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Choosing the right person

Finding a new person to work with can be difficult. There are lots of people around, but finding someone who has a similar outlook and who you can work with is usually a challenge.

If you advertise successfully for a musician or a songwriter, it's a good idea to get to know a bit about the person and ask a few questions before you dive into collaboration.

I really think you should be involved with each other on most parts of the process.

Here are a few ideas:

Do you want to make the same kind of music? If not, you won't get very far.
Do you all want the same thing? Talk about your ambition for your songwriting, no matter how silly and far away it might seem. It's no use one of you dreaming of stardom, while for the other it's just something to do on a Wednesday.
Do you have similar lifestyles? It's no good arranging writing and studio sessions, and people cancelling at the last minute due to work pressures or other commitments.
Do you live in the same city or town? Can you all meet up easily?
Do you have all the equipment for gigging that you need, and if not can you get it?
Do you all understand exactly what is required? For instance, how often do you want to write, gig and record?
Are you both/all in a similar financial situation? If not, will you be prepared to put in the same amounts of money to keep everyone happy?
Do you have the same amount of writing and musical experience? If not, are you prepared to wait for someone to catch up?
Do you all have a similar ability on your instruments and can you sing if you need to?
If you've established the level of your ambitions, are you both/all prepared to put in the time for other activities like promotion?

Rick Hayes, Hamilton Ontario Canada
I have been writing songs for about 35 years. I have always wanted to find someone to help me out with lyrics since my musical output far outpaces my lyrics. It seemed there was always something missing. I have written with some great musicians, but that doesn't guarantee they can write words. Finally I got in touch with an old friend, who although he was not a great player, was really in tune with what I wanted to do. First of all, we can both appreciate a pop song. Neither he or I is trying to write Shakespeare, but we both want the songs to be positive in nature. That was our common link. We were both huge Beatle fans and fans of songs that are memorable in some way. As a test, I sent him an MP3 of a tune I had written. It was just a la la version. The thing is the la la's are important because they determine the number of sylables in each word. It either fits or it doesn't. He was able to grasp both the feel of the song and what it should be about, AND get the words to fit the music. It's been a fairly pleasurable experience so far.

Billy Ross, Pukekohe near Auckland, New Zealand
After advertising in on-line music sites,through International Songwriters Assn.and locally over 4/5 months I've had plenty of contacts but only one so far that I'm happy to collaborate with,living south of London and I'm in N.Z.! Yes it takes time, like any good relationship,just have to keep on searching! (Is there a song in there?)

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