We humans have an innate tendency to stay within our comfort zone, at least most of us. There are risk-takers out there, but more often than not we like predictability in almost everything we do. There’s nothing wrong with staying within a comfort zone, but if you’re a songwriter, writing the same way — staying […]
There are two kinds of successful marketing strategies in songwriting/performing: you’re either targeting audiences, or you’re waving a big flag. The majority of songwriters (knowingly or unknowingly) target an audience. Targeting simply means trying to figure out what fans are looking for, and then give it to them. You may be the kind of writer, […]
When I’m buying a real, “hold it in your hand” book from a bookstore, particularly if it’s fiction, I have a confession to make: I am highly influenced by two things: the cover design, and the first paragraph. I wonder if it makes me seem shallow, but so be it. I notice that I just […]
If you can hear the problems with your songs, but you can’t figure out how to solve them, you need to consult “Fix Your Songwriting Problems – NOW!” It centres in on 7 of the most common songwriting stumbling blocks, and offers solutions you can try right away. Here’s a question that may be uncomfortably nosing its way into your […]
The danger of innovation in songwriting is the possibility of losing fans. They know what to expect from you, but suddenly you’re moving in a new direction that they don’t like. The danger of not being innovative is that you won’t build a fan base, or at least build it painfully slowly. I maintain that the […]
Years ago, I became interested in simple computer programming, mostly in BASIC. I didn’t have great aspirations; most of whatever code I wrote was for relatively uncomplicated things. I wrote a program that helped me keep a sensible budget (yeah, that helped), and then one a little more advanced that attempted to interpret Morse code. […]
