What does it take to make songwriting a sustainable career? We had the pleasure of speaking with decorated Singaporean songwriter and producer, Amir Masoh, whose credits span everything from the SEA Games, to the likes of Mandopop stars, Jacky Cheung and Vivian Hsu.
If you’ve ever wanted to pick the brains of a successful songwriter, Amir’s put together five crucial tips and considerations to get you started.
1. Write (especially when you don’t feel like it)
It’s an obvious fact, but I’ve met many aspiring songwriters who just don’t spend enough time writing.
Or worse – they wait for inspiration or the right mood.
Songwriting, like any creative endeavour, requires both artistry and craftsmanship. The reality is that there will be far more days where you don’t feel like writing, or have nothing to say.
The path to a good song is riddled with lots of questionable ones and this is where the craft comes to play. Exercises like sense-writing will strengthen your ability to look for details in the mundane of things and the more you write, the better you’ll become. Which is why you must write as often as you can, especially when you have nothing to say.
And in doing so, you will strengthen the craft which will in turn give you more tools to explore and express your artistry.
2. Learn the craft
As mentioned above, artistry and craftsmanship goes hand in hand.
Learn how to write better lyrics, or craft better melodies. Spend some time understanding basic music theory. There are numerous resources out there that will expose you to some of the technical elements of songwriting.
For example, Berklee Online has a bunch of YouTube Shorts that cover the basics of songwriting, which will give a direction of sorts on what to work on.
Master the craft so you can pilot the art.
3. Finish your songs, or abandon them
All songwriters (present company included) have a library of unfinished songs.
It’s always fun to start something, but when the fun stops, or when it gets difficult, the idea is sometimes shelved while we chase the next shiny idea. There’s nothing wrong with that, and sometimes it is necessary to go do something else in order to refresh your perspective. But as much as you can, and as often as you can, finish the songs as quickly as you can before running off to the next idea.
Before you can consistently write a decent song, you have to write bad ones first. The sooner you get through the bad ones, the closer you‘ll get to the good ones.
4. Collaborate and listen to criticism
Find people to collaborate with.
This could mean forming a band, or finding a writing partner, or sharing your work with others so you can get some feedback. Everything sounds great in your head until you put it out. Create a circle of accountability through collaboration where the people in this circle can be honest with you. But always remember, that songwriting is a creative endeavour and as such there is no right or wrong. But if you leave your ego at the door, you can objectively look at these criticisms and decide if it applies to what you’re trying to do.
Collaborating also increases your song completion rate as well as open more doors to having your songs released.
5. Understand the business side of things
First, understand that if you decide to make songwriting as your career, that this is a business.
The details of your career are worth more than 10 pages.
Amir Masoh
It’s all fun and games until someone else makes a lot of money and you don’t. Understanding the economics, the legal jargon and terminology, as well as possible terms and conditions will save you a lot of grief in the future.
Don’t be in a hurry to sign a publishing contract and don’t sign a publishing contract that is less than 10 pages long. The details of your career are worth more than 10 pages. If you don’t trust yourself to understand the contract, find someone you do trust to explain it to you.
The songwriting industry is extremely competitive. Each song request from A&Rs will have
hundreds, if not thousands of submissions. But if you’re serious in becoming a professional
songwriter, as serious as you are about breathing, then keep your head down, trust your instincts,
and write like your life depended on it.
And as much as there are thousands of professional songwriters out there, remember this – no one can tell a story like you. Not even me.
This article was written by Amir Masoh and minimally edited by the Tracklist team. We thank him for taking the time to do so and sharing his valuable insights.
About the author
Amir is a songwriter, producer and arranger that has worked with many notable names, including Jacky Cheung, Rainie Yang, Roger Yang, Hebe and Taufik Batisah. He has also written songs for the 28th SEA Games.
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