Songwriting Secrets

On this page you will find some songwriting secrets that could be new for you. Sometimes we tend to think there is a code. A code that the successful songwriters have broken. Sorry to burst any bubbles but there is no code to break. If you ask the masters, they will tell you their songwriting secrets. What you'll read now is a collection of what most of them cited as their secret to songwriting.

Successful Songwriters Don't Know Better Than Us


It's one of the most important and little-known songwriting secrets. Famous songwriters are often asked how they know if a song is going to be a hit or not. And they all answer that they don't know this in advance. What they do is keep writing and sometimes a song or two become a hit. There is just some magic about them that their other songs don't have. What? It's difficult to answer.

Nobody can sit down with the idea that "now they are going to write a hit". It's daunting. If you think that you have to do something exceptional at this moment, the creative spark will never come. Creativity flourishes while you are working. And you usually don't know or feel that your work is something special until you finish it. Even then, you might be the only one who likes it. All you can do is keep practicing, writing and learning more and more songwriting secrets and about the business.

It Takes About 10,000 Hours of Work & Practice


You've probably heard the saying: "practice makes perfect". It's true in every field. Nobody becomes a great songwriter in a year. Research says that it usually takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to get exceptionally good at something.It might sound impossible to accomplish. 10,000 hours can take 10 years even if you practice a little every day. But don't just think of the kind of practice when you sit down and write. Reading, learning, and thinking about songwriting also count as practice. So this time may be a lot shorter for you if you take your art seriously and you're hard-working enough.

Now you might think of 16-year old people who are are geniuses at this young age. But in each case, these are kids who started practicing whatever they do well now at the age of 7 or 8.

A few people get a lucky break though. But they are the exceptions. And if you're not ready for success, it won't feel as good as it should. You'll be unsure about yourself and your abilities.

Everybody Has Stupid Ideas. More Than Great Ones.


Sometimes when two or more songwriters sit down to collaborate, they are nervous. Because when they write on their own, nobody judges how good or bad their ideas are (except themselves). And they might think that the other songwriters, especially the successful ones are full of amazingly unbelievable ideas. They aren't. Forget it. Just so you know, songwriters have much more stupid ideas than great ones. And those stupid ones have to come out to make room for the great ones. So don't be ashamed of you less than perfect ideas, they are things to be cherished.

About 1 Song In 10 Is Great


When we see a list of hits a famous songwriter has written, we tend to think that these songs are the only ones they have written. And the one they will write next is just as sure to be a hit as the previous ones. Wrong! Before they had even a cut (and not a hit), they wrote hundreds, or maybe thousands of songs. Some were great, most weren't. But they had to write those songs to practice. And when they become successful, the ratio of good-bad songs is still 1 potential hit in 10 songs they write. For most of the songwriters. So don't worry if you write a lot of crap. The masters also do.

Most of The Songs Don't Get Cut

This is one of the songwriting secrets few people know. Even if you write a hundred potentially hit songs, there's no guarantee that they ever become a real hit. You need so many things to get there.

• You need an exceptional demo.
• You need to get the song into a decision-maker's hands.
• They need to love it and get the other decision-makers to love it too.
• The artist has to feel your song is something they could have written. (style, genre, range, their life story…)
• Your song has to be among the top 10 or 12 greatest songs for the album.
• The album has to be a success.
• It's good if they choose it to be one of the singles.
• The artist has to promote the song, etc.


This is a long list. You have to be very lucky to get to the end of this list. But dreams sometimes come true. All you can do is keep working hard and be happy about the positive things that come your way on your road to stardom. :)


Who You Know Is Important


"It's not what you know, it's who you know" is true in the music business. Partly. Because if you don't have the "what", you have little chance to get to the "who" part.


So collaborate with as many songwriters as you can. Network with people in the business. Go to conferences, seminars. Be present on songwriting forums. Go to concerts, etc. It's enough if you find one person to believe in you. This person should be in the right position to help you of course.

Collaboration Is the Key To Success


Look at the charts. Look at the top 20 songs. Out of those 20 songs, usually only 1 or 2 have been written by one songwriter alone. Some of the songs have been written by 5 people. What a surprising songwriting secret! (I was for me...) I know you might think that in that case 5 people have to share the royalties. That's true. But 1/5 of a lot of money is still better than zero money. If you co-write, you can make your songs much stronger. If people who come from different places put their heads together, miracles can happen.


Make the Best Demo Possible


Writing a potentially hit song is not enough for success. Another important songwriting secret is that you have to present your songs professionally. That's why you have to make a demo.These days home recording studios make it possible to create a broadcast quality demo for no or very little money. But some people have no idea about this technical stuff. If you're one of them, you still have some options for making a demo.


• Use your home recording studio. (relatively cheap)
• You can hire a demo service to record your songs. (might be risky and expensive)
• You can use a professional studio. (even more expensive)


So what if you can't do any of these? A golden songwriting secret: try to find a co-writer who - besides writing great music - is good at recording demos. You can post a "collaborator wanted" advertisement on one of the songwriting forums, for example.




As you can see, songwriting secrets are not really secrets. They are some very practical things to know. As for me, I like to know that the secret is not "being born a genius songwriter"! :)


More advice on How To Write A Song