All posts by Brent Baxter

Biz, Muse

The Shawshank Songwriter

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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.

If you feel trapped in your day job- if you feel like you’re locked in a prison, I recommend watching “The Shawshank Redemption.” There is an important lesson in there for folks trying to escape their day jobs for the freedom of their dream jobs.

After years behind bars, Tim Robbins’ character, Andy, was finally able to tunnel his way out. No, I’m not suggesting you sneak a breakroom spoon into your cubicle and dig when your boss isn’t looking. The lesson is not about the tunneling itself, but how Andy went about it.

He was extremely patient and radically persistent.

You see, Andy knew he couldn’t just make a break for the wall and try to climb over. He would’ve gotten shot. He also knew that he couldn’t tunnel out in one night. There was just an impossible amount of work to do.

Andy knew he could only dig and remove a little bit of dirt a day without getting caught. So that’s what he did. Day after day, month after month, year after year, he dug a little dirt and spread it around the prison yard.

I’m sure there were times he must’ve been so frustrated that he was tempted to scream and hammer at the tunnel wall, desperate to finally get out! But he knew that would only lead to him getting caught- and getting caught meant, at the very least, changing cells and having to start all over.

And maybe that’s how you feel at your day job. You’re frustrated because you feel trapped, yet you can only do a little at a time to escape. Some days you want to walk into your boss’s office quit your day job right then… but you can’t. Maybe you don’t have any savings built up. Or maybe you have a family that is depending on you to bring home a steady paycheck, and you know you can’t let them down.

Or instead of quitting, you’re tempted to lock yourself in your writing room every night after work and polish your songwriting chops or stay out late at songwriter nights every night to network. But you have a spouse and children who need you, so you can’t.

So what do you do?

You do what Andy did.

You plan your escape tunnel. Decide how much and how often you can dig without causing certain financial or family ruin. (Notice I said “certain” not “possible.” There will always be risk in chasing your dream, but you don’t have to be suicidal.) Then you start digging at that pace- day after day, month after month, year after year. Dig as long as it takes.

Yes, it’s going to test your patience. Yes, it’ll feel like it’s taking too long. But be patient. Yes, it will take longer than the mad scramble up the prison wall, but it’s worth it to dig a tunnel big enough to bring your family and a little money with you on your escape.

God Bless,

Brent

A GIFT FOR YOU

I’ve recently released my 1st book on Amazon- and thanks to those of you who made it a bestseller in the Songwriting and Music Instruction categories!  If you’d like to get your own copy of Hit Songwriting- How A Songwriting Coach Can Fast Track Your Success, it’s available for FREE, IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD at GiftFromBrent.com.  Or you can click on the image below.  Thanks!

Gift From Brent Songwriting 3

Muse, WordPlay

Wordplay Thursday #76

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Wordplay Thursday

Welcome to Wordplay Thursday!

Here’s a writing prompt for you.  It’s a simple fill-in-the-blank. You can use one word or several. Feel free to get as crazy, genre-appropriate, or as imaginative as you want. The point is to get the creative juices flowing. And it’s a good thing to dig deeper, so don’t stop at the first idea that hits you. Try coming up with at least five things.

“I’ll tell you, that kid’s sneakier than _____.”

I’ll give you an example to get you started:

“I’ll tell you, that kid’s sneakier than fine print.”

I’d love to hear what you come up with, so please share in the comments. Oh, and please keep your posts below an R-rating. It’s a family show, after all!

SHOUT OUT!

Thanks to Steve, Rachel Walker, Matt Martoccio, Roger Vines, Mark Barnowski, steverzbck, Barney Coulter, Jeff Green, Willa Thompson, Adam Farr, Brek Lancaster, Irene Miller Fyler and everyone else for your great additions to Wordplay Thursday #75 (read it here)! Great job!

A GIFT FROM BRENT

I want to thank everyone who has downloaded my new book, Hit Songwriting- How A Songwriting Coach Can Fast Track Your Success. You made it an Amazon best seller! (I also appreciate the nice 5-star reviews!) If you haven’t had a chance to pick it up yet, you can get it for FREE by clicking the image below. Thanks!

Gift From Brent Songwriting 3

Biz, Muse

Are You Taking Ownership Of Your Songwriting Success?

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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.

Are you just hoping for success? Waiting on the universe to give you what it’ll give you? Or are you taking responsibility for it?

It’s easy and tempting to wait and hope for your cowriters, publishers, or manager (or ASCAP or NSAI…) to make something happen on your behalf. And while these people can be a valuable part of your team, they will never have as much riding on your success as you do. They have their own families to feed.

I know there’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding the music biz. There’s not a simple 1-2-3 process for earning success. And since it’s often unclear how to make success, it’s easy to become passive.

But you have to take ownership. You have to resolve to never be a passive participant in your life. Take action. Good things don’t come to those who JUST wait. Good things come to those who are disciplined and patiently persistent.

Decide what success looks like for you, then try to figure out steps that will take you in that direction. And remember, these aren’t steps that happen TO you- these are steps that you TAKE.  Good things rarely just fall into your lap while you’re sitting still.  It’s a lot more common to find unexpected blessings when you’re out there moving with purpose.  So get moving.

The sooner you OWN your success, the sooner you EARN your success.

God Bless,

Brent

A GIFT FROM BRENT

I want to thank everyone who has downloaded my new book, Hit Songwriting- How A Songwriting Coach Can Fast Track Your Success.  You made it an Amazon best seller!  (I also appreciate the nice 5-star reviews!)  If you haven’t had a chance to pick it up yet, you can get it for FREE by clicking the image below.  Thanks!

Gift From Brent Songwriting 3

Muse, WordPlay

Wordplay Thursday #75

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Wordplay Thursday

Welcome to Wordplay Thursday!

Here’s a writing prompt for you.  It’s a simple fill-in-the-blank. You can use one word or several. Feel free to get as crazy, genre-appropriate, or as imaginative as you want. The point is to get the creative juices flowing. And it’s a good thing to dig deeper, so don’t stop at the first idea that hits you. Try coming up with at least five things.

“After eating all that garlic, his breath was stronger than _____.”

I’ll give you an example to get you started:

“After eating all that garlic, his breath was stronger than super glue.”

I’d love to hear what you come up with, so please share in the comments. Oh, and please keep your posts below an R-rating. It’s a family show, after all!

SHOUT OUT!

Thanks to Dan Retz, Matt Martoccio, Ricky, Michael Hay, Cathy, Johnshouse, Ken Matthiesen, Martinvipond, Steve, Jeff Green, Debbie Convoy, Steve Probst, Kim Kondrashoff, Michael Klenda, Adam Farr, Steverzbck and everyone else for your great additions to Wordplay Thursday #74 (read it here)! Great job!

God Bless,

Brent

THE PRO KNOWS

To BE a pro, you need to THINK like a pro. In this complimentary report, learn the mindsets that help the pro songwriter get cuts, earn respect in the industry, and maintain long-term success in the music business. Just click on the picture below to download this complimentary report today!

The Pro Knows

Songwriting Decisions

Songwriting Decisions: Ruthie Collins & “Vintage”

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Ruthie Collins EP

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.

Here are some of the songwriting decisions that went into the song “Vintage,” which has been recorded and released by Curb Records artist, Ruthie Collins.

Ruthie is a buddy of mine, as well as an artist on Curb Records. We’ve written off and on for a few years. She’s awesome. We were in the middle of working on another song, and we kinda hit a wall and decided to shelve it for a while. However, we had some time left, so we decided to look at another idea.

What idea(s) do I present?

I had this title in my hook book called, “Vintage.” I didn’t have an idea around it, but I liked the word. I hadn’t heard it as a song title before, and I knew Ruthie loved vintage clothes, furniture, etc. I usually like to wait until I have an idea or direction to go with a title before I present it to an artist… but I thought Ruthie would be be perfect person to help me figure it out. She loved the title.

What’s our angle?

The title “Vintage” just felt positive. Also, Ruthie had plenty of sad songs, so a happy song would fill a need for her. And making it somehow about love was a no-brainer. We landed on love being vintage.

What’s our point-of-view?

Deciding on the point-of-view was tricky. Our first impulse was to say, “our love is vintage,” but that made the singer old (because vintage = antique). And that doesn’t work for a young artist like Ruthie… or pretty much any artist selling many country records these days. Should we say, “THEIR love is vintage?” Well, that would work, but we still wanted the impact of “me” speaking to “you.” (That’s a more powerful way to write- directly addressing the listener.) We decided that the love was new, and the singer WANTED to love him UNTIL their love was vintage.

Vintage

Ballad or tempo?

With an idea like “Vintage,” it could’ve been a sweet ballad. But, thinking like songwriters who wanted cuts, we gave it as much tempo as we felt the idea could carry. We both love ballads, but Ruthie had plenty of those already. We needed to write what she DIDN’T have. And she DIDN’T have enough tempo songs. This made it positive-love-young-tempo. We wrote a verse and chorus that day. Ruthie, being the vintage expert, carried the bulk of the work. Thank goodness for cowriters!

Several months passed while Ruthie went in to record her debut album (which ended up on the shelf, but that’s another story). Eventually, she rediscovered the worktape and fell in love with it all over again.

Do we bring in another cowriter?

Ruthie really wanted to get the song right, and she thought Jessica Roadcap would help us get it there. I’d never written with Jessica, but I knew she was one of Ruthie’s “inner circle” of cowriters. I trust Ruthie’s instincts, and I also figured it would be valuable for other reasons, as well (see my post: “The Artist Camp: Multiple Points Of Contact”). She called up Jessica.

Together, the three of us tweaked the first verse, chorus melody, and wrote the second verse. Thankfully, Ruthie loved the finished result. She wanted the song to have the best chance of getting on her record, so she and Jessica demoed it.

It must’ve worked, because it’s on her new album! Thanks Ruthie and Jessica!

You can check out Ruthie at:   ruthiecollinsmusic.com

You can get the EP on iTunes <HERE.>

God Bless,

Brent

THE PRO KNOWS

To BE a pro, you need to THINK like a pro. In this complimentary report, learn the mindsets that help the pro songwriter get cuts, earn respect in the industry, and maintain long-term success in the music business. Just click on the picture below to download this complimentary report today!

The Pro Knows

Muse, WordPlay

Wordplay Thursday #74

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Wordplay Thursday

Welcome to Wordplay Thursday!

Here’s a writing prompt for you.  It’s a simple fill-in-the-blank. You can use one word or several. Feel free to get as crazy, genre-appropriate, or as imaginative as you want. The point is to get the creative juices flowing. And it’s a good thing to dig deeper, so don’t stop at the first idea that hits you. Try coming up with at least five things.

“Their first date went quicker than _____.”

I’ll give you an example to get you started:

“Their first date went quicker than a hiccup.”

I’d love to hear what you come up with, so please share in the comments. Oh, and please keep your posts below an R-rating. It’s a family show, after all!

SHOUT OUT!

Thanks to Ken Matthiesen, Donna Kossow, Barney Coulter, Cathy, Michael Klenda, Michael P. Baker, Andrew Clayton, Janet Goodman, Willa Thompson and everyone else for your great additions to Wordplay Thursday #73 (read it here)! Great job!

“HIT SONGWRITING”

FREE ON AMAZON!

I’ve just released my first book on Amazon!  It’s called, “Hit Songwriting- How A Songwriting Coach Can Fast Track Your Success” and you can get it for FREE!  Today and tomorrow (Thursday and Friday), you can download it for FREE from Amazon.  After that, it makes us start charging.  This book will teach you how to find a good songwriting coach and how to make the most of that relationship.  Go get it TODAY!  Just CLICK HERE or on the image below.  Thanks!

Brent Baxter Book BIG

Quick Tip

Quick Tip: Publishing Draw

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Quick Tip

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.

“PUBLISHING DRAW”

A “draw” is money that is paid by a publisher to a songwriter as an advance on future royalties. In return, the publisher owns all the songs a songwriter writes while receiving a draw. The draw must usually be paid back through royalties before the writer receives any additional royalty payments.

God Bless,

Brent

THE PRO KNOWS

To BE a pro, you need to THINK like a pro. In this complimentary report, learn the mindsets that help the pro songwriter get cuts, earn respect in the industry, and maintain long-term success in the music business. Just click on the picture below to download this complimentary report today!

The Pro Knows

Become an MvR VIP!

If you like this blog and don’t want to miss a single post, or if you want special discounts on Man vs. Row products and services, become an MvR VIP!  Simply enter your email in the “Become an MvR VIP” section on this page.  It’s either in the upper righthand corner or down below.   Also, please share this blog with anyone you think would benefit from it.

Cut Study

Cut Study: Ruthie Collins & “Vintage”

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Ruthie Collins EP

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.

I’m blessed to have a cowrite on Ruthie Collins’ debut project on Curb Records. Here’s the inside story on how it made the record.

I wrote with a developing artist (early).

Ruthie was just coming off Season One of CMT’s “Can You Duet.” We got introduced at NSAI, and I started writing with her. That was back in August of 2008. Eventually, Ruthie got a record deal on Curb. Thanks to our friendship and writing history, I was able to bypass the gatekeepers at her publishing company and label (both Curb) and continue to book cowrites directly with her. I didn’t get blocked out, as sometimes happens when cowriters get deals.

I brought in the right title.

Knowing Ruthie loves all things vintage, I thought she’d like the title. I kept it in my “Ruthie Collins Ideas” file on my laptop. One day we hit a wall on another song we were writing, and we decided to move on to something else. I mentioned, “Vintage” and Ruthie lit up like a Christmas tree.

The timing was right.

The song sat unfinished for probably a year while Ruthie finished up her debut album and I had to go get a day job.  I did have one song on there called, “Always Open.” What I didn’t know was that they basically scrapped the whole album she’d recorded, and she was now headed in a different direction. It was a direction that “Vintage” fit perfectly. Ruthie rediscovered the worktape and said, “We HAVE to finish this!”  Boy, am I glad she did!

We served the song, generously.

Ruthie and I can write a good song on our own, and we know it. Almost all of our cowrites were just the two of us. But Ruthie really wanted to make sure we got it right, and she thought her good friend and cowriter, Jessica Roadcap, would be a great fit. In terms of ownership (and potential money) this brought us each down from 50% to 33.33%. But we’d rather have 33.33% of a cut than 50% of nothing. And it was a good call. Jessica brought great value to the song. (Plus, it gave me a new friend in the music biz and in Ruthie’s camp.)

We positioned the song to win.

Ruthie could’ve just played the worktape for Curb, but she really wanted to put “Vintage” in the best light possible. So she and Jessica demoed it. They even went back and did several tweaks to the demo to get it just right.

Ruthie championed the song.

Ruthie believed in the song. She knew it really fit her brand, and she didn’t sit around hoping her label and marketing team would happen to come to the same conclusion. She actively brought them ideas around the “Vintage” concept. “Vintage,” both the song and the style, summed up her brand.

Right idea, written right, with the right artist at the right time. Easy and predictable… right?

You can check out Ruthie at:   ruthiecollinsmusic.com

You can get the EP on iTunes <HERE.>

God Bless,

Brent

THE PRO KNOWS

To BE a pro, you need to THINK like a pro. In this complimentary report, learn the mindsets that help the pro songwriter get cuts, earn respect in the industry, and maintain long-term success in the music business. Just click on the picture below to download this complimentary report today!

The Pro Knows

Muse, WordPlay

Wordplay Thursday #73

11 Comments

Wordplay Thursday

Welcome to Wordplay Thursday!

Here’s a writing prompt for you.  It’s a simple fill-in-the-blank. You can use one word or several. Feel free to get as crazy, genre-appropriate, or as imaginative as you want. The point is to get the creative juices flowing. And it’s a good thing to dig deeper, so don’t stop at the first idea that hits you. Try coming up with at least five things.

“His head was spinning like _____.”

I’ll give you an example to get you started:

“His head was spinning like a windmill in a hurricane.”

I’d love to hear what you come up with, so please share in the comments. Oh, and please keep your posts below an R-rating. It’s a family show, after all!

SHOUT OUT!

Thanks to Adam Farr, Michael Flanigan, Debbie, Jaredith Mize, Ken Matthiesen, Mel Ayres, Amy, Willa Thompson, Michael Klenda, Terry Gene, Michael P. Baker, Kim Kondrashoff, Brek Lancaster and everyone else for your great additions to Wordplay Thursday #72 (read it here)! Great job!

THE PRO KNOWS

To BE a pro, you need to THINK like a pro. In this complimentary report, learn the mindsets that help the pro songwriter get cuts, earn respect in the industry, and maintain long-term success in the music business. Just click on the picture below to download this complimentary report today!

The Pro Knows

BECOME AN MVR VIP!

If you like this blog and don’t want to miss a single post, or if you want special discounts on Man vs. Row products and services, become an MvR VIP! Simply enter your email in the “Become an MvR VIP” section on this page. It’s either in the upper righthand corner or down below. Also, please share this blog with anyone you think would benefit from it. I appreciate it when you share it on Twitter, Facebook, and anywhere else. Thanks!

Twitter: @Razorbaxter

Facebook: facebook.com/manvsrow

Instagram: Man_vs_Row

God Bless,

Brent

Money, Muse

Day Job: A Songwriter’s Prison or Patron?

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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.

Prison Patron

If you have the dream of being a full-time songwriter, singer/songwriter, or other type of creative, I know it can be easy to think of your day job as a prison. You feel chained to your desk, or the sales floor, or the job site all day. You feel imprisoned by the 8-to-5 because you aren’t free to do what you love all day. This view of your day job as a prison understandably breeds resentment and despair.

But what if there’s another way to look at it?

What if, instead of being your prison, you day job is your patron?

It’s never been easy making a living from art. Way back when, artists used to find a rich person to provide financial backing so they could work on their art. This person was known as a “patron.”  Of course, these days I wouldn’t expect to find someone to give you room and board just so you can write songs. (Of course, there are a few publishing deals out there, but they don’t usually pay enough to feed a family.)

So let your day job be your patron.

Let your day job pay for the roof over your writing room and the coffee in your mug. Let your job during the day fund your art on nights and weekends. Get paid while you build connections in the music business. Let your boss pay for your demos- he won’t even ask for your publishing!

I know, I know. It’s easy to resent that your day job doesn’t allow you time to write as much as you want. But, in reality, your day job DOES buy you more time. It buys you time to learn and get better while there’s very little to lose by failing.

Relying completely on songwriting to feed your family is extremely difficult- I know from experience.

So use this time to improve your songwriting, build relationships, and start growing your business.

Turn your prison into your patron.

God Bless,

Brent

THE PRO KNOWS

To BE a pro, you need to THINK like a pro. In this complimentary report, learn the mindsets that help the pro songwriter get cuts, earn respect in the industry, and maintain long-term success in the music business. Just click on the picture below to download this complimentary report today!

The Pro Knows

Become an MvR VIP!

If you like this blog and don’t want to miss a single post, or if you want special discounts on Man vs. Row products and services, become an MvR VIP!  Simply enter your email in the “Become an MvR VIP” section on this page.  It’s either in the upper righthand corner or down below.   Also, please share this blog with anyone you think would benefit from it.  I appreciate it when you share it on Twitter, Facebook, and anywhere else.  Thanks!

Brent’s Twitter: @Razorbaxter

Brent Baxter Music:  http://www.brentbaxtermusic.com

Brent’s Instagram: Man_vs_Row