Arty,
Good to hear from you. Sounds like you are being quite the productive one. That is great congratulations.
It is always a fine line between being SIMPLE and SIMPLISTIC. And that is the thing about the simpler songs, chord structures, information. SIMPLE is very good. You need to be clear, understandable and easy to define, with the listening public and therefore the business. That means not cluttering up what you are trying to say. And while I understand your comments on MUSTANG SALLY, there is a reason that song is still a standard nearly 50 years after it came out and why it gets a crowd cheer and fills a dance floor everytime it is played.
IT WORKS.
And that is more of the "simple" elements of songs that grab the audience. Having a simple, easy to sing and remember chorus, is always going to stand out with the listening audience.
Being SIMPLISTIC where it seems to "dumb down" audiences, to me is never a good idea, although a lot of our culture is about that. That is where everyone seems to write the same songs, use the same grooves, the same chord progression, the same rhymes. That is what I call "TREND WRITING" and the downfall of so many writers and artists are where they do that and end up short in the listening public.
We are in a pretty rude culture to begin with. People have the attention span of a goldfish and are very easily distracted. So coming with the "same thing they have heard a ca jillion times before" the same way, is what we need to try and avoid. At least we can try.
In my own efforts, when people I work with bring in these "same old worn out" ideas, I will skip the idea completely if I can't find something else to say.
So yes, we need to observe "K.I.S.S", (Keep it simple Songwriter.) but we don't need to be SIMPLISTIC.
Again, my opinion.
On the "group dynamic" if you are talking about my California/Michigan efforts or what I have seen happening around the country that works and many things that don't, it is quite simply just finding people in your area who can be allies for you and your music. This could be artists, musicians, other writers, or just friends of your music who will come out and support you when you perform, buy your product, or just join your team.
It has pretty much always been this way, particularly in an entertainment city like New York. Los Angeles or Nashville. There have to be many people involved, so finding a way to do that, however you do it, is what the "group dynamic" is about. Some is an out and out business "survival" method.
Publishers, record companies, etc. are simply not LISTENING to anything any more. They are too busy promoting their own brands, songs, artists, etc. of people they physically know now, than they are in going outside, even to Internet based sites. As I heard one producer recently tell an audience in a question and answer night.
The question was about how you get people to listen to songs in this day and age. The producer was onstage in an interview section and people from the audience were asking questions. It always invaribly comes up that every door is closed and have the "No unsolicited Material" signs everywhere. The questioner wanted to know the single biggest question every one asks that tries to do this, "If you can't get anyone to listen to your songs, HOW DO YOU GET THEM HEARD?"
The producer said (I'm paraphrasing) "It's like having someone to work on your house. If you have problems, plumbing, carpentry, or renovations or even building something new, you are not going to take a chance on having shoddy work or spending an ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF MONEY, often wasted, on people you don't know. You are not just going to go to nameless people. You are going to ask your friends, find out references, or use actual people you personally KNOW to come over and do the work. Good and bad reputations get out there all the time.
It is like that with songs, writers and artists. If you are good at what you do, do it consistently, your reputation gets out. If you run in the circles of people I know and trust, chances are that I am going to hear about you. That is how you earn your way in."
So my particular process go BEYOND just the song. Songs need advocates, as you said, if you can't find someone else to do your songs, you have to do them yourself. Well, my concept is always in FINDING someone to do your songs by including them IN your songs. Making it a part of their lives, their own world, is the important thing to do and essential in today's self focused world we live in. We just have to find them sooner now.
Good luck to you for continued success. Hope you won't stay away so long this time. If you didn't have luck in the lyric forum, always feel free to contact me privately if you want me to look at something. Always try to help if I can.
MAB
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