The True Value Of Songwriting Critique (And Surviving The Process)

I've been involved with Songstuff.com for almost 11 years now. In that time I have seen thousands of writers and artists post up material for critique. Over that time I've come to appreciate the real value of critique, and I'll give you a clue, it's NOT receiving critique for your own work.

Writers do have a variety of wants when it comes to critique, and often the motivations are not one simple perspective but a mix of perspectives.

What Is Critique?

Critique is not simply someone listening, observing, and offering a constructive comment. Critique is a constructive discussion that uses observation, analysis, opion and advice. Please note the use of the word discussion. It is not simply one way traffic. The point here is to achieve an understanding of the points being made and for the writer to make an informed decision. Not seeking to understand the perspective and observations of both the writer and the person offering critique is to tie our hands and wear a blindfold. We fail to see, and we fail to act.

Getting Critique For your Own Work

In some cases writers approach it as a purely transactional thing:

• I post my song
• You tell me what you think of it

and there it ends.

For others it's more of a self-promotion, or an ego stroking exercise:

• I post my song
• You tell me you love it or I will become defensive or simply ignore you

While both of these approaches may fulfill some immediate need in the writer they both completely miss the main benefits of critique. By far the majority of so called songwriting critique or lyrics critique I have seen on the internet falls into these two categories.

Note there is no statement of desire from the writer. The number of times I have seen writers receive comments only to be upset that the critique offered does not focus on what they really wanted comments on, so, state what you want from the critique!

As the writer, be open to suggestions and listen to the comments made. Seek to understand the points being made, the ramifications and any advice that is offered.

As mentioned critique should be a discussion. A conversation between the writer and the person performing the critique. Seek to engage anyone performing a critique and remember to thank them for taking the time to listen to or read your work. It can be very disheartening if you are the one to perform a critique, spending a significant amount of time on somone else's work for your effort to be simply ignored or dismissed.

Invariably writers who show such lack of response will get:

• Less and less critique of their work
• Poor quality critique to the extent that eventually the only people who will respond will provide one line pats on the back

Recommendations For Writers Seeking Critique

• State clearly any focus you desire for the critique or if it is completely open to the person performing the critique
• Listen to comments made and work to understand them and any implied effect
• Work to understand any advice being offered and the implied effect acting on that advice may have
• Discuss constructively with the person performing the critique. It is not an argument, or I am right you are wrong. Listen, discuss, consider, discuss, consider some more, decide in private your course of action to take if it you believe that would in any way descend into an argument.
• Try to avoid being precious (my precious) with your material.
• Try to avoid being overly defensive. Put forward your points for discussion, but avoid being sensitive to the comments.
• Don't take comments personally.
  
• Thank them for taking the time to go through the critique process with you

Offering Critique

Over the years I have read tens of thousands of critiques. Sadly many fall into three categories:

1. One line pat's on the back
2. My opinion rules, I am right and you are wrong
3. I have commented on yours, so comment on mine

Offering critique, and I don't like calling it that in the circumstance of number 1 above, is pretty well a waste of time, and is often offered by people who reading between the lines (or line ) are actually doing number 3

If you take the perspective of number 2 you are more likely to offend, more likely to provoke a defensive reaction. Not only is that unpleasant, but it wastes the time of all concerned as the writer whose work is under critique will be very very unlikely to open their ears and listen to your points and after an argument your opinion is going to be dismissed.

Critiques of the form number 3 require some mutual back scratching. As such opinions tend to be diluted, advice tends to be superficial. All in, a not very productive use of time.

Offering detailed critique is by far the most beneficial aspect of critique (giving or receiving), and by far the most underrated.

I say that because offering a detailed critque has many benefits to you as a writer in your own right:

• You are exposed to many genres, ideas and concepts. Far beyond those of any individual writer.
• You exercise and develop your Observation Skills.
• You exercise and develop your Analysis Skills
• You exercise and develop your ability to Come Up With Solutions

This means that you hone your own skills across a far wider spectrum than you would encounter with your own writing. Your own lyrics, melodies, recordings and productions will benefit allowing you to spot possible issues, and possible benefits at a higher level, way before you seek opinions on your own work from others. This has the knock on that when you do get critique, those performing it are already starting with a more evolved work and the points they raise are likely to be more focused on fine detail.

Offering critique really offers you, as a writer, musician, engineeer or producer, the best chance of knowing and understanding the difference between songs that really work, and songs that really don't. Fundamentally it helps you understand trade-offs, where to adhere to guidelines and where not to, and understand why.

Useful Reference Articles

I have included a couple of links below to articles I have previously written for Songstuff that have touched upon critique. Although targeting lyrics writing in particular the concepts and approach regarding technique equally apply to melody, arrangement, recording, production, and of course the combination of both lyrics and music into a song.

• Improve Your Lyrics Writing
• Lyrics Critique For Songwriters

Other Resources

I am of course involved with Songstuff, so you will not be surprised that I would direct you towards the Songstuff Songwriting and Music Community as a resource. The site staff and members actively help create a comfortable and friendly environment. For critique purposes I would specifically direct you towards two boards:

• Song and Recording Critique
• Lyrics Critique

Lastly

Take the initiative. Don't wait to receive critique from others before you critique theirs. If everyone does that, no one will receive any critique at all! Add to that receiving critique is less beneficial (generally) to you as a writer than giving, so don't wait about. Help yourself, help others and get an all round warm and fuzzy feeling.

If you have any feedback on this article please leave a comment below.

All You Need To Know About The Music Business

I was conducting a highly enjoyable Q & A, via a Skype video link, with a songwriting class in Canada last week and the course of discussion inevitably turned towards the mechanics of the music industry, copyright, contracts and the implications for songwriters. At that point I had absolutely no hesitation in recommending "All You Need To Know About The Music Business" by highly respected music industry insider Donald S Passman.

Covering both the US and UK industries in detail this is an essential addition to your bookshelf.

This is a completely revised and updated seventh edition of "All You Need to Know About the Music Business". Offering music industry executives and artists, novices and seasoned veterans lots of very useful information on the music industry and it's workings, it's a pretty indispensable resource.

Donald Passman offers information on:

• An overview and detailed view of record deals

• How to find your way around songwriting, music publishing, and copyrights

• Concert, touring, and merchandising deals

• 360 model record deals where record labels share non-record revenue

• Ring tones, streaming on demand, and digital downloads

• Building a team, for example personal and business managers, agents, and attorneys. Plus info on commission structures, percentages, and fees

All You Need to Know About the Music Business: Seventh Edition

Enjoy!

Guerrilla Internet Music Promotion

Let's face it. most bands have little budget available and marketing and promotion often come some way down the pecking order with recording and new gear being the most common first spends.

So that leaves bands trying to promote their recordings (and everything else) with almost no money. Not ideal as marketing and promotion often take the lions share of the spend with larger more established bands. The trouble is getting over the hump of "no money available".

Meanwhile bands have to make the most of their situation. In this respect the internet is a great leveler. There are a great many cheap ways to promote your music available. Most bands only employ a couple of basic ways to get their music out there. Each takes time, knowledge and patience, and in that way they are not necessarily "cheap".

The trouble is that for all the internet is a great leveler, there are so many bands fighting for attention that somehow your band needs to stand out.

There are five core parts to guerrilla (free) promotion:

• The product being promoted
• Your promotion goal
  
• Your perspective on that item, know your market!
  
• The promotion strategy
  
• The mechanics of that promotion

The product being promoted is the most obvious one of the 5 perhaps, but often bands do very little in terms of smart packaging of that item. For example the base packaging itself with little thought given to appeal. Here marketing can help... ask opinions!

Setting a promotion goal will ultimately help and is one of the most important facets of a promotion campaign. After all, how will you know a campaign is a success unless you have a goal to measure it by? A clear goal gives you something positive to aim for, and it gives you a direction.

Your perspective on the item being promoted is important too. This is really part of your promotion strategy but I thought it important enough to list on it's own. For example, a product is a product, what makes the difference is the perspective on it when it is presented. think of all those TV advertisements. Some use humor, others use sex appeal etc. they all gain an understanding of who their potential customer base is (by asking, by demographic research etc) and then construct a presentation that will appeal to that market. A common one to appeal to females when pitching household goods is showing how inadequate men are at household tasks with the female "getting one over on" the male, perhaps with a shrug or a laugh. This is because they know that it is a perspective that will appeal to housewives!

Well the same applies to music. Know your market! If you understand your potential buyers, then you can construct something that appeals to them. Not just the end product, it's how you present it!

The promotion strategy itself can encompass a diverse means in order to achieve your campaign goal. For example: You decide on a video as a promotion means, it uses your song, excerpts from your song video mixed with promotion messages of some kind. You choose a humorous perspective with a strong sexual appeal to teenage males (because your homework tells you they are your most likely buyers). You would like to promote this in a viral way. That might involve:

• A street team (virtual and / or real world)
• A few blogs you run
• Social networks
• Forums
• Mailing list
• Internet Radio
  
• Other means
  

This requires a plan, and coordination so that you can make the most of your promotion efforts. Fundamentally it involves timing!

Lastly comes the mechanics of achieving all this. This is not simply "How do I post on a forum?" or "How do I use my street team?", it is also the mechanics of coordinating your plan, of launching your product using all the means you plan to use for that specific promotion.

There are of course tools available for many aspects of realizing each step in this process. Were I to specify them all here that would be a very large post. So look out for more as I build upon this post. Meanwhile you might find an article I wrote for Songstuff a while ago a useful reference.

Make The Most of Your Music On The Web

The Craft and Business Of Songwriting

A great combination of songwriting craft tips intermingled with practical music industry lessons make this a very handy book for the songwriter's bookshelf.

Craft and Business of Songwriting 3rd Edition (Craft & Business of Songwriting)

It contains lots of examples and useful career advice drawn from successful artists in a variety of music genres, from country to hip-hop. An ideal book for beginners who want an overview of the business of being a songwriter.

Writing awesome songs is only part of the work of becoming a successful songwriter in this day and age. It is vital to understand music business concepts, and to manage your career well. This book at least gives you a fighting chance. In addition to dozens of exercises and examples, anecdotes from successful songwriters including Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow, and Paul McCartney are provided. An ideal resource for the insider secrets songwriters need to make them more competitive what is fast becoming a very crowded marketplace.

The author, John Braheny co-founded and directed the Los Angeles Screenwriters Showcase, is also a journalist, teacher, talk show host, and consultant.

Sonar X1 Producer

I've just upgraded from Sonar 8.5 to X1 and i have to say I'm pretty impressed. Some major changes in the interface with the ability to save "screen sets" of screen set ups making it much easier to move through different recording phases.

With this update they've also introduced some nice tabbing features making it far easier to navigate features and just about everything can be dragged and dropped including docking / floating components.

One of the other nice new features is a smart tool that changes functionality depending on it's context. That alone saves the hassle of regularly changing the tool you are using, allowing you to focus far more on the creative aspects of what you do and not what you are going to do it with.

One new feature that's pretty yummy is the ProChannel channel strip that's built into every channel offering quite extensive control.

It seems to be much more stable. I've tried it on Win 7 64-bit and on XP 32. I still find less issues on XP 32.

Some nice advances in the packaged plug ins too wind Dimension Pro getting some needed attention and Beatscape being a very nice addition.

That's all for nnow, more after I've explored it a bit more. So far it's a big thumbs up with some very welcome improvements.

Successful Lyric Writing by Sheila Davis

I thought I'd add some posts looking at the books in my own collection, offering my opinion on each book.

Successful Lyric Writing by Sheila Davis

This is an excellent book for those fairly new to serious lyrics writing. Covering the broad strokes of lyrics writing including theory, principles and common song forms Sheila's book provides a good foundation for those wanting to move from writing from the hip to an increased awareness of what the hell is going on when they write, why one song works better than another and so on.

As a workbook it also contains lots of examples and exercises to work through plus a useful set of definitions and explanations.

There are no rules in songwriting, guidelines yes, but songwriters frequently ignore those guidelines. Where books like this fit into the equation is in helping aspiring songwriters to understand what they trade off when making decisions about song lyrics. Making informed choices is a powerful thing.

Overall I found it an interesting book, a useful reference and definitely a handy book to have in your collection.

Scansion for lyrics writing

I'm thinking on writing an article about using scansion for lyrics writing.

It's a term many lyricists aren't familiar with, yet it can be a very useful tool if you are writing lyrics before the melody, and perhaps are unlikely to have much contact with the music writer. So it's ideally suited to the isolated lyricist.

Basically scansion helps you tidy up the meter of your lyrics so that the meter of the lyrics will be more consistent, with stressed syllables landing in the right place so that the melody works consistently through the song.

It's a tool that originated in poetry writing but when applied to lyrics it's a very useful technique in that realm too.. There's not a lot of info out there on exactly how to apply it to lyrics, so who knows... time to bite the bullet and dive in?