Transcribed from TAXI’s 2023 Road Rally Sequels on YouTube
Editor’s Note: This is the final installment of an incredible class that Jason taught for TAXI in 2023. Lots of songwriting gold to harvest here!
If I’m writing a country song, I’m not the right singer for it. I mean, you can tell from the way I talk, I’m from the South, but it’s South Philly—that’s the problem. And similarly, when I wrote songs for Britney or for Backstreet Boys, I hired people who sounded like those kinds of artists. I’m not talking about doing a soundalike, because that’s not a good idea, but I am talking about invoking that type of an artist. If I’m writing for Britney, I want it to sound like a relatively young girl, not a relatively old man.
So anyway, what I did is I hired the best singer and then I did the most important part. I made sure, in advance, that he knew I was going to ask him to sign a waiver, a release form, allowing me to use his performance that was recorded in a TV show or a film. And without getting that in writing, I don’t have the right to use that for anything. You know, if it’s implied that it’s a demo, it’s easy to think, “Well, I paid for it, it’s my demo, I’ll do whatever I want with it,” but it’s not true. In the eyes of the law, a demo can only be used for demonstration purposes, not for commercial use unless you have permission.
So where are you gonna get that permission? I just happen to have one of those waiver forms, release forms, work-for-hire forms—you can call it all those things. There’s one in my book, This Business of Songwriting; it’s at Amazon. And the waiver form also comes as something you print out and download from my audio digital recording Writing and Placing Music in TV and Films. I have a four-part series of audio lectures; if you like them, you can get them. You can get the whole lectures, the exercises, the printouts and everything at my website, jasonblume.com, and the waiver is part of that. Wherever you get it, you better get it if you want to use somebody’s performance in a TV show or a movie.
Now, there is an interesting story about this. When I first came to Nashville, the number one, demo singer for female songs was an unknown kid who was trying to get a record deal. Her name is Trisha Yearwood, and she sang thousands of demos. Literally, she’s probably doing, maybe eight a day, Monday through Friday, at least. And some other guy who she didn’t know back then named Garth Brooks, he was doing demos, and so was Alan Jackson. I mean, the list just goes on and on. A lot of people have done demos through the years on their way up, and it gives you a sense of how high the bar is. It’s not like, “Oh, it’s just a demo, it doesn’t matter.” Believe me, it matters.
I personally critiqued a song by a 16-year-old kid; her name was Alicia—that was before she changed her name to P!nk. And I know that somebody had Kelly Clarkson sing demos for them way, way back in the days when she was a waitress.
Oh, and I’ve got to tell you this. I had an artist demo recorded. What do I mean by an artist demo? It was intended by the artist to help them get a record deal. It was one of the three songs they were using to pitch to record labels. It was a girl group; it was three girls, and one of their names was Fergie. She was 16 at the time. So, stick around long enough and you get some good stories.
“Lyrically, it was fresh, but did not include anything that was going to exclude it from working for a wide variety of placements.”
Anyway, back to why my song got placed so many times. Let’s do a summary, let’s go back. First, I put myself in the right place, meaning a convention where there were going to be publishers, there were going to be music supervisors and writers that I could network with. Then, when it came time to write the lyrics, I used a title and an angle that was fresh and original and attention-grabbing. Then I wrote a style that was contemporary, sounded like it could be on the radio. And tempo-wise, not slow, not sad, not depressing, this one was midtempo. It could’ve been uptempo, but it was midtempo. Lyrically, it was fresh, but did not include anything that was going to exclude it from working for a wide variety of placements. There was no mention of locations, there was no description of what the girl looked like, there were no products or brand names, there was no type of weather or a season that was mentioned. I’m not saying that there’s never going to be a time where that’s exactly what you might need—a song about rain or a song about the winter. But overall, the widest variety of placements are gonna be available for songs that don’t specify these kinds of things.
Next thing I did, I hammered home the title. You heard it over and over again, not only once. The lyrics clearly led to the chorus. The chorus sounded really good, because it jumped out melodically. It had higher notes and a completely different rhythm from the verses, and I did something that I know you hear about all the time, which was creating a broadcast-quality recording, and I added to that by hiring the best singer for that particular song. And I made sure all the permissions were already in place before I picked the song.
(Shameless plug): Most importantly, I went to jasonblume.com and I signed up for my free weekly creative tips that came with a 30-minute video called “Three Things You Must Do for Success,” and then I read my more than 125 free articles and lessons. And I bought my audio recordings, and I checked out the dates for my upcoming online and in-person workshops, and they are successful, guaranteed.
“How long is it gonna take until you become successful? How long should you give it?”
So now, let’s just say you’ve done all those things. You’ve done everything right; how long is it gonna take until you become successful? How long should you give it? For example, when I first moved to Los Angeles I was very, very poor. A lot of you have already heard the stories. Yes, I ate cat food when I had no other money. I was destitute and I lived in one room, no kitchen, no bathroom. So during that time, I was not an overnight success—which I was sure I was gonna be, by the way. It took seven years before my first anything happened, and it wasn’t anything that paid a lot of money, but at least it was like a milestone, something to look at and say I’m on the right track. But that took seven years, and along those years my father would say to me, “Look, I know you’re talented, but how long do you give this nonsense until you give it up and get a real job?” And I said, “You know, Dad, you’re right, I can’t just do this forever. I’m gonna give it a hundred years, and if I haven’t been successful, I’m gonna go back to school at that point.”
You know, I have a gift. My biggest gift—not my raw talent, is persistence. I am the most stubborn, bullheaded—maybe because I’m a Taurus, I don’t know—but I don’t give up. If it’s something I believe in and something I want, I don’t give up. But I have to say I think that the two most important attributes for success are persistence, but it has to be accompanied by being teachable, because it’s not going to help to persist if you keep doing the same thing that’s not working.
So, I just have to say that from the time that I moved to L.A., determined to be an overnight success, until I had a song that was Top 10 on the charts, and it played on the doorbell of the house that it paid for—and that’s the truth—16 years went by. I hope with all my heart that I can shave lots of those years off for you.
But I have to tell you, I think I might have just broken a record for how long it can take to get a song recorded. I wrote a song with a great writer and super publisher named Gordon Pagoda, and we wrote this song 21 years ago. We wrote it for a specific project, and they wanted it to sound like the band, ABBA, and we really nailed it. Now, just so you know, at this point in time ABBA was already dated, but that’s what this artist wanted. So, as usual, the song did not get recorded, which is the case for most of what I write. 17 years later the song got recorded due to Gordon’s efforts, and it was recorded by what I call a legacy artist, which is a nice way of saying that it’s somebody who hasn’t had a hit in a long time, but once upon a time they were really big, and they do still have some following who will buy their recordings and listen to them. Well, I never heard another word after that four years ago, and I’d forgotten about it, really. I sort of assumed that it had fallen through, the whole project probably didn’t happen.
So last week I get a copy of the finished recording, finding out that the project went on hold because of COVID, and now it was finished, and it sounded fabulous. So, 21 years after we wrote the song, I will have the first single off the project.
“You have got to get professional feedback that the song really does have merit. It’s very hard for us to be objective with our own material.”
If you believe in a song, don’t give up on it. Believe in yourself, don’t give up on you. But be sure that you are getting feedback so that it’s not just, “Oh, yeah, I know this is a great song.” You have got to get professional feedback that the song really does have merit. It’s very hard for us to be objective with our own material.
I need to close, and in doing so, know that I am wishing you the very best of luck. I know for an absolute fact that success is possible. I have watched my students have #1 singles and sign publishing deals and have huge placements. I know it’s possible. I also know that there are reasons why some songs become successful and some don’t, and it’s not magic and it’s not luck. These are tools that are learnable, and I hope what I’ve said here can help you achieve your goals.