So, okay, I, I sort of want to, treat this as if this is happening to you right now that you have an opportunity to work with an artist, the phone just rang and somebody said, we really like what you do, and we want you to work with so-and-So, and, that’s a really, really cool thing. So let’s dive into that a little bit. So like, that is truly amazing when you get that first call from someone. Let’s say you’ve just been writing songs by yourself your whole life, or you’ve just discovered co-writing and you’re co-writing with a lot of different people.
And then, you know, word gets out there, word gets around that you are the newest hit writer in town. (···0.6s) You know, this is a really exciting time in your life when the phone starts ringing and people start sending artists to you. So a record label or a manager, they’ve asked you to work with an artist. So the first thing that you do when you hang up that phone is you celebrate, right? You crack open the wine, you do a little happy dance. You just go a little bit crazy, as long as you know, no one’s watching or whatever. (···0.8s) And then after all that’s done, it’s time to get serious.
(···0.7s) And, this is really important when someone’s contacted you and said, you know, I really want you to work with this particular artist. You really need to start doing your research. So maybe before you hang up the phone, there’s some questions that you need to ask of the person who’s asking you to work with this artist. (···0.7s) And I’m gonna go through some of those things right now. (···0.9s) So what kind of research can you do? the following are questions that you can ask the record label, the a and r person, the manager (···0.6s) or the artist themselves, if you have access to them ahead of time.
(···0.7s) And it could be any one of these people. It could be somebody else, it could be, even one of the artist’s parents that reaches out to you. I have that happen all the time as well, where a parent will, will reach out to me where they’re trying to develop their, their son or daughter. it could be a friend of an artist, it could, who knows? or it could be the artist themselves that’s calling, calling you up. You never know and you just need to ask certain questions of these people that are going to be calling you.
So first and foremost, who is the artist? If you don’t know the artist, you know, it’s really important that you can find out as much info as you can about them. You might know the artist, you know, maybe they’re, they’re a famous artist already, or they might just be getting started. You, you never know. and quite often you can reach, a famous artist that maybe you don’t know of. That’s happened to me many times. when I was called up to work with Nick Lache from 98 Degrees, (···0.6s) I (···0.7s) had no idea who Nick Leche was because they didn’t say the lead singer of 98 Degrees.
They just said, we’d like you to work with Nick Leche. And I thought they were saying, Nicholas, she, and I’m like, I’ve never heard of Nicholas Shea before. And then finally I figured out it was Nick Leche from 98 Degrees, the lead singer. So, yeah, too funny. so, (···0.5s) you know, just start asking simple questions and, and you sort of go from like the broad questions into more specific questions so that you can really make sure that when you’re with the artist, that you can really Nail the session. So what’s their background?
Where are they from? Tell me a little bit about their story. just so that you know a little bit about them before they, they come in, (···0.6s) are they new to the game? (···1.0s) Have they just started? How many years experience do they have singing and or performing? Like how old are they? I’ve worked with people as young as 10, believe it or not. I worked with Roberta Battaglia, who went to number four in, America’s Got Talent last year, and she was 10 years old when I worked with her. So it was a lot of questions that you need to sort of prepare for this.
So yeah, are they new to the game? How many years experience do they have singing and or performing? (···0.9s) Are they signed to a record deal? are they just at the beginning being developed? (···0.7s) It could be one of two things. It could be like they’ve already got the record deal going on. Maybe they’re, they’re already in the middle of working on the record when they’re calling you. Or maybe they’re just being developed, maybe they’ve just been signed some sort of development deal and you know, it, it’s good to know where that, where, where, where the stage of things are, whether you’re going to be developing songs for them so that it sort of helps the label figure out what direction to go in.
Or do they already have a great direction to go in that, you know, they want you to go in as well. So that’s an important question to ask for sure. guys, I would be taking pictures of all these questions for sure, because they’re, they’re all great questions to, to, to have. If you didn’t get a chance to take a picture of that, lemme just go back, (···1.0s) take a snap of that if you can with your phone or screenshot or whatever. That’d be amazing. okay, more questions.
I’ve got so many questions. So just take a picture of all these things. (···0.8s) Is the record label, just testing the waters with the artist, (···0.6s) seeing if they’re any good, by partnering them up with a writer and or producer. (···0.7s) You know, that’s, that’s another important thing because it sort of shows you how far you should maybe take things. Should you finish a song and make it sound like an amazing finished product, or should you just create sort of a basic demo just to see how things go and, and see, you know, what the artist is like writing with a, with a top liner or a producer?
(···0.7s) I’ve seen that happen as well. If somebody just gets signed to a development deal, then they’ll send them out to all sorts of different teams of people to work with just to see how they are as a songwriter and how they are coming up with their own concepts and ideas to, to create songs. have they ever written a song before? (···1.0s) Very important to know (···1.1s) what level they’re at when they’re coming in. you know, what to expect, whether they’re a really good songwriter or whether they’re just getting their feet wet. and if so, if they have written a song before, what is their specialty?
You gotta know that too. Are they really strong at lyrics? Are they strong at music? Are they strong at melody? Are they strong at production? you know, or are they just coming in with concepts, just ideas, and they’re really looking for (···0.9s) myself, you know, whoever it is that that’s coming into you. Are they looking to you for the music and the lyrics and, and all that? based off their ideas, (···0.6s) do they produce their own demos? That’s also important to know because that could maybe As a producer writer that could take a little bit of pressure off you, that maybe they’re going to end up producing the demo of the song that you write.
That way you don’t need to worry about creating a demo. you can just create a work tape, just, you know, piano and vocal guitar and vocal, something like that just to get the idea down, and then the artist would take the song over and, and produce it up themselves. I’ve worked with people like that as well. So these are all different questions to ask. I’m gonna go to the next page of even more questions to ask. have they already put material out? (···1.5s) Yeah, I would like to know that for sure.
As a, as a producer, as a songwriter, as a top liner, I, I would wanna know if there’s anything online that I could listen to. Do they have anything on SoundCloud, Spotify, apple Music, YouTube, et cetera? Do, like, have they put other albums out or have they just put out little things on SoundCloud just to put, you know, little feelers out and things like that? I would just like to really just get into the head of the artist as much as possible and, and really try to listen to as much as I can before I meet them. this one’s a really important one.
Are you able to communicate with the artist before they come over? (···1.0s) Like, that is gold right there. If you can actually pick up the phone and call them or text them, or, it’s probably best to speak, you know, and even if you can, (···0.7s) you know, in the days of Covid it’s a little bit more difficult, but just you can do a Zoom even. can you get together with the artist for a Zoom coffee or, or a real coffee or whatever if you’re in the same town? And see if there’s chemistry. (···0.6s) That’s also hugely important because, you know, the hang is the most important thing, ladies and gentlemen, it’s so important.
How do you get along? you know, can, can you sit in a room together for eight hours a day or even just five hours and, and be creative, and can you laugh together? Can you, (···0.7s) can you swap stories? Can you have a lot of fun with the person? So I, I quite often like to meet with whoever it is that I’m going to work with at one time before we agree to work together, just to see if the chemistry is there. now going back to if they’ve already put material out, (···1.2s) if they’ve already put material out, you have to get familiar with the old records, with the records that have come before, or at least the singles, (···0.7s) because that will sort of show where they’ve come from (···0.8s) and it might help you to determine where they can go with that.
so yeah, if they have material out already, go back and listen to the singles. You don’t have to do a deep dive and, you know, know every single track that they’ve ever done, but at least know the singles and, and the most important records. And I wouldn’t say that you’re going to want to create what they’ve already done because quite often artists are looking for a path, they’re looking for a trajectory, where they can change their sound slightly from time to time.
But it’s good to know what they’ve done, just to know where you can take them in the future.
