“Every collaboration helps you grow”
—Brian Eno
As a music publisher, I have often urged solo songwriters to consider collaborating with someone else in order to strengthen persistent weaknesses in their songs. Naturally, some writers have felt offended by such a suggestion.
You may feel that your creative process is so personal that you don’t want to open it up and share it with anyone else. But the fact is, not all songwriters can be great composers and great lyricists. Sometimes a co-writer with talents that complement your own can help to take you and your songs to a much higher level.
Maybe you’re writing well-constructed songs with great melodies but they’re not being taken up because your lyrics are inferior. Without strong lyrics, you’re going to have a tough time selling your songs. Or maybe you’re great at coming up with catchy titles and imaginative lyrics but your musical abilities are limited.
If you only write melodies or only lyrics, why not consider co-writing if it means an average song can be turned into a potential hit?
A songwriting partner can help to keep you focused. He or she can question your lyrics when you’re under-achieving, and introduce fresh ideas and new chords that may take your songs to new places.
And if you’ve got a great idea for a song but you just can’t seem to finish it, a co- writer may be able to listen objectively to what you’ve got and come up with the missing link. He or she may introduce lyrical or melodic ideas that would never have occurred to you.
As Robbie Shakespeare of long-time reggae duo Sly and Robbie once remarked: “You have two sets of ears, you can hear more…”.
English boy band phenomenon One Direction had an average of five pairs of song- writing ears per track on their hit 2012 album Take Me Home. In recent years, producers of pop artists who aren’t also songwriters have found that the TV sit- com-style ‘writers room’ model is the best way to consistently generate hits. As a result, more pop writers now tend to work in teams.
Many top writers acknowledge that co-writing and building relationships with other writers is one of the best ways to grow as a songwriter. You may find that regular collaboration with various songwriters will help you to learn how to write better songs—faster.
Collaboration also makes good business sense. The more songwriters there are on a song, the more the song gets played and heard within the music industry. Doors that were previously closed to you could soon start opening up if your co-writers already have publishing deals, or if they are record producers with a direct gateway to established artists.
# # # #