1. LilOrange

    LilOrange New Member

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    How to become a songwriter?

    Discussion in 'Traditional Publishing' started by LilOrange, Jan 3, 2012.

    Hi everyone! I'm new here! I write lyrics and short stories, but I have a question regarding songwriting. What does it take for someone to become a songwriter? Whom I should send my texts? How does that work?

    Thanks in advance! :)
     
  2. Lemex

    Lemex That's Lord Lemex to you. Contributor

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    You become a songwriter by writing songs, and then playing them in public. Songs are essentially poems put to music after all.
     
  3. LilOrange

    LilOrange New Member

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    Yes, I write poems and music, I would like to publish it somehow, but wouldn't like to perform in public :) At least not now. So...how do I do that? :)
     
  4. Lemex

    Lemex That's Lord Lemex to you. Contributor

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    Publishing them as poems.
     
  5. louis1

    louis1 Member

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    this is a whole other business, it's not like getting a short story published. you know what the ASCAP is? if not, this is your first step in the right direction.
     
  6. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    i'm both a lyricist and a poet and the two mediums are not the same at all... for one thing, only a very rare few song lyrics started life as poems... song lyrics, despite rhyming as many poems do, have a much more complex structure... there's usually an 'intro' then a 'verse' a 'chorus' and often a 'bridge'...

    so, publishing your lyrics as poems won't really help, sorry to say... neither will ascap, unless you fit one or more of these requirements:

    if you don't write music, pretty much all you can do is find a composer to work with, or sell your lyrics to a composer/performer, since it's not a song till it has both words and music...

    if you want help/advice/more info, li'l o, feel free to drop me a line any time...

    love and hugs, maia
    maia3maia@hotmail.com
     
  7. Burlbird

    Burlbird Contributor Contributor

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    Hm, what about Leonard Cohen or Jim Morrison?:p
     
  8. LilOrange

    LilOrange New Member

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    Thanks, mammamaia! :) I don't know about ASCAP, since I'm not American. I write poems without music, but also lyrics WITH music, and would like to sell it or something. I don't know how to do it though. I thought I could publish the poems in a book and record the songs on the computer and then publish it on myspace or something? I don't know. How do you do that? Have you already published something?
     
  9. Nicholas C.

    Nicholas C. Active Member

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    Lil - I am a songwriter and have my music on a website called ReverbNation. It's a social networking thing, similiar to myspace but specifically just for musicians/bands. Associations like ASCAP and BMI are performance rights organizations, so unless you have CDs/mp3s that you are currently selling or are performing regularly, that's really not anything you should worry about.

    Unless you have a VERY specific niche, a solid following of fans, or just amazing songs... it's going to be very difficult to outright sell your music. I hate to sound discouraging, but that's just the way it is. Your best bet is to post your music on various different free websites (myspace, facebook, reverbnation, etc) and then promote those pages as much as possible. Once you've got some interest from others, you can then put your music on music marketplaces like iTunes or CDBaby. Good Luck.
     
  10. LilOrange

    LilOrange New Member

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    Thanks! :) I rergistered myself on that site! Can you recommend me some good software for music recording?
     
  11. Nicholas C.

    Nicholas C. Active Member

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    For me, the easiest software to learn was Cubase. It's very intuitive and user-friendly (in my opinion). I started on that around 5 years ago and still use it to this day. I've upgraded both versions and audio interfaces since then, but still pretty much the same setup. What sort of music are you recording?
     
  12. LilOrange

    LilOrange New Member

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    well, I do mostly pop music - from urban pop, experimental pop to classic pop, sometimes I do soul and r'n'b too. It sounds very commercial, that's why I'm thinking of selling it. How about you?
     
  13. CH878

    CH878 Active Member

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    I'm a (very) amateur musician/producer/song writer and the set up I use is a Boss BR600 recording desk and Audacity Audio software. The Boss BR600 is brilliant and well priced for what you get (inbuilt microphones and loads of effects plus much more). Audacity is not the best thing out there in terms of recording software, but it is totally free and unbelievably easy to use and for basic production it is enough.
     
  14. CH878

    CH878 Active Member

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    Performance in public really is the only way to get your songs out there. You say you don't want to perform yourself, but do you know any musicians who would, and who might want to perform your songs? Do you just write lyrics or do you write all the melodies/rhythm parts as well? If the latter, then you would still be a big part in the production of your music even if you didn't personally play it.
     
  15. LilOrange

    LilOrange New Member

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    Thanks CH878 :) Yeah, I do the melodies/rytham part as well. I don't know anyone who could perform my songs cause all the musicians I know make and perform metal music :) I'm too soft for them :) That's why I thought maybe there is some web site where I can offer it or something like that....do you guys perform live? What kind of music do you make?
     
  16. CH878

    CH878 Active Member

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    I'm in a pop punk band with three of my friends and we're not performing at the moment as we're concentrating on recording our first EP, which takes a lot more time and is much harder than any of us imagined! We're planning on playing at some local small festivals this year, which should be good because you don't need a following as such for people to come and listen to your music, they just go to the festival to listen to different bands.
     
  17. Nicholas C.

    Nicholas C. Active Member

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    A digital recorder is not a bad way to go for a beginner - they are pretty cheap, effective, and easy to use. However, the disadvantage to going that route is that you don't have anywhere near the post-production capability (editing, mixing, mastering) that you get with most recording software platforms. You also miss out on being able to use VST instruments and plug-ins (as far as I know, that is).
     
  18. CH878

    CH878 Active Member

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    Very true, but I only use a digital recorder to capture the individual sounds, which works for me because it has a far superior recording quality than my computer. Also, with the Boss BR600 you can do most of the mastering and mixing that you want, though the problem is it's very awkward to use in this respect which is why I use Audacity to edit my tracks. Audacity is certainly not the last word in quality, but it is free which is quite important if you're a beginner musician. I think that my set up works well for my music, which is quite simple and does not have a wide variety of instruments, but I couldn't use it to produce, I don't know, a drum and bass song like Pendulum (slightly strange example, I apologise).
     
  19. Nicholas C.

    Nicholas C. Active Member

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    Not a strange example at all. Pendulum is one of my favorite bands :)

    I do some electronica/DnB stuff. I mostly use Reason/FL studio for that.
     

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