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Six Steps to Songwriting Success: The Comprehensive Guide to Writing and Marketing Hit Songs | 
 enlarge | Author: Jason Blume
Publisher: Billboard Books
Category: Book
List Price: $21.95
Buy Used: $7.83
You Save: $14.12 (64%)
New (21) Used (19) Collectible (1) from $7.83
Avg. Customer Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 80736
Media: Hardcover
Edition: Rev Exp
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 282
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9 x 7.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0823084124
Dewey Decimal Number: 782.4216413
UPC: 073999970265
EAN: 9780823084128
ASIN: 0823084124
Publication Date: April 1, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: ships daily from Pennsylvania Exellent condition !!!
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Product Description
In its First Edition, 6 Steps to Songwriting Success provided novices hoping to pitch their songs to artists other than themselves an easy to understand, step-by-step approach to mastering those elements consistently found in hit songs. Incorporating inspiring anecdotes from the authors own success story and instructive quotes from music industry professionals, as well as 30 effective exercises for practicing, honing, and expanding ones songwriting skills and helpful checklists for objectively accessing ones strengths and weaknesses, the book offered a concise analysis of the six steps essential for songwriting success. Updated, substantially revised, and expanded, the Second Edition increases the books relevance for performing songwriters writing primarily for themselves or their bands. The revision reflects industry changes since the First Edition, such as the advent of MP3s, the increase in music sampling, and the fact that CDs have replaced cassettes as the industry standard for presenting material. Fifteen new or significantly revised exercises are also included, as are new quotes from industry professionals. Finally, the Appendix has been completely updated to present the most comprehensive and up-to-date listing of songwriter resources available.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 Very Satisfied June 30, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I have been a hobby songwriter for many years. I decided to try to take it up a level. Realizing I knew very little about the craft or the business, I knew I needed to buy some books. I chose Jason Blume's "6 Steps to Songwriting Success" because it had some good professional endorsements. I was also looking for an author who was a teacher because, let's face it, there are many authors who may know their subject but cannot communicate to those of us on lower levels. I was not dissapointed with my choice. I was so happy with the book that I also bought Jason's "This Business of Songwriting". "6 Steps to Songwriting Success" is very organized, easy to read, and full of good information. There are many quotes by famous people in the industry in this book. If you are a newby and wanting to learn good tips about how to write and about how the business works then I highly recommend this book. There was nothing in this book that I was disappointed in.
6 Steps to Songwriting Success March 19, 2006
2 out of 13 found this review helpful
I received the book within 7 days. The book was in very good condition and costs about one third what a new one would have cost. I am very satisfied with the experiences I have had with Amazon and will continue to buy items as I need them.
 Tough love for wannabe artists. December 11, 2005
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
It's simple, really. Make your song stand out and be better than all the competition, while still adhering to a long list of unwritten (until now) rules about what constitutes a commercial cut, plus avoiding an even more byzantine array of artistic and business taboos that could send your creation straight to the trash.
Admittedly, it's tempting to dismiss the un-comforting advice Blume gives, especially when you learn that he is the co-author of such how-does-that-go-again? filler as Britney Spears' "Dear Diary" or the Backstreet Boys' "Back to My Heart" (not to be confused with "Shape of My Heart"). But regardless of whether you respect his work or not, the guy knows how the system works and how the game is played. And he doesn't sugarcoat things, which is good, because he knows the nuances and subtleties of what artists, labels, and producers are looking for.
He reminds readers to practice and rewrite incessantly, give themselves time to develop their craft, get unbiased feedback, and start small - with local, no-name artists (hopefully) on the rise.
It's also tempting to recoil at his advice for how to write lyrics and melodies - is he trying to codify a formula? Not really. Blume makes it clear that artistic merit is subjective, but if you don't want to conform at least somewhat, you're better off forming your own alternative band than pitching your ahead-of-their-time creations to platinum recording artists.
However, he leaves out an important point that Donald Passman makes in his "All You Need to Know About the Music Business" - businesspeople have many ways of getting around the federally set royalty rates. As the legendary guitarist Carlos Alomar puts it when he talks to indie acts, it's up to the artist to determine whether they're willing to get cheated a little in return for exposure. (Alomar's take is that it's usually worth it.)
Blume does offer one morsel of spectacularly wrong advice - p. 21: "Similarly, if you are writing for an artist who is known for his or her instrumental ability (for example, Carlos Santana or Bonnie Raitt), it might be a good idea to include an instrumental solo." In fact, Raitt has publicly stated that including a slide-guitar solo in your demo is a good way to get on her bad side - it's presumptuous, because it smacks of trying to tell Bonnie Raitt how to be Bonnie Raitt.
Overall, though, this book is a fine reference, and in addition to Blume's articulate advice, includes dozens of truly insightful comments from a broad spectrum of industry pros.
very helpful August 24, 2005
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
OK. This guy writes for britney spears. But you might not want to make manufactured plastic-pop. That's fine. This guy's book, while focussing on writing pop music, can actually teach you a lot about songwriting that you always knew but didn't know (if you know what i mean). Particularly good sections on structure and verses and how to touch people with your music. It's all about making your songs better, and it really can help if you're open minded enough. Sure, it's not the be all and end of all of all books on this topic (no such book exists) but it's about comprehensive and useful as they come. Recommended.
 Good advice on writing better lyrics but not much else..... July 23, 2005
I bought this book coming from the point of view of an aspiring musician trying to write my own songs. Some people might complain that the author's best work includes album filler on a Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys record. Well, unfortunately The Neptune's are too busy writing hits songs to find the time to write a book telling us how they do it, so Jason Blume is the best we're going to get.
Jokes aside, this book has really good advice on song structure and writing better lyrics. It contains a lot of information that can help you turn an average song into a really good one. Cynics might suggest that this book is all about writing generic radio play, but Jason Blume's advice is really about writing effective lyrics. The only real reason for buying this book should be the information on lyric writing. It also contains a detailed explanation of how the music industry operates, which is useful but, the rest of the book is fairly poor.
Where this book fails is in it's explanation on writing better music. It contains a whole section on melody that essentially boils down to general tips on varying the melody, and contains almost no musical theory. By his own admission, Jason Blume is not really strong on musical theory, and it shows (he completely ignores chords - kind of a big deal!). If you want a good book on writing better melodies try "Melody: How to Write Great Tunes" by Rick Rooksby (ISBN: 0879308192) as it actually explains the musical theory behind writing melodies in great detail.
This book also contains a fairly long section on recording demos that is fairly poor. The book ends with chapter aimed at motivating you to keep trying until you make your big break.
In summation, there are probably less then 100 pages of useful information in this book, and all of it focuses on song structure and lyric writing. The rest of this book is covered in much more useful detail elsewhere. If you want to improve the structure and lyrics of your songs this book is definitely worth the price, otherwise I would pass.
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