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[yoursongmaker]

Mindfulness Through Music

Special Guest Blog Writer: Cindy O’Connell, Monmouth University Counselor Education Professor, RYT Yoga Teacher, & Trainer for Yogacalm for Children

"Mindfulness is about being fully awake in our lives. It is about perceiving the exquisite vividness of each moment."    - Jon Kabat-Zinn

In our previous blog, Mindful Music Moments, we introduced you to the practice of mindfulness.  In the blog, we discussed our 21 day series in which we developed videos to help you practice mindfulness for one minute a day. If you haven’t looked at it yet, check it out.  This blog will take you to the ‘next level’ while practicing mindfulness. We have created a new 21 days series to help you.   

So why is mindfulness essential? Once you incorporate paying attention on purpose into your life, you complain less, appreciate more, respond instead of react, and fill your life with what is most important to you. More than anything, you will learn how to be present and live in the moment.

When should I practice mindfulness? Ideally, start out your day with a “mindfulness exercise," such as focusing on your breathing for a few minutes before you get out of bed. Notice the flow of your breath and the rise and fall of your belly.  When your mind wanders to thinking, gently bring it back to your breath. If thoughts come in, acknowledge them and let them pass by like clouds in the sky. This can help you to stay better focused for the rest of the day.

As the day goes on, try to minimize multi-tasking, as this is the opposite of mindfulness. If you find yourself trying to complete two or three tasks at the same time, stop yourself and focus your attention back to one task. If emotionally distracting thoughts enter your head, remind yourself that these are only "thoughts," not reality, and allow them to pass by without stressing you out.

How do I practice mindfulness? You can create the space to be present through paying attention to the breath through a focused breathing practice that is a reset. In our Mindfulness through Music videos, we will help you focus on what is referred to as 4 Square Breathing or Navy Seal Breathing,

How do I do that? Find a seated position, feet flat on the floor, palms down connected to your legs. Sit up tall, crown of your head reaches to the ceiling. Inhale through the nose, to the count of 4, hold the breath for 4, release the breath through the nose to the count of 4, and then hold again for 4.  Repeat.  We have created visuals to help you through this process. Check them out below.

Check back each day as we add videos to this series.

[yoursongmaker]

Components of a Song

The components of a song are many or few, depending on what you are doing with the song.  Songs come in many forms and styles.  There are songs that you can create simply on your iPhone with an app and your voice.  Then there are songs that you have created with a professional studio – which will obviously sound much better and have the necessary components to make it a song that is very listenable and enjoyable.

Let’s take the first example, your iPhone and an app.  Today, you can make a song with a phone and an app and have the right components.  You can create the music with prerecorded melodies and sound effects, then record your own vocals.  It’s fairly easy, even for a novice.  But you are missing the components of what a good song is. 

They are:

Being a musician, or hiring musicians – meaning being able to play an instrument and make it sound good.  This takes years of practice and knowing at least some basics of music theory.

Having a good singer, or being a good singer yourself.  It’s hard for anyone to listen to bad singers.  As a matter of fact, there’s a hit show about this called “American Idol”.  The show opens with auditions of very bad singers (people who think they can sing – there are many) and the ones who make it through to the next round.

Having good quality sound.  This only comes with time and practice.  Just like learning to play an instrument – being a good producer takes a long time to perfect.  You need to be familiar with the different aspect of the “sound board” which are just apps and software mostly. But it’s something you can’t fake.  You need to know what you are doing or the sound mix will be bad and render it un-listenable, even to novice ears.  Most of us have experienced what I call the “wince” effect.  Where you have an actual physical reaction to a bad song or bad vocals.

If you have none of these, or even just one of these, the chances of creating a good song with all of the good components are slim.  I mean, there have been flukes throughout the internet age that have managed to slip through.  But they are often cheesy and have a low shelf life.  If you are going to create a song, as with anything… give it your best effort.  Hiring the correct, musicians, vocalists, and studio can make all the difference in the world!

[yoursongmaker]

What Makes a Good Song?

This is a tricky one to answer. 

There are so many variables including genre, style, mood, theme, understandably, pace or beat, sound quality, originality (big one), feeling.  There is so much to think about in what makes a good song.  Making a good song lies in the professionalism of the writer, producer, and vocalist.  But let’s not forget, it’s really in the ear of the listener. 

There is so much music out there, especially today, that making a good, original, song is truly something special.  But that doesn’t mean they are rare.  I often hear new music while I’m driving that has a totally new sound, a fresh sound, an original sound, and it gets me happy and excited.  To me, that makes it a good song.

Good songs come in many forms.  What makes a good song isn’t necessarily the message, or the sound – but the overall “feel”.  There are artists throughout time that have captured a feeling in their music.  That feeling depends on a lot of things, but sometimes it’s in the form of moods and emotions.  I say this all the time, and I’ll say it again here… to create art, that is, to be an artist… one’s art must evoke emotion.  No matter what the emotion is.  If it makes you feel a certain way, good, bad, happy, sad, angry, excited… whatever it is.  If you can look at something or listen to something and it gives you a feeling, it’s art, and the artist has done their job.  It’s honestly that simple.

So, for me to be able sit here and type out exactly what makes a good song would a fallacy and pompous.  Because it’s different for everyone.  Although, there is the quality of the music that is very important. The sound mix and vocals, the musicianship of the writing (and production) -- that has a lot to do with a good song in my professional opinion.  But that’s a discussion for another day.

If you like a song, it’s a good song.

[yoursongmaker]

Transform Your Story

Writing is a way of life for some.  Just as making music is a way of life for a musician. 

Both are fun, exciting, sad, happy, loving… the list goes on.  It’s all these things because you can write about anything you want. You can literally be anyone you want to be in that story.  You can create an alternate reality or write specifically about reality.  It can be anything. 

If I asked you to write a story about your day yesterday, it would probably be pretty easy and not take you that long.  If I asked you to write about what went on in the past month, it would involve a little more detail – obviously – because more things have happened in that amount of time.  It all starts with a story and a description of something.  That’s it.  There are a lot of ways to write lyrics… some people start with a story.  They write a story, about fiction or non-fiction.  Something that happened or something made up.  It can be about anything.  There’s really no wrong way to write a story if you are just saying what happened or what you think about.

But if you are trying to write lyrics and haven’t before, here’s where a Professional Lyric writer would come in.  There are correct ways to write lyrics. There are protocols that make stories into a lyrical format before music is composed to them.  Now some songwriters will argue that’s not true, that you can make a song out of anything.  I believe that, you can.  But if you want the song to have a flow and a cadence to the meter (beat), there are certain things you need to do.  I wrote a past blog about this, you can check it out here Five Steps to Converting Story to Lyrics

If you don’t have time or don’t want to learn how to write lyrics, a professional lyricist can do it for you.  All you have to do is give them your story in paragraph or bullet form and they should be able to create a full song of lyrics out of that for you.  Some Pro Lyricist charge a lot of money for this (at YourSongmaker.com we only charge $20) but it is a very easy way to have your words become lyrics if you don’t know how to or don’t want to do it.

Think about who you love, or what you love. Now think about writing a paragraph about it.  BAM!  That’s it!  That’s all you have to do to have your words transformed in to original song lyrics.  It’s that easy if you have a professional lyricist working with you!

[yoursongmaker]

Making the Grade- Lyric Evaluation

A question every writer has at some point (some more often than others) asked– “is this good enough”? 

Some writers never take the chance to show someone their work.  There seems to be many reasons why, but in my years of writing and working with writers, there is one huge underlying reason.  They don’t think it’s good enough and that people won’t like it.  It’s very personal to show someone your thoughts all the while thinking “I may get a critique I’m not looking for”.  I get it.  I do it too.  Every writer does it.  Critiquing art and getting critiqued on your art is a tough thing.  But I look at is as an opportunity for growth… a way to get better.  To this day, I still have others review and critique my work after years and years of writing and playing music.

Or, you may be a great writer and you know you are a great writer… but haven’t taken it to the next level for whatever reason.  Maybe the reason is you have never tried to turn your writings in to lyrics is you don’t think you can do it.  Maybe you are not a poet, or you are, but don’t consider yourself one.  Or maybe it’s just something you never thought of doing.  Whichever the case, having your lyrics evaluated by an executive producer in the music industry will give you the confidence to know you can do it.  Anyone can do it!  But, like anything, you need to know what you’re doing correctly and what still needs work.

Lyric evaluations should let you know what you are doing right and offer suggestions.  Evaluations will let you know where you stand on the scale of writing lyrics.  There are many ways a pro can critique your lyrics – too many as a matter of fact. But there are some very valid suggestions and critiques that will offer insight as to how to get better if you are not a proficient lyric writer - or have never dove into the world of writing lyrics. 

It’s amazing to write lyrics because you can literally be anything you want to be.  You can write about whatever you want to write about.  The only limit is your imagination – literally.  But they need to flow to a meter (beat) if they are going to be in a song.  I don’t fully subscribe to there being protocols to follow because it’s art, but there is a way of wring that makes a certain style of song sound the way it does. 

Below are some questions that the professional should answer about your lyrics when they are critiqued:

Do the words paint a picture or tell a story?

Are they creative?  Is there a specific subject matter that can be picked out? If not it’s ok, some of the greatest songs ever do not make any sense.

Do the words rhyme and do they make sense?  A lot of song lyrics rhyme, but all lyrics do not have to rhyme (I personally like lyrics that rhyme as opposed to not rhyming).  So if you are rhyming are they good rhymes?  Or are they rhymes that are sort of thrown in there?

Are you putting them in song format with verses, choruses, and a bridge? 

Is it too long, or too short?

Is it emotional or do your lyrics evoke emotion?  Because that’s really the case with any art.  If they evoke an emotion… whatever emotion that may be, then you have done your job.

Are you ready to give it a try and have your lyrics reviewed? Check our our Formal Lyric Review

[yoursongmaker]

A Family Christmas Story

There are two things I can tell you about myself.  I love music and I love Christmas (I also love love).  I love the way Christmas made me feel as a kid and I love the way we celebrate it today.  Celebrating the holiday season whichever way you choose to do is special. It’s a fun time for family and friends.  I truly feel it’s one of the only times of year we all genuinely feel for our brothers and sisters on this great planet, no matter race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.  Something happens.  There’s a magic in the air. It’s such nice, positive, loving, time of year.  It feels good.

Plus… you get GIFTS!  Hahaha!  Can’t forget about that!  Giving and receiving gifts make it that much more special.  Gift giving has evolved over the years.  I don’t know about you, but I feel like I don’t need a lot of things anymore.  Getting gifts throughout life (especially as a kid) was/is great.  But’s it’s just stuff.  I like to go for experiences now.  Giving them and receiving them.  Even though the material thing you received as a gift will wear down and go away at some point, experiences don’t.   You have them locked away in your memory until your last breath.  Think about that.  It’s pretty heavy.  Here’s a great story of a client who gave the gift of an experience to her family at Christmas.  She wrote down words that came from her heart and soul about them and had it created in to a loving song.

I received a call one day from a very nice woman, who said she had seen an interview article in the Philadelphia Inquirer Newspaper about YouSongmaker.com with myself and former business partners. She found the idea of being able create a song from her own words (without knowing a thing about writing a song) fascinating.  She let me know that her family has gone through some rough times recently with the loss of a loved one.  She thought it would be a good way to remember the person, as well as let her family know that they matter so much to her and she loves them.  So, she ordered the song and we had what’s called a Song Coach session.  This is where I call you on the phone to help you with your words and put them in to song format with verses, choruses, and a bridge.  We basically become friends within that hour. I learn a lot from people when they talk about their love and their families.  It’s so insightful!  As we went through the process, she found that it was easy and we had a lot of fun.  When I presented the song to her she was very happy with it and was excited to play it for her family.  She did and she told me about it.  I don’t exactly remember if she told them about it ahead of time or not, but they sort of knew what was happening with her words.

She said when they listened to the song, everyone was emotional.  There were tears, but good tears.  Tears that say “I hear what you wrote and I feel it too, we love them and miss them.”  She said there was also the acknowledgement of family love.  Everyone was looking at each other quietly, smiling and making eye contact… just listening and loving.  There’s a quote from her below that we use on our website YourSongmaker.com below.  She encapsulated what we do in a short paragraph.

I was actually inspired to sit down and write a song after reading the article in the Inquirer about your business. I loved the idea and thought how wonderful to take meaningful words, put them into the format of a song, and make it a gift for my family. As soon as I finished reading the article, I went to my computer and I let the words flow. What was on my mind at the time was that I was writing a song for my family. The words flowed easily because they were from my heart, and I literally had the song written in less than 15 minutes. I then emailed you to find out more details about how the process worked, and you helped me with all the musical details, and the song became a reality. You were excellent in answering my questions, and offering helpful suggestions for the music and the beat. We only changed one line and that was heartwarming to me, to know that my written thoughts were actually able to become a song. Thank you enormously for helping me in creating a lasting memory for me and my family. You certainly have made this fun for me! It was very exciting! I am so very pleased and excited. I love the song. Thank you so very much for all your help and talent. You have a great idea and I will be sure to let people know about you, your work, your wonderful energy, and how very helpful you have been.

This is what the holiday season is about.  It’s about letting the people you love know you love them.  LET THEM KNOW!  It’s also about remembering the people who have passed with respect and admiration.  Let the festivities begin! Cheers!

Listen to A Family Matters Christmas

[yoursongmaker]

Kids, Music, & Holiday Gifts

I get lots of emails from children.  Most of them go something like this:

Hi,

I got in a fight with my best friend and I like this boy or girl and make the word love go “looooove yoooooouuuu”. You know like draw out the singing part.  You can add words if you want to.  Oh, and I am over 18 (they usually are not) and please do the song for free.

Signed – not my real name.

Yes.  It’s part of the charm to read those emails from youngsters. 

But here’s the cool thing.  They want to do it.  Soooo bad.  They have stars in their eyes and most of the time (if it’s not a diss track – Google that one) love in their hearts.  They usually seem to have good intentions.  As a matter of fact, beautiful intentions.  They want to send an emotional message to their friend, brother/sister, Mom/Dad, teacher, or family member.  Sometimes they want to make a song about their school work – they’ll send a big copy and pasted section of a history assignment and say “I need this in a song by tomorrow – please hurry”. 

There is no shortage of children who want to write a song. They know the feeling it gives them when they hear their favorite song or how mom or dad reacts when hearing theirs.  It’s heartwarming in the most innocent way.  Even at their young age, they know what music does for people.  They have an emotional reaction.  That’s what it’s all about right?  Art evokes emotion.

Kids love our service.  They want it.  They want to hear their words in a song so they can share it.  It’s pretty amazing. 

[yoursongmaker]

A Family Matters Christmas

Digital Download (5:11)

[yoursongmaker]

Your Lyrics in a Song Make a Great Gift

Think about what makes you happy.  Take a minute and ponder that. 

There are endless answers to what makes a person happy.  Most likely, somewhere on that list of thoughts, is music.  We love music.  So now think about why we love music.  Depending on what type of music you like, your experience can be relaxing, exciting, loving, soft, hard, loud, quiet, soothing, funny, the list goes on and on.  There may be a song that you and your partner like to listen to together.  You often hear people say “that’s our song”, meaning the couple chose a song that has deep meaning to them, so much so that it becomes “theirs”.  A lot of times the reason they choose a specific song is because the words have meaning to them.  They relate to it and it makes them feel good.

There are a lot of songs out there.  In fact, there are so many that inevitably there is a song that can relate to your life, love, or way of thinking.  You hear it and you think “yes, I totally relate to that!”  It’s a good feeling to know that someone else feels similar.  Someone that has been through something you have experienced and was talented enough to write a song about it.  It’s awesome.  I’m showing my age here, but when I was younger, we used to make “mixed tapes”.  They were songs that expressed how we felt about the person we liked.  It was great to receive that tape cassette because of the heartfelt thought behind it.  You’re listening to those words thinking “this person thinks this about me - wow”.  It was a great way to show someone how you felt about them… in song.  The mixed tape progressed in to CD’s, and then digital downloads.

Today there’s another way. 

Without being musical - or a professional writer - you can have your words and thoughts composed into a song -- professionally and affordably – the way you want it to sound.  If you don’t remember what the mix tape experience is like – you may have told another person at some point in your life to listen to a song that you felt was close to how you felt about them.  This is a gift.  Music and lyrics are a perfect vessel to deliver a heartfelt message.  In the past we have had to rely on music that was already composed.  Someone else’s thoughts and feelings on what they felt for their person. 

With the rise of technology, professional musicians and vocalists can create your own personal mix tape today.  Creating a song for someone, even if you are not a musician, is an excellent, emotional gift.  You are letting the person know exactly how you feel from your own words. You’re not picking a song written from someone else, for someone else.  It makes a great gift because it lasts a lifetime.  If you are anything like me, you listen to songs that impact you over and over again throughout your life.

Giving the gift of your own words in a song to someone you care about is an awesome experience.  You will never forget the emotion from the receiver and you will be completely surprised of the emotional feeling you get as the giver.  It’s perfect.

[yoursongmaker]

Dos & Don'ts of Streaming Your Original Music

The music industry is alive and well today.  In fact, some would argue it’s doing better than it ever has.  That may be subjective considering the players making the big money are not the artists or songwriters (unless of course they are famous – or a songwriter working with famous artists). 

If you do a Google search on “what is the original music industry worth today?” – you will find this:

The recorded music industry was worth $19.1 billion in 2018, which was almost a double-digit gain (9.7%) from the year prior, when the global business only rose by 7.4%. April 2, 2019

Or “what is the music industry worth?” – you will get this:

A disturbing new music industry statistic claims that artists only got 12 percent of the $43 billion the industry generated in 2017, according to a new Citigroup report published this week. According to the report, the industry's $43 billion year was its most profitable since 2006.Aug 8, 2018

Then, in a sentence right under that it states – “the music industry is booming but artists only get about 12% of the revenue” in an article from USA TODAY. https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2018/08/08/music-industry-booming-but-artists-only-get-12-percent-revenue/936711002/

So, what do you do?  What don’t you do?  It’s a tough question to answer in depth here, but I can give you some short answers:

DO

Stream your music.  The money you’ll get from sales is small, but along with streaming on a platform like… deep breath… Amazon, Instagram, Twitter, CD Baby, YouTube, Spotify, Reddit, iTunes, Facebook, SoundCloud, Audio Mack, and many more – you may get some good streams and shares from social media.  If, and only if, your music sounds good.  The point of streaming is getting your song into a solid sounding digital format so you can share it everywhere on the internet.  If you are (or know) a good marketing person, that’s half the battle.  The old adage “it takes money to make money” doesn’t really apply here because digital marketing often trumps the money you make off of a song. The ROI (Return on Investment) is very little.  BUT… I’ve seen quite a few success stories.

Send your song to publishers (they call these “synchs”).  They will add It (again, if it’s good) to their sound libraries for film and tv.  If a tv show or movie picks up the song, it can be a lucrative way to make royalties.  Every time the movie or tv show plays, you are paid a certain percentage.  If it’s a hit, you could do very well with checks showing up in the mail.

Create your own webpage with streaming set up.  Then market it.

 DON’T

Don’t trust just anyone.  Do your research.  The music industry is known for, and will mostly likely always be known for, people trying to make money from your music without paying you a fair percentage cut. 

If you are not a musician, make sure the studio you choose to produce your song (with your lyrics) is reputable and established.  There are a lot of studios out there who say they will produce a great song for you, but they offer no examples of their work.  Make sure you can hear song examples they produced in the past.  Make sure you have someone with a musical ear listen to let you know if it’s good or not.

Don’t expect to get rich.  Making music and creating songs for streaming is great.  But thinking you will have a hit from streaming is unrealistic.  If you work hard, market the song correctly, create a following, and are up-to-date on social media you have a better chance of succeeding.

I hope this short blog game you some insights on what streaming is and whether it’s worth doing or not.  If you have any questions, please email me at [email protected] and I’d be happy to answer anything you want to ask.

[yoursongmaker]

The Music Industry- Who Do I Trust?

This is an important (but often disheartening) question.  The answer is complicated but generally the same whenever anyone asks me.  The answer is (unfortunately) hardly anyone.  I always think of the famous lyric line from Metallica “you know it’s sad but true” when I think about it.  Some music industry executives and businesses have questionable practices to put it mildly.  There is one thing that remains a constant in the music industry – money.  I know, shocker, right?  As with most things in life money often becomes the main motivator with commercial – and now more than ever – non-commercial original music.  Streaming profits for the artist are very askew.  A glimmer of hope is the new Music Modernization Act singed in to law in October of 2018.  The aim is to modernize the copyrighted-related issue for music and audio recordings due to new forms of tech like digital streaming.  You can read more about it here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_Modernization_Act  It has the potential to be a lifeline to songwriters and composers everywhere in the United States.

With the rise of digital and online music distribution, a relatively unknown musician can have success now.  Once this happens, you can be certain there will be an industry person following their career trying to work with them to capitalize on their art.  Sometimes, unscrupulous people without ethics will tell them they need to pay a monthly fee to procure their services.  For the marketing, managing, booking, etc.  Often times they are blowing smoke by promoting themselves as the “best in the industry” without a lot of proof of their accomplishments.  It is rare that an artist makes the lion’s share of any profits from the music they create.  Which is why the “do it yourself” career path of YouTubers has been so successful.  They do not have to deal with music industry folks.  In 2016, Chance the Rapper won the Grammy for Best Rap Album - the first Grammy for an unsigned artist.  It was the first streaming-only album to win a Grammy – and a game changer.  He and his team utilized social media and worked everything from the marketing standpoint themselves.

Here are some titles of business people in the music industry:

A talent scout (commonly referred to as an A&R person – arts and repertoire)

A record industry executive

Music Business Consultant

Managers

Booking Agents

Entertainment Lawyers

Tour Manager

Publishers

Producers

 … just to name a few.  All those people are paid.  Some are paid well. 

“More than any time in the last 100 years, musicians and bands MUST learn how to promote, market, and sell themselves mainly to a focused or niche group of music fans that might enjoy their unique style of music”. – Christopher Knab (MusicBizAcademy.com)

The good news is the music industry has changed a ton over the past 20 years.  There are many different ways to build a “do it yourself” fan base, and to gather followers on social media.  There are many, many, ways to market your own music. It is literally taking the record companies out of the equation.  If you have the right team working with you on your original lyrics or music you can make a dent and with some luck do well. 

You never know what can happen in the music industry of today – without having to trust anyone but yourself.

[yoursongmaker]

Can I Make Money Off My Song?

There’s a complicated answer to that question.  In fact, much too complicated to go over everything in this short article.  I think the only good answer is… yes… and no.  It makes absolutely no sense, I know.  It’s not an answer.  But that’s about the best answer I (or likely anyone) could give without having a full day discussion on the topic.  I’ll go over some known examples below to shed some proverbial light on the situation.

If you are a musician, and you work your butt off, yes, it’s possible to make money from your original music – but for most people - not much.  I know that answer sucks, but I’m being honest.  The music industry it tough and it’s always been tough.  Although it is easier today than it was 10 or 20 years ago – to make some money from your own music, it’s still very hard.  With social media, computer power getting better and faster, the ease of communication with another person through your device, searching the net easily - to research what to do (like here), easily learning how to play an instrument using music software, an app or website… the list goes on and on.  But there’s one catch.  What you write, play, and sing needs to sound good.  The internet is fickle that way – it likes good sounding music.  If it were just the internet, it would be one thing, but it’s more than just that. A lot more.  There are companies like Spotify, iTunes, Pandora, and many more that will add your original piece to their platform, but it comes at a heavy price.  You see, these companies make a lot of money off of artists and their music.  Some are famous artists, but there are a lot of internet musicians who are paving a new way.  The new “do it yourself” way.  It’s tough to do without money because the world wide web – the good ol’ internet - is massive.  People finding your music mixed in with the millions of other artists out there is unlikely.  Unless you have money for marketing… or… are just “that good” and you get noticed on YouTube or some other social media site.  It’s a dog eat dog internet world out there..

Anyway, there are a few positive things you can do to get your music or lyrics out there.  One (shameless plug) is using a service like YourSongmaker.com. Once we create the high quality production from your lyrics, you’ll have the music to try the things below.  It’s fun for our clients to submit their songs to different professional musical entities.

Here are some places to check out when trying make some money from your original music:

1.      Amazon, Spotify, iTunes, Instagram, Twitter, CDbaby, YouTube, Reddit, SoundCloud, Audiomack.

Here are a few other ideas of how to make money from your tunes:

1.      Publishers – there are a lot of publishers, but a couple of really good ones.  You can research who they are, it’s pretty easy – but it’s your own preference.  Some of the percentages are more than others (what the company makes off of your music).  What publishers do is hold catalogs of original music for use in licensing agreements for whoever wants to use it.  They (the publishers) purchase them and use them, in most cases, in perpetuity.  The good thing to think about is that you get paid.  The tv & film industries use publisher catalogs to browse and use what they want for different emotional scenes.  It’s a lot cheaper than using famous songs like the famous filmmaker Quentin Tarantino does (he’s very good at choosing music for his scenes in my opinion).  If the company picks your piece, you will receive royalty payments.  This can be lucrative (more so then playing gigs) if it’s used in something that becomes big, or a popular tv show.  These are called “syncs”. 

2.      Create your own website.  There are a lot of artists that do this. 

3.      Send them to a music producer and music manager sites such as:

Music X-ray, Taxi, Great American Song Contest, ASCAP, BMI, and many more. The key is to research.  Spend a day and do it.  Type or write them all out, then look in to how each one works.  It is very helpful for your own knowledge.  There are scams out there, so be sure to read the fine print on anything and make sure you ask questions before you sign away any of your music.

 This is just a very short, basic, start.  There is so much more, but this should keep you busy for quite a while until you figure it all it.  Oh, and if you do, please let me know!  I’m not sure anyone has actually “figured it all out” yet.  There’s no silver bullet, unfortunately.  But this is FUN!  Music is art, and fun, and happy, and makes you feel good!  It’s such a great life… living with music every day!  Anyone can do it.  You just need to take that first step.  We can help you.

Need some help???

[yoursongmaker]

Beshert: A Love Song

There are always stories that go along with the songs that we produce.  Always.  Whether they are true or made up, they’re stories.  Some people use stories (fiction) to teach, prove a point, be someone else (looking through the lens of someone else’s life), talk about life, etc.  There are many, many, ways to make up stories and they’re fun, because it can literally be about anything you can dream up.  We love to compose/produce songs to them!

But I’d have to say, my personal favorite (of songs that we produce) are those that are true to life.  A love story - about a lover – spouse or boyfriend or girlfriend, friend or family member, etc.  Someone that is special to you.  They have a really great impact on the person.  That’s what the song “Beshert” is about.  Beshert is the Jewish notion of a soulmate, or a love that will last forever.  It’s a beautiful thought and one that is encapsulated in to one word.  Fortunately, one of our clients decided to write a song around that loving feeling to her husband of many years.  She didn’t do it for his birthday, or a holiday, or anything like that.  She wrote the lyrics just because she loves her man.  She did it to let him know how she feels about walking through life with him.  When he received the song he was overcome with emotion because he couldn’t believe someone would care enough to give him something so profound.  His own song.  With words from her own heart and soul. 

If you are trying to get the emotional response, something different, something important… write them lyrics and have a song written for them.  They will never forget it!

Check out the full story and listen to the song Beshert …you will love it!

Are you ready to write your own lyrics?

[yoursongmaker]

Your Grace Has Covered Me

Digital Download (4:19)

[yoursongmaker]

Taking Someone’s Words or Poem – IN SECRET - and Making it Into A Song!

This is by far the coolest, most emotional, surprising, dramatic, enjoyable, heart felt thing you can do for someone who is a writer, amateur poet, story teller, business owner, and more.  I’m serious.  There is nothing else like this and they will never forget what you did for the rest of their lives.  You will see their face change right before your eyes after saying “hey, I want you to check out this song”.  People do this all the time, especially music lovers.  But they are never prepared for what’s coming.  Mostly because they don’t think someone would care enough about them to do something like this.  You will not believe the reaction you get once they start realizing they actually wrote the words to the song they are listening to… sounding awesome and playing in their favorite musical genre.  It’s nothing short of amazing.

We all give gifts.  Most of the time it’s something you can hold… a physical gift.  A tie, a sweater, gift card, flowers, money, etc.  All those are great gifts (except maybe the tie) but they are not emotional.  A gift card will not make them cry.  A song from their own words in their favorite style of music (as a surprise) certainly will.  I know this, because I’ve seen it happen many, many, times.  The person cannot believe that you went to the lengths you did to create something for them from their own heart… their own art, and their own story.  It’s such a special gift.  After working with hundreds of clients over the years – having music composed to their words - this is without a doubt the most special way to use a songwriting service.

Here’s some secret tips to use to get what you need:

You are looking for their writings.  A poem, their story, their memoir, a book they wrote, some notes they jotted down to you (or someone) on a piece of paper that’s heartfelt and special.

Ask them about seeing and reading some of their work.  Then choose your target.

Once you find the one (or the 5 ones) you have to be careful they don’t know you’re doing anything with it.  Clients I’ve worked with have taken cell phone pictures of them when they leave the room or something.  Yes, you need to be sneaky for this operation.  It needs to be covert if you want it to hit them like a ton of bricks – because it will.

Once you get the words, go to YourSongmaker.com, fill out the form and we’ll do the rest! 

It’s that easy!  And it’s a gift neither one of you will ever forget.  The song often becomes a “passed down” family heirloom.  It’s so awesome!

Are you ready to submit your loved one’s words, story, or poem?

[yoursongmaker]

Forever and a Day- The "Buck" Carlson Story

Out of all the backstories that go with our songs… one of my favorite memories was when an older gentleman called me one day after he saw an article written about us a few years back (Tina please put link to article here) in the Philadelphia Inquirer Newspaper.

I answered the phone and there was a soft, older sounding, voice on the other end.  He said “hello, is this the place that make the songs?”  I said “yes sir! How can I help you?”  He said “what?”  Again, I said “How may I help you?”  “What?  I said “sir, can you hea…” and before I got the sentence out, he said “wait, I can’t hear you, I’m going to have my daughter call tomorrow” then hung up.  Before the next day could come, he called me back, about an hour later.  After yelling in to the phone for about 25 minutes, I was able to get his story… and what a story it was! 

His name -- Buck Carlson.  He was a 95-year-old WWII veteran.  He saw the article in the paper about how we write songs from the lyrics of everyday people and he wanted to know if we could produce a song, he wrote for his wife 76 years earlier.  As a U.S. Serviceman, he met her while stationed in Brisbane, Australia during WWII.  He said they were scheduled to deploy the next day, but before that, the army held a dance for the soldiers with the local community.  He went - not thinking anything of it.  But while there, something amazing happened.  He saw a woman across the room and thought she was beautiful.  He went over and asked her to dance. By the time the dance was over, he proposed to her and she said yes!  I thought it was the coolest story.  His story.  So, he wrote down how he felt on paper.  He told me on the phone he was trying to find someone to produce the song (affordably) for 65 years!  It was awesome to be able to help him finally create her song!

The moral of the story is anyone can create a story about their life – or a moment in their life – and make it in to a song.  Whether it’s about one part of your life, or a large part.  You can do it.  After you have written out what you want to talk about, just make it shorter.  Then shorter, and shorter, until you have just what you need to say.  Then start writing sentences.  You can find out more about how you do this part of the writing in our blog How to Convert Your Oral History to Lyrics.  It will give you bullet points to work it up in to a song format.

Cheers to you Buck Carlson!  Thank you for your service.  Thank you for being brave enough to not only fight for your country, but also to write the perfect love song for your wife.  A real man can be tough and romantic at the same time!

Listen to Forever and a Day

Are you ready to start your song?

[yoursongmaker]

Clients Who Win Songwriting Competitions

Winning at anything is great!  I always say winning isn’t everything… and it’s not.  But still, winning at something makes you feel great and encourages you to keep going in whatever field you’re wining at.  You not only get recognition that you’re the best at whatever it is that you’re doing, but there is a definite sense of self-worth.  It makes you feel good.

Wining song competitions is fun too.  But there are A LOT of people vying for that honor.  And it is a small group of businesses that are judging the work that have the proper professional credentials to be able to do it, legitimately. 

We’ve had many clients enter and win song competitions with their lyrics and the music of YourSongmaker.com.  It’s a really cool thing.  It’s like chocolate and peanut butter.  The mix is delicious.  There are several song/lyric competitions around the world.  The most famous and long lasting are:

The Great American Song Contest (the longest running in the U.S.)

UK Songwriting Contest

Eurovision Song Contest (this is the biggest one you’ve never hear of)

Young Arts

Mountain Stage New Song Contest

The American Songwriter Lyric Contest

These are just a few. 

If you research it online you will find more. But the trick is to get a reputable company to critique your work.  You need this because they know what they are doing.  They work with very capable judges who have been in the record industry (at a high level) for an extended period of time.  They are honest critiques and they’ll give you valuable feedback.

If you are a lyricist and are looking for your music--YourSongmaker.com can help you realize that dream.  One of the businesses above could make that dream become a reality.

We are the top prize in the lyric writing competition this year (2019) working with the Great American Song Contest.  If you win the lyric competition  YourSongmaker will create the song for you from your own lyrics and the specific genre you want – with a high quality production. 

What are you waiting for?  It’s so fulfilling and fun!

Let us help you!