Popular Articles
Get Inspired
Five Songwriting Tips Inspired by John Lennon
This week, I decided to write about one of my favorite artists, and my favorite Beatle: John Lennon. I had to shoo some doubts away before getting started, not because Lennon could be quite a controversial character sometimes, but mostly because it is very hard to find some structure in such a huge personality. When we talk about any member of the Beatles, we are dealing with some legendary material, so it can be very easy to jump to commonplace conclusions or just feed some sort of worshipping. Instead, I wanted to dig out five practical and useful tips that any young songwriter can learn from John Lennon, surely a legend, but also a man, and an artist like you and me. So I started going through some old interviews and demo recordings, trying to find a pattern in the work and the process behind so many great songs. Here are five tips I came up with.
Keep ReadingSongwriting Skills
How To Structure Your Songs
I was fifteen when I started writing songs. I had no idea of what I was doing, but it was fun. Most of all, I enjoyed using English to express what I wasn't able to do in Italian, my native language. The fact that I was not fluent in English (at all) never stopped my bold experiments! Of course, none of the songs I wrote back then survived the test of time. Yet, those were precious formative years nonetheless. What I lacked the most at that time, on top of some serious knowledge of English grammar, was the ability to structure my songs. To be honest, I had this rebel teenage attitude that considered structures as impositions. I was tired of analyzing poems in Literature classes and musical forms at the music school I used to attend. I wanted the freedom to write without caring about structures and forms. Needless to say, I was wrong. Knowing how to structure your songs is essential. First of all, that knowledge will give you some confidence and some good boundaries to work with. This often increases what we call "inspiration". Secondly, you have to know the rules if you want to break them. Or at least, it is easier to create something innovative and break the preset schemes when you know the basic grammar, in any artistic field. I hope you're convinced you do need to know how to structure a song if you want to improve your songwriting! If you are, keep reading. This is a little guide on song structures and how to deal with them.
Keep ReadingGeneral Advice
E-mail Marketing For Musicians
There are two ways I could write this article. First of all, I could list some tactics to help you grow your mailing list. The Internet is full of similar lists, but, since you’re here, I have a feeling none of them helped you reach your goal. This is why I decided to write from a different perspective. How would a mailing list benefit both you and your fans? What keeps many musicians from investing their time in email marketing? And what keeps many fans from joining their favorite artists’ list? To answer these questions we must take a step back first. We call it email marketing, but I find this terminology a bit confusing. Sure, as an independent artist (and solopreneur), you have to promote your music. A mailing list, in this sense, can be seen as another marketing tool to advertise your songs and get your biggest fans to buy your products. However, this is not the most effective way to treat emails. Email marketing is a tool to build a relationship rather than simply promote something. First of all, you want to create and nurture a bond. You want to offer value. You want to ask for feedback and be open to your fans’ messages and ideas. The promotion of your music and your other products should be a natural consequence rather than the ultimate goal. For example, I offer a lot of freebies to my mailing list subscribers. I let them access songs and other content I don’t publish anywhere else. I ask them for feedback and I personally reply to any email I receive from them. It is a rewarding process, yet a lot of fellow independent musicians overlook this tool. Why? Here are some of the reasons I came up with.
Keep ReadingLatest Articles
Five Songwriting Tips Inspired by Sixto Rodriguez
From obscurity to world-wide fame: how Sixto Rodriguez shaped his songwriting style despite adversities.
Read
These Five Songs Will Make You A Better Songwriter
Don't forget to keep expanding your musical knowledge by adding more and more different tunes to your personal list!
Read
Five Songwriting Tips Inspired by Paul McCartney
How an authentic love for your craft can get you very far
Read
Alternate Guitar Tunings in Your Songwriting
How changing the tuning of your guitar can help you with your songwriting.
ReadAbout This Blog
Our Mission
Our mission is simple: we want to help you get your uncompleted songs out of the drawer! How? By providing some simple and practical songwriting advice to strengthen your skills and make your songs more exciting.
Our YouTube Channel
You can find all the content shared on this blog on our YouTube channel too. Feel free to subscribe, like, share, and post your comment or question!
Visit Channel
About The Founder
Hi! I'm Nicole, an independent singer and songwriter from Italy.
I write folk, rock, and blues songs often on the theme of freedom.
My songwriting is quite focused on the storytelling, so you will find a lot of references to this concept in the articles.
Feel free to have a browse and do get in touch in case you have any question or comment!
Happy songwriting!