How do songwriters and music producers maintain longevity?

C

Chenjerai

guest
What are the key factors in maintaining longevity for most successful songwriters and music producers?

Is there any secret sauce?
 
recommended
Capitalism 101.

Why work harder if you can work smarter without ever breaking a sweat?

Producing a song takes time so does writing a song from scratch. That's if the material isn't subpar, to begin with. In fact, it is an accepted truth that the more millions you make from anything, the higher the chance that you will lose the drive to continuously pursue your passion.

You won't be hungry like you used to from the start and this happens in every business (it's pretty much human nature)—the music industry isn't an exception either unless you are into audio mixing and mastering, you can't outsource that quite easily, you have to do it yourself for best results.

Nevertheless, as a songwriter or music producer, you could always lend...

Queen

grand master
By doing less work except focusing on new talent and trends to exploit.

The same damn thing is done by some (but not all) film music composers once they reach a certain level where they are overwhelmed with work and deadlines. Some will literarily stop writing scores completely but work with a team of young composers by pointing them in the right direction where things need to go.
 

Sadzandiuraye

initiate
Capitalism 101.

Why work harder if you can work smarter without ever breaking a sweat?

Producing a song takes time so does writing a song from scratch. That's if the material isn't subpar, to begin with. In fact, it is an accepted truth that the more millions you make from anything, the higher the chance that you will lose the drive to continuously pursue your passion.

You won't be hungry like you used to from the start and this happens in every business (it's pretty much human nature)—the music industry isn't an exception either unless you are into audio mixing and mastering, you can't outsource that quite easily, you have to do it yourself for best results.

Nevertheless, as a songwriter or music producer, you could always lend your brand name to upcoming record producers and songwriters. In return, their music gets more attention and recognization than it wouldn't otherwise have gotten if it wasn't for you.

Hence, you probably might have heard of songwriting sessions or songwriting camps aka songwriting sweatshops to be precise... hahaha!

But hey, it's just business to demand songwriting credits alongside music publishing royalties so it's nothing personal—take it as you will. And if you are a newbie into the music business bothered by that fact then too bad... because that's every major artist's modus operandi.

In a nutshell, there are numerous ghostwriters and ghost producers behind so many songs. The A-List artists, producers, and songwriters can go on a vacation while the songwriting sweatshops are busy cranking out new material for them to either accept or decline to record.
 
recommended

Queen

grand master
@Sadzandiuraye additionally, for recording artists with clout, all it takes is to tweak a few lines to get a third, so the songwriter or record producer with the least leverage in a songwriting sweatshop is usually the one who gets screwed the most.
 

Tanonoka

initiate
Longevity in the music business for songwriters is much easier to attain than for recording artists and music producers because if you are a popular singer, rapper, or record producer you are constantly under heavy scrutiny for every commercial music project you work on.

Therefore, there is less room for error and being experimental compared to songwriters who don't get much if not any negative press even when some of the songs they write flop on music charts.
 

Queen

grand master
@Tanonoka age is another factor that doesn't affect songwriters neither does it affect music producers too.

For example, there is so much ageism for recording artists in mainstream music, especially female artists.

Once a recording artist reaches a certain age, the machine (i.e. a record label) will often start to reluctantly promote that recording artist as they used to since they are more likely to start to see them as rapidly losing relevancy due to something beyond their control.
 

New Posts

Latest resources

Top