Where to Focus Energy as a pop Songwriter

Many of my readers want to be pop songwriters. That profession entails co-writing regularly, pitching songs to artists, and trying to secure cuts. Profit is generated from streaming, radio play, and synchronization licenses. Money is dolled out in proportion to the amount of publishing you own. That’s the long skinny of it! The question for these writers is where to spend their time and energy outside of developing your craft. 

First and foremost, pop songwriters should spend their time cultivating writing relationships with artists. Artists - more often than not these days - are writing in smaller and smaller camps. You’ll see the same writers and producers pop up in the credits of artist’s discography. Victoria Money is all over Ariana Grande’s work. The first three Shawn Mendes albums feature Teddy Gieger again and again and again. Find artists who inspire you and who are inspired by you. Then, push down on the pedal and go. 

Pop songwriters - especially those who produce - should also seek out sessions with producers. A songwriter and producer duo is a great relationship to have. If you meet a producer who’s beats you like and who appreciates your writing in kind, you can begin to develop talent together. Writers can leverage their producer relationships to secure writes with artists who, let’s be honest, are very wowed by the bells and whistles that producers bring to the table. 

Outside of these essential creative relationships, pop songwriters should secure an entertainment lawyer. Trust me when I say this: your lawyer is the most important person on your team. They will help ensure you get paid and avoid signing contracts that might mess with your bank account. Unless you have a law degree, you are wading into dangerous territory if you attempt to wade through the legalese of music contracts. 

As you’re developing these relationships and writing songs, spend some time getting to know music publishers. Take them out for tea and pick their brains. Have meetings with them in their offices and show them some of your work. Hell, go to a local show with them and chat over beers. These are the folks - for better or worse - who have the power to offer you publishing deals. Its part of your job to wow them, especially if you are seeking out publishing deals in advance of a major smash. 

Lastly, pop songwriters should spend time posting to Tik Tok. I know that sounds counterintuitive since you might not want to pursue an artist path. But, you never know…maybe your work will connect as an artist! More importantly, a lot of digital connections are being made through TikTok. Use the platform to leverage the quality of your work to garner interest from up and coming artists. 

Well, that should give you guys a lot to focus on. In summation: artists, producers, lawyers, publishers, and TikTok are your friends. And these are all connections to foster while working on your craft! Whew Lord. 

July Songwriting Prompts

1. Take a song that’s public domain. Use the melody and rewrite the lyrics with a modern lens. Use this rewrite as the hook of a pop song.

2. Pick a historical topic of interest. Do some research on that time period (Wikipedia research is fine for our purposes). Write a song inspired by this time period.

3. Rewatch your favorite teen romcom. Pick a scene where music is featured heavily. Write a new song that you think could go over this scene.

4. Pick your favorite clothing brand. Write down 10 words that you would use to describe their particular style. Brainstorm what that particular brand might sound like. Now, write a song that you think could fit in an advertisement for that brand.

5. Pick your favorite line from your favorite book. Use this line as the emotional center of the next song you write. You may either use the line in its entirety or rewrite it a bit so as to avoid any publishing backlash in the event you want to release it.

6. Write a lullaby that speaks to a particular value or moral you’d like to impart to a child.

7. Pick a song that you think is terrible. Listen to it over and over again. Now, fix it.

8. Imagine you’re in the studio with your favorite artist. No matter who they are, they are desperately in need of a ballad today. What will this artist’s ballad sound like? How will their style and voice translate into a ballad?

9. Pick an untitled voice memo at random from your smart phone. Take that unfinished idea and complete.

10. Write a song that is only one word.

Mastering the Voice as a Songwriter (Copy)

Because songwriters envision a world in which they are not performing on stage, many of them believe they do not need to curate that part of their artistry. This could not be farther from the truth. Counterintuitively, mastering your voice can help inform the type of songs you write and your ability to communicate your vision on a demo. 

Let’s take Caroline Polacheck as an example. Polacheck has had a long storied career as an artist. Her studies of Baroque classical musical inform her instrument which has a lyrical operatic quality. She exhibits masterful control over the flipping of her instrument between vocal registers; her flipping is not unlike yodeling. Her melismas are defined and fluent. Overall, Polacheck has developed a unique instrument and employs her vocal tricks in her own work. 

This has allowed her to garner cuts outside of her own work. Most notably, in 2013 she co-wrote and co-produced “No Angel” for Beyoncé’s self-title record, which went on to garner a grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Submitted as a half finished demo, No Angel originally featured Polacheck’s vocals. This is the version that Beyoncé heard before deciding to cut and release the song. For a sparse production like “No Angel,” the vocals definitely made a difference. 

Charli XCX, one of Polacheck’s contemporaries, exhibits less technical control over her voice than Polacheck. What she lacks in melismas, she makes up for in hooky song craft. She prioritizes shouty/chanty vocal aesthetics mixed with hard autotune. Her “voice,” especially on record, has a signature sound that she has refined. 

You can hear this vocal style throughout her songwriting cuts. “Same Old Love” by Selena Gomez is dominated by a very small vocal range. XCX, anticipating Gomez’s vocal limits, is able to create songs that work with the artist’s range. On Icona Pop’s “I Love It” you can hear XCX’s shouting vocal styles emulated by the lead artists. One can easily imagine how XCX’s demo might have informed these final cuts. 

Truth be told, it is difficult to develop mastery and style. It is something that takes experimentation and time. But, when you gain a better understanding of your voice you’ll be able to write songs that feel more unique and sing over demos that are compelling to the artists you know and love. 

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.

Finding Inspiration

Inspiration is not just a poof of magic that appears unheralded. Inspiration is something that can be sought out. We have the ability to refine our sense for the presence of inspiration. Here’s a few ways to discover inspiration in your day-to-day life. 

Listen intentionally during conversations. Often times, the conversations we have can become great fodder for songs. You may discover that your friend has said a word or sentence or communicated an idea that speaks to your inner creative soul. Jot down words and phrases that spill out during conversations and use them as titles or concepts in your next songwriting session. 

Analyze chords progressions from your favorite songs. Again, listening is a means to discovering inspiration. Fiddle around with your guitar or piano and iron out what chord progressions are used in songs you’ve been listening to. You can take these progressions and transfer them into your own songs. Penning melodies and lyrics over chords progressions with which you are already familiar might help facilitate your process. 

Read books and watch television with adaptation in mind. One piece of art can easily be adapted into another mode of creativity. Books become movies. Movies become musicals. Musicals birth albums. Albums inspire authors who write novels and the cycle begins again. Think of your favorite books and television shows as points of inspiration for your next song. How can you retell stories that have already been told in song? 

As you can see, inspiration is not merely something that appears unannounced. You, the creative, need to seek it out in all facets of your life. I you open your eyes and ears wide enough, then you’ll welcome inspiration into your life much more frequently.

Developing Stage Presence

For those of us pursuing the artist path, stage presence is an essential skill we need to develop. When you’re getting your feet wet as a performer you may feel a bit nervous, but rest assured that as you cut your teeth you’ll feel confidence begins to take root. Here’s a few tips to help you get started. 

Practice your banter ahead of time. As you sit down to rehearse the actual music you’ll be playing, make attempts at what you might say in advance of playing a song. Will you tell a personal anecdote? Will you merely give the title? Will you use this time to teach the audience a bit of the chorus so that they can sing the song with you? Rehearsing banter will make the audience think you are great at speaking off the cuff even when its been rehearsed a bit. 

When rehearsing banter there are a few amateur tropes to avoid. First and foremost, do not introduce a song by saying “this was inspired by…” Its a banal introduction and your songs deserve a better hook. Negative self talk is another device to eliminate from your banter toolkit. Never diminish your talents on stage, it makes your audience uncomfortable and denies them the chance to determine whether or not they like you for themselves. Lastly, do your best to make your banter between songs short. Lengthy segments of banter distract us from what we’re here for: the music. 

In addition to banter, you should practice movement. If you’re a guitar wielding artist, you should practice stepping into and out of the space. Stepping into the space to start a song signals to the audience that it is time to pay attention. You might need to step out of the space in order to tune which signals to the audience that it is time to take a break. If you do not have an instrument, then practice in front of a mirror. Take note of how your hands and arms and legs move as you sing through your set. Be critical here and determine if you need to refine your movements to better suit the song. Movement coaches can be helpful here. Lastly, and most importantly, use a mirror to practice your facial expressions. Live performance is all about communication. You do not want to have dead eyes. 

Exiting the stage is just as important as entering it. How is it that you choose to leave? Will you take a long held bow? Will you stand still and turn your head to look at the audience? Will you simply run off stage? The options are endless but making a conscious choice here will help you end your performance on a more precise note.

Performance is an art that is separate from songwriting. But, it is essential if you want to grow your profile as an artist. I highly recommend working on your presence as well as your vocal and musical performances. 

Chase Your Fans

Some advice for artists: don’t chase the music industry, chase your fans. 

A lot of folks get caught up in knowing all the people about town. They have coffee with every publisher at every company every once in a while. They attend writer’s nights to bump elbows with the new kids on the block. They try to worm their way into Spotify Holiday parties and sus out who is in charge of curating those damned playlists. And, guess what, those are all important things that - unfortunately - could provide a turning point in your career. 

THAT SAID, if you want to be an artist, all of that will be for nought if you aren’t developing relationships with your fans. If you have a finger on the pulse of pop music, then you know that fan armies rule the world. BTS Stans can get anything trending. Taylor Swift’s Swifties and Nicki Mina’s Barbs can do the same. These fan armies are rewarded for their trials and tribulations with steady streams of high quality art and fan engagement. 

While you may not have a  fan base as large as these megastars, you can still make sure that your audience is getting proper attention. Releasing music regularly is your most essential activity. But there other ways of making your fans feel appreciated: send them a personalized IG message if they pre-save a song, host a get together before or after a concert, reply to messages that fans send you, or host live streams where you play music or video games or just talk. All these are free to you, the artist. For the low budget of you time, you can create relationships with your fans that guarantee their continued investment in your art and you as a human. 

Look, the biggest artists in the world have meaningful relationships - both real and parasocial - with their fans. As you’re getting your foot in the door, focus on your fans. Make it a worthwhile experience for them to engage with your work and you’ll build a proper crowd in no time.

Songwriting Challenges

For all of those looking for songwriting inspiration today, here’s a few songwriting challenges.

1) Listen through your favorite Spotify or Apple playlist. Write a song that you believe could fit into this playlist.

2) Record a bass line using your own voice. Build an instrumental around this vocal line and then write a top line for it.

3) Pick one song from this week’s Billboard Hot 100. Rewrite the lyrics to the song to tell your own story but keep the same melody.

4) Pick one song from this week’s Billboard Hot 100. Switch up the perspective! If the song is about someone’s ex, then rewrite it from from the ex’s perspective.

5) Imagine that your favorite book has been turned into a movie. Now, write a song that would be appropriate for the opening scene of this movie.

6) Pick your favorite artist and imagine what their next musical era would sound like. Write a song that you could potentially pitch to that artist.

7) Pick a product from a brand that you love. Write a song about the product that you could pitch to the brand. Sync writing is just as viable a career as writing for artists.

8) Write a song that doesn’t have any words. Free yourself from the need for lyrics and just focus on making a vocal melody that is extremely catchy.

Quiet the Critic

Shhh. The artist is speaking and the critic needs to pipe down. I don’t want any notes or suggestions, paragraphs of derision, pedantic ennui, or mentions of cracks and flaws. Now is not the time for feedback for we are just beginning the song!

We are writing. We are singing. We are brainstorming ideas. We are laying down vocal ideas that are not fully formed. We are at the dawn of the process with which we are so familiar: the process of writing a song.

I can’t have a little voice in my head telling me I can’t do it, that this idea or that melody is dumb, or that I should quit while I’m ahead. There is a time and a place for revaluation, for editing, for tuning up, for perfecting. But, right now, before I’m more than 10 minutes into the process is not the time. That critique, at this very moment, is counterproductive.

Here, at the onset, the critique will only serve to sully my joy and prevent me from doing what I love. It will cast doubts and sink me into depression. It will shield me from picking up the guitar and make me sulk. And then what? What have I accomplished? Now, there is nothing to critique anyway!!1

Shhh. Quiet on set. Quiet the critic. I don’t need him right now. I need to be present in my craft and my process. I need to feel untethered, free like a bird. I need to welcome my muses and my imagination into a home of safety. Unburdened by my inner critic, I can make my art. Will it be perfect on the first try? Will I have lines to parse apart later? Who knows! Not I if i let my inner critic stop me.

Artist Skills in 2022

Artist in this day and age require a litany of skills that artists across generations have cultivated: great songwriting prowess, vocal talent that cuts through the noise, and a palatable charism that draws people inward. Thanks to the advent of social media, digital streaming platforms, and this thing we call the attention economy, an artist must develop other sets of skills.

Chief among these skills is the ability to be prolific. DSP’s seem to reward indie artists who release new songs monthly and, because fans are flooded with photos and videos all the time, fans are more likely to reward artists who feed them new songs regularly as well. Prolificness in 2022 also means posting regularly to the major DSPs like TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter. While the artists require time off to meditate on new artistic ideas, the marketplace for music requires an unending trove of new material. These two impulses are at odds with one another. It behooves the artist to find a happy medium.

Beyond prolificness, an artist must have some semblance of how to attract attention on social media. They must understand online trends, memes, and how to create compelling online content that pull focus - this is especially true in the early days of an artist’s career when they must leverage their pull on the internet to build a fanbase. An artist working to move from the bottom rung of the later to the highest rung can benefit from twitter schemes like Lil Nas X or overloading TikTok with irreverent videos like Doja Cat. Being tuned in to social media platforms and using their algorithms to your own advantage is how to win in the social media era.

Another set of skills may help an artist esepecially in the early days of their career: the ability to produce your own music. Inflation is running rampant even in the music industry! In order to keep your input costs low, you can learn to produce your own music. This could help cut the cost of hiring a producer, a mixer, and even a mastering engineer if you refine your skills correctly. This will make pursuing music an independent artist a bit more financially viable! I highly recommend learning this skill.

Dear reader, I am overwhelmed thinking about all of the skills that an artist in 2022 must develop. But, I guess that is just the madness of our era!

Struggling Artist Trope

I want us, as a community, to fully reject any reverence for the struggling artist trope. This trope assumes that an artist must struggle - especially financially - in order to produce great art and survive. It seems that we as a society value artist’s who suffer.

I would say that this trope is a reality for many artists, not for lack of talent, but because the industry structures around them prevent them from earning their keep. Tech giants like Spotify and Apple underpay songwriters and artists alike when it comes to streaming. Predatory label and publishing deals can stymie an artist or songwriter’s ability to accrue income. Payment models for royalties are often on significant delays such that, even when there is success, songwriters and artists must wait months to years in order to get paid. There’s a confluence of factors impacting nubile artists in their quest to see financial stability.

I say all this because I want to reframe something about being an artist. It is not the process of making art that causes the artist to suffer. Often times, it is the financial structures we have created in the music industry that give our artists grief. In that way, many artists might feel as if there are many factors in the music industry working against them.

If we reframe the struggle of the artist in this way, then we can un-work the narrative that the artist must suffer. We do not have to have tech giants that underpay artists. We do not have to have predatory contracts. We do not necessarily have to have payment models for royalties on months long delays (especially in the internet era). We can instead create a world in which artists do not have to suffer these barriers to joy and financial success.

Let us leave the struggling artist trope behind and invent a new one for the future. I propose the financially stable artist or the laboring artist.

Songwriters as Workers

We’re living through a major turning point in unionization efforts in the United States. Amazon Labor Union scored a historic win at the JF8 Amazon warehouse last month defeating anti-labor tactics of one of America’s largest corporations. Independent Starbucks stores all over the country are voting to unionize successfully as well. The efforts have been so successful that Starbucks’ CEO has offered raises to Starbucks stores that don’t unionize - an illegal activity that needs to be reported as such. For those wondering, yes this labor movement is relevant to you as a songwriter.

Songwriters are laborers. Though they do not have a set place of work like an Amazon or Starbucks employee, they share a set of interests that pit them against major corporations like Spotify, Apple, record labels, and even publishing companies. This set of interests include but are not limited to increasing streaming royalty rates, increasing mechanical royalty rates, the establishment of faster, more transparent payment models, and the elimination of predatory contracts in favor of ethical contracts standards.

Because songwriters don’t have a workplace or a shared employer, unionization efforts are difficult. Still, I think the first step is to ask songwriters to imagine what could happen if they wielded collective power. A songwriter’s strike for instance would deny streaming sites + labels new music which might lead to better royalty rates. A joint refusal to sign contracts with certain clauses might lead to the elimination of unfavorable contracts for songwriters. Collective power generally leads to collective benefit.

There are some organizers attempting to change things in our industry. The Union of Music and Allied Workers, which boasts 20k followers on Instagram, has staged protests at the Spotify offices in Los Angeles and circulated a widely signed petition in attempts to get Spotify to pay 1 cent per stream. They argue for the ethical and moral imperative of fair wages for artists, songwriters, and music workers. Though they have not succeeded as of yet, UMAW could prove to be a powerful advocating union on behalf of songwriters in the future.

Something has got to give. Songwriters deserve to be compensated fairly for their work. If we view songwriters as laborers first and foremost, then we might be able to better advocate for ourselves as a collective whose interests are at odds with corporate power. Perhaps, under this framework, we can develop a music industry structure that benefits the people making the songs.

Writing is Teamwork

In the credits for the vast majority of hit songs, you will find multiple names inscribed next to the words “written by” and perhaps even more next to the words “produced by.” Those who worship at the alter of the “auteur” - a single person responsible for a work of art’s entire vision - might decry this reality. But, I am not one of those people. Instead, I celebrate the teamwork that it took in order to get a song from a wisp of inspiration to a fully fledged song.

When writers get together in a room, the creativity can flow in myriad ways. One person may start the spark of inspiration with a title they’ve been saving in their notes app. The producer might start making a track or strumming chords that are inspired by the mood set by that title. Another writer or artist then starts penning melodies and lyrics that fit beautifully over the producer’s work. In this way, all parties contribute to the success of a song.

Of course the songwriting process takes many forms, but often times some version of these events define the songwriting process. Editing a writing partner’s ideas, refining a lyric til it fits perfectly on a melody, and general interplay between colleagues take place over the course of a few hours. Those who master the process of co-writing often become masters of songwriting themselves. This process creates great art and betters the writers who partake in it.

This is why I so often uphold co-writing as the means by which nubile songwriters can sharpen their pens. I urge them to find creative community and write as much as possible. I tell them to turn friends into creative collaborators and develop their skills together. Through the practice of co-writing, I see amateurs turn into professionals.

If you’re looking to get ahead, remember that you can go farther with the right friends and collaborators. Commit yourself to the practice of co-writing and watch as you soar.

Keep Going

Today: some words of encouragement. Our business is hard and our dreams are big. And, often times, the timelines of our dreams may not line up with what we had envisioned for ourselves. Dreams may happen earlier than expected or much later. They may happen in ways we had never quite imagined for ourselves. In the more unfortunate circumstances, they might not happen at all. Dreams are funny that way. 

Still, it is the dream that we must chase. Day-in and day-out we owe it to ourselves to improve, to write songs in the comfort of our rooms, to stretch ourselves thin in the act of glorious creation when need be, to gather with friends and pen the songs we want to hear on the radio, to work tirelessly, then to rest, and then to begin again. We owe it to ourselves to make the creation of art a practice and share our voices with the world whenever possible. 

Sometimes that will lead to streaming numbers in the hundreds of millions or titles that we seek: platinum selling songwriter, grammy winner, etc. Sometimes they will lead to a small group of people admiring that which you make with a burning intensity. The outcome is not always up to us. What is in our control is the act of creation: how many songs we write, how often we create, and whether or not we will release our fledgling songs into the world. And those elements that we control are beautiful things. 

I know that so many of you dream so big. And, I am proud to have spoken with hundreds of writers about their dreams and helped them carve out ways to pursue them relentlessly. I want to tell you that I believe in you. Do not give up hope. Do not despair when things get tough. You can get what you want in this life. Just keep going.

What Songwriters Deserve

In a nutshell, songwriters deserve financial compensation for the work they provide. The songs that float through the ether into the ears of the public have their origin site in the mind’s eye of the songwriter. Each note is fashioned by the songwriter, each word chosen carefully. Without those who create the songs, the world over would be devoid of the universal language of music.

Inherently, the audience understands that. That is why people develop parasocial relationships with artists. It is the reason that people get lyrics tattoo’d upon themselves. Fans know that the writers who pen their songs are deserving of respect, not just in the metaphorical sense but in the literal, financial sense as well.

The business of music has strayed from this reality. Tech giants like Spotify and Apple have, for years, underpaid songwriters. Despite a government mandated adjustment in royalty rates in 2017 from 10.5% of revenue to 15.1% of revenue, legal disputes have prevented the institution of this raise. As the appeals process drags on, songwriters are collecting 1/3 less revenue than they should be. In addition, digital radio currently pays out artists 6 dollars for every 1 dollar paid out to songwriters. Traditional radio splits revenue 50/50 between the artist + songwriters. This discrepancy leaves less money in songwriters’ pockets. David Israelite is one of the preeminent lawyers advocating for songwriter’s financial well-being. Read his recent interview with Songwriter Universe to learn more about these issues.

Its difficult to not feel frustrated by today’s financial realities for songwriters. The antagonists to our financial well-being are so powerful and the tools at our disposal to negotiate change are limited. That is why I advocate for things like a songwriter’s union that can collectively bargain on behalf of songwriters with tech giants. It is also why I encourage songwriter’s to ask artists for a portion of the master - supplementary income is necessary as we wade through this financial mess created by big tech. Artists should feel compelled to help out their peers by cutting in songwriters on a portion of the master, especially if they are independent. Of course, songwriters need to begin that conversations for themselves and establish master-sharing as a new normal in the music industry.

I hope these issues can get resolved quickly and that songwriters can once again reap the fruits of their labor.

A Creative Space

Artists have long been impacted by their environments. Cave dwellers etched the walls with little figures of the world they saw around them. 19th century impressionists captured the way that light changed with their paints. Joni Mitchell’s “Ladies of the Canyon” is titled so as to pay homage to Laurel Canyon, a site of great creativity in the 1960’s. Miley Cyrus’ “Malibu” was similarly inspired by the misty waves rolling in along the California shore. Access to great exteriors can shift a writer’s perspective and give them new fodder for songs.

The same can be said of an interior: a white walled room and a yellow walled room have different auras. The presence of a velvet couch or a stimulating rug design can bring out new energies in a writer. The sheer absence of furniture save a piano in an echo-y, marble room will inevitably turn any artist into a balladeer. A dimly lit, cramped space will similarly turn the same artist into a whisperer of internal thoughts. A chaotically colorful space might have the opposite effect, cultivating instead upbeat rhythms and pop-minded melodies. The specifics are conjectures at best, but the general statement is true: your surroundings impact your writing.

That’s why I advise artists to cultivate their space. Paint the walls with colors that leave you energized. Fill it with equipment, of course. But, also take time to include books or knick knacks that spark intrigue. A mirror or a bouquet of store-bought flowers, even the right coasters can make a difference in your space. Spend time and energy putting together your bedroom, office, or studio to make it a visually inspiring place.

A space cultivated by you will inevitably feel comfortable. That type of comfort will set you at ease when inspiration strikes and will coax you into prolificness even when writer’s block is looming just around the corner. Take the time. Build your space. Reap the rewards of a room you love.

An Artist’s Early Work

Thanks to the internet we have a digital catalogue of many artist’s early era. This is the time during which an artist is experimenting and discovering their voice for the first time. Early successes might be documented in an Instagram video. Snippets of song shared via TikTok reveal missteps and styles that may be abandoned. 

These are special moments that often draw an artist’s initial audience. They also act as an archive for future superfine to come back to and acquaint themselves with an artist who has already evolved. 

Artists may be tempted to delete old videos and songs as their songs become more refined and their branding shifts. But, this is an impulse that I would urge you to reject. Early fans will feel a sense of loss when their favorite songs are suddenly absent from streaming services. New fans will be deprived of returning to older material that they may fall in love. From a purely capitalist standpoint, you’ll be denying yourself monthly streams that you may have previously been receiving. 

An artists job is to evolve and continue putting out music. That does not mean that you need to deny the existence of previous iterations of yourself. I highly encourage you to leave your early work on the internet. 

The Art of Doing Nothing

In our culture of productivity, many of us are unfamiliar with the art of doing nothing. With our phones constantly at arms length, we are able to fill any millisecond of malaise with stimulation, often times low grade stimulation. What do we lose when the art of doing nothing dies in the blue screen light of an Apple iPhone?

For those of us prone to long phone breaks, we know the benefits of opting out of screen time: thoughts begin to proliferate in our heads, connections about the world are made, reflections make their way to the fore, errant observations about your surrounding speak louder in your internal monologue. Screen time silences the buzzing of our minds; the absence of screen time permits its near immediate return. 

I advocate for moments of nothing, especially for artists. We need time during which stimulation is at a low level. Rather than focus on the infinite scroll of an Instagram feed, we need quiet moments of reflection and observation. Artist must carve out time during which our only action is to do nothing. 

“Nothing” looks like an aimless walk, 10 minutes staring out the window, sitting in the grass and gazing at the sky, or sipping a mildly hot tea on a wrap around porch. Productivity is rejected in favor of meaningful non-actions. In this type of headspace, the artist can gain a better understanding of themselves and the world around them. 

If you find yourself over-stimulated or burnt out or overly engaged in your phone, try and find those still moments of nothingness. You’ll be surprised how your mind springs to life when it has nothing but itself with which to be engaged.

Self-Expression in 2022

The proliferation of disparate corners of the internet have permitted artists to stay true to themselves. There is an audience for any subject matter or sound palette. Somewhere in the dark depths of the World Wide Web there exists the people who want to hear your story in your style of song. 

What that means is that artists are now freer than they have ever been. Successful artists of yesteryear needed to cater to mainstream audiences as they attempted to amass fans, radio play, and television appearances. Artists of today are not nearly as impacted by these decades old economic imperatives. 

TikTok, Google Ads, and algorithmic advances in streaming are delivering your music to the people most in need of hearing it. You can thus tell the stories that you want to tell. This new reality means that LBGTQ+ artists can pen songs using the pronouns of their preferred partners. It also means that off-kilter communities like HyperPop audiences can throw Zoom raves and connect. It also means that guitar wielding singer songwriter chicks can speak directly through the screen to you as they strum their songs on TikTok. 

You no longer need to hide behind artifice. You no longer need to play some role that a label ascribes to you. You are free because you know that somewhere out there your audience is waiting.

There has never been a better time to be yourself. 

An Empty Cup

Writing is an output procedure. You take all the inspiration you’ve accumulated - personal stories, piecemeal sounds from disparate records, and the melodies floating around in your heard - and synthesize them into something new. By the end of the writing process, we produce one song or a litany of them. There is a beauty to this creation, this divine act of art making. But, on the other side of creation, we might be visited by a feeling of emptiness. 

There are those of us who, in the days and weeks after a profoundly productive period, may be asking ourselves if we will ever be so full of inspiration again. We might try and manifest it or write through these weeks of refraction to no avail. Slowly, we come to realize that our cups which once runneth over are now sitting empty on the nightstand. 

I encourage you to not be afraid of these moments, the brief pauses when your deep well of creativity does not produce water. Instead, take this time to live, learn, and seek stimulation. Walk aimlessly. Make new friends. Listen to records for hours on the floor of your room. Party all night with the unknown characters of your town. Return home to commune with older relatives. Read memoirs and fiction and obituaries. Develop a new hobby. Do all the things that give life a bit of sparkle until you feel the urgent itch to once again fashion your stories into song.

Remind yourself that you have not lost the piece of you that makes you a songwriter. There is no need to force yourself to write when the divine spark of inspiration will inevitably visit you again.