Songwriting Tips

From the champagne magnums of the Roaring '20s to the joints and tabs of the '60s, to the excess filled cocaine 80s and heroin 90s, these are some of the most popular drug trends which co-existed and/or spawned musical movements of the last 100 years. Which came first? The music or the drugs? Can we predict the future of music trends through a certain prevalence of drug use and/or choice? ... CONTINUE READING

Over the last few years, and now much more-so on a weekly and daily basis, I continually hear from other publishers and other professional songwriters that “we need an artist in the room” and that the “pitch game” is dead. It’s over. Finito. “It’s over, Johnny … it’s over!” ... CONTINUE READING

The path to hit songwriting success and having multiple hits per year is basically writing with as many writers, writer combos and artist configurations as humanly possible, right? We need a jam-packed schedule and even some “back to backs” where we can make certain that every session results in a finished song in a day – of course! Hmm … well, let’s take a moment on that presumption ... CONTINUE READING

First of all I have to credit this blog post to one of my publishing mentors, Steve Lindsey (one of the only o.g. Publishers, who I really respect as far as identifying and developing new talent). I asked Steve … “How can I impress upon the writers and artists on my roster - just what it takes and where the bar is, and how important ... CONTINUE READING

There’s a deep, ancient history of songwriting ... from the hits on today’s charts, to war chants, spirituals, gospel, blues and ______ (insert historical music genre or a form of communication here). And thus - I welcome you to today’s post - highlighting and exploring the lost songwriting art of “call and response.” I say it’s a lost art, as so few people are really aware of the art form ... CONTINUE READING