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WHAT MAKES A SONGWRITER SUCCESSFUL?

LESSON SUMMARY

Are you interested in commercial song- writing success, personal songwriting suc- cess or both? In this video, Mike explores what it means and what it takes to be suc- cessful as a professional songwriter. Learn the demands and rewards of commercial and personal success in the songwriting business.

“Everything that you write, good or bad is going to take you in some way KEY TAKEAWAYS & QUOTES to a deeper experience of yourself”

• You define your idea of success. Is it com- Mike gives you an overview of the basic mercial, is it personal, is it both? song structure that wins in the commer- cial market of Nashville. What do con- • Nashville is one of the last songwriting temporaries like J.D. Salinger, author of colonies left in our industry Catcher in the Rye, have to tell songwrit- • Song structure is key to commercial suc- ers about writing something meaningful cess and defending that meaning no matter what? Will the first half of our songwriting • Can you handle public and creative scru- careers (not to mention our lives) ask dif- tiny? ferent things of us than the second half? • Can you come close to saying what it is These are the deep questions explored in you mean to say? this module. Success is in the eye of the penholder.

MIKE REID CREDITS INSTRUCTOR • Grammy award-winning songwriter After a pro-bowl career for • Co-wrote “I Can’t Make You Love Me” the cincinatti bengals, mike turned his focus to music and • US Country #1 Single “Walk On Faith” worte hit country songs and • Inducted into the Nashville Songwriters music for the stage. Hall of Fame 2 Songwriting University

FULL TRANSCRIPT What makes a successful songwriter? This is going to vary from person to person. I’m really big on on intent. What is it that you’re intending KEY POINT to do? What is it that you want to achieve? If, for example, your idea of a “successful songwriter” is, someone can turn on the radio in the car and hear a song that you’ve written sung by a contemporary country artist or contemporary pop artist, that’s one thing. If that is in fact your intent, then it’s probably wise (though I was would never give anyone this advice because this is really tampering with people’s lives) I would say you have to get where the industry is. In country music, it’s Nash- ville.

The unique thing about Nashville is it is the last city of its kind in the What kind of success do you entire world. It’s the last place where you will find anything resembling want? a song writing colony. This is where songwriters come and the reason they come here is they want to be commercially successful. I find now There is a clear difference that I’ve had commercial success as a songwriter from years ago, what between commercial suc- is important to me now is different than what was important to me 40 cess and personal success. years ago. James Hollis says that the second half of life will ask different They are not mutually things of you then it asks of you in the first half. exclusive but they are also not the same. They require And that’s true in my case. And that’s true for me as a writer. First half, different things from you. you’re building an identity, a vessel. You come to Nashville. You figure out what are going to increase your chances of getting a song record- ed? Introductions no longer than 10 seconds. Verse, chorus, verse, cho- rus. If you have more to say, maybe a little bridge, short little bridge. Keep your songs to three and a half minutes because you’re going in the commercial format. The radio is more likely to play a song that is KEY POINT within their parameters of three and a half to four minutes with mem- orable hooks that cause people to want to turn the radio up, not push the button to another station. These are the things that this town is built on. People learn how to structure these kinds of songs. There are songs that are work in the commercial marketplace. It seems to be, though it doesn’t always make sense to me, a more accessible song form. If you can do that, you will be considered to be a commercially successful writer. I’m going to inject a personal note. I know a lot of writers that I find incredibly mediocre that are considered successful for the simple reason that they’ve had songs in the radio. Is your song accessible?

Commercial success some- We’ve addressed the commercial, there’s also the personal. You have times demands that a song to think in terms of, “Yeah, I am interested in trying to make sense adhere to certain structur- through a song of my external world.” al norms. Learning those norms and mastering them could land your song on the radio.

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KEY POINT

Are you as committed as J.D.? Let me give you an example. It’s not a songwriter. It’s a great literary figure. J.D. Salinger. J.D. Salinger, I think he was born around 1920. At How much ownership will the age of 32, after struggling, struggling, struggling, he published you have on what it is you a novel called Catcher In The Rye. By the way, for you young writers, have to say through your songwriters and all, it was turned down by everybody because he writing? Is your song done wouldn’t change it. They would say, J.D. we’ll publish this, but you got- when you say it’s done? ta redo it. You gotta do this. And he said, no, this is done. This is the way it is. He finally got a publisher to publish it. It blows up, becomes one of the seminal books, sold an incredible numbers of copies.

He was 32 years old when this happened and he so disliked the scru- tiny of pubic life and scrutiny of his work that that was the very last thing he ever published. He wrote for the rest of his life and died in his nineties. Everything that you write, everything that you write, good or KEY POINT bad is going to take you in some way to a deeper experience of your- self, or should, and it could be troubling. It could be wonderful. In his case, he wrote for emotional, spiritual reasons. And at 91, he died. Now that’s another four decades of writing, very personal. Who knows what his experience was because he came in and became an incredible re- cluse. But J.D. Salinger was considered commercially one of the most successful writers of all time. You would have to ask him, did he feel personally successful? Because the barometer to tell you whether or not you’re personally successful or not is the answer to this question: Are you coming anywhere near saying what it is that you mean to say? The barometer of your success.

Commercial and personal success will depend on whether you write what it is that you mean to say. Stay tuned for how Mike does that.

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