Written by Andrea Stolpe How to Find a Great Collaborator There are a lot of reasons why finding collaborators is difficult. Maybe we don’t feel ready, don’t know how or where to find them, or even don’t like to collaborate in the first place. But great songs come faster and more frequently when we work together. As solo writers, it’s much more difficult to break out of our limited perspective to grow into creative spaces we don’t even know exist. If you’ve never tried writing a song with another writer, it’s time to try it out. Even if all your collaborations up until this point have been characterized by awkwardness, unproductiveness, or even a power struggle, I urge you to keep trying. I, for one, have experienced all of these feelings at various times, but I find that a good rule of thumb is to start where it’s comfortable. Look within your circle of friends, songwriters, and musicians you already know and work with to pen some songs together. If you’ve explored every avenue and are still a loner, try enrolling in a local community college course or extension course. Group guitar, songwriting, and voice lessons are all great places to find musicians with common interests and goals. Ask around for a referral to a private instrumental teacher who might also write songs. This is especially important if you are a lyricist in need of a strong instrumentalist to add that framework to your songwriting. Locate a songwriting group in your area. NSAI, ASCAP, BMI, and many other local and regional groups have workshops and monthly meetings. Many of these organizations also have songwriting vacations or retreats. Go out and listen to music you love at venues you feel comfortable in. Get to know your local scene and the artists who play it. Go to their shows, support them, and eventually you will be part of that scene and already making collaborative connections. It’s a great idea to make short term goals you can achieve. I used to strive to meet two new writers a week, whether at a show, through another cowriting venture, in the studio, whatever. I’d keep track of the names and make sure I kept up with the people I really enjoyed being around. For material in a co-writing session, I suggest being flexible enough to use song pieces you haven’t been able to finish on your own. If you’re a fast writer or feel more creative sparks flying when you’re in a room with someone, you might walk in with simply a concept or a title. But if you need to simmer awhile on your ideas before you settle on a direction, I recommend preparing some song pieces ahead of time so that you can feel you contributed to the session, and guided the session towards a creative result you’re happy with. Before leaving the co-writing session, it’s always a good idea to agree on the song split percentages and publishing rights. I recommend making your own song split sheet including the names of both writers, publisher name and address, and percentage of ownership when it comes to publisher’s and writer’s share. Usually, an even split is appropriate unless other elements are at play. No success in music happens alone. If you are limited in the time you spend making your art, keep in mind that even cowrites that don’t result in great songs are part of the learning curve. When we observe others writing with a process different from our own, we expand our available tools. Eventually, this fine tunes our ability to “see” what is really working in our own songs, and repeat those successes with more consistency. Collaborating with others is also a necessary part of networking. We may not write the best songs we’ve ever written with most of the collaborators we meet, but those people may be integral in getting our music heard in the future. Happy writing and collaborating, Andrea

By Judy Stakee, Owner, The Judy Stakee Company COWRITING: Playing Well with Others Politeness is the poison of collaboration. — Edwin Land Cowriting is when two or more songwriters collaborate to create a song. I can hear melodies in my head and love writing lyrics, but it’s been a few years since I’ve played piano, so I like to collaborate with musicians to bring songs to life. I am always in awe of the writers who can do it all by themselves. If you do need someone to help you out, however, then I suggest finding a cowriter. In my years of experience in the music industry, I have come across many writers who would benefit from collaborating, but who strongly resisted it. Fear, pride, selfishness and distrust are all obstacles that stand in the way of a writer being willing to cowrite. However, I strongly believe that collaboration can be crucial to your career. Think of it as an investment strategy that will help propel you towards accomplishing your dreams. Cowriting helps shed light on exactly where you are in the development of your craft. Everything we are about in this life is in relation to someone or something else. For example, I am small compared to a building and huge compared to a flower; where you are weak, someone else is strong. If you are talented at writing lyrics and melodies, you can benefit from a partner who is an excellent producer or multi-instrumentalist with a working knowledge of music theory and chord structures. You both win and help each other at the same time. Building relationships (whether it’s through cowriting a song or otherwise) directly builds your network. As a songwriter, you want to have a network of people in place who know who you are (your character) and what you do (your skills). This network of people can open up opportunities you never would have come across otherwise. For instance, your cowriter may know someone whose friend or relative is a record executive at a big music label. You never know what possibilities are waiting for you! One of my favorite quotes is this African proverb: “It takes a village to raise a child.” I don’t know anyone who can achieve greatness all on their own. We all need others to help guide, educate, and inspire us. Here’s some advice for your next cowriting project: Be intentional. You are always faced with a choice when you find yourself in the room with another writer; you can guide, follow, or meet head on. How you navigate depends on your wants, needs and desires. Do you feel like leading the songwriting? Or would you rather sit back and see what transpires? What happens if both you and your cowriter want to lead today? Being aware of how you work best, how much you are willing to bend, and how much you want to be challenged is your ticket to a cowrite you feel confident about and can learn and grow from. Part of my purpose in writing this book is to help you know yourself better and become more conscious of your genuine potential. Play well with others. The better you are with relationships, the easier the cowrite will be. Are you agreeable or difficult? Are you flexible or unchangeable? Remember that you are part of a team the moment you involve someone else in the songwriting process. Team-building results in self-development, positive communication, leadership skills, and the ability to work closely together to solve problems. One evening, while I was guiding cowrites in my weekly workshop, I noticed one participant was badgering her cowriter rather than clearly expressing what she wanted. Not surprisingly, her partner got defensive and shut down communication. He was reacting negatively to her tone of voice and behavior. If she had simply expressed herself more clearly and directly, her cowriter would have most likely been more open to her suggestions. She did not realize that she needed to ask him to come to the workshop prepared with musical ideas so that she could focus on the lyrics, and the cowrite was suffering as a result of this. The way we use our words and how we communicate can make or break a cowriting relationship — and ultimately the end product. Protect yourself. When you cowrite, you agree to create a product together, which can result in a music placement of some type (cover, cut, license, etc.) that has the potential to pay royalties. Before you leave the room, it is important that you and your cowriter have an agreement in place about song splits (who owns what percentage of the song). At the end of this section, you will find a form to assist you in this process. Pay attention to the chemistry. Cowriting songs is like co-owning a startup company. You are partnering with another individual to create a product that combines both of your perspectives and experiences. The right combination creates magic. Pick cowriters who complement your skill set, are pleasant to be around, have good character and have synergy with you. Good chemistry is so important. True story: I heard Keith Urban for the first time when he performed at the Academy of Country Music Awards show in 2001. His voice was rich, his songwriting was clever, and when he played that guitar of his— well, there were just no words. I had just signed songwriter John Shanks, who was coming off producing the Michelle Branch album The Spirit Room, and was guiding him to integrate more country into his repertoire. From the get go, I knew that John and Keith would be great together. They were both talented guitarists who would inevitably bond over their shared respect for their instruments. I called Keith’s manager to pitch John as a possible cowrite and before I knew it, they had spent their first day together. Keith walked in with an opening riff, and the rest is history. Their hit song