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The CLIMB Show by Brent Baxter, Team SWPro on November 18, 2022
CLIMBer, do slow songs stand a chance in today's music business? Is it wise to write slow songs these days? Here's the truth!
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TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome to three minutes and the truth, y'all. You know, at SWPro.com, we help songwriters turn pro by teaching you how to write like a pro how to do business like a pro, and how to connect to the pros.
And speaking of connecting to the pros, we host "Play for a "Publisher" events from time to time, and I got an email from one of my community members after one of them. He was disappointed that his song didn't make it through.
He said he thought his song was great, but it was disappointing, he said, watching his love ballad getting smacked around by all the songs that are up tempo. "I'm curious," he asks "where does the love ballad stand a chance these days if I can't even get a spin for a publisher."
So the play for a publisher event is when I collect songs from the songwriting pro community and pick the top 10 that I think have a chance of connecting with a publisher, you know, getting the publishers attention in a good way. I play it for the publisher live on a video conference and the writers get to join live. It's a pretty cool event.
Anyway, I understand this guy's honest question. There are a lot of uptempo that make the top 10 Where does a ballad writer stand in the world like that? Does he have a chance? And so basically what I told him, I also want to share with you because you may be wondering the same thing.
The fact is, the truth is, ballads are mathematically hard to get recorded by other artists. A lot of writers write ballads that's a lot of why we start - we got some emotion that wants to come out, and it usually wants to come out as a ballad.
Or it's our meaningful song, our deep song. A lot of our favorite songs are these ballads. Man just turn on the radio: country, pop, CCM, rock... most songs on those stations are going to be mid and up tempo. There just aren't many spots for ballads on the radio - and radio's where people are making money these days.
You're not getting much of anything off album cuts. Album cuts for bragging rights. They look better on the wall than they do on the in the wallet. They look better on the bio than they do in the bank statement.
Okay, so publishers are aiming for singles because with Spotify and Amazon trying to screw us over, you're not getting paid much of anything for album cuts. So you need some terrestrial radio singles to make some serious money.
So that's what they want. That's what publishers want. That's how they keep the lights on. Most of what's on the radio: mid and up tempo. Most of what gets played in a concert: mid and up tempos. The artist is hosting a party at a live show, and they want you to have a good time. So they're trying to get you on your feet, having a good time. And while you're on your feet, go on over to the merch table, right?
So radio likes to play mostly up tempo. At live shows, artists like to play mostly mid and up tempo. So that's mostly what gets on a record. There just aren't many spots for ballads. It's a rare, exceptional ballad that makes it through. But even so, we all write a bunch of them. It seems like most writers - even the pros - still tend to write a lot of ballads. So the math is not working in your favor when you write ballads. This doesn't mean you can't get one cut, but it's a lot harder.
This has been three minutes and the truth.
God bless,
Brent
PS- Thanks for stopping by Songwriting Pro! I appreciate it. As a matter of fact, I want to give you a special little something just for your visit. Actually, it's a BIG something - over an hour of free interviews with hit-making songwriters and producers! This look into the Songwriting Pro Member Area is full of tips to help you succeed at the art, craft and business of songwriting. You can gain access to all this good stuff at SongwritingPro.com/preview.
Who is Brent Baxter?
Brent is an award-winning songwriter with songs recorded by Alan Jackson (the top 5 Country hit "Monday Morning Church"), Randy Travis, Lady A, Joe Nichols, Ray Stevens, Steve Cropper, Andy Griggs, Buddy Jewell, Lonestar, Gord Bamford (the #1 hit and CCMA Single Of The Year "When Your Lips Are So Close"), The Sound (the #1 hit and Dove-nominated Southern Gospel Song Of The Year "Can I Get A Witness"), Wilburn & Wilburn (#1 hit "Hallelujah Homecoming"), The LeFevre Quartet and more!
