The title of today’s of Webinar is How to Col Work Collaboratively as a Business Person in Today’s Industry. So, so the first thing that I think that you guys, you know, need to know is, you are all creatives, but you’re all also bus you’re your own business assets. And that’s the sort of perspective that I’m gonna talk to you guys, about all of, you know, the following sort of thoughts that I’ve had. and I really had a lot of thoughts, so bear with me. I, if I, I, every time I sort of think about how valuable the process of collaboration and the, and the business aspect of collaboration is, there’s really a lot I want to go through and I, I’m, I wanna make sure I cover everything.
So, so again, you know, the ecosystem of the music industry is essentially all about collaboration. so for you guys as songwriters, you are already collaborating with creatives, as I said, and I, I hope, that you are starting to collaborate with business executives and certainly on the TSA side, you know, there, there are lots of us, so learning how to interact with us and is a great first step is to, you know, how to learn how to navigate the rest of the industry.
creatively speaking, the first collaborations you guys are probably engaging in, or, or perhaps have, you know, for some time songwriter to songwriter, in today’s pop music business, there are multiple songwriters. It’s not just one-on-one. there’s many in, in many different ways, whether it’s 2, 3, 5, or 17 writers coming in and out of sessions, all day long to kind of help create a pop song in this frankensteinian way that pop music can be created today.
both in terms of the way the business aspect works and also the way that technology informs that. and, and specifically now, obviously everything is mostly remote, so, having that ability to, work collaboratively, remotely and, and be confident in that and, and know how to navigate that is also, you know, perhaps a bit more of a recent skillset to develop, but also very, very important. the notion of writer camps, you know, those of you guys who have participated on the songwriting academies, you know, boot camps and writer camps, and, and, and that is, there are a lot of those types of writer camps that happen in the music industry with, sometimes they’re sponsored by publishers, sometimes they’re sponsored by the artist or the record company, where lots of creatives are, are in multiple rooms, breakout rooms, writers with producers, writers with artists, and, and, and, you know, all of those sort of creative collaborations, have to be successful pro professionally as a, you know, in a business structure to be able to work on our end.
So I’m gonna talk more about that in a sec.
I’m just kind of, giving you guys some examples. Let’s start with, songwriter with artist. this is something, you know, if you guys are working specifically now with, each other as songwriters, for the purpose of writing songs, working, Working with an artist is a very unique, experience in and of itself.
you as the songwriter are, are brought in for a specific reason and, and identifying that reason, and that goal is going to speak to your skillset, but it’s also gonna be what you need to help sort of navigate that creative session and end up with a, a professional result, AKA, a song that serves the artist and serves the record company, in a, in a specific way. So when you go in, you are working as a collaborator, kind of with an artist who’s, whose vision you’re trying to help, set forth, but you have to be the creative and business sort of driving force under that, because, you know, so, so that, that takes a little bit of, it takes a little bit of thought on your part, as to how to go about that.
It, it’s one part. What’s your skillset? What are you bringing to the session? It’s one part, psychology. How do you bring out the best in an artist? How do you bring out the best in yourself? and, and ultimately with the goal of what is the goal I is, is it to write a hit single for an artist?
Probably if it’s a record company that you’re right, that that’s, that the, that’s directing the session, session. But what is that? Is it an uptempo, is it a ballad? Is it a specific song or a void in the artist’s body of work in the album that, that doesn’t yet exist? You being the catalyst in that room, when you’re in the room, your creativity should take over, but it’s also, it’s also a, it’s also a business skill and, and learning how to fill that creative need professionally, how you work with them is, is really the, the how you work with an artist or, you know, or, or, or a number of different people in the room is really the key to, having a successful business collaboration as a result, which speaks to, you know, future opportunities for you guys too.
So, so that’s one way, similarly but different. and, and I would imagine that a lot of you guys have also been in writer sessions, if you’re just a, if you’re just a songwriter on the lyric and melody side, if you’re working with a producer, producers today often really work from the basis of tracks.
So guiding the lyric and melody for you in your perspective as a songwriter to help enhance the track, to help enhance the movement and the dynamic and the build of the, of the, of, of the track, which might inherently be a little bit more linear, that contribution, can be the key to a song success.
you know, there’s, there’s, there’s multiple, sort of perspectives and so much that goes into, you know, the, the process of creating from a writing standpoint and creating from a production standpoint, a song today that, you know, you are, if you are a lyric and melody person solely guiding that Side of the song with a producer who has brought in a track for you, to work on, can be, can be challenging.
it can also be really, really rewarding. And, and again, that collaboration, those two sides working together, can really make the song stand out. And from my perspective, even when you have a great track that’s got a lot of energy and movement and, and, and feels and sounds amazing, there, there isn’t anything better than the accomplishment of a song that takes you on that journey where there’s movement, lyrically, melodically, there’s a great middle eight, there’s, there’s a build and dynamic.
and that is, if you can do that as a producer, for those of you who are producers on the virtual room today, that’s a really amazing skillset and a, and a certainly a, a something for your, for your resume on the business side. but songwriters, from the composition standpoint, writing and creating melodies and developing that creative side is, is something that is often looked at at, you know, when you are a writer brought into a session. So that’s a, that’s a really, you know, important distinction and, and a skillset for both sides, you know, that, that helps you, really create a successful outcome.
next we have, now let’s talk more about the business side. probably everything that we’ve talked about on cre on the creative side, thus far is, is something that you guys have all had some experience with.
I, I, I mention it, you know, as a, as a point of entry from the collaborative process, but also because you do have to think about those collaborations and those sessions that you guys are involved in, as a means to an end, whether that ended, like I said, as a song, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a business, it’s a business proposition to go in, in that collaborative way. so generally speaking for you guys as creatives going into my end of it and, and finding that entry point, how you network with the industry, when you’re ready to start doing that, there’s a bunch of different avenues, that we’ll talk about kind of briefly now.
and, and, looking, looking into how to find those, those avenues, we will talk a little bit about that as well. but, but the most, the most important part of this is starting to identify, you know, who you are as a creative and recognizing that business aspect of your creative, your creative self, and how, how that will start to interact and how that is perceived on our end.
So, so finding those opportunities, how to pitch yourself, how to present yourself as an asset, is all part of the, the business aspect of collaboration that we look for on my end, and that we have an expectation that when we bring you in on sessions, that that is going to be accomplished. So let’s talk About the first step. well, I think, I think I’ve kind of said this already, but yes, you were a creative and you have to think of yourself as a business.
and, and, and one thing is, and we’ll talk about this a little bit towards the end, but, you are a new business. and, and that’s how, when, when you haven’t been proven, meaning you don’t have a track record of hit songs, you don’t have a reputation in the industry as being that person who can be brought into a session and find what’s missing or fix a problem, or create something new and magical. you have to prove that by that body of work that you, that you work, that you bring into a session. So until that happens, until you have had that, you know, kind of career path and, and, and a track record, you’ve got to find ways to, make us aware of you and bring and, and bring, bring that collaboration into a meeting that will allow us to then bring you into a session subsequently.
