Career Songwriter

A good friend of mine and I were carrying on the other day about the music industry, venting our frustrations, sharing our hopes, and talking nitty gritty about our goals. She’d go on about how difficult it’s been to write while touring, and how she hardly finds the energy to wash her hair much less brainstorm on song titles or plot ideas. That’s about the time when I chime in about how I always intend on actually practicing the piano, but find myself moments later writing something I’ve been tossing about in my head for a month or so.

I find it interesting that my friend can’t get enough of the stage, and I can’t get enough of pen and paper. Though we both write and we both perform, we each have identified the fuel that drives us. Sure, she looks over on my side of the fence and fantasizes about a publishing deal and staying in the same town for more than a few weeks at a time. I fantasize about crowded auditoriums clamoring with fans dying to hear me and my band as I tour the country and live the life of a rock star. But, we both know that at the end of the day, these fantasies carve out important distinctions that make us successful in the pursuits we follow every day.

Sometimes we approach our music careers with limited vision of what different careers can look like. The most obvious career for musicians is a player, or a singer or singer/songwriter. Outside of those very visible jobs are studio session players, staff songwriters, song pluggers and publishers, managers, producers, tracking engineers, mix engineers, mastering engineers, programmers, studio managers, A&R, song coaches, booking agents, music editors or music supervisors, arrangers, orchestrators and string composers, horn composers, music directors or band leaders, and the list goes on. Many times we are performing several of these duties all at the same time. As you can imagine, different jobs call for different skills, and so though we may be able to perform the tasks needed to get our jobs done, we may be wise to identify those folks who can help in the areas we are weak.

Being a staff songwriter, I spent many years writing for other people. Now and then a song would slip out that I knew would not be particularly marketable in the genre I was writing for. I had a feeling that later on I might record my own record, and that is exactly what I did. Now, though I consider myself an artist, the secret I know about myself is that if given the opportunity to write or to perform, I will almost always write. It seems to be an unconscious choice more than a conscious one. Writing just gives me energy rather than depletes it. For my good friend, she will almost always find herself on stage performing a favorite cover tune among her own tunes rather than off somewhere writing and honing her craft.

If you think about your natural tendency, what is it you find yourself doing when got a little free time? Are you busy booking gigs, going out to shows, networking with other musicians and friends, jamming with your buddies, or telling everyone you know about a great new song or artist you found while searching the depths of Myspace? What drives you, what gives you energy, what keeps you up late at night? The answer may help you to identify the strengths that make you good at what you do, and what you do fulfilling.

Just because I gain my energy from writing doesn’t mean that my influence is limited to just writing. I can perform and do all those things that feed into a successful and diverse career. The difference is that I can be realistic about my expectations, and kind to myself when setting goals.

We might be talented enough or good looking enough to become the next rock star, or have the chops to write the next big hit if we only spent the time honing our craft. But, is what we think we want doing more to limit us rather than expose and employ our true strengths? Unfortunately, this is one of those questions each of us has to answer for ourselves. The answer isn’t always as obvious and clear-cut as we’d like it to be. But, keep asking and I believe that door always opens in due time. Be prepared to let the answer grow and change too. As we experience more, we recognize more opportunities and how those opportunities call us to be the best of who we are.

Andrea