Another month and another look back at songwriting one year ago.

We Can All Take A Songwriting Lesson From Toby Keith

We can all learn a lesson from Toby, and not just about songwriting. Toby has confidence, and yeah, he has a reason to have it - but so do all of us. We all excel in one way or another, be it melodies or lyrics. And if we’re not excelling, we’re at least improving, and that should give us all the confidence in the world! (Keep Reading)

Songwriting For Beginners Series
Written by Jeff Oxenford, this great series takes you from the bare bones basics to completed song. (Keep Reading)

Songwriters, Careful With Those Music Samples!

The Verve layered nearly fifty tracks of instrumentation, including novel string arrangements, to create a distinctly new song. In fact, the song’s signature swirling orchestral melody was recorded and arranged by The Verve; the sample from the instrumental record is largely buried under other tracks in the chorus. The band eventually settled out of court and handed over 100 percent of their songwriting royalties because it seemed cheaper than fighting for a legal ruling that might not end in their favor. As if things couldn’t have gotten worse, they were then sued by another old Rolling Stones manager, Andrew Loog Oldham. Klein went after the Verve for infringing on the songwriting copyright, which he owned, but Oldham possessed the copyright on the sampled sound recording. They totally lost everything. (Keep Reading)

Differences between songwriting in NYC and Nashville

First of all, both cities have huge songwriting populations. The depth and breadth of talent in both places encompass many more genres that the obvious country music for Nashville and pop/rock music for New York. There are great pop writers in the suburbs of Nashville and extremely accomplished country songwriters living in Greenwich Village. In response to the need for country demos for New Yorkers, I’ve actually started a service where using streaming audio and both my New York and Nashville studios, I’m making country demos for New York songwriters using my Nashville studio, session musicians and singers while we listen in real time and full-fidelity from New York. (Keep Reading)

Lyricists, Does Your Song “Sing”?

Nothing is worse than hearing great lines in a song that doesn’t “sing”. This happens a lot to lyricist-only songwriters who rely on others to provide the music. What does it mean to have the song “sing”? Here’s the best definition: For the words to come easy to the melody of the song. (Keep Reading)