What is the best city to live in for a singer/songwriter/musician?
The city you are located in is not as important as the content of your music. Especially if you are trying to become famous over youtube. You might as well stay where you are, and develop a unique voice before attempting to make it in a big city with a big music scene. LA is full of people who thought they could make it big but went unnoticed while hundreds of people jumped them in popularity. The same can be said for NY and plenty of other cities with a big music scene. Acoustic pop is extremely over saturated right now, and any city you go to will likely already have a huge supply of acoustic pop artists. The most important thing is developing your own voice and remaining true to what makes you like to play music, along with honing your songwriting and instrumental skills. Once you do that, you will be an individual instead of one of the sheep in the gigantic herd that is pop music.I have lived in Portland, Denver and Seattle and I have seen relatively small acts rise to headlining national festivals in just a year. Look for a growing city like Portland or Denver, and hone your craft.
I'm a songwriter. How do I sell my songs or get people to sing it?
Hi.First, COPYRIGHT your songs.You do this by going here:Copyright Registration with the U.S. Copyright Office |You can save some money if you register several works at once. you can register just the lyrics, if you don’t have any music yet, or record a simple demo which contains : The lyrics sung, the melody, and the harmony and or rhythm that you use in your song.This way you guarantee that you are the original creator and owner of the works (songs).Second, once you have done this, you can make a recording of your songs, to be able to sell them.I have worked for several songwriters, including Jeff Barry (Jeff Barry) and some others.In every case, when selling songs to artists, they record a professional sounding demo (a demo is a version of a song which contains only the most basic elements of lyrics, melody, harmony and basic rhythm) but it sounds professional because they hire session musicians and singers in order to really capture the way they envision their song to sound like and how it is sung.They then take this demo and show it to various artists via their management, or in rare cases, directly to the artist.Once they get an artist or their management to agree to buy the song, you enter into negotiations as to who will get what percentage of the PUBLISHING. You should get 100% of the SONGWRITING royalty payments, because it is your song.This gets rather complicated, so I highly recommend that you hire an ENTERTAINMENT LAWYER to help you in the negotiations. They are well worth the price, since you will guarantee you won’t get screwed over by a shitty deal.After that, keep writing more songs, copyrighting them, recording demos of them, and selling them.
How do singers become famous?
It’s basically super rare like winning the lottery.Consider the following or ask yourself the following questions.What does singing mean to you?Why do you want to be a singer?If you can sing, you already are a singer! It’s as simple as that. If you are not satisfied with that then all you are after is the FAME.The problem is that with the digital age, too many people are doing it now. Pre-internet was the best time to be great at anything period. This was true because most people didn’t have the means to expose their talent. You literally had to move to LA or NYC or send in a demo or know somebody. Today everyone with a computer has access to broadcast themselves on the internet. When the internet first started getting attention in the 2000s it was still somewhat doable; that’s how Justin Bieber got signed. Now EVERYONE is on youtube which means almost no one gets attention. Singing contests make singing a joke where millions of singers just want that fame, it’s not about singing but they just want that celebrity life style and fame.Bottom line today is that too many people want to do everything. This is not just singing but there is competition everywhere. In the 80s and 90s, when the competition was less, mediocre talent could rise to the top. Today good is the new mediocre. You need to be exceptional and the only way to be exceptional is have things other than just singing like youth (as in teens) and good looks.If you haven’t noticed, we aren’t producing too many rock stars recently or people that can actually sing. All of the most famous people you see today got famous in the 80s, 90s or 2000s or sometime before that. Even if you get really famous today, it won’t last more than a year or two because the public will get tired of you and go after the next pop sensation.Today people don’t get famous for singing, it is all about hip hop and rap. If you want to get famous for music, that’s what you need to do. People generally don’t care about any other music.But don’t let the fact that you might never be famous stop you. 99% of us are on that same boat. Also, the 1% that do make it, get exploited. It is really and literally just like they say, you indeed sell yourself out to get famous. If it doesn’t happen to you, don’t worry about it.Do you really want that life where you are famous for a year and then no one cares?Just sing for yourself.
How can you be a successful songwriter if you can't sing?
Ask one of these people:Sir Tim RiceBruce SpringsteenBob DylanKris KristoffersonMark KnopflerOh I could go on for quite a bit. None of them were thought to be legitimate singers until after they became popular performers despite that fact. Heck even the Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen, always knew his success came almost totally from 5 factors, none of which had a thing to with his anything-but-sterling voice:Excellent songwritingReal energy and presence on stageSurrounding himself with topnotch musiciansPure, animal charismaGood managementIn fact many successful vocal performers made their first success as songwriters, crafting successful, money-making songs for other performers before they ever took to or had any success at performing their own popular works.Perhaps the most famous building in the United States that almost nobody ever heard of is the Brill Building at the corner of Broadway and W. 49th in New York, a short walk toward Central Park from Times Square.This building was, back in the 1960s, home to a collection of offices and studios where many of the most influential songs of that time period were written. Working out of this building were some of the most influential songwriters of an entire generation of popular music, giants like Carole King, Burt Bacharach, Johnny Mercer, Bobby Darin, Neil Diamond, and Neil Sedaka, among numerous others.Almost all of them started and became influential first as songwriters, before their careers as performers got any headway in the business. If they had never gotten off the ground with careers singing their own songs, if not one of them had ever managed to score so much as one successful single as a singer, they would all still have been among the most influential and important songwriters of an entire generation.That is how you can be successful as a songwriter without necessarily singing a note, by writing songs which others will record, and which will change the world of music.
Why don't Indian singers get as famous as singers from Western countries do?
I think one of the major reasons of popularity of western singers is the targeted listeners. They mostly sing in English, which is a common language and understood by people across the world. Whereas songs sung by Indian singers are in Hindi (I am excluding the songs in regional languages) which can appeal to only Hindi understanding people. Hence it limits their listeners on a global level even though they are pretty popular here. Also Hollywood movies aren't musicals like Bollywood movies. The musicians and singers/bands are stand alone performers. In India ,music ,most of the time, is associated with Bollywood films. It's rare that a singer alone can become popular without first singing in a movie. Even though there are many such singers, they are not as popular as western singers. In west, singers are a brand. Also people have time and money to go to their concerts, so they kinda have a huge fan following . I am not praising their singers and bashing ours, I am just stating facts. We prefer to go to a movie than spending 1k-2k for some concert. Time's changing though. Many emerging star singers are becoming standalone performers who are gaining popularity. I hope in future we'll see more such singers, but it's unlikely they'll become as popular as, western is a broad term, let me narrow it down and say, American pop stars.
Whats the name of this american pie song?? easy ten for the first correct?
It's called "Laid" and it's by an band called James.
What happened in Conor Oberst's life that he sings about?
As well as relationship troubles, Conor has suffered depression on and off since the 90s which he sings about a lot in his early music with Bright Eyes. Conor was a heroin and cocaine addict for a period of time in the early to mid 00s. Many of his songs make reference to addiction and drugs. He travelled around the country and world in 2006 to 'dry out' and detox. He never entered a rehab as such, but went to Cassadaga where he went cold turkey. After this he went to Thailand and spent a period of time there trying to get healthy. This is documented in the album 'Cassadaga' most notably in the songs 'Cleanse Song' and 'Coat Check Dream Song.' Conor has also had drink problems and had to have his stomach pumped while in Chicago 2002. He was close to death. This is sung about in the song 'Let's Not **** Ourselves.' After this, Conor made an attempt to clean himself up. He still drinks now (but not in excess) and is known to smoke the occasional joint, but on the whole, he is the healthiest and happiest he has been in a long time. This is also reflected in his most recent music with Monsters of Folk and the Mystic Valley band. A good song that gives an idea of where Conor is at right now is 'Milk Thistle.' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIBoEZOVLIE : )
Why is the lifeline of a singer’s success just 5 to 7 years?
Good question, the simple answer to this question is music directors want fresh voice and they dont wanna use the same voice after a period of time . Sticking to the same singer is difficult (unless and until he is extraordinary)The secondary reason is the quality of a singer, if the singer is that talented and versatile (like sonu nigam and arijit) they will stay in the industry for a long period of time. A playback singer is a package of good voice,amazing grip on indian/western classical music, versatality and the most important excellent musical knowledge!