More on Songwriting Sessions
"The environment should be encouraging for everyone to share their best and unfiltered self"
If any of you read our music blog (mesmerized.io), Sofia Lafuente’s name might be already familiar. From her refined, heartwrenching bilingual songwriting to her incredible voice, everything point towards pure, unfiltered artistry, a rare sight in an over-standardized and systemically unfair industry. No need to take our word for it: check out her ‘Madrugada’ live session - told you!
This is part 2 of our series where we reach out to a bunch of overachieving peeps asking their opinions on how to create a safe and flourishing environment for a creative session - part 1 with Dag Lundberg can be found here.
Let’s Talk About Songwriting Sessions - Sofia Lafuente
Speaking about her own experience when writing with others, Lafuente recognizes the power of being able to set your ego aside, setting the scene for a healthy and judgement-free creative session. As she explains: “one of the most important and useful skills is the ability to be a team player. As an artist and collaborator, it is essential to read the room and make sure everyone is comfortable and happy. That will create the perfect scenario to be able to put forward unconventional and forward-thinking ideas, especially if you trying to break rules or boundaries. The environment should be encouraging for everyone to share their best and unfiltered self.”
A gradual approach towards songwriting sessions could be beneficial in creating a layer of experience and knowledge. “My biggest advice for everyone that’s starting out and feeling insecure would be to take things gradually. If you have an opportunity or you know any writers that might be able to bring you along to a session, just observe and try to understand what that space is like. Alternatively, you could team up with fellow creatives on your level or try Zoom Sessions.”
“Keep an open mind and don’t build high expectations, and be aware that often not a lot gets done in the first session, simply because for an artist or a songwriter it’s awkward to bare their soul and artistry to somebody they just met - even between professionals. Keep the stakes low, get to know your collaborators, and good things will come.”
Sharing the ultimate most important tip, Sofia continues: “While very obvious, it is crucial to remember that - apart from talent - half the battle is just being a nice person: respectful, polite, and hardworking while being fun to hang out with. A lot of the people that end up in the high-end spectrum of the industry are genuinely just wonderful humans: that has a lot to do with it.”
Meet our new contributor: Introducing Keely Bremner
We are busy at work making sure this newsletter gives YOU (the readers) as much value as possible. We are excited to introduce you to Keely Bremner, talented industry wiz who will be gracing our pages every month. Let’s hear it from her:
Hello readers,
Wishing you a very warm welcome to my very first contribution to The Mesmerized Stream.
My name is Keely Bremner and I live in the lively, multicultural and gloriously musical capital city that is London. I studied my BA in Creative Musicianship at BIMM (holla any BIMM alumni reading this) and my MA in Music Industry Management and Artist Development at UWL. I am a senior music Publicist, founder and co-organiser of eco-music festival Forest Fest, avid music blogger, music mentor/consultant and (when I get the chance) singer-songwriter, primarily writing for the world of Sync. Collectively I’ve been fully immersed in the world of music for 10 yrs+ and have a colourful and eclectic experience of the industry thus far.
I am incredibly passionate about helping artists and incredibly grateful for the opportunity to begin diving deep into all things PR and the wider music industry with you all. My hope and intention for this column is to bring a new and interesting understanding to Public Relations, to share tips, tricks and knowledge that can be implemented within your own musical career and to give insight into the industry as a whole.
I’ll also be inviting industry professionals, artists and special guests to jump on with me to provide multiple perspectives and top notch advice. The topics will be a glorious Smörgåsbord of PR, marketing, event planning, branding, release scheduling, sustainable music careers, DIY musicianship and so much more. (Goal 1 complete: use Smörgåsbord in an article)
I will aim to keep these pieces as succinct as possible but will also allow room for the fluid nature of opportunity, inspiration and trending topics in order to bring the utmost value. Each segment will be something new and surprising, so do come back often and catch up on what's been going on.
Catch you soon!
Connect with Keely at @keelybrem
The Hot Take - 38 Million Tracks Never Played Once on Streaming Services
It’s the HOOOOT TAAAAKKKEEEE! Let’s get into a hot debate about something controversial happening in the music industry. Once again, It’s the streaming world that’s the recipient of this week’s take…
I am sure a lot of you will have come across the news that 38 MILLION TRACKS ON MUSIC STREAMING SERVICES WERE PLAYED ZERO TIMES IN 2022.
You read that right: a considerable amount of music uploaded onto Spotify, Tidal, Apple Music, Deezer etc. has never been played once. The article linked above (from MBW) suggests a very intriguing scenario: all those streaming companies are facing rising cloud hosting and computing costs, and it is clear that - with the stagnation of new subscriptions - there’s going to come to a point where they’ll have to either slow down adding catalogue or simply charge more for it.
Should Spotify and other similar services limit the number of tracks added to their platforms?
Share your opinion with us under this post (on Substack) - or tweet us at @itsmesmerized or Instagram at @mesmerized.io.
Got any suggestions for The Mesmerised Stream? Want to share something with us? Contact us on Twitter at @itsmesmerized or Instagram at @mesmerized.io. Follow our music discovery activites at www.mesmerized.io
Do you have an exciting and inspiring story about your personal experience in the industry and want to share it with us? we are all ears.