6 Often Overlooked Benefits to Cowriting
If you look at most hit songs these days, you’ll often notice that they were penned by 2, 3, or even more songwriters! Why would songwriters want to share royalties with another songwriter? Why not just write alone and keep all the royalties? This is because the benefits of cowriting outweigh the downside of sharing royalties by a longshot.
Cowriting is becoming more and more popular as a way for songwriters to grow and to increase their chances at having their songs placed. While cowriting isn’t for everyone, you should consider cowriting for 6 main reasons.
1. You Expand Your Network
Successful songwriters can have all the great songs in the world, but if they never network and make successful business connections, those songs will likely die on the hard drive instead of seeing the air waves.
Cowriting expands your network to not only the people you cowrite with, but often times with the people that your cowriters know as well. Likewise, you help your cowriters merge into your current network, forming a win-win situation.
2. You Learn From Each Other
Whether you’re a song veteran or a newcomer, as you cowrite you share ideas about melody, lyrics, and song themes. Often times this means you’ll learn new tricks, methods, and frameworks that will make you a more well-rounded songwriter.
3. You Synergize
1 + 1 = 3. That’s synergy. When you and your cowriter get on the same wavelength, you create songs together that neither of you could have written alone. You’ll notice exceptional lyrics, compelling melodies, and unique hook lines flow when you are both in the zone.
4. You Help Each Other Complete Unfinished Songs
Ever get stuck on a song that you can’t seem to finish? Maybe you need a solid bridge, a few lines of lyrics, or production ideas. Whatever your need, a cowriter can help fill in the gaps and polish off your song. Likewise, you can do the same with songs that your cowriter started but was unable to finish.
5. You Get Valuable Critiques
If you have an open mind, you’ll get valuable feedback from your cowriters. They may suggest new structures, different word choices, alternate tempos, etc. While they may not always be right, having a friendly set of ears can go a long way into helping you polish your songs.
6. You Multiply Your Manpower
Since you and your cowriters are equally invested in the success of the song you’ve created, you now have multiple ambassadors ready to get your song to market. This means you can split the costs of a quality demo and multiply your manpower in networking, pitching, and promoting your song. This dramatically increases the chances of your song getting placed.
So what are you waiting for? Join a songwriter association, make some friends, and set up cowriting sessions. You’ll be surprised where it may take you.