Working in the creative industries – research portfolio
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Name – Danny Lonsdale
Job title – guitarist / songwriter
The academic qualifications / experience required to earn this title
When it comes to writing, recording and performing your songs there is no official academic qualification needed, it is primarily an experience based job that requires a lot of practise and time in the correct areas of your craft. In order to officially become a songwriter, you have to spend several hours each day practising lyric writing, of course books, the online world and working with others who know what they’re doing can give you a good idea to start with, but there is no better way to learn lyric writing than by practising it yourself.
When it comes to being a guitarist there are many things you have to take into consideration, the most important one being the type of songs you want to play. This is because different songs in different genres have certain difficulty levels and henceforth, if you want to play lead guitar in a rock or metal band then it will probably take around 3 – 4 years at least to get to a level where you are capable of playing songs at the level of guns n roses or metallica. However if you are into rhythm guitar (which is the most important guitarist in a band) and you want to play more pop focused music, songs based on simple chord progressions will take less time to master and learn from, however it will still take years to be sufficient in your practise.
Overall there are no formal qualifications needed however it’s definitely worth taking songwriting courses online or in a place of education as well as taking lessons in playing guitar. Another honourable mention would be taking performance courses in high school, college or university in order to gain experience, feedback and learn from working with others who have similar ideas and knowledge.
Knowledge skills and personal qualities
The personal attributes that you need to have as a guitarist and writer include kindness, patience, a very passionate mind set and work ethic, the ability to listen (to other people and their ideas as well as just music), and a good ear for melodies and technical listening. In the music industry you need to be a kind and polite person and someone that others want to be around, if you have a bad attitude, are arrogant and don’t listen to others, then people won’t want to work with you no matter how good you are and that will close doors to opportunity rather than open them.
When working in a studio, having a good relationship with the producer (and session musicians if you hire them) is vital because if you get along the vibe will be positive, and that will make working together so much easier as they will listen to your ideas and play the track as you ask them to.
Having a good ear for technical listening when recording a song as a songwriter and or guitarist can mean the difference between a good record and an amazing one, of course the producer and co-writer/s can point things out here and there, but you as the main writer need to be able to hear what you do and don’t want in a song. Having a good ear for all instruments as well as the vocals is a key part of writing music, so being able to hear that the instruments are all “perfectly” in tune, the melody is the correct pitch, the drums are in time and that the production is exactly as you want it is very important.
When working in a live setting at a venue or stadium etc then a strong work ethic is non negotiable, if you are on tour going from one venue to the other every night then you will get very tired very quickly, especially if you have a set that lasts for one to two hours or more. As well as performing you will have a soundcheck, your instruments and equipment need to be unpacked and packed away every time you play, and then you have the countless obstacles life throws in your way that you aren’t always prepared for and that you don’t expect. Being patient with others when you are tired and continuing to perform for paying audiences even when you are desperate to sleep will soon put you in the category of the people who want it in life and separate you from those who don’t. In the music industry, being someone who can work in that way is like being gold dust and henceforth will make people want you back at their venue.
The duties and responsibilities of the profession
The responsibilities you will undertake as a person in this line of work involve many different things, both as a person and as a working professional. Your main priority first and foremost is of course writing songs, it is your day to day duty as a songwriter to not only write them but lyrically and musically “produce” excellent material that people want to listen to. As a writer if you don’t create material that’s likeable then you’re going to have a short career.
In order to be a guitarist on the other hand, your priority is to keep your instrument in good condition and make sure it is working properly. This includes the basics such as keeping your strings clean and changing them frequently (how frequently will depend on how often the guitar is used and how quickly they get rusty), but also involves keeping the instrument clean for when you are performing and taking care of it in general, that would be things such as using a stand for when you aren’t using it and carrying it in a sturdy and secure gig bag.
As well as this a more practical example of one of your duties would be arriving at venues on time, this would be for all aspects including unpacking, sound checks and of course the show. Making sure you are good at time keeping will mean people will think you are reliable, and with that the venue staff will highly appreciate your efforts and if you have a good show on top of that, they are way more likely to want you to return for more performances in the future. Other performers who arrive late and are not on time regularly will give the impression that they aren’t taking it seriously as a career.
Choosing the correct people to work with is a big part of doing well in the music industry, whether its co-writers, managers, agents, promoters, record label executives or even publishers, choosing the right or wrong people to work with or hire can mean the difference between your song getting somewhere or not. When it comes to co-writers it is extremely important that you choose someone who isn’t only capable of writing great lyrics, but also who you get along and have good chemistry with. When working with other lyricists, having good chemistry will mean that your lyrics may just flow naturally and it will give the song a much more powerful vibe, the audience will be able to “tell” that its heartfelt and certain lyrics will hit particular emotions that strike them and make the song stand out on a more personal level.
In the business side of things there are also certain people you should aim to work with as well as avoid, having a good manager or agent can give you a much better opportunity to get bigger and more common gigs and can also help you out massively when touring. When on tour as an artist you need to make sure you hire the right tour manager, if your tour manager doesn’t have what it takes to stay up all night and work on minimal sleep making sure everything is perfect for you as a performer, then they’re not the correct person for the job and as an artist you need to know what is acceptable and what isn’t in someone who works for you.
Financial and legal issues in the profession
The financial issues with this profession come in all shapes and sizes, one of the more notable ones in today’s world would be downloading online music for free. Since 2004 when the music industry began to plummet, everyone in the business was hit hard either directly or because of a knock on effect. The issue is that in the modern world people no longer have to pay a fee to access records like they used to, over the decades people have had to pay for vinyl, cassette, cd and eventually digital music but it is easier than ever to copy and illegally download or even sell other people’s music. This means that for a songwriter today you have to not only sell albums and singles for more money to try and maximise profit, but you also have to sell tickets for shows with prices at an all time high, and this also means that less people will go to gigs and shows because they cost more money meaning you can’t sell out as easily.
A legal issue that has been plaguing the profession for several years now more than ever is copyright, many famous artists have become known for having lawsuits and going to court due to people making allegations of stealing their ideas. An artist who is widely known for this is Ed Sheeran, he has been in court over several songs such as “the photograph”, “the rest of our life” “shape of you” “thinking out loud” and more. The things we can learn from this is that you should never reveal your ideas to others unless you absolutely trust them and you should never try to copy someone else’s song.
The marketing and promotional aspects of this profession
In the modern era, there are more tools than ever before to market yourself and promote your career. One of the most common ways people get there music out their is through social media networking, this doesn’t just mean instagram, facebook and youtube because agents and promoters very rarely use these to find people, but instead it can mean making your own website to advertise what you do or putting your music on streaming platforms. A brilliant example of this would be Billie Eilish, she and her brother wrote songs (produced by her brother finneas) and uploaded them to music platforms, eventually she was talent spotted on Deezer and that’s where her career officially took off.
When it comes to marketing specifically, you can look anywhere on the internet to find what’s popular and get an understanding of what people want to hear. But having said that there are also “traditional ways” of getting your music out there such as, going to a record label and selling your songs, building a reputation for yourself selling out clubs and venues in your home city or country and finally there is always the talent show option, shows like the voice or Britain’s got talent.
Intellectual and personal challenges and how they can be dealt with
A personal challenge you may come across when working as a songwriter is writer’s block. Writer’s block is very common and several famous artists have openly admitted to getting it on a frequent basis, to overcome this particular issue there are several options including: listening to other people’s music and taking inspiration from them, reading the lyrics to a song on paper without the music to get an idea of what to write lyrically.
As a writer you will probably suffer from this many times in the course of your career but with practice and with experience you will learn what does and doesn’t work for you to get past it.
Career progression opportunities available
There are several career opportunities within the career of songwriting / performing, one of them is “ghost writing” which is a job where you write songs for other artists to sing and perform. Arguably the best ghost writer ever is Max Martin, he is responsible for 27 of the biggest pop hits between 1999 and today. There are many artists who are famous for performance that become ghost writers either full time or on the side, method man, Jay z and ryan tedder have all ghost written several songs for other artists and on many of these occasions the average person has no idea who has written or co-written a particular song.
Bibliography
Max Martin is a songwriterSpotify for Artistshttps://artists.spotify.com › songwriter
