Thursday, June 12, 2008

Starting your own songwriting or production team?

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I've done a week of blogs on songwriting and production teams. So my question now to all of you who write alone, are you ready to start your own production or songwriting team? If you are a songwriter or producer who writes alone and is now ready to start your own team, but don't know where to find the people that you need, then I'd suggest the following things:

1. Network!!!!! Check out all the blogs I did on networking as I think they will help you find the right members for your songwriting and production team. Go to some music conferences. Check out JaWar's blog which lists over 25 upcoming conferences on mymusicconnection.blogspot.com. Please do attend one or more of these conferences, which are located all over the U.S.! Interestingly, it's from attending music conferences that I in fact found people in my own city to collaborate with, network with, find out about other events, etc. So again, get out the studio and network, network, network!


2. Find talented, business-minded, serious members who you'd enjoy working with! Well if you just met someone at a music conference, how do you know if that person fits that criteria? Well, do you see them out at multiple events, including music conferences, beat battles, open mics, industry events or a host of other networking places that I've mentioned in previous blogs? Do they have industry contacts? Have they been referred to you by someone who can vouch for them or by someone you know? Have you heard them sing (if they are a singer), heard their songs, heard their lyrics, their production work? Do you like what you heard? Does the person have business cards? Does the person have a CD of their work? Do they have a serious web presence? Are they currently working on their craft? Or are they constantly out partying, chilling, watching television, chasing women/men, etc? You can tell if a person is business minded and serious by listening to the person's conversation: what do they talk about the most? Don't just believe someone who says their "grinding" (an overused, misunderstood term in my opinion). Watch their work ethic which says more than their tongue service! And check the person's character and their personality and see if it meshes with yours or compliments yours.

3. Once you find those individuals, establish some rules. I gave you two days worth's of do's and don'ts to help you get started with setting a foundation for your songwriting/production team. Since you've found talented, business-minded individuals, there should be no problem with establishing some parameters!

4. Set up a schedule for when you will meet.

5. Meet and work with each other for awhile (I'd suggest no fewere than 6 months together), and then if the fit is there, meet with an entertainment attorney, see about going into business with your new members, and set up the right corporation for your production or songwriting team.

6. Then make great music together!

Thedy B, Attorney/Songwriter
Hits A Million, LLC
hitsamillion.blogspot.com
Interviewed.blogspot.com
Musicpanels.blogspot.com
Mobilemusicbusiness.blogspot.com
Musiclabels.blogspot.com
globalmusicbusiness.blogspot.com