A recent comment on this site suggested that singer/songwriters had a better chance of success than a pure songwriter. It seems appropriate then to take a look at that notion.
You can group songwriters as performing or non-performing. A performing songwriter is one who pursues performance as part of his or her career. They make recordings of their own material, maybe done a few CDs. Typically they write material that suits their own act in terms of the lyrical message and musical styles. Many folk singers, hip hop artists and so on fall into that category. Many performing songwriters have developed a home studio that lets them, either alone, or with a little help, create quality recordings.
Other songwriters are not focused on their own performance abilities—but that doesn’t mean they can’t craft great songs. But it might mean they create songs they can’t perform, since their focus is on styles they enjoy writing in, or on writing for the top performers already out there.
Non-performing songwriters are more likely to make use of demo studios to take the song to that next level. Even if they have a studio, they are more dependent on finding artists who can make demos or high quality recordings of their tune.
And this presents an interesting tradeoff. The performing songwriter with a home studio can easily crank out a demo, or modify a song for a specific opportunity. But that flexibility often means spending more time dealing with microphone placement, recalcitrant computers, instruments, and technical issues than songwriting. The non-performing songwriter might have to come up with money to pay a studio and musicians, but has no maintenance issues and no technical learning curve. (Take a look online at all the forums dedicated to helping people deal with these challenges for an idea of their scope.) Mixing and mastering are careers in and of themselves.
But what will work well depends on you. So let us look at the pluses and minuses of each approach for a variety of issues that songwriters deal with.
Quick response. Due to the nature of film and television, many opportunities to place songs come with very tight deadlines. Here the advantage goes to the performing songwriter who can quickly put something together, especially in a home studio. The non-performing songwriter needs to continuously build a strong catalog that will mean material is on hand when it is needed.
Responding quickly to create something different is a double-edged sword, however. If you aren’t regularly producing a particular type of song, trying to do one on a moment’s notice makes it difficult to get it right. Each genre and song type comes with a pretty extensive list of things that are done and not done, and they must all be learned.
Diversity. Being a professional songwriter means being able to move with trends and changes. If you write for yourself, then you can adapt easily and quickly, but it is harder to be objective about your efforts. It can be difficult for a single artist to function well in a broad range of styles. The songwriter who works with a demo studio or outside artists can more readily produce a diverse catalogue of tunes, using singers and musicians with the appropriate sound. Instead of producing “ Me Singing The Blues” and then “Me Singing Country” you can get songs produced that fit right into the radio playlist for the genre.
Getting what you want. Theoretically, if you are a performing artist, you can capture the song the way you want it, and present it in the best possible light. Of course, in practice that is only true if you are an exceptionally good artist. Otherwise, the songwriter who uses a professional demo studio might actually have the edge.
This analysis can go on indefinitely, but the point is that the answer is always: it depends. It depends on how you want to spend your time and money, how good a performer you (or your band) really are, how versatile you are trying to be, and whether your focus is getting your songs placed or promoting yourself as a performer.
Some of us walk the line. I have a home studio and record some of my music, use other musicians and artists, use other studios, and keep looking for new ways to improve the quality of my catalog. Why just the other day I bought yet another guitar and if it doesn’t make me write better songs, well it can’t hurt any.
Tags: Music Marketing Tips, Pitching songs, Songwriting
About the Author
Ed Teja
Ed Teja is a musician, composer, and book author who writes, arranges, and performs a variety of music.
Last 5 posts by Ed Teja
- Avoiding the long, sharp teeth of song vampires - February 9th, 2010
- Modeling a nonexistent industry? - February 2nd, 2010
- Adapting to changes - January 25th, 2010
- Narrow your focus - January 2nd, 2010
- The year end refocus - December 30th, 2009
