Last week in While You Are Writing, I suggested two activities – one business, and one craft. They were purchasing a new record, and trying your hand at writing a few simple choruses. This week, I’ve got some other suggestions I hope you enjoy working into your songwriting routine.
Business:
Begin to familiarize yourself with the function of a music publisher. There are many great resources out there to help, but I suggest starting with the performing right organizations such as ASCAP.com and BMI.com, and my very own website www.andreastolpe.com and clicking on ‘Craft and Biz.’ There are some excellent books out there too, such as those by Berkleemusic’s very own, Eric Beall, on how to set up and run your own publishing company. You may also visit your local Borders Bookstore and look for ‘All You Need to Know About the Music Business’ by Donald Passman. It’s an excellent resource for music industry professionals and simple enough to understand for anyone new to the business altogether.
Take a half hour and page through some of the album notes of your favorite artists. Look for the publishing information after the copyright sign. You’ll notice that many artists have their own publishing companies, but you’ll also see some familiar name such as Warner/Chappell Music, or Universal Music.
On ASCAP’s website, you can click on ‘title search’ and search for any popular song that crosses your mind. If ASCAP handles the title you’re looking for, it will be there – and most often along with several other songs of that same title. (If it’s not there it might be handled by BMI or SESAC). You can click on the song, and see the publishing information. Just get an overall lay of the land. It can help you to understand avenues you might pursue in the future for marketing your songs.
Craft:
Here’s a great exercise I learned years ago. Make a list of interesting verbs down the left side of a piece of paper. Then make a list of adjectives on the right side of your paper. At random, try colliding various verbs with various adjectives and see what those ideas spark. I’ve worked up an example below.
Vault shadowed
Pocket colorful
Bend green
Stretch pixilated
Soar passionate
Song Ideas:
Pocket green
Soar passionate
Stretch colorful
Or try them the other way:
Colorful vault
Shadowed stretch
Green bend
Don’t worry about whether they make sense or not. Some collisions will simply serve the purpose of creating interesting visuals in your mind, and sparking song ideas otherwise unimaginable.
