Why i write music for free

Recently, I was told that when I say I will write your music to make you rich and famous, completely free of charge, and in exchange for shared royalties and exposure. It sounds too good to be true.

And maybe they’re right. I was told I should consider charging a price for a collaboration, not to make a profit but to make my services look more realistic. But honestly, I didn’t want to do that for a number of reasons.

One thing I learned is that a good business idea is about finding a problem and coming up with a clever way to solve it.

And there are a lot of problems in the music industry, especially with songwriters looking for work. I knew that even though I had a bachelor’s degree in lyric and songwriting, it wouldn’t improve my chances of finding work in the music industry. In fact, I feel it’s only provided me with bragging rights and nothing else.

And the industry itself would most likely screw me over if I wasn’t conscious. It was already a pretty terrible system whether they took advantage of their artists and talent or came up with new ways to make more money at the expense of people like me.

I remember hearing one CEO of some record label say that Ghostwriting was the future of music, where record labels spend tens of thousands on music rights to make millions off them. But honestly, other than the stockholders and the CEOs, who’s actually benefiting from that future? Not the artists who receive the backlash for supposedly letting ghostwriters go unnoticed and definitely not the ghostwriters themselves who make pennies compared to what their music makes for other people.

If the future of music should belong to anyone, it should belong to the talented and creative people who write and perform the music that people love.

The bottom line is that there are a lot of problems in the music industry, and one thing I love to do is solve problems. And though I don’t think this formula can solve every problem in the music industry, I believe it can solve a few that currently exist, even for people who want to break into the industry.

The Business formula makes sense.

Even if I explain it to people who don’t know much about music royalties, they still understand why it’s a sound system. It’s built around helping artists succeed and assuring them of that by creating a mutually beneficial partnership that gives them every reason to believe that I will only benefit if I help make them successful, regardless of my intentions.

And it’s a formula I believe many other businesses should try to create for their clients, even outside of music. If they’re built around helping people, they should make a system where they only profit if they’ve managed to help their clients.

It’s hard to believe Businesses when they say they want to help you.

The problem with most businesses that are built around helping people is that they say they want to help you succeed, but only for a price and often it’s a hefty one, and in the end, most of what they do is take your money, do you a service and whether or not it helps you, it won’t matter to them because they’ve already taken your money. At least they provided you with a service you paid for, even if it doesn’t work out. And that still counts as legitimate, while other businesses are complete scams that say they want to help you, but all they want to do is take your money and leave you worse off than you already were. And they don’t care if their actions leave lasting emotional damage or financial strain on their clients.

At least this way, the worst thing I can do to my clients is create a song they don’t like, and if they don’t want it, it’s a good thing they didn’t pay for it. So at least, I can say I couldn’t screw over my clients even if I wanted to.

I’m not saying that businesses that say they want to help you aren’t trustworthy, a lot of them are. But it’s hard to believe they have your best interests at heart and it’s often better to work with people who benefit from helping you even if you’re not paying them.

For example, A close friend who is also someone I write music for was considering hiring a photography studio to do a shoot despite how expensive it was going to be. So since I studied film and photography, I offered to take them myself, and she ended up with amazing high resolution photos that didn’t cost her anything, and now she can use those photos to promote herself as an artist with the music I help her write. Because helping her with things like that also helps me. 

It provides me with assurance that my clients will be respectful.

Another reason I don’t take money from clients is because I’ve worked with some terrible people who think they can get away with abusing others because they believe they’re so invaluable that other people have no choice but to tolerate them. And I don’t want to be in debt to them or let them believe they have some power over me and that I have to write music for them even if they’re rude, entitled, lazy, unreliable, or physically, sexually or emotionally abusive towards me.

But since I don’t owe them anything, it’s clear that I don’t have to put up with them if I don’t want to, so they might as well be as respectful as they possibly can if they want me to keep writing their music for free.

It provides a service that a lot of artists need even if they don’t have money.

Even if artists have fantastic talent, they might not have the money they need to hire someone like me to make their music. or skills like composing or sound design. So, instead of selling my services for a hefty price that not many people are willing to spend. I would invest my services into artists for free and potentially make more money in the long run. It may be riskier for me, but that’s why I’m choosy about who I work with.

It makes clients feel they’re not alone in their journey.

Many artists have many supporters from friends and family and as great as they are at providing emotional support, It doesn’t stop artists from feeling like they’re on their own and not supporting themselves throughout their journeys. At least when they’re working with someone who benefits from helping them achieve their artistic goals, it makes them feel like there’s someone on their side taking care of them.

In conclusion

I know the formula isn’t perfect, especially not for me, who’s trying to run a business and make money. But I believe it’s the best thing for my clients and me, and I know it will work over time. And if I need money, I know I can find clever ways to make a profit. I know I can do digital design and create my own T-shirts that are not embarrassing to wear publicly.