If you’re wondering how to be a professional songwriter, you’re one of a rare breed.
Pic is Garth Brooks inducing Kim Williams into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
Professional songwriters write songs for a living, and traditionally they were hired by a music publisher.
Now it’s more common for professional songwriters to act as their own publishers than was the case in the past.
Writing songs alone is not enough to be a professional songwriter, because in order to make a living at songwriting, you have to be able to make money doing it.
Unlike other professions, songwriters do not get paid for every song they write.
Instead, they either get a monthly draw from a publisher, or they only get paid when the customer pays for their music.
With today’s preferred method for accessing music, online streaming, professional songwriters have largely quit the profession because they’re not able to make a living anymore. [Source Tennessean article sited below]
If you aren’t too worried about the money, and you still want to try your hand at professional songwriting, you’ll need to learn some basic.
In addition to the basics of song crafting, you’ll want to know at least a little about the music business as it applies to songwriters, and you’ll need to have some common business sense – including how to set up a schedule, how to manage your time, and how to make a plan of action.
Before jumping into anything, you’ll want to read and study widely about the history of the genre you’ll be focusing on writing for, and you’ll want to learn some of the ways to get your songs to your customers – including music lovers, recording artists, publishers, producers, record company A&R, music supervisors, agents, managers, song pluggers, and others.
Songpreneurs was designed to help people who are trying to get into the professional songwriter circles make a legitimate go at a songwriting career, and also as an education resource partner for professional songwriters trying to figure out their new monetization model.
Every day we hear from our professional songwriter friends that they’re trying harder than ever to figure out how to make money using their songwriting skill set.
You can get ahead of the curve by studying our innovative resources including the workbook Getting Started the Right Way In the New Millennium of Music Business.
This resource will give you an edge, and will teach you what you need to know in Plain English about being a professional songwriter.
Source:
Tennessean 80% fewer songwriters today.
