Re: Can "I'll put music to your lyrics" services be legit?

Date: 25 Mar 2003 16:49:09 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.songwriting
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Matthew wrote:<< I'm considering trying my hand at putting music to non-musical
folks'
lyrics. I was thinking of offering the service to the people on my
mailing list at first, to test the water. I think it would be a good
exercise for me as an artist, challenging and fun.
etc clipped
>>
Well, collaboration IS challenging and fun, of course -- it's when the money
side of it comes in that things tend to go haywire imo.
Hi Matthew,
Firstly, there's nothing in your post that makes me think you are anything
other than well-intentioned, but you are right, it IS a minefield and you do
have to tread carefully.
i think there is one situation where it's OK to sell tunes to people in the way
you describe. Genuine vanity publishing. Example.... someone writes a lyric, of
sorts, for their sister's wedding and would love it to be sung at the ceremony
but they don't know anyone musical. You could make that happen (for a fee),
their aspirations are ENTIRELY fulfilled, and both sides would be happy (as
long as it was a decent tune from their point of view, and not so brilliant
from your point of view that you think you could have done something more than
pick up a flat fee for it ;-)
in that sense, it's not much different from them choosing the wallpaper and you
hanging it, and I don't have a problem. In fact many people offer their paid
services writing poems and speeches for such occasions and no one calls them
speech-sharks -- it's a service just as much as doing the flowers. No one
expects the florist to do it for fun.
OK so far, so good. But selling the promise of 'my tune will turn your lyric
into a potential hit' is just nonsense (I'm not suggesting that is going to be
your pitch, Matthew, but it is the actual or implied claim in many scams and i
think you are right to be wary of being tarred with the same brush).
Truth is, if any musician produced a tune he/she was convinced would be a
smash... would they really part with it for a fee, whether it's $50 or $1500?
Not if they have any sense. Most of what is produced in this way may be very
serviceable musically for all I know, but is most often likely to be at best a
'professional' cookie cutter job, not a blistering original that has been
agonised over like one of your own songs...
oh one more truth... if the person soliciting the melody has any atistic talent
at all, whether as a lyricist or a performer, they would be very well advised
to find a genuine collaborator in the first place. There may be a corollary to
this in terms of the standard of lyrics you end up working with on a flat fee
basis, I don't know.
But going back to the selling a service thing... the only honest way to do sell
a melody is lock, stock and barrel, ie you sell the tune, the credit AND the
copyright to it as a package. You don't use the same tune or a derivative for
the next customer, the 28th customer down the line, or your own next album, and
if by any chance 'My sister's wedding day' ends up selling a million, you smile
ruefully and think 'Why the hell didn't I do that as a genuine, money-free
collaboration ;-)'
Paul
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