INDIE Weekly

February 15, 2016

Welcome to the first weekly update for news and creative ideas for indie artists and songwriters from various sources. We call it INDIE Weekly! This week we are providing you with a few tips in creative and safe songwriting. Here are some excerpts:

5 Exercises to Write More Creative Lyrics
BY SAM FRIEDMAN: Writing creative lyrics is a challenging task. If you want to write for radio, you’ll probably lean towards accessible themes of love with simple, easy-to-digest lyrics. Poetry, as beautiful as it may be, does not always fit rhythmically into a melody. It’s not premeditated for music, unlike lyrics. Being creative does not necessarily mean artful or esoteric. You can write pop music with vivid, emotional, unique lyrics. You may be saying the same thing as previous songwriters – you broke my heart, I want you back, I will chase my dreams – but there are always new ways to arrange your words. Here are five creative exercises to write more creative lyrics… Read More

Legal Issues With Songwriter Collaborations
BY WALLACE COLLINS: This article will focus on the collaboration between and among the co-writers of the musical composition or song which is generally comprised of the music (e.g., melody, harmony, chords, rhythm, etc.) and the lyrics (i.e., the words). The essence of collaboration is working together to create a single work regardless of how or what each party contributes. Collaborators may work together in the same room at the same time, or not. The creative contribution of each co-author may be equal in quality or quantity, or not. Both authors may work together on the music and lyrics or one might write just music and the other lyrics. The long history of collaboration has shown that there are endless combinations. Co-authors do not need to have a written agreement concerning their joint work, but it is probably a good idea to do so given the myriad issues that can arise and become a problem under such circumstances. Read More

Will Streaming Music Kill Songwriting?
BY JOHN SEABROOK: If streaming is the future of music, songwriters may soon be back to where they started. Stephen Foster, America’s first professional songwriter, was also the first to die broke. His songs, which include “Oh! Susanna,” “Camptown Races,” “Old Folks at Home” (a.k.a. “Swanee River”), “My Old Kentucky Home,” and “Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair,” made lots of money for other people—music publishers, music-sheet sellers, minstrel-show promoters, concert-hall owners, and star performers. But not very much of that money reached the chronically impecunious Foster, who died, in 1864. Read More

We hope that you find these resources helpful and informative! Please submit suggestions or contributions for this column at [email protected]. If you need help with registration and administration of copyrights visit www.INDIEadmin.com.

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