Song descriptions are key to connecting with listeners and getting featured in blogs and the press.
A song description by the artist is not meant to be a review of the song, nor a rehash of the lyrics, nor what the listener can hear for herself.
Instead, the purpose is to tell the story behind (the scenes) the song that the listener cannot possibly know: how it came about; what is the tale of the song; instruments, equipment and software used, and in any interesting or different ways or experimentation; technical methods, effects, and techniques used; how the melody, rhythm, and other parts came about and where put together; what equipment was used; what the instrumental goals were; any difficulties with the song; did it end up different than it started out? How?
That’s a great start to write a solid song description that is aimed to be consumed mosty by the press and other such interests like booking agents and venue managers; licensing agents; festival organizers; and so on.
Also, include who worked on the recording. Also, if the song is autobiographical, please briefly tell the listener the various things going on that they can’t decipher by themselves to provide a window.
Song descriptions should also be succinct and rich in detail. These are the things that can make the difference between being featured in a blog, on a radio program or in a playlist, or not.
For example: A young new musician and studying doctor from Ohio wrote a terrific song with a sweet melody during a trip to India where he was volunteering and researching health care access in remote villages. While staying in one of the villages, he was even able to record, and later mix in, remarkable choruses of Indian children singing to his melody.
He described as well how it came about that the children began to sing the chorus. He did not plan it that way but the children liked the melody and chorus of his song so much that they learned it and in a couple of days treated the entire village to a performance. Now that’s a story behind a song that gets people’s attention and interest.
Another artist used unconventional recording techniques by capturing everyday sounds in his home and mixing them into his music. Another artist’s song is actually about his mother but he is playing the third person instead of the first person because it’s too painful.
With song descriptions, we want them to be detail-rich but also succinct. Anything too long will decrease the number of people that read it and the overall success of the track.
Song descriptions help the artist connect with listeners and fans and evoke emotions, memories, senses, and even actions – such as someone deciding to promote your song themselves on their socials because of what you wrote about it or for other bloggers to pick up and write about you because they have something compelling for the reader in addition to just the track by itself.
Interesting tidbits, facts, stories and triggering emotions are main points that get people to stop, listen and even care – for a minute. That’s hard to do in today’s millisecond world.
The aim is to get the listener not only to stop but to fully absorb the song. If they read the description, become even more intrigued, and start checking out even more music from the artist, that is a touchdown.
The fight for people’s attention is a true and serious one. We now live in a world where 24,000 songs are released every day on streaming services alone, according to a 2018 Gracenote study.
So, to get hundreds, thousands, or oh wow! tens of thousands (not bots, but real folks) listens online is a great thing. But it takes strategy, planning, smarts and knowing the ropes to rise even a little above the noise of 24K releases every day!
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