For years I’ve noticed a murky distinction in some songwriting books—drawn between commercial and non-commercial songwriting. The commercial label is used to describe any song that’s well-crafted and easy to sell in the current mass market, or any songwriter who writes for the existing market. By contrast, most books dismiss non-commercial songwriting as the dabbling of hobbyists.
To summarize: According to many mainstream music industry insiders, either a song sells to the mass market, or it’s ‘just for fun.’
If your only ambition is to sell your songs and make money, or if it’s your job to monitor current market trends, that distinction makes sense. But I think it’s foolish to dismiss music just because it doesn’t have an obvious home in the current market. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos didn’t land him the job he was applying for, but Bach left behind the greatest legacy of all—he’s still actively studied and loved by many as a prolific musical visionary.
My thoughts about songs and sales
Some well-crafted songs sell.
Some well-crafted songs sit on shelves, unsold, for years.
Just because a song sells doesn’t mean it’s well-crafted! the radio is full of songs that will never become classics.
Don’t write a song for sales—write for merit.
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This is a tough one and will never be settled, at least not in my lifetime. However, here’s my two cents:
Commercial success can be measured objectively and quantitatively, artistic success cannot. Even merit is subjective. As a result, if you are seeking to write songs that sell, you should judge your achievement by your sales; if you are writing for any other reason, there is simply no objective, quantitative way to measure success. That said, I do believe in craft and I think there as aspects of art that can be measured and agreed on in consistent ways (in music, it’s pitch, timing, some lyrical things) but art as a whole is in the eye (or ear) of the beholder. And it always will be.
Oh, merit is totally subjective!
Up until now, we’ve mostly worked within a system where powerful business people call the shots on what’s likely to be commercially successful.
Deemed unlikely to succeed, many songs never had an opportunity to spread and show what they’re capable of earning.
It’ll be interesting to see whether it was the chicken or the egg…
yeah, it’s increasingly stupid to be so polarized in your thinking. One brilliant YouTube move and your song is a hit that makes you money. The record companies are no longer the eye of the needle we have to slip through to make money.
similar case: my family created an app with all the games we play in the car, called Family Car Games. In return, we get a small but steady amount of money every month. So we created some other apps, same platform. If enough of them sell well and steadily…
–thing is, if you sell 100,000 CDs via a record company, you may lose your deal.
–if you sell 100,000 CDs yourself, you’ll be a millionaire.
clear enough? LOL the above example opened my eyes!
I think it’s great that you’re being entrepreneurial! Passive income is the way to go, eh?
It’s no different when we record an album, release an eBook, or any other activity that opens up an automated source of income. Accumulate enough small but steady streams, and take care to grow the most promising of them, and you can spend your life doing what really matters: surrounding yourself with the people you love and creating new things. 🙂
Thanks for sharing that, Ruth–that’s cool!