This post helps you get started, but that’s only the beginning. My Artist Sanctuary Monthly Membership will take you step-by-step through the artist development process to build your artistry and career–the same process I’ve used to help my clients win Grammy Awards, get featured in Rolling Stone, secure major licensing deals, get signed to management and labels, and live the dream. What would it feel like to be regularly performing to thousands of people singing the words to your songs and supporting your career by the end of this year? Come join our Artist Sanctuary and find out how.

There’s a delicate balance between your songs, your music, your artist persona, and the artistic principles that turn artists into superstars. With 100,000 songs being uploaded on Spotify every day, you need more than generic songwriting advice to move the needle on your career. 

These are my top 3 secrets to writing songs that stream like crazy and play on repeat, giving your music and career the amplification and boost you’ve been looking for. 

It’s closer than you think, but easier to accomplish with these tools and methods. 

1. Message + Theme

The right message, song concepts, topics, and overall theme of the artist to create an exciting, magnetic experience that attracts your audience.  

Each successful artist has their own unique and specific message and style. John Mayer writes about relationships and the world. Adele writes about her life experiences in a confessional and intimate way. Joni Mitchell paints with pictures in her lyrics that allow us to step into a scene evoking our emotions through storytelling. Ed Sheeran writes about relationships and his vulnerabilities. Each album reflects a time period in that artists life, but there are overarching themes each artist writes about.

To find the overarching theme draw from your own life experiences and personality. 

• What are the themes in my life: love, loss, joy, grief, dedication, etc.
• What are the themes / challenges I revolve around in my life? 
• What time period are you going through? 

Spend some time journaling and brain dumping to get to the themes and unique messages that you want to bring to your music. 

Once you get the overall theme, and then the album concept, we break that down into song concepts. In our CCVM Alchemical Method we reverse that process and start with the song concepts that emerge first leading to the album concept and the overall theme. 

2. Mission + Artist Persona 

Songs that align with your artistry + persona in a way that helps you stand out and grow your audience

It starts with your mission. “Your why”. Why do you do music? What got you started? Usually something in your life drove you to it. What was it? Get yourself back in that headspace for a moment. 

Write it out. There is always a very specific reason, you just have to hunt for it. Think about what was going on in your life when you started playing. It was either to get away from something, soothe feelings, give yourself a refuge, or to please a parent, or the attention that came from performing etc. But even with those last few, there is a reason you would do it under that.  What was it for you? 

Next, we look at the name and artist persona? What is your personality in music? Don’t try to match something you think you are supposed to be. Rather, make music fit to you. Are you the girl/boy/they next door? Best friend? Rockstar? Confessional songwriter?

Songs that are written in alignment with your artist persona, personality, and features can help create a clear message to attract and build your audience. 

• Strengths: Align your songs with your persona. For instance, Sara Bareilles is the “best friend” who shares what she’s feeling in a way that draws you in. 
• Features: What pieces of the music and genre do you want to highlight to pull out your persona?
• Your artist persona: What are the aspects of your persona?

3. Making Your Masterpiece 

Making a masterpiece is the goal – not rushing to put things out. Okay if you don’t have anything out then experiment and put out 3-5 Singles. See what gets the most response – helps you to narrow the field. 

But when you are ready to take your music to the next level to really see what you can do (and even if you have several records out, you are probably going to benefit from some of these steps)

Here’s the punchlist: 

1. Songwriting: High Level of Craft 
2. The Right Sound + Direction / Genre or Genre Blending 
3. Song Selection: Choosing the Right Songs  + Inner Circle Voting
4. Finding the Right Producer
5. A&R Production Direction 
6. Record a Broadcast Quality Record 

Here are the details: It starts with these elements: a high level of songwriting skill, finding your sound + direction, finding the right producer, choosing the right songs, recording a broadcast quality record that will  stimulate the DSP algorithms and expand your reach.

1) Songwriting: High Level of Craft 

Making a masterpiece is the goal – not rushing to put things out. If you don’t have anything out then experiment and put out 3-5 Singles. See what gets the most response which will help you to narrow the field. 

Remember songs are the BEDROCK of your masterpiece. We can’t start layering on top of a weak foundation and expect it to be a masterpiece. So that means first writing at a high level of craft.  Spending time on your songs, writing, editing, tweaking until they are JUST right. Get professional feedback, don’t write in a vacuum. It’s important to learn from those who have gone before you, and are more experienced – they will help you grow faster and put out better material. Remember the popular adage – songs are not written – they are rewritten. It is through tweaking and perfecting a song that a song reaches its full potential. How fast a song came out is not an indicator of it’s excellence. Rarely is that the case – but it’s cool when that happens! Most songs are tweaked and worked on to get them to the the highest level possible. Your success is only as good as your songs. Your career can only go as far as your songs can take you. 

2) The Right Sound + Direction / Genre or Genre Blending 

Making a masterpiece means first fleshing out the right sound + direction. Many artists have a hard time finding their sound or committing to a genre. Most artists listen to tons of music in multiple genres and this part can be hard to figure out. The first thing is you can probably include more elements of these genres than you think, but you will have to rule out some stuff. However as you go through the process the pieces you weed out become obvious.

Finding the right sound and direction for your music is really important. It helps achieve a home base for your music and attracts your key audience. When finding a sound use these 3 to help guide your way. 

• Direction + genre:  As you head off into your next project, focus on the vision of the direction that you want. Land in a genre or if that’s too claustrophobic for you, try blending a few genres together. 
• Your sound: What are the elements that you want to make up your sound? 
• Wild card: The wild card is the sound or influence that is “outside the box”. It’s an important part of setting you apart and creating what I call a “differentiator” in your sound. 

3) Song Selection: Choosing the Right Songs  +  Inner Circle Voting

The songwriting techniques and methods big artists use to inspire their writing, choose their songs, and continue to put out top-shelf songs involves writing 2-3x what they need to pick the cherries. They write for a solid year or two, and then demo everything, show the best to their inner circle and then either pick the cherries or keep writing. At a high level in the business song selection is the determining factor in the success of the album and is taken very seriously. 

• Write 2-3x what you need. 
• Singles: write 3-6 songs to pick 1-2
• EP (7 songs): write 14-21 songs to pick 7
• LP (10 songs): write 20-30 songs to pick 10 
• Bring to your Inner Circle of a mix of professionals, fans and friends/family. 
• Everyone votes on their top songs. 
• This gives you information about which songs are speaking most to people. 
• This helps you decide if you need to keep writing or what songs to invest in.

4) Choosing the Right Producer

Choosing the right producer is the next big thing on the list. 

5) A&R Production Direction – a Creative Brief for the Sound + Direction of the Record 

Choosing the right producer is an art of in itself. It’s a bit tricky and can land you in a bit of a mess if you’re not careful. 

Look for someone who already HAS the sound you are looking for. You don’t want your record to be their first attempt at a new style/sound no matter how friendly they are. Always revert back to their sound to determine if they are a fit for you. You also want to look for someone who is open to listening. to you and has experience in the industry as well as knows how to create broadcast-quality recordings. 

To help the process along I meet with the artist to compile a comprehensive and clear A&R Profile – a Creative Brief of the sound and direction for the producer with a specific “sound + direction” along with references the artist and I comb through to give a good starting place. This helps the success of the project. If you leave it up to verbal explanations, it leaves it too open for interpretation.

Be sure to choose. a producer with. a track record. Look them up on allmusic.com and select the dropdown “producer” to see what they have actual production credits on. 

6) Record a Broadcast Quality Record 

If you are just putting music out and it’s not professionally mixed then put it up on Soundcloud. Only put professional releases on DSP’s (Digitial Service Providers like Spotify, Apple etc). You’ll need broadcast-quality mixing + mastering to stimulate the DSP algorithms and expand your reach.  

Broadcast quality means professionally mixed and mastered for professional release – that meets the standards required as this affects the algorithm and how your songs will be placed and prioritized on the provider. 

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Come join our upcoming Signature Songwriting Circle where we take you step-by-step through this entire process from start to finish – Click here to join our waitlist to be first notified when we open. The 2023 program runs from July 19, 2023 – Nov 8, 2023.