FEATURED Artist: This week’s featured artist: Daniel Hall Daniel is a musician, lyricist, songwriter and designer based in Sydney, Australia. A prolific songwriter, he specialises in contemporary, pop, electro, house and new wave music. He has a reputation for writing beautifully well crafted pop songs with catchy melodies, strong chord progressions, poignant lyrics and stunning audio/visual production techniques. It is clear he has been influenced by and continues to build upon the work of the greats of these genres – Depeche Mode, Erasure, The Beloved, The Presets, Camouflage, Continue
Songwriting thought of the Day
Writing a Melody? – use a starting point
Start with a clear idea or inspiration: Whether it's a feeling, a phrase, or an image, having a starting point can guide your melody creation process. What inspires you? Try letting it influence your melody!
FEATURED Artist: This week’s featured artists: Viktoria Grant & Nicole Collins Are an exciting female songwriting partnership who have sold the copyrights to two of their instrumental songs at Songbay since joining this summer. “Nicole and I started to write songs when we were both 17. Studying together since middle school, we began writing songs in our last year of high school. We have always loved music and considered ourselves creative individuals. During our summer holidays we would dream of writing music and going Continue
FEATURED Artist: This week’s featured artist: Justine Perry A brilliant young lyricist who has already had her lyrics commissioned and licensed at Songbay “I grew up in Devon (UK.) I started writing lyrics at a young age. At eighteen, I studied music theory. Although I often write full songs, lyric writing remains my passion. I enjoy working in collaboration. I moved to Falmouth (Cornwall) in 2010 to study music composition at university. I graduated in July 2013 and I currently live Continue
FEATURED Artist: This week’s featured artist: Alysia Lembkey A brilliant lyricist, adept in using professional lyric writing techniques such as metaphor, alliteration and personification. Take a look at Alysia’s Lyric selection on Songbay. All are available for purchase and can then be used in your own productions. Perhaps you would like to collaborate/work with her or have her custom write lyrics for you? If so, feel free to make contact directly using the links provided on her artist page at Songbay. An example from one Continue
Featured Artist This week’s featured artist: Kamali Kasumu A master of catchy commercial hits, gorgeous multi layered complex vocals, which derive from a thorough grasp of gospel and R & B. Have a look at Kamali’s Song selection on Songbay. All are available for purchase and can then be re-recorded, re-aranged or used as they are in your own productions. Perhaps you would like to collaborate/work with him or have him custom write a song for you? If so, free Continue
Artist Feature: Sanjay Yadav Sanjay Singh Yadav is an India-based songwriter notable for his affectionate and fun-loving composition ‘Never Love a Woman’ (http://www.songbay.co//view-lyric/1794/). The lyric grabbed the semi-final slot in the prestigious UK Songwriting Contest 2013. The following year, 2014, Yadav again hit the semi-final spot, this time with the lyric ‘To None Ever Bound’. The UK Songwriting Contest draws participants from all around the world. Its panel of judges consists of leading names in the international music industry. Songwriters are often associated with the archetypal ‘Bohemian’ lifestyle, Continue
Introduction While there isn’t an official songwriting rulebook, there are quite a few tried and true songwriting conventions that over time have essentially become rules. In almost all instances, these “rules” are there because they tend to make songs more commercial or catchy or both. That being said, breaking these rules can be a very effective tool assuming it’s done with the full understanding that you are doing so. In other words breaking the rules by accident doesn’t count and Continue
Posted by Jessica Brandon on Tue, Feb 10, 2015 @ 01:44 PM REPETITION, REPETITION, REPETITIONby Harriet SchockEdna St. Vincent Millay once said “Life is not one damned thing after another; it’s the same damned thing over and over.” In songwriting, it may seem as if the same damned thing over and over is not only permissible but called for these days. However when it gets to the point of torture, it might be best to change the melodic phrase. And maybe Continue
