MusicBovine friend, Susan Tucker, is a wonderful source of information. Please visit her sites…
myspace.com/susanetucker
songwritersconnection.com

I want to give you a strong dose of realism. I have judged song contests, taught workshops, etc and have had the opportunity to hear thousands of songs. I’ve interview very successful hit songwriters for my books, so I think I’ve seen the full spectrum. I feel like I have a good idea of what it takes to get from here to there.
Here’s what I think - There are a lot of naïve people out there. I want you to ask yourself some hard questions this week.
First Question - Do you really want to be a commercially successful songwriter? If the answer is no, then read no further. If the answer is yes, then do you know what that really means? What you have to do to get to that point? Give me details! Write it down. What would happen if you were able to make a living in music? What would you give up and what would you get.
In general, have you really thought it through? In my book, The Secrets of Songwriting, hit writers talk to me about how they got to the point of making a living writing songs everyday. And we discussed a day in the life of. If you have a copy of the book, re- read it and try to visualize yourself in that lifestyle. Do you still want it? I’ll be you do. It’s one of the finest jobs there is.
Second Question – Are you ready and willing to put your songs out there to face rejection? Every single successful songwriter that I know has had to face it. TONS of it. Don’t think you are any different.
You have to look at reject as fine tuning your skills rather than a personal attack. By learning what’s not working you find out what does. When you get a chance to get real feedback from someone who is in a position to know what it’s like on the front lines, jump all over it. Learn from it and use those insights when you write your next song.
Third Question – Are you ready, willing and able to make the financial commitment to succeed? Most people fail to think of songwriting as a business. The people in Nashville, LA, New York and Austin think of it as a business. It’s their livelihood and they expect a business attitude from everyone involved. Artists, songwriters, everyone.
Think of it as you starting a small business and you are the CEO. The songs are your product. You need to know whether or not what you’re writing can compete with what’s on the radio and getting cut. You need to ALWAYS be refining and improving your product. You need to send your product out into the world in the most presentable way that you can.
I can say with no reservations, that very few of you have the vocal talents to sell your songs. I understand how much fun singing your own songs can be. Singing is a wonderful thing. But selling the song vocally is totally different than singing it. Get the best demos you can afford for your songs. If you can’t afford a full band demo, at least save up until you can get a professional demo singer and do a guitar or piano vocal. Find someone who can sing it in your key, get a track mix then you can record your vocal over the tracks. Use the professional singer version for pitching.
If you want to play in the game, understand the rules and know your competition, be realistic!

Susan Tucker is the editor in chief of The Songwriters Connection FREE Weekly E-Tips and author of, The Soul of a Writer and The Secrets of Songwriting.

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