“I don’t see anything wrong with being commercial. I think it’s a gift”
—Janis Ian
It is important to strike a balance between creating a song that is inventive, fresh and original, but still easy for people to listen to and remember. This is true even if you’re using your songs to define a distinctive musical identity for your own band, or for yourself as a singer-songwriter.
Your songs must be able to reach out and touch people without listeners having to struggle to understand what the song is all about.
The great Irving Berlin once remarked: “My ambition is to reach the heart of the average American, not the highbrow nor the lowbrow but that vast intermediate crew which is the real soul of the country … My public is the real people.” New writers sometimes try too hard to show how clever and different they are in order to impress “the highbrow”.
As a result, their songs often end up being over-complicated, meandering and self- indulgent. And therefore easily forgotten.
If your aim is to earn a living as a songwriter, your songs need to have broad commercial appeal. If they contain elements that are common to a number of musical genres, your songs are likely to appeal to many different types of fans—and your success won’t depend on just one artist or one genre.
If your song works ‘unplugged’ style with just one voice and one acoustic guitar or piano, there’s a good chance it can easily be re-arranged and performed by artists in a number of different genres. Singers or bands can then take the elements of your song that are common to their particular corner of the market and make the song relevant to their own fans.
That’s how songs become ‘standards’.
There are countless examples of classic songs that were originally written for a specific musical style, but ended up being re-interpreted and recorded by artists from many different genres. From Ella Fitzgerald’s swing version of Lennon & McCartney’s ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ and Paul Anka’s take on Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ … to Carrie Underwood’s country version of ‘Fix You’ by Cold play and Vanilla Fudge’s psychedelic reworking of Holland-Dozier-Holland’s ‘You Keep Me Hanging On’ (Brian Holland’s favourite version of the song!).
The broader the appeal of your song—and the more cover versions that are avail- able in the marketplace—the more money you’ll earn from it!
# # # #