HOW TO GENERATE A TON OF SONGS AND INSPIRE CREATIVITY ( Part 2 & 3)
Because the internet and the new streaming world rewards consistent and regular releases of music, every musician needs to be focused on creating episodic releases of their output. For example, singles, remixes, EPs and other music drops that lead to final album. Releasing a steady stream of music throughout the year drives engagement, grows your
fanbase, and make more money with music in today's internet-driven music industry as we said in part one, The creating and producing 365 songs for the TheSongOfTheDay.com
project where they released one song for every day of 2007, ended up stumbling on many techniques to generate a lot of music. Then researched creativity Together compiled ten of the best idea- generators you can use for your own music.
Here are the next three idea-generators to help get you unstuck and creating new music:
1. RIFF ON WHAT'S BEEN DONE BEFORE AND DO YOUR OWN.
The history of music is filled with ideas to explore and make your own. Find inspiration in what's come before and building something new and original from it. For example, what if you made a response album similar to what Liz Phair did to The Rolling Stone's
"Exile on Main Street" by creating a song-by-song answer album?
Like it was done during that TheSongOfTheDay.com project by tackling doing a rock opera. They always admired the Who's "Tommy" and Pink Floyd's "The Wall", but they knew they had to keep the rock opera
short. So, the challenge to create a 10 minute
"rock operetta", one song that told a story over multiple movement. That challenge resulted in an afternoon songwriting session and "Pizza (The Rock Opera)" was born. It would never had written the song if it wasn't for being inspired by rock operas
from the past. The same technique can be used for your music.
2. TRY A DIFFERENT GENRE, STYLE OR MOOD.
Similar to the above, another way to get the creative juices flowing or to break out of a creative slump is to challenge yourself to try something new. What about creating an instrumental? If you already created instrumentals, what about challenging yourself to write a song with lyrics? What about tackling a different genre or style? Or better yet, fusing two different styles into something totally new? Or
a different mood? Creating music outside your comfort zone actually can open up new ideas and techniques you can use in any of your music.
3. CHALLENGE YOURSELF BY TAKING COMMISSIONS.
During TheSongOfTheDay.com project, taking suggestions as well as actual commissions for music. Some fans would write asking if to create a theme song for their podcast. This resulted in writing, recording, and releasing multiple podcast themes. The podcast themes had the added bonus of exposing band and music to totally new audiences
since the podcasters would credit in every episode. So much so that new music became famous in their listeners minds, and would get a ton of attention at any gatherings where the podcast listeners hung
out. You can do this as well not just with podcasters, but shows and vloggers on YouTube. But also don't forget about the real world.
One musician Nathan Page, would walk into local
restaurants and pizza shops, convince them they needed a jingle or theme song, and then got paid to create the music for their advertising campaigns.
Now you're armed with six solid idea-generators designed to inspire and get your creative process kicked into high-gear. And, there's four more --
check out part three for more ideas...
How to Generate A Ton of
Songs And Inspire Creativity
(Part 3)
1. STEAL FROM YOURSELF.
Do you have older music that's been sitting around? Pull it out of the archives and co-write with yourself. Take the song to another place. Update it. Fix the pieces that make you cringe. That's exactly
what happened in the TheSongOfTheDay.com Project when they decided to take and come up with 365 songs. They raided everyone's old demo tapes (and yes, some of them were so old they were on
cassette tapes.)
For example, the song about Leap Year came out of a guitar riff
something they'd nearly forgotten called "Fragment 34." And discovered some of
these unfinished licks, riffs, demos, and ideas which re-inspire them. All of a sudden after hearing a new melody or could combine it with a more recent fragment of an idea to grow it into a completely new
song. Some ideas just needed new lyrics. And yes, many went immediately right back into the tape box as hearing them refreshed the memory and reminded them, it shouldn't have heard the light of day!
2. COLLABORATE AND BRING IN FRESH IDEAS
One of the best ways to get creating was to collaborate with others. holding weekend songwriting sessions almost every Saturday and sometimes as many as five other musicians or lyricists
would show up. This was the perfect place to present older or smaller ideas and fragments while working on and bounce it off another person. Often this led to some of team huddled by the piano or over a guitar, writing the song right then and there as the other person who hadn't heard the idea became inspired.
This is how the song Coffee was created. A couple of the band members headed out of the studio to get some coffee, but before they left told the drummer and sax player to "write a song before getting back". As soon as the door shut, the two looked at one
another and said, "Well, I guess that means we better hurry up and write a song about coffee." The pressure to have one written before the rest of the band got back only heightened the creativity. And,
when the group returned, the two had a new song, just as
promised.
3. USE "YES AND...", NOT "NO" OR "YES, but…"
The #1 rule of improv is to always accept what the other players say when you're on stage. If your co-improvisor says you're on the moon, then you're on the moon -- even if your original idea for the
sketch was to be on the beach. Creativity, brainstorming, and innovation thrive in environments where everyone accepts everything and leans into any ideas presented. Don't judge when
you're creating. Shut off the editor; that voice in your head that wants to take over. The one that says "no" or "yes, but". If you want to be as creative as possible with other people, then you need to accept every idea, explore it, and actually, play with it. It's in the later
stages, when the song is written you can bring back your internal editor, but not at this delicate creative stage.
4. SONG FIGHT!
Nothing drives getting things done like a purpose and a deadline.
That's where SongFight! comes in. Similar to album challenge sites,
SongFight! is a site that challenges musicians to write, record, and
publish a song within a week and put it up against others to see which get the most votes.Plus, they discuss each week's "battle" on their forum. But don't get lost in the Fight! part, it's actually a device to spur creativity.
During TheSongOfTheDay.com, The band used the site strictly for song idea inspiration and ended up with a few songs that way, some of which we later developed into full-blown recordings. They
never "won" with the songs they submitted, but then that wasn't the
goal. And, sometimes written and recorded songs based on their phrase, but instead of submitting it, just built it up and released it, like this one. And, if you're into even more convoluted
challenges beyond a phrase or word, check out the SongFight!
inspired site, SongFight! Songs Idea Generator!
Now that you're armed with ten solid idea-generators, it's time to get
writing. After all, the more music you create, the more likely you'll create some fantastic tracks. And, the more fantastic tracks you have, the more you can release throughout the year to grow your fanbase and Make money with music.