Your Songwriting Career: Are YOU In the Driver’s Seat?

Picture your songwriting career as a car. Just for fun, let’s say it’s a Ferrari. It might not feel like one right now but that’s because it’s not going anywhere very fast.

It could be that your car is driving in circles, starting and stopping, or stuck in neutral. Maybe the driver is asleep at the wheel or doesn’t know how to get where they’re going. Wouldn’t it be better if the driver woke up, checked the GPS, took hold of the wheel, and harnessed the power of that amazing engine to get to a real destination?

You are the car’s driver. The engine that powers this car is your Energy, Inspiration, Desire, and Excitement. There’s plenty of potential there but unless the you have a real idea where you’re going and how to get there, the car can’t take you there on its own.

Start your engine

A successful journey starts with a clear destination in mind. Do you want to…

  • Have a career as a recording artist?
  • Write songs for other people to sing?
  • Write songs for film and TV?
  • Be a songwriter-producer?
  • Make money with your songs or write for friends, family, or your community?

Maybe you want to do all of these. Destinations can change, of course, but it’s a good idea to start your trip with one clearly in mind.

WRITE DOWN A DESTINATION YOU WANT TO REACH. If you can’t decide on just one, pick the one you want to go to first, then list the others.

The road starts at your front door. If you wait for someone to come along and pave a road just for you, it’ll never happen. You have to make your own road.  At the end of this post, I’ve included four ideas to get you started.

Real, no-nonsense songwriting info.

I’VE BEEN STUDYING TODAY’S TOP RADIO HITS AND SUCCESSFUL FILM & TV SONGS TO BRING YOU THE LATEST SONGWRITING TRENDS AND TOOLS.

Robin Frederick

Robin Frederick is the author of top-selling songwriting books including “Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting” and “Shortcuts to Songwriting for Film & TV.” Over the course of her career, she has written and produced 500+ songs for television, records, theater, and audio products.

On this site, you’ll find over 100 HOW-TO TIPS and SONG STARTERS! Each one will help you  write songs that express your thoughts and feelings while giving your style a contemporary, commercial edge. And be sure to check out my Hit Song Guide where I reverse-engineer 50+ hit songs to show you how they did it.

My students and clients have had song placements in movies, prime time TV shows, artist cuts, and hundreds of thousands of streams on Spotify. Get started on your songwriting journey and find out how far it will take you!


Songwriting tools you can use…


Check out my online Songwriting Courses!

I’ve got affordable, self-paced ONLINE COURSES you’ll love.

  • Learn the secrets of hit songwriting.
  • Use the songwriting exercises to launch or finish songs. 
  • Get access to workshops and private feedback.
  • Write expressive songs listeners will love and the music industry needs.

More on this site…

Your Songwriting Coach

I’ve been studying hit songs for over 20 years. You can read 50+ of my Hit Song Guides on my Songwriting Tips & Inspiration website. In addition, I’ve been a record label executive, Film & TV songwriter with hundreds of credits, and a working songwriter for my entire career.

I have written and produced hundreds of songs for film and television. As a record label executive, I executive produced more than 60 albums. My books—Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting and Shortcuts to Songwriting for Film & TV— are used to teach the craft of songwriting at Musician’s Institute, Belmont University, and many more schools around the world. Through TAXI.com, I trained hit songwriters and music industry professionals to give feedback to thousands of aspiring and successful songwriters.

Over the years, I learned that many hit songwriters can’t really explain how they do it. So, I dug down to see if I could find some answers. I’ve gathered as much information as I could and poured a lot of it into my books and websites. Have a look around and then get started on your hit songs!

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The Power of the Kick-Off Line

Annnnnd there’s the kick-off! The ball is in motion. The players explode into action. The fans are on their feet. It’s the moment they’ve all been waiting for! That’s the power of the kick off.

Now think about launching a verse or chorus with that kind of energy!

A kick-off line can add a big shot of excitement to any section of your song. It can be the attention-grabbing opening of Verse 1. It can be the boost that gives your chorus a chance to really soar.

An effective kick-off line is a combination of strong melody and lyric writing. So, let’s check out some examples from a few big, contemporary hit songs to see how it’s done.

Should I Write Or Should I Listen?

Probably every songwriter reading this would answer: WRITE! We all want to spend as much time as we can writing our songs: moving lyrics and melody forward, getting them finished, and starting new ones. Writing feels productive. It feels like you’re accomplishing something.

But listening to songs is just… well, it’s just something you enjoy, something you do when you’re driving, or studying. In other words, something you do while you’re actually doing something else.

But what if I said that listening to songs is as important to your success as writing songs? What if I told you that you should spend as much time listening as you do writing?

30-Minute Sessions: Solve a Songwriting Problem


We all run into songwriting problems from time to time. Solving that problem quickly and moving on is the key to growing you song catalogue, saving time, and getting your work out there to listeners. You can use the 30-Minute Songwriting session technique to quickly get the solutions you need and get your songs moving again.

Read Part 1 and Part 2 in this series on 30-Minute Songwriting sessions to get familiar with this incredibly useful technique.

Note that in these sessions I suggest that you use hit songs as reference songs to help you find the answers. Don’t copy the hit song. Instead, use the techniques you find and adapt them to your own style and song.