YOU WANT TO BECOME A MORE SUCCESSFUL SONGWRITER? STOP WORKING ALONE!

Jesus Christ has the 12 Apostles. Superman has Justice League. Thor and Iron Man have the Avengers. Wolverine has X-Men.  Heck, even Barney has his friends! The list goes on. They were good individually, right? But with their TEAMMATES, they are MAGNIFICENT—more POWERFUL.

LeBron James was heavily criticized when he made The Decision in 2010 to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers to join Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. He was bashed and laughed at when the Heat lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 NBA Finals. They said he made the WRONG decision. But after the 2012 NBA Finals which everybody knows the Heat won over the Thunder, nobody is laughing at James anymore. Why? He made his point. He reached his GOAL. He left the Cavaliers because he wanted to become an NBA champion. LeBron knew he cannot do it alone—he has to surround himself with winners, even if it meant he has to take less money. AND HE REACHED HIS GOAL.

BUILD A TEAM OF SUPERSTARS

What does Lebron have to do with songwriting? Hey, I am no Lebron fan but we, songwriters, can learn a lot from what he did. Or even from Superman, Thor, Barney, and Jesus Christ. That is – for you to become more successful, you have to sacrifice something and BUILD A TEAM. Surround yourself with people who are BETTER than you.

WHY? Teams are more powerful, more efficient, and they achieve more than an individual does or can.

Let me tell you my story 10 years ago. I was a struggling composer. Nobody accepted my demos. I even came to a point when I didn’t want to touch or even look at my guitar anymore— I was so depressed! One person even told me, “Robster, no matter what you do, nobody will accept your song!”.

Well, all that changed when I met a very talented person named Benjie Pating. I heard him in the lobby of a recording studio playing with his keyboard and making it sound like a heavy metal guitar. I was so impressed that I told myself, “I have to know this guy!”. So we had a little chitchat and found out that he arranges songs. Just give him a raw demo of your song and he will magically turn it into a high-quality minus one. Some of the artists he has worked with are Luke Mijares, Toni Gonzaga, Mocha, Gretchen Espina, Sexbomb Girls, and a lot more. From that point onwards, Benjie became my sidekick, my trusted arranger.

So there, I realized that my songs were good but when I recorded them they sound bad because I was not a very good instrumentalist! THE REASON I GET NO BREAKS IS I WORK ALONE! I write the lyrics, melody, and record my songs on my own using my not-so-good-sounding guitar. But when I worked with an awesome arranger like Benjie, things changed: producers noticed my songs.

FIND A PERSON WHOSE STRENGTH IS YOUR WEAKNESS AND WORK WITH THAT PERSON!

If you are a good composer of melody but sucks at writing lyrics, then find a good lyricist, and vice-versa! Search for one in your area or in social networking sites. COLLABORATE with them. Never mind if you won’t get 100% credit for the song that you made. BE HUMBLE. Share your glory (and earnings). Sacrifice a little so that you will achieve more.

Your song will not be complete if it’s just melody and lyrics: it has to have accompaniment right? So if you are not good at instrumentation (like me) then you probably need a good arranger like Benjie Pating. Do they charge you for arrangement? YES of course you need to pay them, you made use of their time, effort, and talent!

But think of the benefits that you will get if you get your song arranged by a professional— your song would SOUND PROFESSIONAL too! All the more reason producers will notice you. Arrangers charge different rates depending on the usage (for demos, actual minus one, etc.) and this I will cover in a separate blog. The point is, you should also invest in your creation so that it will be easier to SELL.

GET A GOOD INTERPRETER TO SING YOUR SONG

As songwriters, we all wish to sing our own songs, right? I've been there before! But hey, you have to realize this point: your song may be good but it would sound bad IF YOU ARE NOT A GOOD SINGER! So go get one, have your song sung by a REAL SINGER and record your demo.

We should be humble enough to accept that nobody has a monopoly of talents. If you wish to become more successful as a songwriter, delegate your weakness and utilize the strengths of your teammates.

Aside from saving you headache (and heartaches from ignored demos), building a team will give you these benefits:

1. You save time and money ( you don't need to study how to play certain instruments or how to operate recording equipment and take singing lessons!).

2. You get to share income/profit/recognition (Hey LeBron was so much happier when he won the NBA Championship than when he won the MVP Award, did you notice?).

3. You get to focus on your TRUE STRENGTH, and that is SONGWRITING.

Lastly, let me tell you the story of my former manager at work, Raymund Ryan Santes. I look up to him A LOT. He was the one who inspired me to never stop writing songs because he said I only need ONE song to make it big. Anyway, one day at work, I caught him humming an unfamiliar melody (he doesn’t know how to play any instrument) and then suddenly called for the recording room operator so that he could record the melody with rough lyrics he just made.

Then, Raymund Ryan sent his recorded voice to an ARRANGER who made the demo and had it sung by a real singer. That same rough melody and lyrics became a hit in 2005: GET ME, recorded by MYMP (you may listen to it here). It was in the same manner and procedure that he created other hit songs such as Paalam Na, A Little Bit (also by MYMP), In My Life (Ariel Rivera), among others. Again, Raymund Ryan doesn’t know how to play any instrument. So he found people to work with, those whose strengths are his weaknesses– recording, instrumentation, singing, arranging, mixing, publishing, and promoting. AND HE MADE HITS.

You want to become a more successful songwriter? Get superstar teammates!

May you be successful in your musical venture,

Robster Evangelista

P.S.

Get my Ebook THE SECRETS OF RADIO HIT SONGS AND 10 TIPS ON HOW YOU CAN USE THEM WHEN WRITING YOUR OWN SONGS for FREE!!! Just sign up on the upper left corner of this blog or below and you will receive an email with instructions on how you can download my FREE EBOOK.