A little research before writing THE BIG ONE

Our guest Blogger, Dennis Sinnott, has worked in the music industry for nearly four decades, where he managed the publishing and recording catalogs of Screen Gems, New York Times Music, Metromedia and many others.  He’s an authority on how to write and publish a hit song, as well as an expert on rights issues. He was formerly Head Of Copyright at EMI Music in London. In 1983 he formed Christel Music Ltd and in 2007 MusicEnquiries.com to provide a music consultancy service for songwriters, artists, publishers, managers and record companies. In 1995 he published “The International Songwriter,” in 2006, “Seven Keys to Stardom,” and in 2009, “Masters of Songwriting.”

It has been said that the mark of a great song is when a person hears it once and cannot get it out of his mind. Days and weeks later, the song returns in your mind like a postcard from your favorite dream. Each time you put the song down, it returns ever stronger. So, what makes a great song?

In simple terms, a successful song is a commercial song. This is how record companies and publishers think and it is how you must think if you want to get ahead. Commercialism is the stuff which feeds the entertainment industry, not that record companies and music publishers get it right every time.

Many an A&R man/woman has staked his/her career and their employer's money on acts that never make the charts much less the top ten. The first thing to remember in writing is to get into a positive frame of mind. From now on when you come to create your material, don't just think that your song is going to have commercial potential, think that it is going to have HUGE COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL! If you want the moon, you must aim for the stars!

So, what does “huge commercial potential” mean, anyway? In short, it’s the thing dreams are made of, and what every songwriter and artist yearns to be described as having when seeking a publishing or record deal.

The meaning of “commercial” is any item or commodity which appeals to the greatest number of people.

Actually, commercialism is all around us, especially in the form of topical news and events. Read the headline news from the internet or go into any news agent and look at the headlines on the daily tabloids. Look through the pages, study the stories and see what sells newspapers and magazines. See what shows are the most popular on TV. Do a little research on statistics. Make notes of what is topical and what is fashionable. Check out the advertisements in periodicals and magazines and compare those which appear week in and week out with those that don't.

Remember, no advertiser in the world continues advertising a commodity that does not sell. You'll soon know what people buy. Find out which television and radio programs pull the highest ratings.

Make it your business to know who and what is in the news. You may not always like what you find, but this is commercialism.

Now, with this firmly pitched in your mind, take a careful look at the music industry. Study the charts to see who is selling records. Don't just write what you feel the public might want to buy. Listen to the lyrics of the songs that are selling and make comparisons with some of the topical stories of the day.

Study music riffs, melody lines and percussion sounds, but not to the extent of plagiarizing someone else’s work. Whilst it's fine to be influenced by certain trends and styles, if you try to pass off someone else’s material as your own, however clever you think you are camouflaging music riffs, phrases or lyrics, you risk running into a law suit for infringement of copyright. This is especially so if the song gets into the charts. As the saying goes, "where there's a hit, there's a writ! In any event, you wouldn't want someone to start copying your songs, would you?!

An excerpt from Masters Of Songwriting