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Seven Essential Things To Consider If You Want An Artist To Cut Your Song Written by: Cliff Goldmacher ( !

EducatedSong riter!com"

Introduction When you#re starting out as a song riter$ a common scenario is that something in your life moves you to the %oint here you#re ins%ired to rite about it and$ thus$ your song is born! This may still be the case & and on some level I ho%e so & but if you#re ho%ing that someone other than you ill record your song$ there are some im%ortant considerations to 'ee% in mind! (! Is your song memorable)easily learned* +a'ing your song memorable has several facets to it! ,irst and foremost is there something about it that stic's in the listeners mind and sets it a%art* That#s a great %lace to start! Almost as im%ortant$ though$ is hether the song is easy to learn! If it is$ then lots of things can ha%%en! -ot only can music fans %ic' u% on it and sing along but an artist is much more li'ely to connect ith it and learn it as ell! .yrically$ ma'ing sure your rhyme scheme is consistent in the verses and that your choruses are sim%le and the same from chorus to chorus is a great start! /egarding your melody$ hile it should be uni0ue and memorable$ it also hel%s to 'ee% a ay from something so com%licated that it#s tough to learn! /emember$ in order for an artist to record your song$ they have to learn it! The easier you can ma'e that 1ob for them$ the better! 2! Is your song easy to sing* 3ust as im%ortant as ma'ing your song easy to learn is ma'ing it easy to sing! -ot only ill that hel% the artist in the studio as they#re recording it$ but if the song is easy to sing then %erforming it night after night becomes less of a chore if & fingers crossed & it becomes a hit! A fe things you can do to ma'e your songs easy to sing are to 'ee% your lyric more rela4ed and conversational and ma'e sure your melody#s range isn#t out of reach for most artists! An early indication that you might be missing the mar' is if your demo singer has trouble either ith the range or remembering the melody! 5emo singers are s%ecifically trained to or' in the studio and if they#re having trouble then ho can you e4%ect an artist & ho isn#t necessarily a studio %ro & to be comfortable ith it* 6! 5oes your song %ortray the artist in a favorable light* Another thing to 'ee% in mind is ho the artist ill 7loo'8 singing your song! As song riters e sometimes forget that hen someone else sings our song$ most listeners ill 1ust assume that the ords the singer is singing come directly from them! Given that you#re ho%ing an artist ill attach their name & and re%utation & to your song$ it#s that much more im%ortant to ma'e sure your song %ortrays the artist in a favorable light! 5oes it ma'e them seem li'e a good %erson* 5o they a%%ear insightful* There are very fe artists ho ant to a%%ear li'e a lost cause or someone ho#s not %ut together so 'ee% that in mind hen you rite! This may sound obvious but$ often$ e rite to %rocess feelings of sadness or frustration and hile that may be good for us$ it might not be all that interesting for another artist to record! 9! Is your song#s message universal* This is a tric'y one! While you ant to rite from a meaningful$ %ersonal %lace$ it#s im%ortant to 'ee% in mind that it still has to be a universal message that %eo%le can relate to! :ere#s the good ne s! Sometimes our most %ersonal stories are the most universal! In other ords$ by telling the

Seven Essential Things To Consider If You Want An Artist To Cut Your Song truth in your riting and staying sincere$ it#s highly li'ely that others ill relate to hat you#re saying! ;nless$ of course$ you#re a socio%ath$ in hich case you might ant to reign it in a bit!!! <! :ave you ta'en a ne )uni0ue angle* Given that %retty much A.. songs are about love and %eo%le$ hat have you done in yours to ma'e it some hat uni0ue* :ave you ta'en a fresh loo' at an old story* These are the 'inds of things that you should consider hen revie ing any song you#re ho%ing to %itch to an artist! Also$ it#s orth noting that riting about current events is %roblematic because$ often$ by the time a song gets cut$ those events are old ne s! =! 5o you 'no anyone connected to the artist* .et#s assume you#ve ta'en all of the above suggestions to heart and you#ve got a song that#s ideal for %itching to an artist! -o comes the hard %art! You have to do your home or' and figure out ho to get your song to the %eo%le connected to the artist or artists you have in mind! +a'ing sure that you#ve slo ly and organically gro n your net or' of industry connections should al ays be in the bac' of your mind! >y having relationshi%s ith managers$ %roducers$ %ublishers and record labels$ you#ll be in a much better %osition to get your songs into the right hands! I 'no this is much easier said than done but it doesn#t have to ha%%en overnight! Start attending music conferences$ ta'ing tri%s to music cities li'e -e Yor'$ -ashville and .os Angeles and 1oin a local song riting organi?ation to get the ball rolling! @! :ave you considered riting ith the artist* A idely&'no n 7secret8 in the industry is that you#ve got a much better chance of getting your song cut if you rite it ith the artist! What you might not have considered is that before Garth >roo's as 7Garth >roo's$8 he as 1ust another artist ho%eful singing demos around to n! Given that the li'elihood of Garth >roo's riting ith an un'no n song riter is ne4t to ?ero$ hy not find the ne4t Garth >roo's and rite ith them early on in their career! I can#t tell you ho many song riting success stories have started that ay! Conclusion I#ve said this before but it bears re%eating! Writing a song is a victory in and of itself! It#s something you can & and should & be very %roud of! :o ever$ if your ultimate goal is to get your songs recorded by others$ 'ee%ing the above considerations in mind$ might be orth your hile! Good luc'A >io Cliff Goldmacher is a song riter$ %roducer$ session musician$ engineer$ author and o ner of recording studios in -ashville$ T- and Sonoma$ CA! Cliff#s site$ htt%:)) !EducatedSong riter!com$ is full of resources for the as%iring song riter including monthly online ebinars! Go to htt%:)) !educatedsong riter!com) ebinar) for the latest schedule! Cliff#s com%any$ htt%:)) !-ashvilleStudio.ive!com$ %rovides song riters outside of -ashville ith virtual access to -ashville#s best session musicians and singers for their

Seven Essential Things To Consider If You Want An Artist To Cut Your Song song riting demos! You can do nload a ,/EE sam%le of Cliff#s e>oo' 7The Song riter#s Guide To /ecording Brofessional 5emos8 by going to htt%:)) !EducatedSong riter!com)eboo'! ,aceboo': !faceboo'!com)EducatedSong riter T itter: edusong riter r

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