Aug 03 2008
The Songwriting Plan
About a year ago, I was sitting in RDU Airport before a flight, thinking about what it would take to make money at music, specifically songwriting. I could see the boat sailing on the career I was in, and I wondered a bit about the “other” path I could have chosen way back when.
From most accounts, if you have potential it’s gonna take about 5 years to build up enough songs, deals, and placements to start seeing any money. There I sat, 40 years old thinking “it would be great to actually be getting somewhere when I’m 45″ and so right then and there I pulled out a notebook and started jotting down a business plan of sorts. The first thing to tackle was all the things holding me back from starting, so I made a list. It turned out not to have much on it! Item one, potential…I’d have to go on with it to find out. Item 2, workflow…how to crank a song out in a lot less than a few months, more like a few weeks, then down to a few days. Workflow turned out to have lots of interesting twists, of which I’ll leave for another blog. But I spent 4 months studying it, just to get to t=0 at the beginning of 2008.
Here’s the plan I set out for myself, now for all the world to see:
2008 - Join Taxi. Fill in the blanks on equipment (I wanted some better acoustic treatment, and a pair of small condenser mics). Submit to a few different types of listings, to determine if I can really read the listings accurately and based on critiques see if I have any business even trying this.
2009 - Get forwarded. By sometime in 2009 I should figure out what it takes to be in the ballpark of professional songwriting and production. If I can’t get over the hump by now, it would be time to pack it in and spend more time at the lake!
2010 - Get a deal with a publisher. Hey I’m easy enough to deal with! After 3 long years, I should be able to crank enough tunes out that can get over the hump that something should stick once I get to a publisher. Besides, at this point I do have other singers starting to come of age. Maybe I can’t take it over the top myself but with the help of friends and family there ought to be a way. In the plan I sketched out, year 1 and 2 were really about learning all I could. Year 3 is about finding a way to put it all together.
2011/2012 - Somewhere in here I should get something used that’s going to pay out. It may not be much but this is where the goal is realized. How much depends on lots of factors, like how much time I can devote to this over 5 years. How many songs get written and done that are worth something. What other twists and turns life takes.
So the goal is not how much but getting one in the bag! If it looks like it will work out, I’ll find a way to devote more time. If it looks like I’m getting nowhere, well, I may just fall off the wagon halfway through. Life is about choices, and I’ve come back to rehash one I made long ago. The answer is the goal!
Life never lets up on you, and I’m not a guy who sugarcoats things too much. At the end of each year I’ll review how far I got. It will either motivate me to keep going, or put things into perspective that it’s just not happening. Hopefully it will be an education to all those who wonder and who dream about being a songwriter…
2 Responses to “The Songwriting Plan”
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You’ve done what most fail to do and that is make a plan and set goals. Looks like a pretty good plan with achievable goals. I wish you all the success in your song writing venture!
Thanks Dolan! It’s a long journey, best to have some kind of map!