Recording - October 2012 - 64

Continued from page 63 singer/songwriter genre, maybe it’s alt-Country, not mainstream Country. You’ve got to find those artists that you resonate with, and then you say, “Can I do that?” And then see if you can do it. That is your path through the business, to find what you love, find out if you can do it—anyway at all—and go do that. The other thing that happens, though, is when people say to me, “I hate everything on the radio,” and I say to them, “No you don’t. You just hate radio.” I hate radio. I never listen to the radio and I’m in the business! And I have to know what listeners are responding to. So what I do is… I don’t listen to the radio, because I can’t stand the commercials, I can’t stand the DJs, I can’t stand all the distractions, and I can’t stand the songs I can’t stand. So what I do is, I go over to the charts and go to bdsradio.com, which stands for Broadcast Data Systems. It’s the Nielson-owned radio airplay charts. You can also go to Billboard, which in many ways is more complete, because they also cover sales. But I go over to bdsradio.com because they are easier for me to read. And right there it says, “Choose a format”—it’s totally free and you don’t have to register for anything. Just choose a format from the drop-down list of radio formats—Country, Rock, Gospel, AC, Hot AC—and then pick a chart and go through the songs. I just write down everything I don’t know, and then I go over to iTunes and I preview it for a minute and a half, which is plenty of time, and then if I decide I want to study it, I’ll buy it and download it. And that’s a cheap way to go through the charts. Do that once a month. It takes about 30 minutes—big deal. If you’re gonna be in the business and you’re gonna invest your time, your limited money, resources and all that stuff, at least spend 30 to 45 minutes a month—things don’t change that fast— and go through the charts and find at least two things you like on a chart that’s in a genre that you want to write in. There are great Country songs. Anybody who says they hate everything on the Country charts is crazy. And, sure enough, when I say to them, “Well, have you heard ‘You’re Gonna Miss This’ by Trace Atkins?” And they say, “Well, no.” And I say to them, “Well, have you heard ‘I Saw God Today’ by George Strait?” Those are a couple songs from last year. But I love those. Those are great, great songs. And to make the blanket statement, “I hate everything on the charts,” is to miss the point. The charts are what you study to see what your business is doing. And for you to take what you like from there and blend it with what you’re doing in your own songs to create something that is yours and yours alone, but can compete commercially with other songs and other records, whether it’s film, TV or radio airplay. If it’s film/TV you’re after, watch those shows. If you were here yes64

terday when I was doing my presentation on film and television… Watch Grey’s Anatomy, watch House, watch Vampire Diaries. If you don’t like to watch them, go download them and fast-forward to where the songs are. But be sure you study your business. You wouldn’t be an architect if you didn’t know how to build a house. It’s the same thing. That’s such a strong point. No golfer in his or her right mind would think they’d qualify for the PGA Tour by only playing on weekends. This is the music business we’re talking about. Why is it that so many songwriters think you can stay home isolated in your home studio, not listen to what is commercially viable in today’s market, and just write what pours out of you, and the industry is wrong if they don’t get it? I’ll tell you exactly why. It’s because the music that you love sounds spontaneous. It sounds like the person who’s singing it just thought of it. That’s what we do. That’s what makes us good—we craft these things that sound like something that just came out of their heart just like that. So we fool people into thinking it did. You’re sitting here, you know better. So you want to be studying those songs to figure out how they created those effects and let your listeners think, “Wow, that just came out of your mouth and you just thought of it, and you’re just feeling it right now.” And that’s the great magic and the great trick of what we do. Kevin, I can’t think of anybody who has more of a“musician’s soul”than you do. You are so one of them. What’s wrong with your people? What is it that makes musicians sometimes act like their own worst enemy? Kevin: I think part of the creative process in being an artist is that you’re a little bit quirky, a little bit eccentric. In fact, that’s why you have these terrific observations that you can write songs about. You’re sort of looking at the world in a unique way, and hopefully, identify in a way that we all can understand. But it’s hard for an artist to be a businessman, and that’s really what we have to do. You really have to be thinking about the music business. If you just want to go be an artist and find a coffeehouse and sit around and tell everybody how great everybody is, then everybody’s happy. But if you want to make some money, you need a product, and you need something that other people are going to want to get behind and try to sell and think that it’s marketable and there are people that are going to pay money to listen to it or use it in a film or a TV commercial. And that, as Robin said, is a lot about studying your craft and seeing what style of music you like. If you want to get your music into a certain TV show, you’ve got to actually watch that show. I TiVo every single show that I’m pitching on, and I don’t like a lot of them, but I need to know what they’re using and what’s working and why, and why does this style of music identify with this particular character. And then when I get song submissions

that are in that are sort of on target, it’s great because it’s kind of going down that checklist: It’s good master quality, it’s good vocal performance, it’s a unique perspective. But I think it’s just hard for an artist to put on the businessman’s hat and start thinking, “What am I actually trying to create, and how am I going to make some money?” Are they averse to that? I talked the other day on one of the panels about how musicians hate the S word— sales or selling. No musician it seems—I’m sure it’s a blanket statement that’s not true… A lot of musicians think that asking for the sale, like,“Here, buy my CD. Here’s a big button on my website that says‘Buy My CD.’” That’s crass and gross and icky. I think maybe a lot of musicians feel the same way about making music that is commercially viable or fits a niche, because then I’m just perpetuating the lack of creativity. Isn’t it much better if I just emote and create, that I’m pushing the envelope? And I understand that. Look, the Beatles never would have had Sgt.Pepper if they stayed on BeatlesforSale. There is certainly some validity in that. I want you guys to know. It’s not like we don’t get that or there’s a lack of respect for it around the office. But in order to get paid… By definition, being commercial means you’re getting paid for something, right? So in order to get paid for it, if that’s why you joined TAXI, and that’s what you are desirous of, then make music that’s commercial. So why is it that so many people are so averse to making music they can get paid for? Is it because it’s hard to learn how to be good enough to get over that bar? Or is it because it’s just wrong? Kevin: In a sense, I think it could be a little bit of a defense mechanism to say, “Well, I’ve actually never placed anything. And I don’t make that kind of music, because I hate that kind of music.” But that’s the kind of music that’s making money. So don’t sit around and feel badly that you’re not making a living by your music if you’re not coming up with music that people can use. You said that much more eloquently than I did. Kevin: And for commercial advertising, you need to understand that your song is going to be something that’s going to identify a product and you also need to leave room for the dialog or voiceover. They’re trying to sell something, whatever it is—a car or a sofa—and most of the time it’s going to be a voiceover that’s happening. And we get a lot of submissions for ads that have got like a trumpet solo blaring though the whole thing and you can’t catch a break from it, and the advertiser isn’t going to be able to get their message across. So, you know, if you want to get into that, come up with music that’s got hooks and is catchy, but also that leaves that space, and you’ll have more success in trying to get involved in the ad world. And when you look at the commercial range stylistically that’s out there, it’s really diverse. Ad agencies are doing everything from kids’ Continued on page 67

Recording - October 2012

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