No More Excuses...Please Help A Wannabe Songwriter

[FrankH]

Wags, have you checked out the songwriting academy? It's based in the UK, this looks like the info you are looking for:
https://thesongwritingacademy.co.uk/the ... -business/

[wagtunes]

I really am an idiot and there's no hope for me.

+1

Hey Michael, what do you know? We agree on something.

[wagtunes]

Wags, have you checked out the songwriting academy? It's based in the UK, this looks like the info you are looking for:
https://thesongwritingacademy.co.uk/the ... -business/

First I'm hearing of it. Thanks.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Well, then I really am an idiot and there's no hope for me.

Lots of idiots make it. Stop making excuses

[wagtunes]

Well, then I really am an idiot and there's no hope for me.

Lots of idiots make it. Stop making excuses

It was sarcasm.

[jacqueslacouth]

Well, then I really am an idiot and there's no hope for me.

You know what mate? That is probably closer to the money than just about anything else you have said. It's not actually a bad thing to come to grips with the reality that you have more than 99% chance of having missed the boat. Let's face it, you are in a similar boat to an awful lot of plonkers on KVR. We are old farts who have had a fantasy for a long time, now in our middle age (and with the advancement of technology) can now afford to delude ourselves that we might crack it in our 50s or 60s. But let's be honest, as performers we are too old and wrinkled to sell our branding to the kids and as songwriters we are simply not addressing the current market. It's OK old fella, you did your best, but thankfully by your own admission you don't care about...well, whatever. Kick back, have some fun and just enjoy the shite you do because honestly, when you listen to the majority of crap we all produce around here...exactly whose donkey are we tugging ( ) if we actually believe what we are doing is going to crack it. I mean, I have gone out of my way to expose myself to the productions of the self-professed "superior" individuals around here and FARK me dead, are they actually farking serious??? It's OK...we are the plebs...together we stand!

[jacqueslacouth]

OH yes...and you (Wags) may have avoided a load of shit if you had trusted my bullshit alarm (finely tuned to Gold Coast bullshit)

[wagtunes]

If I were single, this is what I would do starting today. This gets pretty long so read at your own peril.

1. Move to New York.

2. Go through every piece of written information I can find (phone directories, registries, etc.) looking for everything in the city related to the music business no matter how remotely removed.

3. I would make a schedule for each day. What places to go to and who to talk to.

4. I would make up several demo MP3s to hand out to people so that they can hear my music.

5. I would then look at my schedule and hit each place taking only a break mid afternoon for lunch.

6. I would ask each person I spoke to for references of other people I could talk to if they couldn't help me.

7. I would then modify the list to include those references.

8. I would go to any local radio stations to see if they play songs by unknowns and if so, hand them an MP3.

9. I would go to every local club to see what bands were playing and ask them if they're looking for original material. If not, I'd ask them if they know any bands that are looking for original material.

10. I would go to recording studios to see if I could get any kind of job interning.

11. Finally, I would have to get some kind of a job to support myself eventually. The funds I currently have (assuming that even though single I still have those funds) will only last so long.

I would then repeat that process, if not successful, in Nashville, then LA, then Detroit, then Seattle, and so on until I either finally make it or die.

That would be my life if I was single right now.

Asking my wife to live this life with me is not only crazy but selfish.

Now, I have no idea if what I outlined above is even the right process. As I said coming into this thread, all I know is what I did years ago, sending tapes to publishers. So without any help, this is the plan I've come up with. It might be the best plan in the world or it might be the worst plan in the world. I have no idea.

In the meantime, I would still try to do something online. What, I don't know. But something.

[toonertik]

Well, then I really am an idiot and there's no hope for me.

You know what mate? That is probably closer to the money than just about anything else you have said. It's not actually a bad thing to come to grips with the reality that you have more than 99% chance of having missed the boat. Let's face it, you are in a similar boat to an awful lot of plonkers on KVR. We are old farts who have had a fantasy for a long time, now in our middle age (and with the advancement of technology) can now afford to delude ourselves that we might crack it in our 50s or 60s. But let's be honest, as performers we are too old and wrinkled to sell our branding to the kids and as songwriters we are simply not addressing the current market. It's OK old fella, you did your best, but thankfully by your own admission you don't care about...well, whatever. Kick back, have some fun and just enjoy the shite you do because honestly, when you listen to the majority of crap we all produce around here...exactly whose donkey are we tugging ( ) if we actually believe what we are doing is going to crack it. I mean, I have gone out of my way to expose myself to the productions of the self-professed "superior" individuals around here and FARK me dead, are they actually farking serious??? It's OK...we are the plebs...together we stand!

[counterparty]

A suggestion: a fair few songwriters with publishing deals also have side jobs teaching songwriting, singing etc (because songwriting doesn't really pay the rent any more).

Find a songwriting coach who gives private lessons via Skype and has some industry relationships. If your music is truly commercially viable (and I'm not judging here b/c I haven't listened to it) maybe they'll help you out or go with a co-write. If it's not commercially viable they'll help you get it there.

[Hink]

Well, then I really am an idiot and there's no hope for me.

You know what mate? That is probably closer to the money than just about anything else you have said. It's not actually a bad thing to come to grips with the reality that you have more than 99% chance of having missed the boat. Let's face it, you are in a similar boat to an awful lot of plonkers on KVR. We are old farts who have had a fantasy for a long time, now in our middle age (and with the advancement of technology) can now afford to delude ourselves that we might crack it in our 50s or 60s. But let's be honest, as performers we are too old and wrinkled to sell our branding to the kids and as songwriters we are simply not addressing the current market. It's OK old fella, you did your best, but thankfully by your own admission you don't care about...well, whatever. Kick back, have some fun and just enjoy the shite you do because honestly, when you listen to the majority of crap we all produce around here...exactly whose donkey are we tugging ( ) if we actually believe what we are doing is going to crack it. I mean, I have gone out of my way to expose myself to the productions of the self-professed "superior" individuals around here and FARK me dead, are they actually farking serious??? It's OK...we are the plebs...together we stand!

not to mention the fact it is very easy at this point, at least for me anyhow, to see some truths as to why this might be advantageous. First, I got my first guitar in '71 though I was playing silly folk songs on my sister's in 67-68. I can look back over my life at every milestone and in between and see how music has benefited my life, but more so if I had of made it? I'll get back to that but for now, impossible to know. How would my life be different if I were to have stayed in the field I first went to school for, a machinist? I might own my own machine shop or I could own less fingers

Most people know I turned 60 last week, I look around at a lot of my influences who didn't make it near 60 and some were obviously a direct result of their making it, being in a place they might not have been otherwise. Now that doen't really mean much, my cousin's mom (second cousin so really another cousin) was suppose to be on one of the planes on 9/11, she missed the flight and dropped dead walking from her front door to her living room a couple days later. So that is pure speculation.

I learned early on that I didn't really want the whole band experience, I wasn't into playing cover tunes, I wasn't into playing the same songs over and over to death and quite frankly am not about being a showman, just not my thing.

So getting back to making it, like you said jacqueslacouth, we all had our dreams when we were younger. As I grew older I feared without said dreams my motivation might die so in my 30's I hung onto that, then in my 40's I went the old rocker route and went into music retail. I started re-evaluating what making it really meant and I realized it was about growth and by the time 2000 came and I was 41 and it was almost 30 years since I got my first guitar that I was in a great place and had a lot to happy about musically.

Not unlike anyone else I have had my share of disastrous losses and events in my life, driving a bus an 8 year old girl fell under the bus (she survived but it destroyed me), lost my wife tragically, at 60 I'm alone except for my son (literally besides one cousin in california who some of you know of, RC I have no family and lots of other self inflicted stupid things. Every time music has been there for me, every time I have been able to lean on my passion to get me through, that's success, that's making it. I have the gear, the knowledge and the skill to accomplish what I desire and do get what I need from my music, the best part is not a single hater can take that away.

I have said many times if I could go back in time to tell myself one thing it would simply be that my music would be there for me every inch of the way, I would still get the same kick from it and not to get hung up on what anyone else thinks because 99% of haters and egotists likely are the ones with the issue...not me.

More importantly imo is the fact that those who matter will remember me when I am gone for my passion, I made it 38 years so far as passionate as the day I started...and no one can take that away.

Far too many positives that are fact to concentrate on than the what ifs based on dreams/fantasy...one thing I really learned well (especially when Denise died just 8 hours before my ultimate dream was to come true)...dreams are never as they seem.

What a long strange trip it has been

[donkey tugger]

when you listen to the majority of crap we all produce around here...exactly whose donkey are we tugging ( )

What's your game lad?

[thecontrolcentre]

What a long strange trip it has been

... you ain't seen nothing yet

[wagtunes]

Hink, thanks for stopping by and sharing all that. I don't really know what to say to it all. It does kind of put things into perspective.

Truth is, if I'm going to be totally honest with myself, I have a lot to be thankful for and I'm just being ungrateful. A lot of people don't have what I have. I'm hung up on a 42 year old fantasy that, quite honestly, probably won't mean as much to me now even if I did make it. I certainly wouldn't trade the life that I have for a music career. Hell, I wouldn't trade the life I have now for all the money in the world.

I just have to keep reminding myself of that.

[BertKoor]

Who are you?

A deceptively simple question, so hard to answer. There's no right or wrong answer.

I am an iceberg. You are an iceberg too. All other people can see is the tip. Those are our actions, easy to perceive. Under water are our true deeper motivations. Often we're not even aware of these ourselves.

The answer you gave was fine, but you have to dig deeper, much deeper, to get a better insight in how you act and why, and why certain things you do are succesful or fail.