The Listener Makes the Song

Your music means a lot to you. You write songs because you have something to say. You're wanting to share an idea or a message or make a statement or express a feeling. You feel like you're going to burst if you don't get it out.

That's all well and good, but is anyone ever interested in the artist's perspective? Not really. Listeners are feeling their own feelings, and they're thinking about their own lives. If there's a connection to a song, they take ownership of the song. It's their song now.

Song structure, lyrics, melody, hooks, and sounds are only fads that change with the times. If you're out of sync with the times you just won't be heard. Simply put, no one will ever hear you.

I have a personal tendency to buck trends. I've been afraid that the consequence of playing to trends is becoming a follower and to stop innovating. That's a kind of death that I fear more than failure. I have failed again and again because I don't want to conform. And I'm not being heard.

Successful artists seem to be able to negotiate a balance between contributing ideas and riding the trends. Like surfers, they have a serious respect for the waves. They give up some control to be heard, but when they succeed they become the tastemakers.

I think the artist's ultimate desire is human connection. Ironically, this is not the direct result of making art. Art is not a transfer of an idea or a feeling from one person to another. Art is a transfer of ownership of the idea, and it mutates during the transfer. Like in a relay race, the baton is passed and the listener carries the idea forward to the next person. Music is nothing without the listener!

Art is created in the moment of the experience by the person experiencing the art. The person singing or playing the instrument is creating art for himself, but the person listening is also creating art. The listener is also a creator. The song is incorporated by the listener and becomes an integral part of the listener's life experience.

Think about any song you care about. There's probably a special event or a person associated with it. The event/person is inseparable from your experience of the song because it's become the soundtrack of your experience. It's your song now.

I don't think there's a formula or method for writing a good song. It's like trying to write the soundtrack to someone else's life. But if there was a formula, I think it would be to be aware of and work with the fads and to negotiate the balance between being creative and writing what's expected.

Remember that your art will become someone else's art. You'll have the copyright, but your listeners will take metaphorical ownership of the music that you write. Your song will become their song.

- Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash -