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By John Moxey

Introduction

To do it right, we stand a better chance if we know what the goal is, why we're doing it, and how to do achieve it. The goal is to sell or otherwise distribute recordings of your song. Why you are writing it, only you can answer. Although touching on both of these areas this article deals mainly with achieving the mind set necessary to achieve this goal.

This article is written mainly from the songwriters' perspective, however much of the contents will also apply to arrangement, performance, engineering and production. With many, if not most, songwriters now acting in all these roles it is important to realise the breadth of the principles described. The music world is now full of home recording songwriter / artist / producers trying to be the next Moby, Portishead or David Gray. Now more than ever you need to know exactly what you are doing and why.

Commerciality

In terms of business, the commercial potential of a song is essentially a measure of the expected level of sales that the song will generate. It is an in-exact science based on experience, taste and knowledge of current trends. It involves identifying the appeal of the song, the strength of that appeal and recognising the potential number of customers that are likely to be drawn by that appeal. This is simplified by categorising the new music we hear into existing music categories or genres. Each genre has a current market size. Obviously if a song contains elements of an other genre or elements common to several genres then there may be the possibility of generating sales within the those markets. Simply put the broader the appeal, and the stronger the appeal, the higher the potential commercial value of the song.

So what does this all mean to the songwriter?

The fact is that some songs are more appealing than other songs. The songwriter, or songwriters, provides a song with an initial commercial appeal. If it has been written well the performers, engineers, producers, managers and promoters have a far easier job of turning the basic song into a commercial success. But how do you build that initial commercial appeal into your songs?

It's all in the blend?

For songwriters commercial appeal is effectively a hard to define blend of familiarity and originality. Simply put, listeners can more easily accept new ideas presented to them, when they are accompanied by elements that they are already used to and comfortable with.

Let's face it, songwriters want people to like their songs, or at least listen to them, and hopefully buy them when they are released. Although there are other factors (such as image, marketing, sponsorship, and press coverage) commercial appeal of music is one of the key factors in music sales. In other words songwriters need their songs to have a significant level of commercial appeal in order to achieve success.

One skill that both songwriters and performers have in common is their need to communicate with an audience. The ability to communicate is something that even the most natural of communicators still has to work on. The communication itself has to be relevant and interesting to as many people as possible, that is if the musical foundations of commercial success are to be laid.

For the lyricist / songwriter, for example, there has to be an understanding of the lyrical / melodic / rhythmic content and phrasing required to communicate with the intended, or target audience. There are no secret formulae that will guarantee success, but by giving some thought to what you are doing, you will improve your chances.

Originality and Familiarity

Originality in music can come in many forms. Sometimes it is the use of the latest in technology. Think how the invention of the electric guitar, the synthesiser or sampler has changed the face of popular music. Amongst the most common, if not the most common expression of originality in music, is when the songwriter, or arranger or producer takes music elements of different genres and combines them to create something that sounds new and fresh.

Familiarity can be simply defined in this context as something we already know. Music genres are defined by music elements common to songs by a variety of artists. These are the features that make the style of the song distinctive. For example blues and the use of the pentatonic scale or the 12 bar structure. Progressive rock uses tempo, time signature and key changes linked by synchronised arpeggio based bridges.

There are many challenges that face a songwriter. Amongst them is achieving the correct commercial balance between those elements that draw on the targeted genre and those elements that come from other genres. The chords, melody and lyrics that are chosen can strike this balance. But the balance of the song can then be emphasised, de-emphasised, or changed using a particular arrangement or mix.