You can’t have major success alone. You MUST have help. Songwriting is a team sport. Today, let’s talk about who you might need on YOUR team.
Ready to start building your team – or to add the missing pieces?
Read on!
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Okay, let me start off by saying that not all of these members are necessary for every songwriter at every career stage. Some are only needed when money is being generated from your songs. So don’t get overwhelmed- you don’t have to find all these folks today.
Also, this list is for pro songwriters or those who want to make money. If you just want to write good songs and you’re not worried about big commercial success, pick and choose accordingly.
1. Your Cowriters.
There are very, very few songwriters who turn pro (and stay that way) who are exclusively solo writers. Your cowriters help keep you fresh and break you out of creative ruts and stale habits. They also provide song ideas so you don’t have to come up with all your own ideas.
Cowriters provide creative strengths to compliment your weaknesses (lyrics for your melodies, etc.) They share valuable information (who’s cutting, what they want, who’s about to get a record deal, etc.). They (and their publishers) help pitch your songs. Cowriting also provides political advantages- writing with the artist, the producer, or with someone in a powerful publishing company.
2. Your PRO.
Performing Rights Organizations (PROs) are basically companies who collect and distribute airplay royalties for publishers and songwriters. There are three PROs in the United States- ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. Every other country / territory has only one.
If you’re blessed to get some airplay, you and your song won’t get a dime of airplay money if you and your song aren’t registered with a PRO. That’s the big service they offer. Other benefits include networking and educational opportunities. EVERY money-making pro must have a PRO.
3. Your Recorders.
All the cowriters in the world aren’t gonna do you much good if all your demos / recordings sound terrible. There’s just too much competition and too many quality demos out there for an A&R person to do the work to hear through a bad recording. They just don’t have to. Unless you’re an established hit songwriter with a good track record, they’ll just trash it and move on to a recording that sounds like it was done by a pro.
It’s great if you have the musician and production chops to get good sound on your own. But most songwriters don’t have that, so it needs to be outsourced. Maybe your cowriters can perform this function, or maybe you hire a track person or some studio musicians.
With that being said, a good publisher should be able to hear a good song that isn’t fully demoed. This point is for pitching your song to artists and record labels, not to publishers (who we’ll get to in a moment).
4. Your Administrator.
Somebody better be watching the money. Your administrators are the folks that make sure your songs are registered with a PRO, licensed properly by the record labels, the copyright forms are sent in and that your royalties make it (properly and promptly) from the record labels to the songwriters.
This function is usually done by the publisher, but you can also hire an admin firm for a percentage of what they collect on your behalf. For example, my Major Bob Music catalog is partly administered in-house and partly by The Harry Fox Agency. My personal publishing company, Cowboy Chords Music, outsources my admin to Bluewater Music. They handle my licensing and royalty collections for a percentage of the money they collect.
5. Your Sharpeners.
These are the folks who help you sharpen your skills, both on the artistic and business sides of songwriting. This may include cowriters who inspire and challenge you to do your best, it may include NSAI, Global Songwriters Connection, Songwriting Pro, Frettie, song evaluators, and coaches. It may be your publisher or songplugger. It may be a writer’s rep at a PRO or a publisher who will listen to your songs and give feedback.
The Sharpeners are hugely important for amateurs turning pro and for seasoned pros trying to keep current and to adapt as the commercial market changes. These are the folks who will tell you the truth and challenge you, even when it’s unpleasant.
6. Your Believers.
Who’s going to pick you up when the biz knocks you down? When you’re lost in doubt? You’ll find The Believers in several of the other categories- Cowriters, Publisher, and sometimes the PROS and Sharpeners.
Your Believers may also include folks outside of music- your family and friends. This isn’t just for the aspiring songwriter. We ALL need Believers! But the most important believer will always be one person. Yourself.
7. Your Songpluggers.
If you want cuts, somebody has to be out there actively pitching your songs and getting them heard by folks who can say “yes.” Oftentimes, this is done by a music publisher, who has at least one songplugger on staff. Many pros also pitch their songs themselves. I’m an “all hands on deck” kinda guy, so I like to have cowriters who pitch our songs, too.
People who might plug your songs: you, your publisher, an independent songplugger, your cowriters, your cowriters’ songpluggers. If nobody is plugging your songs, nobody will hear them. If nobody hears your songs, nobody will cut them.
There ya go. A pro songwriter’s team. Like I said earlier, you may not need all these folks right now, depending on where you are in your career. But as you climb that mountain, you’ll add more and more of them.
But what if you don’t have your team put together yet? What if you need some personalized advice and direction? Let me help.
If you’d like to follow up this blog post with a private consultation, Songwriting Pro provides one-to-one songwriter coaching. Ask your questions and learn directly from writers who have done what you want to do. Here are some folks who can help:
Brent Baxter is a hit songwriter with cuts by Alan Jackson (the top 5 hit “Monday Morning Church”), Lady Antebellum, Randy Travis, Joe Nichols, Lonestar, comedy legend Ray Stevens, guitar legend Steve Cropper, Gord Bamford (the Canadian #1 and CCMA Single of the Year “When Your Lips Are So Close”) and more. He also has cuts in the bluegrass, Southern Gospel and Christian markets.
Hit songwriter Jenn Schott has had songs recorded by artists including Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts, The Eli Young Band, Jana Kramer, Gloriana, Francesca Battistelli, Jamie Lynn Spears, Billy Ray Cyrus, Pam Tillis, Lonestar, and Restless Heart. Jenn co-wrote Mickey Guyton’s debut single, “Better Than You Left Me,” which was named one of Billboard’s 10 Best Country Songs of 2015. She also penned the title track of Tim McGraw’s Grammy nominated album, “Two Lanes of Freedom.”
You can get all the details and book a session with me or Jenn with a CLICK HERE. Don’t wait. Together, we can move you in the direction of your dreams!
God Bless and Keep On C.L.I.M.B.ing,
Brent
Brent Baxter is a hit songwriter with cuts by Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, Lady Antebellum, Joe Nichols, Gord Bamford, Ruthie Collins, Ray Stevens, and more. He’s written a top 5 hit in the US and a #1 in Canada… so far.
