Agreed?
The A+ Best Song Ideas Cheat Sheet
Once you’ve gotten your pre-session mindset up to date, set a timer for an hour into the session. Take a natural pause and calibrate the session and what you’re working on.
Ask these questions:
- Is this an A+ song start in the first place? Remember, an A+ song start tends to lead to A and A+ songs. Something that is “mid” to begin with will likely never rise to the occasion of being a great song in the first place.
- From an A&R perspective, is this a song idea that, for example, on Friday at 5:00 p.m. will cut through all the previous 1,000 songs that the A&R person has heard that week?
- Do you LOVE this idea/song start?
- Is there something different about this song? Or is it just like the other 5,000 songs that other professional songwriters have written this week?
- Does this song start have the elements of a hit song? As a reminder (in my opinion), those are: a locked-in, usually repetitive and highly infectious melodic rhythm; a second melody/riff; a unique concept/song title; a high tempo (usually); a strong melodic range (octave, octave plus third, or more).
Further reading:
- Infectious Rhythm: Read more here.
- Second Melody: Read more here.
- Unique Concept: Read more here.
- High Tempo: Read more here.
- Attention-Getting: Read more here.
Free Download: “Session Scorecard”
Use this to FILTER out your mid-level and, importantly, very good and even really good ideas, because these ideas are, again, how can I say it politely?
Junk.
It’s just not worth your time and specialness!
To quote Seth Godin, “To be very good is the worst thing you can possibly do.”
Next, get the temperature read in the room. Are people losing their minds with this idea, or is the energy lukewarm?
But what if you’re not sure? What if it’s hard to be objective?
Solution: call or text the song start to someone! And YES, PLEASE, text or call your publishers and/or managers; they are here to be your soundboard in the moment! (That is, if they’re good at what they do.)
Publishers and managers, please be honest here with feedback if you get that call!
Personally, I would love more to get a quick text from a writer in the middle of a session asking, “Hey Benjamin, do we have something here, or not?” Your manager or publisher is also the person who’s ultimately going to be selling the song, so reaching out to them for a proof of concept is gold, especially when you’re trying to identify the best song ideas (and we’ll get to a gold analogy here in a second)!
Your team are your salespeople; they know what the market is looking for! They know what they need to move the needle.
So, ask!
Objectivity is golden.
This is also why, if you are a 100% songwriter/artist, it’s great to, on a solo level, work on your own song starts, riffs, beats, melodies, chord progressions, etc., and then stash them away. Come back to them in two to four weeks with pure objectivity. You’ll likely even forget what you wrote, and hear it fresh for the first time.
Then you can ask yourself, is this something worth working on more?
And even a better question: is this AMAZING?
Now, I could end this article here and be done. But I’ve got a great analogy.
Yes, I’m going to share a metaphor, which is near and dear to my heart.
This might sound a little (or a lot) kooky AF, but that’s fine. One of my hobbies is literally gold prospecting and treasure hunting. Hell, I live in the remnants of the American Old West and the California gold rush. There’s literally gold in the hills 45 minutes outside of Los Angeles, so why not?
Stay up to date on must read, new articles, courses and special offers.
And I learned this the hard way.
You can dig for gold just about anywhere! But if there’s no EVIDENCE and historically no gold where you’re digging, and consequently no “sample” gold actually showing up in your gold pan, you’d be foolish to just keep digging!
Why? Because if there’s no evidence of gold, no matter how far and how deep you dig and keep shoveling away, there’s no gold to be found, much less the motherlode!
Solution for myself, the amateur treasure hunter? I was frustrated with my gold prospecting results, so I flew to Happy Camp, CA (Northern California on the CA border of Oregon) and sought out Dave McCracken (he’s literally the Indiana Jones of North America). I was working with and getting trained by Dave, even on Dave’s own gold claims! After a few hours, we found actual evidence of gold in our gold pans! Yes! Proof, there’s actually gold here. Once we found gold in our pans, we fired up our sluices and started going “into production” (yes, that’s what it’s called!).
At the end of the day, we found a quarter ounce of gold, versus my previous attempts, which were zero. This is also why working with a coach or a mentor is “worth its weight in gold.” Literally.
And that’s exactly how you should think about finding your best song ideas.
Watch this video. Says Dave: “If you don’t know the difference, you’ll be out there shoveling the wrong stuff.”
This is also just how it works with songwriting! In the previous example, it’s just insane to keep shoveling all day looking for gold when you’re on top of just dirt. The gold is just not there no matter how hard you try!
Here’s another way to say this, all cued up for you:
In other words, change your mindset at the beginning of the session to being a gold prospector!
You see, you’re a “song gold” (and hopefully platinum record) prospector, figuratively and literally. Own that!
This will change EVERYTHING.
Your mission and job is to look for and find those initial traces of gold, your best song ideas!
And if there is no gold there, no problem! No ego! Because no matter how hard you dig, IT’S JUST NOT GOING TO BE THERE!
Move on to the next place to dig!
Aggressively create and curate those “gold pockets” and A+ song starts where you are clearly on top of the gold! Then dig relentlessly till you hit the motherlode.
Because you will.
Yours truly,
Klondike Ben
