Songwriter (Sadly) For Hire
“Topliners” have been doing it for years…without any guilt or second thought. I held my ears. I didn’t want to admit it was something we have to consider: Charging for sessions.
‘Really? I co-write because I love it. If I’m inspired by a writer the last thing I want to do is ask them to pay for being in a room with me. It’s my JOB to write songs.
But times are-a-changin.’ In fact they changed a long time ago. Why am I always the last to the party?
I used to happily hop from session to session five days a week. My new friend Chely Wright describes her enthusiasm for the lifestyle: (I paraphrase)…
“At the end of the day, there’s this new little gem that didn’t exist the day before. I’m always delighted to see what we come up with”
For me, the next question has always been, “who’s gonna cut this little gem?” If it was particularly tasty it was possible, even likely, that someone would…and if 25% of those songs got recorded, it was worth going to every session and even writing the ones that didn’t.
The album tracks were a decent paycheck. You covered your rent. You went out for sushi. Didn’t have to drive that Uber. (Of course there was no Uber yet). The point is nobody charged for co-writes. We were all gettin’ paid.
I never chose to be in this profession for the money but it is a profession and the fact that I could earn a living from it has always been a motivating factor. In the digital space however, there are no more physical copies or album cuts that garner royalties. So do professional songwriters still want to do sessions for free? There are less and less of us who do. I feel like I’m the last hold-out.
Last week at the end of a long day with an aspiring artist I thought to myself:
‘Ya know, I’m not saying this wasn’t enjoyable but I just spent 8 hours writing what I think is a pretty cool tune…and by the time he gets signed, if he gets signed, he’s gonna have written 50 more pretty cool tunes with 20 other writers just like me. So where will my song end up? Even if it makes it onto a virtual album it’ll earn me basically zero if it’s not a single on terrestrial’
I’m pretty sure the producer in the session didn’t spend the day behind the console without being compensated. He told me in advance what his “cut-off” time was. That’s always a sign. I bet he asked for at least 10 Benjamins. (I think that’s a Cleveland). Plus, producers may be compensated per track, get points on albums or even retain ownership of masters. What’s in it for the non-performing non-producing songwriter?
This isn’t the fist time I’ve had this conversation with myself. Thing is I always cave out of love of the game. But the game HAS CHANGED, Shelly. When will you get it through your head?
I just did.
And don’t yell at me!
Truth is I don’t collaborate as much as I used to. As you know I’ve put on an artist hat for a while. I’ll be back though. And when I am I’m officially joining the club. I have no choice.
I ask myself .
“Won’t that dissuade artist from reaching out if they can’t afford me?’”
Probably. And it makes me sad. But not sadder than how I feel when I’m the only one in the room not getting paid.
So if you’re an up-and-coming artist whose work I dig and if I have the time, and if you can honor my per diem 😳then I’m in. We’ll still put our feet up, drink coffee, laugh our asses off, order pizza. But moving forward I have to put a higher free-market price on my value. My time. My experience. And then if our pretty cool tune never sees the light of day at least I’ll be able to buy a plane ticket or make a nice donation to a charity of my choice.
I hope you understand.
One of my most fun co-writes ever. With Carnie & Wendy Wilson and Glen Burtnik
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