Isolation does little to contribute to our growth and development as a songwriter. By isolating ourselves we often miss out on the opportunity to work with other writers and to learn from their skills, expertise and experience.
It doesn’t matter if you write music, write lyrics, or you write both. Writing music and lyrics takes time to learn to do effectively, building knowledge and experience. Keeping a healthy perspective on the works that we create is not always easy. Modern-day songwriting is often done by committee, with a collection of writers contributing ideas towards the finished work. Working in this way, writers gain better insight into their writing. Those in charge of writer development with Music Publishers sometimes arrange songwriting retreats/play dates for the writers on their roster. Their songwriters are then exposed to new techniques and they develop as writers at a faster rate.
Recording instruments in the best way is an ongoing challenge. How do you manage noisy environments? How do you maximise volume while keeping some sort of dynamics?
Learning how to record your song is essential where real instruments are involved. It’s not just microphone placement, it’s also understanding all the signal processing options that help you arrive at a beautifully recorded instrument.
Going beyond basic recording we get into mixing and production skills. What effects should you use to sound like David Bowie on Star Man, or what effects and amp combination helps you sound like Prince, what mix elements can you use to achieve a “wall of sound”?
Our community can help with advice and tips about general recording practice as well as specifics relating to your own recordings on our critique boards.
For many, music marketing and promotion is a black art, but it doesn’t need to be.
It’s not uncommon for artists to write and record a brilliant song, only for it to die in obscurity.
Yet, most artists don’t use a formal release plan. They don’t monitor metrics. They don’t really understand the need or use of tools.They don’t automate anything. They do everything their fellow artists do, yet achieve no success. The one thing they really fail to do is to learn.
As a member you will get access to some brilliant marketing articles and tutorials covering everything from writing your bio to building a press kit, interacting and building buzz on social media, growing your social media following and people on your mailing list… plus you become an active member of an awesome music community.
Learn how to effectively grow your fan base, build engagement with fans, growing loyal fans with an undeniable appetite for your music. Learn about site structure and features, developing your fans through sequences of messages until you make your fans an irresistible offer and so much more.
Stop your fan base from flat-lining. Create a staircase of fan growth that allows you to build your fan base, release after release.
Songstuff aims to help songwriters to develop their skills through articles, tools, and activities like songwriting challenges all supported and encouraged by a motivated and experienced community of fellow songwriters. Taking an active part in a songwriting community makes it easier to find writing partners, and to gain the many benefits of taking part in critique.
The more you put into being an active community member, the more you stand to get out of it.
Songstuff outlines a positive vision for songwriters and artists. We paint a positive vision for an independent music industry and work hard to help deliver that vision. DIY music can be of professional quality and individual goals can be developed within a positive music community.