Make Nashville’s ‘ten year town’ reputation work for you
So you’re a songwriter or an artist with the goal of a successful career in music. You’ve been in Nashville for six months or a year, or maybe a couple of years. You’re beginning to wonder why ‘things aren’t happening’ for you. Perhaps your family and friends back home are dropping hints that ‘you haven’t made it yet.’
It’s hard to keep focused on your career when you feel it is stagnating, going nowhere. It’s even harder when loved ones cast doubts on your decision to follow your musical dream. Those doubts begin to worm their way into your mind, undermining your self-confidence.
- Note: This is a corrected re-post of a previously posted item. Due to an editing error, much of the information in Number 6 (“Join a songwriters’ association”) was inadvertently omitted. The correct text has been restored, below. Apologies for the error!
A marathon, not a sprint
It is important to remind yourself (and maybe Mom and Dad) that this is a marathon not a sprint. Everything you do, every day, is bringing you closer to achieving your goal. Think of it this way: if you’d chosen to become an engineer or an architect, instead of a singer or a songwriter, you’d have attended a four-year college, and then gone on for a master’s degree and post-graduate work before you ever had a chance to earn a single dollar. Speaking of dollars, you (or your parents) would have had to invest many tens of thousands of dollars in your education over many years with no guarantee of success.
As an aspiring musician, you are creating your own education, with the help of peers and mentors, honing your craft, learning and getting better every day.
Every day, promise yourself to do something that moves your music career further along. Here are some idea starters that you can adapt to suit your own career objectives.
“You’ve got to work hard for your success and you’ve got to have a steady presence. That’s the secret.” – Kid Rock
[1] Network
Get out there. Meet people. Be where things are happening. Introduce yourself by saying, “I’m [Name]. I’m a singer-songwriter.” Hear yourself saying that out loud! See? Now that’s what you are! Get to know other people who are at the same level of experience (or lack of it) as you are. Also network with people whose knowledge and experience you can learn from.
A word of warning: Do NOT be a gherm! (The ‘g’ is hard, as in ‘Grrrrrrr!!’) That Nashville term refers to someone who is obnoxiously pushy, perhaps going up to a famous artist or producer and trying to hand them your CD or aggressively asking a song publisher for a meeting when they have no idea who you are. It’s a matter of respect. Get a reputation as a gherm and your career can quickly stall. Network: Yes! Gherm: No!
[2] Write… and Co-write
Keep writing, every day. Write something, even if it is just a phrase or a few words. Keep a ‘hook book’ in which you can jot down words, phrases, a snatch of overheard conversation or just ideas that maybe someday you could turn into a song. (Your hook book can be a ruled paper notebook or a file on your iPhone, whichever you’re more likely to use as soon as the idea hits you.)
“You overhear a conversation on a bus and you think, ‘that’s a great first line.’” – Richard Thompson from an interview at SongwritingMagazine.co.uk
Better still, co-write with someone else. Almost all songs on the current charts are co-writes. Teamwork pays off! Write with different people who have different writing styles that will stimulate you to write in different ways. Set co-writing dates with other writers. If you set a time and date on your calendar, you are more likely to sit down and actually write than if you are alone. Write with singers if you are not a singer yourself.
If you are an artist and don’t consider yourself a songwriter, it’s still worth starting your own version of a hook book. Sharing your ideas with songwriters, from your point of view as a performer, can help them write the songs that match your style and personality.
[3] Go to Writers’ Nights
This is a must. At any given night of the week, there will be at least one Writers’ Night scheduled somewhere in Nashville. You can find them in other cities, too. At a Writers’ Night, you can hear songs the way the songwriter wrote them, without the distraction of the production and arrangement that you’d hear on the commercially released record.
You might be listening to a writer with a catalog of world-famous Number One hits, or someone not much further up the ladder than you are. Pay attention to how the writer builds the story, finds the words that stir emotion, uses irony or humor. Watch and learn from their ‘stage presence.’ (And Writers’ Nights are great for networking, too!) If you see yourself mainly as a performer, Writers’ Nights are a way to meet the person who might write you first Number One hit.
[4] Learn about the Music Business
There’s a reason it’s called the Music Industry or the Music Business: It’s a business! That might make you think, “Duh, that’s obvious!” But it pays to keep reminding yourself of that fact. If someone is going to give you money, they have to believe they are getting (or going to get) something of value in return.
At the low end, someone will only pay $1.99 to download a song if they are pretty sure they will want to listen to it several times. At the high end, a record label will only advance $100,000 to a band to cut an album if they believe there’s a good chance that album will be financially successful for them. (And an ‘advance’ is not much more than a loan, repayable from the artist’s future earnings from record sales.)
As a singer or songwriter, you do NOT need to be an expert on every aspect of the music industry. But you DO need to have a working knowledge about the aspects that directly affect you. You should understand how copyrighting your intellectual property (your songs) will protect them and, hopefully, make money from them.
Find out about licensing your songs and how you earn royalties. Become familiar with the fundamentals of music publishing so you can understand the benefits and drawbacks of signing a publishing deal or publishing your own music.
I wrote “The College of Songology 101: The Singer/Songwriter’s Need to Know Reference Handbook,’ that you might want to check out, and there are many other useful books about the music business you can find in libraries and online.
The more you learn about the business of music, the more you will be able to make it work for you. And the less likely you are to get ripped off by song sharks.
[5] Read music industry ‘trade’ magazines
You need to know what is happening in the industry you are involved in. Everything in the music business seems to be constantly changing, and as a performer or songwriter, it is important to know how these changes can affect your craft – and your ability to earn a living from it. Subscriptions to print editions can be expensive (although they are tax deductible) and you can find cheaper, or even free, versions of many of the magazines’ articles online.
Billboard has long been the recognized source for charts such at the Hot 100Ò for singles or the Billboard 200 for album sales. They also break out specific genre charts such as the Hot Country Songs chart or Country Digital Song Sales. It’s always helpful to see what type of songs are currently charting or trending, but Billboard also carries stories about the movers and shakers of the music industry and changes in the recording industry.
MusicRow magazine is Nashville’s foremost trade publication, read by artists, songwriters, and execs at both labels and Country radio. MusicRow also publishes the song pitch-sheet, RowFax. Country Aircheck is an online resource, updated daily, focused mainly on what’s happening in the world of Country radio. For a songwriter-specific publication, check out American Songwriter (subtitled, ‘The Craft of Music’).
[6] Join a songwriters’ association
If you’re not already a member of a Songwriters’ Association, join today! A songwriters’ association is just what the name suggests: an organization to help songwriters develop their careers. Each association offers different benefits and you can research each of them to decide which one (or more than one) that you’d like to join.
Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) is the world’s largest not-for-profit songwriters trade association with thousands of active members. NSAI is based in Nashville and has chapters all over the USA and Canada as well as the U.K. and Australia. NSAI presents Tin Pan South, the annual songwriters’ festival with hundreds of writers (from the mega-famous to the aspiring) at over 100 venues across Nashville. Checkout their website here.
Global Songwriters Connection (GSC) offers a community of creators connecting to industry relationships to help songwriters make progress in their artistic development. Members get discounts on GSC’s singer/songwriter services and access to the organization’s library of educational videos, resource lists and articles. More details about GSC here.
Songwriters Guild of America (SGA) has been around since 1931 with the objective of advancing, promoting and benefitting the profession of songwriting. They are strong advocates for the rights of songwriters, and maintain offices in Nashville, New York and Los Angeles. Here’s the SGA’s website.
Tennessee Songwriters Association International (TSAI) is a non-profit organization dedicated to informing, training, assisting and promoting songwriters. TSAI holds weekly meetings to address concerns of songwriters, along with workshops featuring guest speakers. TSAI also holds an annual Awards Show and Symposium. More about TSAI here.
Most songwriters’ associations offer song critique sessions and mentoring programs, and some provide ‘pitch sessions’ and access to writers’ rooms. You can also find a state-by-state list of (and links to) songwriter associations throughout the USA and Canada at SongwriterUniverse here.
“Your victory is right around the corner. Never give up.” – Nicky Minaj
[7] Work with your P.R.O.; investigate seminars
Songwriters and music publishers are members of a Performing Rights Organization, or P.R.O. A P.R.O. collects royalties on behalf of its members. If you are not yet a member of a P.R.O., investigate each of them to see what you would need to do to become a member, as each of three P.R.O.s in the U.S.A. have different guidelines. You can research them at www.ascap.com www.bmi.com and www.sesac.com
If you are already a member, take full advantage of your membership! The folks at all three P.R.O.s really want you to succeed as a songwriter, and they often sponsor seminars and other educational events to keep you on track. Your P.R.O. really can be your B.F.F.
[8] Listen to songs – and dissect them
Sure, you listen to songs every day. You hear music in your car on terrestrial radio or SiriusXM. You hear music on CDs, streaming and downloads. But you have to really listen to songs, because now you’re in the music industry and this is your business. Really listening to a song is like a medical student doing a dissection (but dissecting a song is a lot less messy!)
When you really listen to a song – or dissect it – you are analyzing how the writers constructed the song and used words to trigger the listener’s emotion or reaction. You are listening for the way the singer interpreted the song and what the producer did to enhance (or maybe detract from) the performance. With modern technology, it is easy to skip back and listen to a single word or phrase over and over.
It doesn’t matter whether or not you actually like the song. Listening to a song you don’t like (or you don’t think ‘works’) is just as educational as listening to a song you love. The trick is to break it down and understand what works and what, in your opinion, doesn’t work. Listen; really listen!
[9] Find a mentor
Link up with someone in the music business whose opinions you respect. As you begin to network, you’ll meet people at various levels of experience. Your mentor will probably have a little more experience than you in dealing with the ups and downs of a career in music. The important thing is to find someone you trust and can bounce ideas off. Ideally, this person can give you honest and helpful feedback without being judgmental.
Look for someone who has a positive outlook; you don’t need to be around anyone with a negative attitude that will only bring you down. Your mentor can help to keep you on track with projects that seem to faltering. Finding a good mentor can be the difference between giving up and staying the course.
“Surrounding yourself with great people is a great thing to have in your mind for life. Find the best people to work with. You can learn a lot.” – Jon Pardi
[10] Do something!
Do something today that will move your music career forward. It doesn’t have to be a giant step; true success is built upon thousands of small steps that might seem insignificant at the time. Be proactive in your career. Mark upcoming Writers’ Nights, open mic nights or events on your calendar and resolve to attend them. Start a task list of things you know you need to do and try to check one off every day, however small.
Achieving even small advances helps to boost your confidence. If you allow a day or two to go by without doing something related to your music, then the inactivity becomes the norm and your career will begin to wither and die. Remember, you didn’t come this far just to come this far!
Nashville is a ten-year town
Every successful recording artist, every hit songwriter has gotten where they are today one step at a time. They’ve done something, learned something every day to move them closer to success. If you’re hoping for a lucky break, it’s amazing how ‘lucky’ you get when you are confident and fully prepared to seize the opportunity when it appears!
Remember those architectural or engineering students we mentioned earlier? You have one clear advantage over them. As you work on your craft on a tiny stage on Lower Broadway, you have a tip jar in front you. Believe me, nobody drops a five spot into a jar on an engineer’s desk!
Preshias Harris is a music journalist and music career development consultant with the emphasis on new and aspiring artists and songwriters. Her book, ‘The College of Songology 101: The Singer/Songwriter’s Need to Know Reference Handbook’ is available at www.collegeofsongology.com Follow her blog at www.nashvillemusicline.com
Note: In a previous post, titled ‘Nashville is a ten year town,’ it was incorrectly stated that ‘Peter Pan’ was Kelsea Ballerini’s first Number One. In fact it was Kelsea’s third, but it was the first Number One for the song’s co-writer Jesse Lee. Sorry for typo!