Songwriting Business Strategies
The business of songwriting is a funny thing. The bulk of your income will be derived from streaming and radio royalties and sync placements. Commissioned work and session rates are relevant possibilities as well. Master income is rarer but is quickly becoming standard. So what are some ways to lay the groundwork for future income streams?
Write regularly. The more seeds you plant the more likely you are to grow a garden. Taking sessions 3-5 times a week means a higher probability that your songs will land placements with artists and get sync placements. It’s a simple science really: quantity leads to financial abundance.
Write specifically with artists. If you’re a songwriter trying to break into the pop game, you should try and make sure there is always an artist in your writing sessions. This will make it more likely that your song gets released. In this day and age, artists are more likely to cut songs they write than they are to cut songs that are pitched to them. If you have a higher frequency of artist sessions, you’ll have a higher frequency of cuts. That’s guaranteed.
Network with publishers focused on getting sync placements. Publishers who work in the television and advertising space have networks committed to getting music onto screen. These publishers can help you monetize your music through sync placements which generate revenue on the front end through sync rates and on the back end through royalties. While competitive, the sync writing industry can lead to a career with more financial clarity. Sync contracts have explicit payouts on the front end.
Ask indie artists for master points. Everybody needs to eat. No one knows that better than an artist. Indie acts do not generate huge revenues for songwriters because their songs do not generate a high degree of streams and are very infrequently pushed to radio. If you are working intimately with an indie artist, be brave enough to ask for a few points on the master. This will guarantee that you financially benefit from the exploitation of your music, even if its just a few hundred dollars here and there.
There are dozens more strategies for turning your art into a financial behemoth. But, these are a few easily accessible strategies that you can begin employing quickly. Best of luck out there in the wily world of the music business.
