SPONY

SPONY gives songwriters an opportunity to get heard by someone who is in a position to do something with it. But that’s only the beginning…at our monthly event you will meet other members of the New York songwriting community, in addition to our industry guest panelists. And now with our online events, you get panel discussions, song critiques, workshops (all coming soon!), and can get to know other members of the global songwriting community!

Jun 30th | Posted by Joy Novie | in Uncategorized | No Comments

Notes from Last Week’s Live Event

Before I get to my own notes, I’m not sure if anyone caught Max Willen’s wonderful article about SPONY, but here it is: http://weallmakemusic.com/songwriters-pitch-a-thon-a-mix-of-past-and-present/

He was at last week’s event so in addition to his notes, here are mine: The panel was comprised of seasoned A&R executives and as Max points out in the article, sometimes the bell was rung after only a few seconds. I agree it can seem cruel. One needs to have a thick skin in this business! However, I did notice a pattern to it. If the track sounded dated and/or the vocal sounded “un-hip,” I noticed they rang in right away. It’s not that they were looking for fully- produced songs, but more that they wanted the production to show that the songwriter was aware of what’s currently on the charts. I once had a publishing exec tell me that it was obvious I didn’t listen to the radio. Completely untrue, but it did make me more aware of my productions.

Of the songs that they listened to through the first chorus, the minute that hook (or lack thereof) came in, would determine whether or not the bell was rung immediately after. Of course, this is true for every panelist who participates. The majority of industry execs will listen through the first chorus for practically every song. They wait to hear whether or not the hook delivers. Unfortunately, a good percentage of songs don’t. Music supervisors don’t necessarily care because they are looking for clips to place, so mood, tone, lyric, and arrangement play more of role for them. But, the publishing creative execs, and certainly the label A&R folks are waiting on that all-important hook.

One of the very first A&R meetings I ever got was with Aziz Goksell, who was the VP at that time at Atlantic Records. I was so excited. I got all dressed up and came in with my precious new 4-song cassette. (I’m really dating myself!) I was completely confident about my music and went believing my life would be changed forever after that meeting. Completely out of touch with reality as it turns out. He put the tape in. Cranked it up so that it was practically distorted. Listened through the first chorus of the first song, end of the first verse of the second, the intro of the third, and I’m not sure but I don’t think he played the last song at all. And then he took it out of the machine, tossed it across the desk back to me and gave me the best advice I have ever gotten. He said that if I wanted to be on the same charts as Cyndi Lauper, Madonna and Janet Jackson (I told you I was dating myself!), then I couldn’t just be better than the neighbor’s daughter, or the garage band down the street, I had to have as good a song, or even better than them to knock them out of the Number One spot. I will admit I sobbed all the way home on the subway, but I never forgot it. It was such a valuable experience. In fact, if any one of you are in touch with Aziz, please tell him I said Thank You! On an interesting side note, I was just at an event recently where A&R execs were giving a critique on some songs they were pitched, and one of them said the same thing!

A wonderful piece of advice and something to always keep in mind.

Until next time…