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With so much of the music we hear on a daily basis being chock full of heavy instrumentation and sleek production elements, it can be hard to understand and hear what the true bones of a song are. Dig deep beneath track automation, instrumental layers, and effects like EQs and reverbs, and you’ll discover the foundational elements of a song.
How Stripping Down A Song Can Help You Become A Better Writer
Why Distractions Are Hurting Your Songwriting Practice And How To Remove Them
Whether it’s a talkative roommate or the constant desire to be on your phone, distractions can be one of the most significant barriers standing between you and your full potential as a songwriter. If you’re serious about making the best music you can and sharing it with the world, you’re going to need to identify what distracts you the most when you write. Then comes the hard work of consciously removing distractions from your writing practice. While this gets easier the more we work at it, it’s a job we’re never finished doing. Distractions will always make writing music harder than it has to be unless we do the constant work of addressing and removing them.
5 Ways To Reset Your Musical Mindset
For most of us, falling into predictable songwriting habits is more and more an inevitability the longer we make music. It’s natural to favor certain ways of doing things, whether it’s a specific genre, DAW, or instrument. But even if cohesion is one of your top priorities as a creator, your fans probably don’t want to hear you make the same songs over and over again.
How And Why You Should Think Of Songwriting As Your Job
It’s the dream of countless music-makers to spend their days writing music and earning a living. For many developing artists, songwriting seems like the opposite of working at a conventional job, and in some ways they’re correct. When you create music, you are your own boss and what you say goes. It’s a creative pursuit that allows you to express yourself exactly how you want to. Compare the experience of creating a new song to sitting in an office all day, and the two experiences couldn’t be any more different.
What Is The Creator Economy And How Does It Affect Your Music?
Have you heard of the Creator Economy? If not, here’s a simple definition: it’s all the ways that people can earn money from their creations. For example, influencers doing social media full time – they’re at the crux of the creator community.
And while it may seem absurd to wrap your head around people actually making a living from their creations, it’s a pretty incredible thing when you think about it. Not only because it means that you too can be a part of the success story of the creator economy, but you can actually enlist the help of other creators to get there.
Why Fans Are More Important Than Streams
If you were to choose between a top-tier press placement, 1,000 new followers, or 1,000 new streams, which would you choose?
For some artists, it’s all about the streams. Stream numbers are tangible proof that people like your song. It’s concrete evidence that all the work was worth it. Or at least…it feels that way.
In an industry where so much of what we do feels ambiguous and far-fetched, having a high stream count feels like the fans are telling us that our music matters.
But there’s a secret to streams that no one wants to admit. And that is that they aren’t actually as important as we like to think they are. Especially when you break it down…
When Persistence Starts To Get In Your Way As A Musician
Persistence is one of the most valuable qualities to have as a musician. The “I won’t take no for an answer” attitude is an amazing quality to possess when you can’t seem to move a song idea forward or get anywhere in your local music scene. But what about the times that you should really take no for an answer? Persistence is a gift in an industry as competitive and soul-crushing as music, but without a flexible mindset and a willingness to learn, adapt, and grow, it could be holding you back.
5 Misconceptions About Making Music
When it comes to creating music seriously, there’s what the world thinks and then what music-makers know to be true. Music is arguably the most impactful art form on the planet, but for how popular it is much of the non-musical world doesn’t know much about what goes into creating it. These are just five of the many popular misconceptions out there about making music.