2021 has so far been a very eventful year. There has been a lot that has happened over the past 11 months that we may not even remember. New boundaries have been set and older ones have been broken. A lot of you readers have a couple of achievements that you publicly or secretly celebrate. Some people may have had a few setbacks as well. But it is what it is generally, we win some, we lose some. The world started opening up after shutting down in 2020 and it is hopefully going to continue in that line progressively. So as the year comes to an end, it is safe to say we should start preparing for the new year to come.
2022 promises to be an even more exciting year. As musicians and songwriters, preparing for it will generally help us make sure that we have a fruitful period throughout the year. It is therefore important that the thoughts should start sticking in our minds before 2021 ends, so that they may have become solidified actions plans and goals by the start of 2022, and of course, achievements by the end of the year. The turn of the year is always a great time to lay down some new goals to hone your skills and level up your songwriting abilities. Starting to plan early makes it easier for these goals to become habits that continually help us in gathering success.
Having a set number of songs to complete by the end of the year is a very important goal to set as a songwriter. This is because it is very easy to laze around waiting for inspiration to come before writing a song. But when you have a number of songs you want to have written by the end of the year, it helps to keep you in act of writing consistently. This however can also be affected by procrastination. You don’t want to spend 11 months doing nothing and trying to finish up everything in the month of December. The truth is that the chances you’ll actually meet up that goal will be very low. For this reason, it’s important to also set a timeline for you to achieve this goal of writing a number of songs in the year. Having a goal of writing 24 songs in 12 months can be reduced to writing 2 songs every month, or further down to 1 song every 2 weeks. Every song won’t be the banger of course and that’s totally fine. But writing more songs will increase your chances of actually writing a hit, and mastering the process of writing one.
To be able to write songs consistently, you will have to find a schedule that works for you. Companies employ workers to do tasks on a daily basis to help them achieve their short and long-term goals. You should as a songwriter treat your crafts as a company and yourself as an employee. Creating a devoted time for working on your music and improving your craft should be part of your plans for the next year if it isn’t already. Make out time to keep practicing on a schedule. This will help make sure you’re able to achieve your goals of writing a set number of songs at the end of the new year. Keeping this schedule will in the long run help solidify your discipline skills as an individual, and create room for overall growth. When possible and as time progresses, try to devote more time to these practice sessions.
It helps to always have a bank of ideas whenever it is time for your scheduled writing session. You do not want to go into a session confused about what to write. Yes, ideas are volatile and we’re giving in to consistency more than waiting to achieve perfection, it is not a bad idea at all to at least go into a session with a list of things you can write about. Make it a habit to write down song titles every day in a notebook. Anything at all can work as a song title, so don’t bother about it being perfect. What this does for you is that whenever you are to go into your already scheduled times for work, you have a list of possible songs you can write. If one song title doesn’t spark an idea today, it definitely will someday.
Practicing music can be a bit confusing sometimes. You may not be sure if you should perfect some of the skills you already have, or attempt learning new ones. In our opinion, it’s best to find a balance between those two. Have it in mind during this new year that, in as much as knowing how to write in one particular genre and being a master at it for instance is great, writing in another genre which may seem difficult initially shouldn’t be an endeavor you should shy away from. It is always easy to continue what you already know how to do. Practice however should be carried out deliberately and intentionally. That’s how growth occurs over time as a songwriter. Preparing to accept that strain is good should sit very comfortably in your mindset for the new year.
This also means that concepts that can assist in growing your music that doesn’t directly involve songwriting should not be overlooked. We’ve seen how social media has helped numerous musicians gain new fans and get sponsors over the years. For a lot of people, these kinds of things are too much of a hassle to think of. Nobody expects you to be perfect, but you need to consistently open yourself up to learning new things that can help your songwriting career overall. Understanding the concepts of the music business that seem like greek to you can as well be included as part of your new year’s resolutions. Finding resources and taking music lessons from mentors and teachers can help you build your own accountability. There have also been some technological advancements that may help the creative world much more in the coming year that you shouldn’t ignore, like the whole metaverse and nfts thing going around.
Amongst other things, make it a habit to collaborate with other musicians often. They will always have some information you don’t have, some knowledge you don’t possess, some insight they’ve gathered from their own practice, or even some contacts you might be looking for to help advance your career. This is not to say that collaborating is just a take and no giving situation. You do not want to be classified as a leach by others. But mixing with your peers and providing value to them in every way you can is a very profitable venture. Don’t overlook it. Tunedly is one such place you can conveniently collaborate with musicians from all over the world and help bring your ideas to life.
As you read through this and start crafting your ideas for how you intend to take 2022 by storm and share your music with the world, reflect on how your 2021 experience so far, your achievements, failures, and challenges. Let them guide you into the remaining month of 2021 and help you create a plan for 2022. And most importantly, learn to remember that everything good takes time, and you should remind yourself daily to never give up no matter what.
