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STRATEGY FOR THE DAY: be persistent

I got an interesting series of questions in response to my Notes On Songwriting article. Thought it worth posting them along with my answers.

Email from Boyd:

Are these 4 statements correct?

1) words to a song CANNOT be copied and ARE copyright protected.

2) melodies of a song CANNOT be copied and ARE copyright protected.

3) titles of a song CAN be copied and ARE NOT copyright protected.

4) chord progressions of a song CAN be copied and ARE NOT copyright protected.

The reason I ask is, it's very hard for a beginning songwriter (me) to put together good chord progressions, and when I put one together, often it is identical to one I have already studied. Ttherefore, it would be smarter and easier to just use an already-published successful chord progression and write a great song with it, IF IT'S LEGAL! is it?

Thank you, and your "How To Write a Song" article was very helpful. Can't wait to get my hands on [Marvin Gaye's] "What's Goin' On" sheet music, and examine those chords! [This song is referred to in my article as being one with a chord progression worth studying.]

My answer to Boyd:

You got it exactly right. Words and melody are protected by copyright. You may NOT use someone else's lyrics or melody. BUT a chord progression (the sequence of chords in a song) cannot be copyrighted. Many songs have been written using the same or very similar chord progressions. For example: "Heart And Soul" (You know... that song every kid learns to bang on the piano right after they learn "Chopsticks") and the early rock 'n' roll version of "Blue Moon" use exactly the same chord progression. Sting's "Every Breath You Take" also uses the same chord progression - he just holds each chord twice as long. The progression is: G | Em | C | D. Obviously no one can copyright that - it's the basis of dozens (if not hundreds) of pop songs!

I highly recommend using existing chord progressions. Just be sure you don't accidentally use the melody that went with them. If you're not sure, check the original and make changes in your melody as needed.

Marvin Gaye's beautiful "What's Going On" has a really nice chord prog:

VERSE: Emaj7 | C#m7 | Emaj7 | C#m7 | F#m7 | Amaj7/B | B13

CHO: F#m7 | Amaj7/B | F#m7 | Amaj7/B | F#m7 | Amaj7/B | B13 | Emaj7 | C#m7 | Emaj7 | C#m7

...somethin' like that. They change slowly.

Good luck.
Robin

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Boyd wrote again:

I have written what I feel is a really good song that would be perfect for the Dixie Chicks. I am a singer, so i can do my own demo. What's the best way to sell it? Find out who Sony's Nashville A&R man is, and send it to him and publish it myself? Or get a publisher first?

My response:

Well, that's the eternal question. See if you can get it directly to A&R at the record label but they will probably tell you they don't accept unsolicited material. They are wary of lawsuits, people claiming they sent in a song that sounds just like the one... etc. So this is the reason publishers exist. If you've got a good song and can interest a Nashville publisher in it, that's a great way to open the door for future songs and possible collaborations. If you can get a good publisher interested that's the way to go for country music.

You might be interested in TAXI, the independent A&R service. They are legit asnd get a lot of listings for country songs. You can go through them if you want to avoid publishers. Be sure to check out their web site thoroughly to see if it's something that will work for you. There's an annual fee of $300 so you may want to wait until you have demos of several strong songs You can check them out at the TAXI web site They post their song listings on their web site.

Yours,
Robin

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Boyd is nothing if not persistent.

Thanks again for your help. The taxi site seems very helpful. One more question: How would I go about identifying the best music publishers in Nashville? Do you know the names of any? Haven't I read somewhere that it's easy to get "pigeonholed" with a publisher, that they'll sign you up, then do nothing, you beat your brains out to sell the song, the publisher gets half and you did all the work?

thanks a million,

boyd

My somewhat weary answer:

Find out who publishes your favorite country songs. Get to know the field and see if you can find out who publishes the best country songwriters. If your favorite writer has his/her own publishing company, see if you can contact them and ask if they sign outside writers. A boutique publisher can sometimes give you more attention than a large one.

Good luck!
Robin

Boyd's persistence reminded me that I could do with a little more persistence myself. So I spent the day on the phone, calling the marketing departments of half a dozen record labels. I was asking them to send me CD's by artists on their label they think would fit the format of the inflight music channel I'm programming. These were cold calls - not my favorite thing to do. I am very happy to say that once I figured out how to get past the automated answering robots at major labels like the RCA Group, I got a positive, helpful, human response from every one of the marketing people i spoke with. I'll report back on the CD's I get. Windham Hill sounds very promising - a chill groove 2-CD compilation. Can't wait!

Copyright 2004 Robin Frederick. All rights reserved.