There are so many songwriters in the world using a ton of different ideas, approaches, structures, etc. And of course, if you stay over on the artistic side of things, one can appreciate just about any of these and recognize the creativity, enjoy the differences, etc. When it comes to writing marketable, sellable songs, however, things change quite a bit.
Yes, you can still infuse that unique creativity that's all yours, but there are certain things that have been proven to make the difference between sellable, popular songs and those that just sit in a catalog or desk drawer. Here are 5 tips that you can use in your songwriting now to make them better and increase the chances of getting something financially rewarding out of it:
1) Listen to the hit songs in your style--if you listen carefully, you'll notice common patterns that you should probably use, as well. Are we saying 'sell out'? No, but it does make sense to try to incorporate some of the patterns of a song that reached gold or platinum sales status. And many of those patterns you hear aren't just 'stylistic' patterns of the artist--they're proven psychological patterns that cause the listener to pay attention, remember the tune, and buy it.
2) Don't take too long to get to the chorus---yep, even if you think you've got a great song, if you take more than 50 seconds or so from the first note to get to the chorus, history has taught us that you lose the listener in most cases, and that song generally isn't going to be hit. Are there exceptions to this rule, yes, but in over 80% of hit songs, this one remains true.
3) Keep your intro short--intros should take no more than 10-15 seconds if you want to keep someone's attention and keep them listening to the song. Yep, the lyrics should start in 15 seconds or less if you want a shot at a hit song.
4) Write your lyrics carefully--sometimes lyrics do just 'come to you', but if they don't make any sense or they're just 'stupid', that's exactly what the listener's going to think, too. You've done that yourself when you heard something ridiculous and turned it off. So, start writing out a paragraph's worth of the story behind the song and write some bullet points on the most important aspects of the story, contradictions, main things you want to say--those bullet points will probably be good chorus material. Then ask yourself all the questions that the chorus creates. Then, write your verses and rest of your lyrics around those questions, answering and relating to the chorus in every line. If you do this, your lyrics probably won't suck.
5) Keep your song in the 3:00 to 4:00 minute range, and preferably 3 to 3.5 minutes. That's another proven tip from the majority of hit songs--they're almost all between 3 and 3.5 minutes. Yes, cut back on all the guitar solos and instrumental passages--for hit songs, that stuff doesn't really help; it distracts the listener from the main hooks of the song--and it's the hooks (lyrical hooks, musical hooks, groove hooks, etc) that make people to 'buy in' to a song and, well...go out and buy it!
I hope this helps you write better tunes and enjoy bigger, better, faster success as an artist or songwriter! If you have any questions, hit us up at support@theaspa.com
To Your Success!
Rex Murphy
The ASPA
