Serve The Song

Children’s singer-songwriter and Parent’s Choice Award winner Andrea “Dre” Towey writes and performs music that resonates with children of all ages as it touches a wide range of subjects, from the dog across the street to the harrowing experience of losing a balloon. A former elementary school teacher and art educator, Dre “unleashed” her first solo album, “Chester The Dog” in 2006. Her award-winning follow up recording, “Sugar On Top”, was released in 2008. Dre shares her thoughts on writing, recording and performing children’s music in the email interview below. Learn more about Dre Towey at www.litteloomis.com

How did you get your start in music?

I entered the music business as an illustrator. I was illustrating and writing children’s books with hopes of being published when a teaching associate asked me to illustrate her cassette (did I say cassette?!). Later I wrote songs for her and eventually performed with the band. My specialty was monkey noises, ant noises (very subtle) and the shaker.

When did you start writing songs?

I began writing songs as toasts for my family on special occasions. It was kinda the family joke like, “Oh jeez, here goes Andrea again.” I was writing the words to existing tunes. Eventually I found my own sound and I still don’t know where it comes from. Then I picked up the guitar and kept practicing in front of anyone who would listen. Libraries are good places for this because it’s free to the public.

While Michelle Shocked is a clear vocal influence, who are your songwriting influences?

I am a big fan of Michelle Shocked and honored by the comparison, but the truth is I didn’t know who she was until a reviewer covered my CD and said that I sounded like her. I would say that my influences are Rickie Lee Jones, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks and more recently, Sheryl Crow and Ariel from the Little Mermaid. Ariel has red hair and I really like her shell bikini and man, does she have pipes!

What made you decide to focus on children’s music?

The music just happened as I taught and as I had children. It wasn’t like, should I do this or should I do that. Any decision I made regarding my music happened because it felt right, it felt natural and it felt good.

How is writing songs for kids different from writing for adults?

Don’t know. I never write for anyone but myself. Maybe it’s easier for me to connect to my inner child than my inner adult. More recently though I do like to have a couple songs that the kids can follow along during live performances. I think this is same for adults. People, in general, want to relate and sing along to songs. A simple catchy chorus can define a song.

What is your songwriting process? How do you go from initial idea to finished track?

It usually starts with something a child says or does that either hits me or triggers a personal memory. It can start with a phrase and I usually play with it until the melody reflects the imagery of the song. I don’t usually complete a song until I have to – I can’t tell you how many beginnings are on my laptop.

Do you own any type of home recording setup?

Amateur set up. Things I get frustrated with. Not a tech person at all.

How do your songs change once you hit the studio? Do you work with other musicians and/or a producer?

My songs burst when I hit the studio because recording and playing with other artists is the most exciting part for me. Most of the time I like them better, there have been only a couple of occasions when I didn’t put a track on an album.

Are your live shows different from your recordings? In other words, do you play solo or with a band? Is there a different vibe?

My live performances are more interactive than my recordings. Considering my age group they have to be. Sometimes I play solo, or with a percussionist and other times the whole band. It’s always a different vibe catered toward the audience at that given moment.

Where do you find inspiration?

Obviously, children inspire me. Usually I am inspired when I have a quiet moment and I am taking time to listen. Nature inspires me. Dogs inspire me. Humor inspires me.

How often do you write? Do you have a set writing schedule?

I am writing all the time. Not physically at my desk but constantly churning ideas and recording them (even if it’s just on my voicemail). No schedule unless I have a deadline.

Where do you think children’s music fits in to the larger music industry?

Children are born all the time. Why not make more music? They are the perfect audience. It’s been going on a long time, Woodie Guthrie, the Beatles – they got it. It’s not a new thing and believe me there is a lot out there, good and bad and really bad.

Have your albums sold well? How do you promote them?

Ah marketing. My nemesis. Just tackling that now. This interview should boost sales, right?

What are your future plans?

A third CD is pending, a couple of video shoots (I can’t wait!), and I plan to open an intergalactic studio for kids and adults based on Mars with spaceship carpools. Just kidding. How about one in SoNo, CT??? I am going to call it JAM, an acronym for Junior Art & Music. Seriously, come visit me this September.

Listen to Dre Towey’s music at http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/DreTowey

A lot of people come to Serve The Song looking for songwriting templates, so I’ve put together another one. My first  GarageBand songwriting template was built using basic song forms. This new template uses very basic music theory featuring simple I, IV and  V chords along with ii and vi minor.

What The Heck Does That Mean?

With all due respect to those of you who understand music theory, the Roman numerals I, IV and V (1, 4 and 5) describe the first, fourth and fifth scale degrees in any major scale. When you build major triads (three-note chords) from these points in the major scale, you always get major chords. Likewise, when you build minor triads on the second (ii) and sixth (vi) scale degrees you always get minor chords.

Use Basic Chords As Building Blocks For Your Songs

While there are dozens of chord combinations you could use, these 5 basic chord forms are excellent building blocks for pop songs in any key.

Download and use the attached zip file to get started. The template has a basic drum and bass groove and the chords are played on piano as straight half notes. There are also blank tracks available for you to add your own melodies.

Remember, this is very basic stuff. No bells and whistles. Just enough to give your creativity a boost. You are free to build on top of this in any way you choose. To change key in GarageBand simply change the key of your project and all the chords will transpose accordingly. Same goes for tempo.

Have Fun And Write Something New

The template is saved in both Garageband .band format and .mp3 so you can use it in whatever software package you prefer. Let me know if it helps you jump start your songwriting. Use some or all of the chords to give you a starting point for your next song. Use them in any key at any tempo. Stretch them out, chop them up, or put them in any combination you prefer. But most importantly have fun!

Download Songwriting Template

In Part 1 of our exclusive interview with TAXI founder and CEO Michael Laskow, Michael shared his insights about current opportunities for songwriters and the best way to get your music heard by the right people. In Part 2 Michael gives advice on how to work with TAXI and the work ethic needed to compete in today’s marketplace.

Do songwriters need to be well-versed in music theory and audio production? In other words, these days is it possible to sell a tune with a simple guitar/vocal demo?

First and foremost, they need to just be great songwriters. Not good, but great! They really need to know their craft. And the answer is “yes” for some genres. Country, A/C… maybe some types of Pop would accept a piano or guitar vocal demo of an incredible song. I’ve got some examples of hits that came from very simple demos in my office.

For Rock or Katy Perry type of Pop, or for artist demos you really need a full-blown demo to show what the song is all about. If you want to hear some great advice on this very subject, watch this interview I did with Rob Chiarelli not long ago. He’s engineered, mixed or produced more than 70 gold and Platinum records, and he’s got what I would characterize as the typical advice I most frequently hear on this very topic. There’s also a bunch of other incredible advice that comes out in that interview. It’s well worth watching.

For those who don’t have solid studio chops or access to producers/engineers, do music libraries and music supervisors accept tracks created with Band in a Box or similar programs?

Practically never. When it comes from a box, it really stands out as such, especially to experienced ears.

Has the role of a traditional music publisher changed over the last 10 years?

Yes, a lot! They don’t sign nearly as many staff writers as they used to, and the deals are often much skinnier. They’re more likely to spend their time working to pair their writers with artists who need a co-writer rather than plugging a catalog of material from their stable of writers.

Is it possible for songwriters to pitch to industry people on their own?

It’s not impossible, but I don’t know many unknown songwriters who have the arsenal of contacts to pitch often enough to have a really good shot. I know most songwriters think their music is top notch and all it would take would be just one listen by the right person and they’d be on their way. That’s an extremely rare event. Actually, it’s wishful thinking! To put it in perspective, it took Diane Warren 12 years to get her first song cut and she was relentless in her efforts, and she lived in Los Angeles. You need to have a huge network of people. You need to make plugging your music your full time job to get the same results as the other pro writers.

If you think you can write a few songs a year, make a few pitches a year and hit it big, you might as well buy a lottery ticket. It takes consistent effort over a period of years and your songs need to be competitive with Diane Warren’s, Jeffrey Steele’s, Kara DioGuardi’s and a few dozen other writers at that level. Once you get on the desk, that’s exactly who you’ll be competing against. By the way, did you know that all totaled, Nashville has more than 800 songwriters living there who’ve already had Number One hits and more than 20,000 professional songwriters?

They’re doing it full time. To be competitive with them, you need to know who and what they know. Writing great songs is a given. I created TAXI for the people who don’t know who and what the pros know, but just might have the killer songs.

How is TAXI different from the other song pitching services out there?

I hope you don’t mind if I give you a list.

• TAXI has been in business since 1992. None of the other companies can say that.
• TAXI offers a money-back guarantee that we will deliver what we promise. None of the other companies offer that.
• TAXI gives detailed feedback from incredibly well qualified industry experts with amazing resumes. None of the other companies offer that.
• TAXI has 18 years of high-level contacts and connections that our competitors don’t.
• TAXI gives every member two FREE tickets to what is widely considered to be the best convention out there for songwriters, artist and composers – the Road Rally. At best, other companies only sponsor events that cost as much or more for just one ticket, when a TAXI membership includes a year of our service and two free tickets.

Want more?

• TAXI has had thousands more of our customers sign deals than ANY other company out there. The deals have included Major label record deals, Indie label deals, staff writer deals, songs cuts that have gone to Number One, and countless Film & TV publishing deals and placements that have happened because those TAXI members decided to invest three hundred bucks in themselves rather than spend it on designer coffee. No other company even comes close to those stats.

Want me to keep going? Okay…

• TAXI has an “A” rating with the Better Business Bureau and not one of our competitors even belongs to the BBB. TAXI has people on the ground in Nashville, Los Angeles and now New York. Some of our competitors are headquartered in Wisconsin and Massachusetts.
• TAXI’s V.P. of A&R’s last job was Sr. Director of Creative at Universal Music.
• TAXI’s Director of A&R’s last job was Creative Director at Windswept Music Publishing.
• TAXI screens the requests for music that come in, and we only take the very best opportunities for our members. Other companies seemingly take anything so their customers never know what they might be hooked up with.

Anyway… you get the idea. There are a ton of companies that have tried to copy us to varying degrees, but not one of them can claim ANY of the things I’ve just listed, let alone all of them. Sorry to get so carried away, but as you can probably see, I’m pretty passionate about TAXI.

Besides copyrighting their songs, should a writer join a PRO and clear their songs before submitting to services like TAXI?

Their music will need to be with a PRO when they start to get cuts or placements so they can collect their performance royalties. As long as they own or control their masters and their publishing, they should have no problem clearing their music if someone wants to license it.

Will a songwriter do better by focusing more on industry trends or pitching the songs from his or her latest CD?

Hopefully their CD is already in the ballpark of what the industry needs. That’s the perfect storm. If your music isn’t in that ballpark, your chances of success are tremendously reduced. If you sold shoes and a customer asked for a men’s size ten Oxford, what would you have them try on?

The music industry’s buyers are the music supervisors, A&R people, publishers, video game producers and ad agencies. They have needs. You need to fill them. You could go the DIY route, but that takes years of constant work to really get off the ground, and how do you eat while you’re doing it? My hat is off to those full time musicians who have the time and talent to pull it off.

In other interviews and your own marketing materials you stress the importance of building relationships and being easy to work with. Can you elaborate on that more for our readers?

Sure, and I don’t mean to be trite here, but would you rather go to a doctor who you perceive to be professional, friendly, helpful, concerned about your needs and reliable, or one who is none of those things? The music industry is really no different. Don’t be an obnoxious, unreliable, or arrogant jerk. Be a good person who makes other people’s jobs easier for them and they will be more inclined to give you work. It’s pretty simple.

Finally, in terms of overall career development, can you talk a little bit about the 5-year plan you recommend to TAXI members?

One of our long-time members, Matt Hirt, actually came up with the five-year plan, so he should get the credit. Write and produce as many Film and TV cues as possible every week, pitch them as often as you can, don’t sit by the phone waiting for it to ring, keep writing and pitching more stuff, and after five years of doing that religiously, you should have enough material with enough Film and TV publishers that the placements and payments will really begin to add up.

I know it has worked exceedingly well for Matt. He’s been at it for eleven or twelve years now, and if he stopped writing today, my educated guess is that he would have an enviable income for years to come. He’s done it all right, and he’s been generous with what he’s learned along the way. Matt and many other members of our Forum are exactly who I came up with the concept of TAXI for. They make me very proud. They’ve proved that TAXI works if you work at it. The people who haven’t become successful using TAXI are using exactly the same service as the successful members. So what are the variables if they’re responding to the same opportunities and getting screened by the same A&R team at TAXI?

Their pitches, their music and their work ethic are the variables. When they follow Matt’s plan and make great music, they should get similar results from TAXI.

Do you think TAXI can help you with your music? Please leave your thoughts in the comments.

Michael Laskow interviewing American Idol judge and Hit Songwriter Kara DioGuardi at TAXI's free convention, the Road Rally. Photo by James DiModica.

TAXI has been giving artists, bands, and songwriters access to the people in the music business with the power to sign deals since 1992. For an annual subscription fee, songwriters can pitch their material to TAXI industry listings in a broad range of categories. Many TAXI members have achieved chart success and TV/Film music placements using the service. In this exclusive two-part interview, TAXI CEO Michael Laskow shares his insights on the music business with Serve The Song and offers readers candid advice on the best way to get their music heard.

Besides joining TAXI, what is the best thing a songwriter can do right now to break into the music business?

As we say in our brochure and on our website:
“If you’re trying to land a record deal, nothing works better than hitting the road, playing hundreds of gigs, and selling thousands of CDs from the trunk of your car. If you’re a songwriter, moving to Los Angeles, New York, or Nashville and ‘paying your dues’ is often the best way to go.

But, can you just walk away from your life, your job, your family, and your mortgage payment? Okay, that might be tempting, but let’s get real! You need a vehicle to help you get your music to the right people. TAXI will help you do that no matter where you live.”

That’s pretty great advice. If you can devote eight hours a day or more to making connections and developing relationships on your own, that’s clearly the way to go. But if you’re like most people, that’s not really possible because of other responsibilities. If you treat your music career like a hobby — only doing it in your spare time — then you’ll get the results a hobbyist will get.

I created TAXI to bridge the gap for people who don’t have time to do all the research or can’t move to one of the music centers.

TAXI gets some criticism because only 6% of members get deals. Why is it that so few members make real progress while a small minority does really well?

Why is it that so few golfers make the Tour or so few high school or college football players make the NFL? In any discipline, there are always those who will do the hard work and invest themselves to the point of achieving real success. TAXI and the music business are no different.

It’s always the people who create music that the industry wants and needs that are successful. The folks who say, “I don’t like the crap I hear on the radio. I’ve created my own genre—folk-space-pop—don’t stand a chance because nobody needs that “genre” to attract a radio audience or for film and TV placements.

TAXI’s mission is to take C-level songwriters, artists and composers and move them up to Bs, then to As, then get them deals. The people who realize that and use our A&R feedback to the fullest extent often rise to occasion and become successful.

Look at the people on our Success Stories Forum… ask them why they are successful and others aren’t. They all give you the same answer—they learned to write and produce what the people in industry truly needed. They can still make “folk-space-pop” for fun, but they can also make what the industry needs and make money doing it!

Another observation about the people who are successful using TAXI and those who are not; they’re all using exactly the same company, getting the same opportunities through TAXI, and being heard by the same screeners. TAXI is the constant. Their music and their ability to pitch it at the right opportunities are what make the difference. That’s the variable in the equation, not TAXI.

Are record deals a thing of the past?

Not so much. There are just fewer of them to get. But, how many artists can you name that have become Rock Star wealthy on their own, doing it the DIY way? There have been some blips, but nothing substantial without a label behind them. Even Radiohead’s success with their Indie release was totally dependent on their mailing list that was built with more than a decade of major label money backing them. I don’t see any new artists having success like that yet… at least not to any great extent.

Is writing for other artists a thing of the past?

No, it’s just different in that many of those cuts happen as a result of co-writes with the artist. Now it’s writing WITH other artists, not FOR them. The hard part is getting to the point where they know you exist. That takes networking and introductions. TAXI member Chuck Schlacter calls what TAXI does, “Favorable introductions.”

It seems like everyone is going after film & TV licensing deals now. Is the market for production music getting too crowded?

There’s no question that there are tons of newer, small-ish music libraries out there that have only non-exclusive tracks and songs that are the same songs and tracks that appear in many other libraries under other titles as well. Those libraries have really lowered the quality bar by accepting almost anything that comes in. No skin off their tush to add a song or track to their catalog… it didn’t cost them anything to get it. The problem is that all those new little libraries are inundating the music supervisors with tracks. At least they’re trying too!

Music supervisors are now avoiding music that comes from non-exclusive libraries for the most part. They can’t risk the same piece of music coming from several different sources for the same project. Which one got used? Who gets paid? It’s been a train wreck waiting to happen, and as quickly as everybody jumped on getting their music in as many non-exclusive libraries as possible, the top music supervisors are running away from situations that could cause a lawsuit. They’re now going back to working with a few trusted resources that provide them with exclusive music.

And while TAXI will continue to connect our members with some of the top libraries who do exclusive deals, we are seeing an increase in the number of music supervisors coming straight to us because they know they can license the music directly from the songwriters, artists and composers themselves.

The great part about those deals is that the musicians can keep 100% of the income and they don’t have to split it 50/50 with a publisher or music library. It’s nice to see more income going to our members.

By the way, one big misconception that I’d like to clear up about Film and TV music in general is that they’re always looking for big, orchestral pieces. Not so! About 25% of what they need is songs from bands and singer/songwriters.

What other markets are available for songwriters to pitch their music?

Because we saw the Film and TV markets getting flooded, we began to turn our attention to Video Games and Advertising. Those are smaller markets with fewer opportunities, but the income that can go to the creators of the music can be much larger. For instance —and I’m talking about musicians who aren’t famous— a background placement on a network TV show might earn the composer or songwriter $500-$2,500, depending on the length of the piece used, if it has vocals, did it play on cable or network, and some other mitigating factors. But that’s a decent estimate of the range.

The top, and I’m talking about maybe twenty composers here… but the top people composing for video games are making $250,000 to $1,000,000 a year. Those figures were given to me by the leading agent for video game composers, who is a good friend of mine. I’ve also had it confirmed by a couple of the top composers who I know personally. But, like I said, there are probably twenty or so composers who earn at that level.

The interesting part is there are second and third tier games that also require music. I’ve been told that there are larger numbers of composers who make $50,000 to $250,000 a year, not just the twenty top guys. I suspect there are plenty of musicians out there who would love to make an extra $10,000 a year from their music. Maybe they could get some songs placed in video games and pick up some extra income that way. The opportunities are out there for people with the best music. That’s what we do at TAXI. We find the best music, and we help the rest of our members get their music up to that level when they’re willing to invest themselves in that process.

Getting music placed in advertising, mainly TV ads, can be extremely lucrative. We all know that the Rolling Stones can get upwards of a million bucks to license one of their hits to a top of the line ad for a big product or company. I just got back from a week of meetings in New York with some of the top advertising executives at some of the biggest ad agencies on Madison Avenue, and frankly, even I was surprised at how much money agencies pay for music.

Of course it depends on if the spot is national, how long it runs, and some other factors, but I was told by one creative director that he pays, “… a hundred to a hundred-fifty thousand dollars for music,” and I was given several other examples where agencies paid as much as $300,000 or more, and for acts that aren’t the huge Rolling Stone level types. Again, it isn’t raining those deals, but if you’ve got enough of the right connections, you’ve got a shot at some pretty life-changing opportunities for both songs and instrumental music.

The back end money comes in on top of that, so if you’ve got music in something like a long-running Toyota spot that airs nationally, you could make more money with one thirty-second spot than some people make in a decade. It’s pretty mind blowing when you think about it. And somebody’s gonna get that gig!

I just hired a gentleman who was Sr. Vice President of Music at a top N.Y. agency for 17 years to bring those opportunities to TAXI’s members. He knows a ton of the right people in the right places, so I think we’ll be able to leverage those opportunities for our members and bring some fresh new music to Madison Avenue.

Learn more about TAXI’s role in the music business in Part 2 of our interview with Michael Laskow and feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.