Kathleen Carey is the senior vice president of Song/ATV Music Publishing and in Roger Love’s Set Your Voice Free, her advice for aspiring musicians who would like to make it in the music business was:
“… Most important, stay true to yourself and in terms of expressing your own individual gift, and don’t water it down by listening to what’s on the radio and changing your sound, or tyring to make yourself commercial. Espeically now. A top band today may well be gone in months. So you need to hone your craft in any way you can – as a player, as a writer – and keep your focus on what you can do that is unique. The people who do that are the ones who win in the long run.”
After hearing a number of critism from the serious music listeners, I was much affected and influenced and somehow I could not write for a while. Lately, my songs are more commercially geared and are written well within my vocal range. Instead of letting the song goes freeform, I stick with the usual verse-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus pattern. Each song I consciously put in a hook that keep repeating throughout the song. I used to think that this pattern is boring is uninspiring but I kind of yield to the critism.
When I shared my recent change in songwriting style with Jeremy, my “band manager”, he said the similiar thing. He said that I should stay with my own style as he do like my freeform stuffs.
If only I can find a balance somehow …
2 replies on “An Advice by Kathleen Carey, The Publisher”
Uniqueness is important … I think both Kathleen and Jeremy are right. It is always important to find your own footsteps and walk at your own pace, with your own style. The principle applies to everything in Life doesn’t it?
But at what cost I guess … I totally agree with your point Mark. Just that the acceptance level may not be high if your stuffs are not easy to the common ears. I have got critism saying that if they can’t find a hook (like a wonderful piece of chorus that keeps repeating) within the first 3 mins, they will give the song a pass. For me, I am very much inspired by songs that worth listening again and again to discover new depth for instance.