Songwriting Pro is a community for songwriters who are ready to WRITE like a pro, DO BUSINESS like a pro and CONNECT to pros. Hundreds of songwriters from all over the world use Songwriting Pro to get their songs in front of music industry professionals, find collaborators and gain real-world, real-time knowlege about the music business. We'd love to have you join us... so what are you waiting for? Join today!
The CLIMB Show by Brent Baxter, Team SWPro on December 16, 2022
CLIMBer, why do so many hit songs have more than one songwriter? Here's the truth!
You can listen to all of our latest episodes with a CLICK HERE!
Songwriting Pro Membership allows you to connect to the real music business- no matter where you live and even if you don't "know anybody." Get all the details at the link below... and take the next big step in your songwriting career!
CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS!
TRANSCRIPT:
Thanks, Ozzy, and welcome to 3 Minutes & The Truth. Why are so many songs that come out of pop music, country music, CCM music - co written? Why do they have more than one writer on them? Truth is, I think there are three main reasons.
The first one is creative. You have more than one set of brains working on the song. I may feel kind of creatively stumped one day. I may not have a lot going on upstairs. I may not have ideas, but my co writer has something going on, or the other co writer may have something they're dealing with. And we can write about that. So I'm not just pulling from my own life.
Another thing is, you might have little tripwires, little mistakes, in your song that you might not catch. You might have something that isn't worded correctly, something that isn't clear, but it's clear in your head. But with a couple heads together, you're more likely to those catch mistakes, and debug your song a little more effectively, because you have more people in the room to catch any mistakes. So that's the first reason.
The second reason is political. If you're writing with an artist, you have more of a direct path to getting the song recorded. If you're writing with a producer, you have more of a direct path to getting that song recorded. You're not outside of the fence trying to get a song over the fence, you're inside the castle walls. And it's still not easy, but you have a better chance of getting a cut.
The other thing is maybe you don't have a publishing deal, but your co writer does. Or you both have publishing deals. And now you have two sets of publishing companies pushing that song working at trying to make it happen.
So it's partly a numbers game, which brings us to the third reason which is mathematical.
Alright, so you can only write so many songs by yourself. It may take longer to write a song by yourself for a variety of reasons, right? Maybe you don't show up when you make appointments with yourself, but you're more likely to show up when you make an appointment with a co writer.
And so you have more cooks in the kitchen, more people speaking into the song, so you can write more songs by co-writing.
Maybe I'm writing a song today while my co-writer is over there working on the demo. Maybe he's a producer and he's producing it himself or he's singing the work tape or he's fiddling with the second verse over there on his day off while I'm over here writing a new song with a different co-writer. So part of it's mathematical.
So there you have it: there are creative, political and mathematical reasons why most hits have more than one songwriter.
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!
