Well, let me tell you how I make decisions like this.

Below are six questions that I ask myself in situations like this. In order to be an opportunity I want to pursue, it needs to satisfy at least two of them, while likely sacrificing at least a few others.

1. Is it going to bring in some money?

Now, maybe this isn’t a question that you would have on your list (at least at first), and that’s ok. But I’m currently living the musician lifestyle, so I have to very careful about making sure that I use my time well and be sure I’m bringing in enough money to support myself and my family.

2. Is it going to leave me enough time/energy to do the other things I want to do?

This is a big one for me. I’ve got a lot going on that I’m depending on (I’m sure you do too), and I need to make sure that I can continue to do those things while pursuing this new opportunity.

3. Does it have pretty good potential for long term (or short term) success?

Some opportunities are small, and some are big. This question obviously results in a very subjective answer, but if I believe in the opportunity enough and feel there are good chances for success in the future, that makes me much more open to being involved.

4. Will I learn something or gain a skill that will be beneficial in the future?

Some opportunities provide the ability to learn things that I wouldn’t be able to learn on my own. This can be a big plus, because I want to make sure that I’m always growing and learning new things (hopefully you do too).

5. Will it lead to bigger and better opportunities in the future?

This is another slightly subjective question, but obviously I want to try my best to take opportunities that provide a potential path to bigger opportunities that might mean achieving certain goals of mind.

6. Does it require close to zero effort from me?

Sometimes this happens. It’s obviously makes things a lot easier on me if an opportunity doesn’t actually require any additional time or effort from me!

Now, let me give you a few personal examples of when I’ve had to make decisions based on these questions.

As some of you know, last year I toured with the band Future of Forestry. This was obviously a pretty big decision to make, but let’s look at it in light of these questions. One of the biggest reasons I accepted was because I knew it had the potential to lead to bigger and better opportunities in the future. Secondly, I knew that I could learn a whole lot by going on tour (which I’d never done) and also by playing with some really great musicians. And lastly, it did bring in a little bit of money. So that’s three questions satisfied! But I did have to sacrifice a few things as well. Obviously going out and rehearsing/touring meant that I wouldn’t have the time or energy to do the things I would normally have done with that time. But in this situation the pros outweighed the cons, and I know I made the right decision.

As another example, I had someone email me a while ago asking if I would write a bunch of original music to go underneath his spoken word poetry for an album. I thought the idea was interesting, and I was open to it. But the more we talked about it and the more I thought about it, I decided that it would be a lot of work for me, and wouldn’t really satisfy any of the other questions above to make up for it. There wasn’t any money involved and I wasn’t confident that this would bring me any additional exposure or “success” in the future. So eventually I said no to the project.

As a final example, occasionally I have people email me and ask if they can use my music for free in their YouTube videos/student films/etc. Now the obvious con in this situation is that I’m not making any money from the work I’ve done. But on the other hand this doesn’t require any effort on my part other than saying “yes” and perhaps signing a form. And if there is even a small chance for exposure and/or bigger opportunities in the future, then I’m happy to have them use my music!

So this is how I make my musical decisions that involve time and money as tradeoffs. If you’re struggling with these types of decisions, write out a list of questions that you need to consider. Maybe it looks the same as mine, or maybe it’s slightly different. That’s ok. But write it out and decide how many “yes” answers you need to consider taking part in the opportunity in front if you. If you don’t get that many solid yes’s, then maybe it’s time to say no!

Have you ever had to make a tough decision on a musical opportunity?

REMINDER: There is one week left to take part it our first community songwriting exercise! I’ve gotten so many great submissions already, click here to get in on it!

The post Successful Musicians Know When to Say No (and When to Say Yes) appeared first on Andy Othling.

Alright guys, I have an idea.

I know that there are a lot of you out there struggling with songwriting. You’re struggling getting the motivation to sit down and start, because you don’t know where to start. Or maybe you’re struggling with the song itself. Things get too complicated and you get overwhelmed.

Well, I want to offer a unique and fun opportunity that I hope will help with both of those problems.

I’ve recorded a very simple guitar part that I want you to download. Then, using whatever is at your disposal, I want you to turn my guitar part into a fully fleshed out song part and send it back to me. Not a full song, just a piece. I’m hoping this will help you in two ways:

1. Motivation

You have two weeks to do this. On Tuesday, May 28, I will pick a few of my favorite submissions and feature them on this blog along with a link to your music or whatever you’d like. This might seem like a short amount of time, but I’m a huge fan of motivation that comes from deadlines! If you struggle with getting things done with songwriting, then this is for you. Make it a priority to download the track, put something down on it, and send it back to me. This is a small step, but I know you’re gonna feel a great sense of accomplishment when you get it finished.

2. Simplicity

I feel like a big problem a lot of people have in songwriting is over-complication. We think we need to start with a complicated idea in order to make an interesting song. We think we need to add complicated parts. But the reality is that we don’t! The vast majority of the time, the best songs come from a few very simple parts coming together. This is what I want you to do with my track! I’ve given you a VERY simple start, and I want you to focus on adding more simple layers to create an interesting song idea.

The Rules (this is important)

I will not accept your song idea as an email attachment. It must be uploaded publicly to SoundCloud. You can then email a link to your SoundCloud file to andy@andyothling.com, as well as a link that you’d like to have featured along with your song idea should it be chosen.

You must submit your song idea by Monday, May 27 in the evening. I’ve got to have time to write the blog for that Tuesday!

Alright, now that all that’s out of the way, here’s the track along with some things you need to know.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THIS FILE

(here is a 44.1k sample rate file if you need it)

1. This song idea is at 117 BPM. You’ll need to set this value in your DAW if you want to record with a click.
2. The file is a 24bit, 48k sample rate WAV file. If you have sample rate issues, email me and we can work it out.
3. The progression is in G. It goes G, Em, C, D, Bm.
4. There is one measure of silence followed by 4 times through the progression.

The only real rule here is that you have to get it done in two weeks! Feel free to mess with the track however you like… cut it up, change the pitch, reverse it, whatever! Just have fun and be inspired.

Once you’re done, feel free to also post a link to your song idea in the comments to share with others!

Good luck! I’m looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with!

The post Get inspired with this simple songwriting exercise appeared first on Andy Othling.

1. You can, with minimal gear and cost, make recordings of your own songs that you can be extremely proud of.
2. You can take these songs and share them with the world. You can make money from them. You can even make a career out of them.

How do I know these things are true? Well, because I’ve done it. Over the past few years I’ve recorded and released a bunch of music under the name Lowercase Noises, I’ve worked really hard, and I’ve turned this into a career for myself.

And where did all this start? Really it started when I realized that it was actually possible to record my own music. And that it could actually sound good.

And this is what I want you to realize as well. I want you to get excited about it. Because I’m excited about it.

There is a joy and a satisfaction seeing a song through from writing and recording, all the way to the point where someone else can listen and enjoy it, that I can’t fully describe. I am hopelessly addicted to it, and I know it’s something that I’m going to be doing for the rest of my life, no matter what happens. But I didn’t always know what this felt like.

I grew up a guitar player, but eventually I wanted more from my music. I wanted to contribute more than just a guitar part to someone else’s song. I wanted to create something bigger than just my guitar. And so I decided that I would figure out how.

My first album was recorded on a laptop, in an apartment, with a USB interface and a couple of mics. That’s it. You can actually listen to this album here, if you want.

That album is almost four years old now, and I believe that I’ve gotten much better at recording since then, but I am still extremely proud of it. I had an intense desire to create those songs, I had some of the cheapest recording gear you can find, and I was determined to make it work. I didn’t know a single thing about how compressors work, how I was supposed to EQ a guitar, or what the heck an aux send was. But I worked hard, I learned a lot, and I made an album that I am still proud of to this day.

People will tell you this isn’t true. They’ll tell you this can’t happen. They’ll tell you that you need to spend thousands of dollars on gear and years learning about this stuff before you can express your creativity through recording.

But I’m here to tell you… it isn’t true.

Do you want to know the joy and satisfaction that comes from bringing a song to life through recording? You can do it. You absolutely can. It might seem overwhelming at first, but I know I’m not the only one with an intense desire to create songs. And THAT’S really the only thing you need to carry you through this.

I want you to be excited. I want you to know that there is nothing stopping you.

Now, this has been a lot of talk. Let me quickly share a few resources with you. If you have no idea where to start with recording equipment, check out this blog I wrote about the basic tools you need to record yourself. If you’re looking for tips on how to use what you currently have, I highly recommend Graham from The Recording Revolution. He has some of the best advice for home musicians that I’ve found. He’s been an invaluable resource for me.

Lastly, do you know someone who needs to hear this? Do you have a friend/coworker/family member who might be interested in recording but doesn’t think it’s possible or has no idea where to start? I’d love it if you shared this post with them. I really want to enable as many people as possible to have this experience and be able to create music that they are proud of.

Are you just starting out on this journey? Tell me about what your goals are in the comments!

The post I want to get you excited about recording appeared first on Andy Othling.

Then we become a little bit obsessed, and we try to figure out exactly what that person is doing different in an effort to glean some knowledge that might help us to become successful too. You know what I mean? For me it can be something like a particular guitar sound that someone gets. I just can’t wrap my mind around how they achieved that. Or with songwriting. Instead of enjoying a killer song, I find myself jealous at how good a songwriter that person is and wonder why I can’t write something that good.

You know what I’m talking about?

In our quest to answer the question of why this other person is seeing success, we tend to start with the easiest, most obvious questions to try to explain it. We think “if I just knew what guitar pedals and settings they’re using, I’ll be able to figure this out”. Or, if I ask this person how exactly how they came up with this song, I’ll be able to figure out how to write a song just as good. And sometimes we get the guts to actually ask these questions, and we might even get an answer.

But you know what I’ve found? Even when we get the answer to these questions, it rarely helps. We gain some knowledge on how this person is successful, but not why. And in the long run, this doesn’t really help us. It might actually hurt us, because we end up doing a lot of copying instead of innovating.

What we fail to realize is that this person’s success is likely not rooted in something simple or easily identifiable. Learning about pedal settings or songwriting styles is interesting and can help inform some of our decisions, but there’s likely some subtletly and LOTS of experience and experimenting that we’re missing.

So do you want to be successful? If yes, then think carefully about the questions you ask about other people’s success. There’s nothing wrong with asking the easy questions and gaining some knowledge that way, but combine that with deep study of this person’s success with the goal of obtaining some wisdom, or understanding of why something someone does works for them. Learning this will ultimately be the thing that can propel you to success, because you’ll be able to apply it to yourself without being a direct copy.

So seek wisdom. Dig deeper. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking the key to success is in the answer to a surface level question! Look for those lessons that get at the why instead of the how. It might take some more work and some time experimenting, but it will serve you well!

Have you found this to be true? What questions have you asked that you thought would satisfy you and solve a problem, but ultimately did not?

The post The art of asking questions (knowledge vs. wisdom) appeared first on Andy Othling.

But the more I’ve been thinking about and teaching this stuff, something keeps popping out at me. And that’s YouTube. I’m realizing more and more how INCREDIBLY POWERFUL YouTube is, and I’m also realizing that there really isn’t anything remotely close to it in terms of helping you get your music out there. So even though everyone has different music and will promote it differently, I’m tempted to say that…. every musician should be active on YouTube.

Wanna know why?

Discoverability

I see YouTube as kind of a microcosm of the entire internet. It’s a place where you can basically find out anything you need to know. Like, how to install a car stereo in my specific car or how to make pancakes. Or funny cat videos. Whatever. People are going to YouTube to find out anything and everything. They also get sucked in, because that’s how videos work, and because YouTube does a great job of recommending other videos based on the current one you’re watching. That means that if you can get some good videos up on YouTube and post consistently, you have a much greater chance of “getting discovered” and getting people to listen to/download your music. I guarantee you that if you have an idea for a YouTube video (or videos), there’s also someone there searching for your video and will be so happy to see yours. What other service provides that? Facebook and Twitter? Nope. Soundcloud? People seem to think it does, but it’s nowhere even close. Get stuff on YouTube and you have a WAY better chance of being discovered.

Shareability

We all know what a viral video is. But do you know WHY videos go viral? A lot of is because YouTube is just plain built to facilitate that. Now, it’s relatively futile to make a conscious effort to create a Gangnam Style viral video, but hopefully it shows you that people are much more inclined to share a YouTube video than most other things. The YouTube platform combined with the inherent fact that video is so engaging leads to a lot of sharing. So if you can get some good video content up, not only do you have a great chance of being “discovered”, but you also have a better chance of being shared and spread around the internet for even more discovery from others. Again, can you think of a service that does this better than YouTube? I can’t.

Longevity

This is maybe one of the best things about YouTube that I never hear talked about. When we use Facebook and Twitter to promote music, we create posts, send them out, hope people see them, and then they’re gone. They’re no longer working for us anymore. This is absolutely not the case with YouTube. If you put out a great video and don’t see a great response immediately, that’s alright. There’s nothing to stop that video from working for you in the coming months and even years. I have YouTube videos from 3 or 4 years ago that are STILL sending traffic to my Bandcamp page every day. You can create content now that will keep working for you for years, with minimal upkeep. Again, what other service can do that??

Earn Money

This part of YouTube blows my mind. Not only is it a great place to get discovered, get shared, and have old content keep working for you, but it can PAY YOU MONEY. Isn’t that crazy? If you can get accepted into the YouTube Partners program, each video you create can earn you a little revenue. It’s basically YouTube saying thanks for using their platform and creating original content that keeps people coming back.

So hopefully you can see what I’m saying here. Looking at this list of things that YouTube provides, I really feel that regardless of what type of music you make or what kind of audience you’re working with, YouTube can be a huge help to you.

Because seriously, what other service can do all of these awesome things for you in one place? I don’t think there is one. Do you? Let’s talk about it in the comments below!

The post The real reason(s) that YouTube is the best service for your music appeared first on Andy Othling.

I know that some people love this model so much that they make every release available as a “name your price” download. And that’s totally fine, but I think there are some interesting benefits for having both “free” music and… non-free music.

Free music is the gateway. But what happens after that? Hopefully since people have downloaded something of yours for free, you now have an email address, or some other kind of connection with this person (Facebook, Twitter, etc). For the sake of this article, let’s say that you have two releases available. One of them can be downloaded with the “name your price” (free) option, and one is $5. So how does this model benefit you?

1. Receive More Credibility

This point is hotly debated, but I think there’s some truth to the idea that people will value your music more if they have to pay for it. Furthermore, I feel like it’s to your advantage to have music that isn’t free because it sends a message that you’re valuing yourself and your music to a higher level. Maybe you disagree, and that’s fine, but the reality is that it’s all up to how people perceive you. When you have two different releases like this, you’re essentially making everyone happy. Those who feel music should be free will be happy to get it for free, and those that expect to pay for quality music will take you more seriously when they see you have a release that isn’t free.

2. Have an Upsell

Obviously you’ll probably have more action on the release that’s available for free and this is good promotion. But if you’ve done it right, you have a connection with people who have downloaded your free album, and you can remind them in the future about your other release (which is only $5). Once they’ve spent time with your free music, they may decide they want more. A little reminder or nudge from you might be just what they need to make the purchase.

3. Make More Money

This one might seem obvious, but hear me out. You will find that even though the total number of downloads on your $5 release are lower than your free release, you’ll likely see an increase in money made. Now, I don’t know if making money is a goal or not with your music, but I know that making a little extra cash and reinvesting it into your music can help keep the momentum going and keep increasing the quality of your releases. Maybe the extra cash enables you to buy a cool plugin that becomes essential to your next project, or maybe it enables you to purchase a new instrument that really opens up new doors for your creativity!

4. Generate More Interest With Sales!

After a release has been out for a while how do you continue to generate interest? Well, you sell an “event” instead of just the album. Since you have a release that’s normally $5, you’re now free to experiment with sales! You can generate a lot of interest in your music by doing short term sales via special discount codes or by just plain lowering the price. The key here is to make sure people know it’s a limited time offer and that they have to act soon to get the sale price. Again, this can serve as the final nudge someone needs to finally make a purchase if they’ve been on the fence.

5. Benefit from Social Media When You Make Your Paid Music Free

This is something that’s MOST effective when done very sparingly. But when people are used to you having music for sale, you can make a big deal of the fact that you’re giving away your paid releases for free for a limited time. This will obviously make lots of people excited and give you a bump in downloads. But the best thing that can come out of this is sharing. Along with the announcement of making your music free for a limited time, ask people to share the news with their friends. They’ll be excited about the free music and they’ll have a reason to get their friends onto your music page and download it! You’ll hopefully find yourself with lots of new listeners if you do this right. If you’re interested in a personal case study where I did this, you can read this post with the results.

So hopefully this gives you some ideas on how having a paid release along with a “free” release can actually increase engagement, interaction, and sharing with your fans.

What other benefits do you see to having music both free and for sale? Let everyone know in the comments below.

The post 5 reasons to put a price tag on at least some of your music appeared first on Andy Othling.

And I want to address one of them today. Because this might be one of the most important things we talk about.

Who are you doing this for?

I’ve seen a lot of people talking about a fear of acceptance. Or a fear of how people will respond to your music. I understand this fear, but consider this: who are you making music for? If you’re making music in an effort to please others, then yes. This is a very valid fear, and your fears will most likely be realized, because there will most definitely be people who don’t like your music.

Music is a business. Music is not a business.

We are creating things. We are then telling people about these things and hoping those people take some sort of action and complete a transaction with us, wherein they receive our music or engage us in some way. That’s a business, right? Right. And what’s the purpose of a business? To figure out what people want, and sell it to them. But this is where music is not a business (at least, the kind you and I want to make). Music is art, and art is first and foremost an expression of something inside us. Something we need to get out. Art is created independent of what anybody else wants.

At least that’s how it should be.

If you are creating music underneath the fear and burden of concern about how people are going to receive your music, then you are operating as a business, completely. Businesses craft their products to maximize their income, and live under the fear that people won’t like it or accept it. If you’re writing music in an attempt to maximize the amount of people who are going to like it, then you’re going to have to live under this fear too. And when people tell you they don’t like it (because some will), you’ll be devastated. You failed at reaching your goal.

Remove the possibility of failure

But when we get back to the core of art, when we remember the thrill and beauty of creating something that expresses a part of ourselves; when we create something that is truly representative of us and don’t attempt to cater to the perceived desires of others, then we remove ourselves from living underneath that fear. We remove ourselves from the possibility of failure. We have an honest creation that no one can take away. Your goal was to honestly express yourself through music, and you achieved it. No one can take this away from you, regardless of how they actually feel about what you created.

And you know what happens when you do this? People notice. And people appreciate it. They’re drawn to it. This is backwards business. Create something that expresses only yourself, with almost a complete disregard for what you think other people want, and people will be drawn to it.

This is one of the tenants of my music career, and I think it’s a huge reason for the amount of success I’ve had. I can say in complete honesty that every piece of music I’ve written and released was because of something inside me and not because of something people wanted from me. I can also say with complete honestly that I have no fears about the next thing I release. It will be yet another expression of me, and regardless of the response, my goal will be achieved. And I will be content with that.

How does this make you feel? Who are you creating music for? Let’s talk about this in the comments. I really want to know what you think.

The post Why You Will Fail if You Treat Your Music as a Business appeared first on Andy Othling.

We can probably agree on the fact that the music industry is in a horrible mess right now. There used to be a nice defined way of doing things which was orchestrated (for the most part) by people higher up the food chain holding the keys. But now those people are scrambling to keep and re-gain the control they once had. We are the ones in control now.

But you know what? People are operating as if they still need to depend on the old industry. Even if they’re not on a record label, they’re still acting like they have the same constraints that labels put on artists. They don’t realize the control and freedom they have.

Why constrain your pricing?

Labels have a massive infrastructure they have to maintain. You don’t. That means you can be MUCH more flexible than they can when it comes to pricing of your material. Wanna give it away for free and really focus on getting your music into as many ears as possible? You can do that. Wanna discount your music for a weekend via a special code? You can do that too. Wanna give out free download codes every once in a while? Do it. These are things that labels, who mainly distribute via places like iTunes and Amazon can’t do very well, because they’re not as flexible as you. Get creative! You’re not stuck with 99cent song downloads anymore. (By the way, everything I mentioned here is possible if you have your music available on Bandcamp. I do love them so.)

Why forsake long term gains for short term gains?

I’ve even seen people who still have the goal of getting on a label. When I was younger, this was a pretty common goal for musicians. It’s funny to me now that everything is on it’s head, people still have that goal. If your goal is to have a long-term sustainable career, searching for a label to get behind you seems very short-sighted to me. Labels (in the traditional sense) will take partial ownership of your songs, take a cut of all money you make, and preclude you from being as flexible as you need to be in this day and age. Make it your goal to keep control and ownership of your music. This is what will make you successful in the long run.

Why water yourself down?

You don’t need to make it big. Labels mainly serve to get your music in front of TONS of people. But you know what? You don’t need to have your music heard by tons of people. You just need to have it heard by the right group of people. In fact, it’s far better if you can target a specific niche with your music, even if it’s small. With the internet, you can now target people ALL OVER THE WORLD, by yourself. Labels help you craft music that will appeal to the largest amount of people as possible and make the most money (for them, because they have that massive infrastructure to keep up, remember?). You don’t need to think that way anymore. Make the music you want to make, and find the people who already like it. Develop genuine connections with them. If your true desire is to to express yourself the way you want and share it with others, this is the way to do it. And usually that doesn’t mean mainstream success, but it does increase your chances for a more fulfilling and sustainable career doing what you love.

Why Tuesday?

And one last thing… Don’t release music on a Tuesday. Every major label releases their albums on a Tuesday. Guess what? You don’t have to do that either. Don’t have your release get lost amid all the other Tuesday releases. Pick another day!

So get creative. Make sure you’re not imposing limitations on yourself that don’t even exist anymore. Take hold of the opportunities that are available to you, and don’t let any corporate jerks or news articles convince you that things are terrible for artists right now. Artists are in a great spot… labels are not!

How do you feel about all this? Let’s talk about it in the comments!

The post You’re not on a record label, so stop acting like it appeared first on Andy Othling.

So today I want to give a big ‘ol list of tips, tricks and ideas to help your songwriting. Ready?

1. Get a new toy

Don’t go crazy with this one… I’m not advocating constantly buying new things, but sometimes a new toy can really inspire some new ideas. It can be as simple as a super cheap instrument from a yard sale or a free software plugin (speaking of which, this one always inspires me).

2. Play an instrument you don’t know how to play

Maybe this one can go along with the previous point. I’ve found that tinkering around on an instrument you don’t know how to play can lead to some really cool ideas and get you out of songwriting ruts. You’re inevitably going to play something simple (which is USUALLY better) and you’ll be free of any ruts you normally fall into on your main instrument(s).

3. Make arbitrary decisions

This one might sound weird, but it works for me a lot of the time. Sometimes songwriting is about getting ideas out quickly and sorting through them later. So while you’re sketching a song out, just make arbitrary decisions without giving them much thought. Repeat this section twice? Sure. Verse, chorus, verse, verse, chorus, chorus? Sure! Fine tuning arrangements and parts can come later. At the beginning it’s about getting something… ANYTHING down.

4. Clean up your room

Maybe this one sounds weird too. But maybe you’re like me in that a cluttered room means a cluttered mind. And a cluttered mind means less ability to focus. And that means you’re gonna struggle during a songwriting session. So be intentional about making sure the space you’re using is clean and ready for some creativity.

5. Take pieces from previously written songs

Just because a song is done doesn’t mean you can’t cannibalize it. Did you really like a certain instrument or part from a different song? Grab it, take it out of context and see if it inspires anything new. (Incidentally, this is exactly what I did with the cello tracks on my new song The Windows Of You (I Sang A Quiet Song)… they’re the exact parts taken from another song of mine called Roaring Forties).

6. Reverse it

Now I KNOW this one is weird. And maybe it applies to certain music style more than others. Got a few parts down and don’t know where to go with your song? Make a copy of your tracks and tell your software to reverse them. Now you’ve got some weird sounding backward sounds or even a completely different chord progression. Instant inspiration!

7. Creative limitations

I’ve said this before, but it’s probably the best tip I have. You likely have WAY too much at your disposal during your songwriting and maybe it’s getting in the way. So limit the number of instruments you give yourself. Limit the number of chords in the song. Limit the length of the song. Limit the number of tracks in your recording software. Give yourself a deadline to finish the song. Limitations are your friend and will help you be creative!

8. Don’t listen over and over and over and over and over and over and over

I typically write songs in sections. I’ll flesh out one section and then move on to the next one. This means that I’m continually looping a section and adding stuff on top of it. If I let this process go on for too long and I hear that section over and over and OVER I completely lose sight of the section. I’ve heard it so many times that it becomes ingrained just the way it is and I can’t add anything useful to it or make it better. So don’t dwell on sections. Move on before you get stuck.

9. Create low-pressure idea sessions and document the results

Instead of sitting down and saying “I’m going to write a song right now”, maybe give yourself some time to just mess around on your instrument. Don’t put any pressure on yourself, just play. But be ready to capture ideas if they come up. I use my iPhone for this. And if you don’t come up with any ideas, don’t sweat it! Try again another time. Sometimes pressure saps creativity.

10. Learn how you work best

Hopefully these tips can help you experiment with songwriting, but ultimately you should figure out the things that work best for you and allow you the most creative inspiration. So as you continually go through this process, step back and note the things that work for you and the things that don’t. Soon you’ll find songwriting is more of a process and a system rather than a crapshoot!

So there’s some ideas for you. Do you think any of these will work for you? Any other weird tips or tricks that have helped your songwriting? Let’s talk about it in the comments!

The post 10 Strange and Wondrous Tips for Spicing up your Songwriting appeared first on Andy Othling.

But it also means experimenting. It means figuring out the things that work for you, and the things that don’t. It means taking some risks. It also means failure. But it doesn’t have to be the kind of failure that sets you back.

A lot of you have shared your fears that you have for your music, and in some cases it seems like it has you paralyzed. Overcoming that fear likely means doing some experimenting, which runs the risk of failure. I completely understand that, but I want to talk about ways to get over that fear.

Managing Expectations

One of the most important things to keep in mind when experimenting is that the best thing you can get out of it is some more knowledge about whatever you’re experimenting with. This is true for recording software, songwriting, or marketing to your fans.

As an example, I know a lot of us are working at home, recording our own music on a computer. And that requires knowledge of some fairly complex tools. I’ve found that the best way to learn about these tools and get better at using them is to set aside time to experiment with them, and separate this time from “songwriting time”. When it’s time to learn a new tool, don’t put the added pressure on yourself of trying to make something awesome with it the first time around.

Analyzing Results

Like I mentioned before, all experiments should results in some new and useful insight, whether it was a “successful” experiment or not. This means that regardless of the outcome, you need to really look at what happened during your experiment.

Say you decided to experiment with Twitter. You made your bio interesting and your weblink a place where someone can listen to your music. Then you went and followed a bunch of people who were following someone with a similar style of music to your own. You MIGHT notice an increase in Twitter followers, more visits to your music page, and more sales/downloads as people check you out. That would be a great outcome and it tells you that people in your niche are responsive to that type of thing. But you might find people unresponsive, or even annoyed by what you’re doing. In that case, instead of getting frustrated and giving up, think about WHY that might be happening. Is your Twitter bio uninteresting? Is your profile picture or content of your Twitter feed unprofessional? Maybe people in your niche just aren’t responsive on Twitter. Consider changing some things and trying again. You might be able to pinpoint the things that resonate with people.

So even if something doesn’t work out, I guarantee there are lessons to be learned that can help you in future experiments.

Make It A Win-Win

In some situations, you can make it such that there isn’t any risk at all in your experiment! One of the best examples I have of this is something I first tried last year.

I wanted to press one of my EPs to vinyl. Some people had been requesting it, and I just plain wanted to do it. But I wanted to make sure that it was going to be financially viable, so I needed to find a way to accurately gauge interest before putting any money into it. As it turns out this is the exact situation that Kickstarter is made for. If you don’t know how Kickstarter works, you create a campaign and ask people to pledge money towards it. If you reach your goal, then everyone’s credit cards are charged and you get the money to fulfill the campaign. If you don’t reach the goal, no one’s cards are charged and you get no money.

So I figured out how much money I would need to break even on getting the vinyl pressed, and made that my campaign goal. I asked people to pledge if they were interested. Luckily I exceeded my goal and got the vinyl printed, which was awesome! But the even better part was that this was a ZERO RISK experiment for me. If my goal hadn’t have been met, then that would have meant that there wasn’t enough interest to justify the cost. And I would have gotten that information without having to risk any money in the first place. Make sense? It was a total win-win situation for me.

So don’t be afraid to experiment. Experimenting is what’s going to help you figure out what people will respond to, and will ultimately help you figure out how to be most successful. But be smart about it… manage your expectations, really take a look at the results of your experiment, and try to make it as low-risk as possible!

******

Some news about The Music Passage Project

Tomorrow I’m going to post a “sneak peek” of The Music Passage Project, post more details, announce the price, and announce the day the doors open to this thing so you can get early access and receive all the perks of being a Founding Member. 

However…

You’re only going to receive this announcement IF you’re on my interest list for The Music Passage Project.

If you haven’t signed up already, be sure to sign up below.

Yes! Tell me how to get EARLY ACCESS

Andy, please tell me more about becoming a Founding Member of The Music Passage Project

Also…

Your chance to get FREE ACCESS to The Music Passage Project has been EXTENDED

Yesterday, I announced a fun little competition to win a free membership to my upcoming project, The Music Passage. The response to this competition has been so great and fun that I decided to extend it and accept entries  until 6:00pm EST tonight.

I also decided to up the ante and give away something extra : )

Don’t miss *YOUR* opportunity to win a free membership to The Music Passage. It will only take a couple of minutes and all you have to do is answer ONE question. Leave your answer in the comments and be sure to read all the other great entries.

Go check it out here. 

The post How to experiment (and fail) well: plus, some news about The Music Passage appeared first on Andy Othling.