One of the strangest and most difficult aspects of being a songwriter is how isolating (and insulating) the job can be. Hibernating in the studio for hours or days or months, surrounded only by other musicians or songwriters, you quickly become lost in your own thoughts or ideas. The real world makes only an occasional appearance at the door, usually bearing a pizza or a carton of Chinese food.
The nice thing about publishing is that you receive a daily dose of reality that puts the whole art of songwriting in a very different perspective. What’s surprising is that you often find that people from other sides of the music business– marketing, promotion, artist management, dj’s– not only have a different perspective about what a song should be or what it should do for the artist, but they actually see the whole picture much more clearly. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they could write a hit song. But it does mean that they might have something valuable to share– something that might help you go back into the studio and write that elusive hit single.
I had one of those experiences the other day, talking to one of the industry’s legendary radio promotion men, Jerry Lembo. Jerry has been behind a long, long list of the biggest hits of the last thirty years– as one of the pioneer DJ’s of the disco era (and an MC at Studio 54), a radio personality, and perhaps most importantly, as the radio promotion king during the renaissance of Columbia Records during the 1980’s and 90’s. It’s not just that Jerry has seen it all. It’s that he’s learned from it. He’s not just in the business. He “gets” the business.
Jerry and I were discussing a new artist that I’ve been developing, when suddenly he began to describe the artist’s appeal, what this artist would mean to his audience, what he needed to convey in his music, and what was important to that audience. It’s an odd experience to have someone describe your own project better than you could yourself. Jerry could do that because he saw the situation more clearly. He saw it from the perspective of the audience. This gave me an idea.
The next time you sit down to write a song– don’t. Instead, try this little exercise as a warm-up. You’ll have to start by deciding whether you’re writing for yourself as an artist, for your own band, or for an artist other than yourself. Once you’ve got the target firmly in mind, then take 30 minutes to answer the following questions:
1. Who is the audience for this artist?
Most artists have a wide spectrum of people they could appeal to. But they have one very narrow spectrum that is their core audience. Try to define that core audience demographically: gender, age, race, lifestyle, location, economic status. This is not a mysterious process. Every record label marketing department does it for every artist on every record ever put out. You can do it too.
2. Now take it one step further. Having drawn a general picture of the audience, what do they look like?
No one is alleging that every member of any particular audience is identical. But have you looked around a Fall Out Boy show? Or a Josh Groban concert? Or a Morrissey audience? Or a Him crowd? There’s not that much variation in the audience from one row to the next. In thinking about the core audience, ask:
What are their interests?
What are their hobbies?
What kinds of jobs do they have?
Are they parents? Teenagers? University students? Young single professionals?
What products do they buy? What kind of cars do they drive?
What TV shows do they watch? What movies? What books do they read?
3. I know, you’re thinking it was easier to write a song. But you’re going to dig just a little bit deeper. What you really need to know is: What’s important to them? What are their values? What things do they want out of life? What things do they want out of their music or entertainment?
Again, this is not as difficult as it might sound. The audience for My Blood Valentine is looking for catharsis; a jolt of energy; emotional release. The audience for Norah Jones is looking for comfort, tranquility, and simplicity. It’s not hard to see the difference.
By now you should have a page full of adjectives, characteristics, ideas, descriptions, product names, and cultural reference points. NOW, it’s time to write a song. Think about what this audience wants to hear, the values they want to hear articulated, the things that interest them, or the effect they want the music to have on them. THEN TRY, in the most creative way possible, TO GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT. Write something specifically about a subject in which this audience is interested. Express an emotion or message that matches up perfectly with their value system. Make sure the music delivers the effect that they’re looking for. This is Marketing 101.
Not very creative? Maybe. Then again, Shakespeare wrote to please his audience. It didn’t limit him all that much. My challenge to you is: Try it once. Just give it a shot. A change in perspective can work wonders. Instead of writing by looking inward– try looking out at the audience instead.
Rather than writing what you want to express, then figuring out how, or to whom, you can sell it–try it the other way around. First, figure out the audience, then write something specifically for them. Can you imagine any other consumer business that didn’t analyze their customer, or try to provide what the customer wants?
Sometimes its good to see your business from the standpoint of the real world.
