0:12 or less intro
0:09 or sooner a vocal
0:48 or sooner “You”
0:49 or title of the song
1:00 or sooner a chorus
3:00 or less play time
“What’s in it for me?” (the listener)
– men write for women
– women write for women
Overall, Spotify has 43.5% female listeners,
but only 20.9% of streams from female or mixed-gender artists.
Female listeners stream 28.2% from female or mixed-gender artists.
Male listeners stream 16.4% from female or mixed-gender artists.
(66% of the music product market is women)
Women buy over 1/3 of concert tickets/records/merch
Men buy 2/3, but 1/3 is men purchasing for women.
For years radio hit songs were around an average of 120bpm in tempo…
more recently daytime streaming has brought tempo average down to 88bpm
–daytime people at work SLOWER tempos
–nighttime gym/party/gaming FASTER tempos
*NO BALLADS!*
the singer is never a loser, the listener is!
Lyrics:
-high detail, but not specific nouns
-irony
-humor
-like/dislike
Prechorus/Break:
-mini hooks before the main chorus
-make this section less dynamic/barer so the chorus feels bigger/fuller
Popular song structures:
Verse / Chorus / Verse / Chorus / Bridge / Chorus
– known as an ABABCB
– most common song structure.
– bridge should express the “what if?” or the opportunity of the song’s story
Verse / Pre-Chorus / Chorus / Verse / Pre-Chorus / Chorus / Bridge / Chorus
– song structure that has the most #1 hits
– slight variation of the first structure.
– adds pre-chorus which shows up before the choruses.
– pre-chorus expresses the “and, if, but, maybe”
– a short bridge is optional
Verse / Chorus / Verse / Chorus / Solo / Chorus
– common in rock, dance and country
– lacks a bridge or “middle 8”
– used by artists who play guitar, piano, or other lead parts
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