I just checked through the top five songs in the Rock, Country, AC, and Urban genres and, guess what… in all four genres at least four of the top five songs were collaborations. In the Country genre, all five were collaborations!

Collaborating has so many benefits that it’s worth putting some real effort into learning how to do it and finding compatible songwriting partners to work with. It may take some time, maybe a few false starts, but it can more than repay you in the long run.

There are many reasons to collaborate: A collaborator can offer new ideas and nudge you out of old habits. If you fall in love with a line that isn’t working, a collaborator can point that out and keep the song moving forward. Working with a collaborator gives you added motivation, energy, and goals to meet. Chances are you’re stronger in one area (lyrics or music) than another; a collaborator can add strength where you’re weak. The cost of demoing your song can be half what it would be if you wrote it alone.

So, why not collaborate? Do you resist collaborating because you’re afraid that you’re not good enough, or afraid you’ll come up with dumb ideas… or no ideas? I totally understand. We all share those fears. Here are a few ideas that can help you get past them.

=> Give yourselves a chance to warm up. Start by playing a a few songs for each other. Find out where your tastes lie. Are they similar? Different? Agree on a style you want to write in to begin with. If your collaborator writes Classic Rock melodies and you’re writing a Modern Pop lyric, you may have trouble fitting the lyric and melody together.

=> Create plenty of raw material to work from. Start by suggesting titles to each other. Use a newspaper or magazine and find short phrases that appeal to both of you. Choose a phrase to work on and make a list of questions you might answer in the song.  Then make lists of words and phrases that the title phrase suggests: images, actions words, associations, opposites, whatever strikes you. Create more material than you think you’ll need. Then, together, start assembling your chorus lyric. Try singing some of the phrases and start your melody.

=> Work long distance. You don’t have to be in the same room. Plenty of collaborations take place on the Internet. Organize folders and files so you can easily find mp3s and lyrics for each song you work on. Make sure it’s easy for you to receive music files. There are interesting sites like Dropbox that make it easy to share files. Use Skype for phone chats; it’s free and has better sound quality than a regular phone.

=> Swap songs. Work on more than one song at a time, so that each of you always has a song to work on. Trade songs every few days.

=> Give yourselves permission to do a job. Too often we think of songwriting as something we must be brilliant at all the time. It’s just a job, a hard job. Some days you do it better than others. Talk with your collaborator about experiences and expectations.

WHERE TO FIND COLLABORATORS

Clubs and music venues: You can find potential collaborators at clubs in your area. Try an open mic night. You’ll find singer-songwriters in a variety of styles. If you can, play a few songs of your own so people get a chance to hear what you can do.

The Internet: You don’t have to limit yourself to songwriters in your area; the Internet makes long distance collaboration easy. Do your research. Look for established web sites with forums where songwriters meet to share songs, get feedback, and find collaborators. The Muse’s Muse web site has a good one. Click on “Songwriting Message Board.” Spend some time getting to know the regular contributors. Listen to their songs, read their lyrics, check out their melodies. When you find someone you think would make a good collaborator, go ahead and contact them. You can also check out the “Collaboration Corner” on TAXI’s forum

Now, go find somebody to play with!

by Robin Frederick (author of “Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting”)

What makes you write a song?
- the desire to put your feelings into words?
- wanting to reach out to others to express a thought or message?
- the hope that eventually it will earn royalties?

The truth is, a song can do all this if you keep all three goals in mind as you write.

Write to express your own emotions. Stay connected with your initial reason for writing the song. What is it you want to say? What emotion do you want to convey? Even if your goal is to write a hit song, you MUST stay connected to your original emotional inspiration!

Write a summary of your song in a sentence or two and keep it to refer to. When you get into the actual writing of your song, it’s easy to get lose sight of your initial idea. If a strong lyric line suddenly occurs to you, ask yourself if it really belongs in the song you’re working on. Maybe it’s an idea for a different song. Don’t bend your theme out of shape to accommodate that one line. Write down or record your idea, then put it aside temporarily until you figure out where it belongs. Stay with your original inspiration and you’ll end up with a song that expresses your feelings and thoughts.

A good song is any song that expresses your emotions in a way that’s satisfying for you. But… if you want to reach out and express those feelings to listeners, you may need to blend more song craft into your writing. Song craft is a body of knowledge that has been developed by songwriters over decades, even hundreds of years. It’s based on how listeners react: What draws them in? What turns them off? For instance, listeners like a song that has a repeated chorus section. But if that chorus is just repeated over and over, they get bored. If there’s a verse that gives them more information in between the choruses, listeners remain interested and involved. That’s an example of song craft.

Craft doesn’t limit creativity!
If you want to write a song in the hope of getting it published, recorded by a well known artist, or used in film or TV (a major outlet for today’s songs), then you’ll want to do both of the things I’ve just described: Stay connected to your emotional theme and use song craft to communicate with listeners. Melody and lyric writing techniques can be adapted and built on in endless ways, so don’t think of craft as limiting your creativity! Approach it with a playful, experimental attitude.

Once you reach out to listeners with a strong emotional message, well-developed, evocative lyrics, and a memorable, fresh melody, you’ve got the kind of song the music industry needs. So, if your goal is to write a song that will earn royalties, aim for a blend of emotion and craft. Remember…

- If you write a song with emotion but no craft, listeners may not understand you.

- If you write a song with craft but no emotion, listeners may not care!

Based on “Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting” by Robin Frederick. Available at Amazon.com. Copyright 2009 Robin Frederick. All rights reserved.