With everything changing at a fast, frenzied pace in the music industry today, I think that the only way to survive is to have your fingers in all the pies. Having another artist cover your song, or writing for other artists in general, is one of those other pies which is becoming an interesting and available option to any songwriter with an Internet connection.

Jim Vallance, BC’s own feted songwriter, and one of my faves, shares his thoughts and offers up some solid advice.

JA: Hi Jim! Let’ get right into this – First of all, from where you sit, has writing for artists changed much over the years?

Jim V: The idea of “writing for artists” is as old as music itself. At some point in their careers Bach, Beethoven and Mozart paid their rent writing made-to-order music. Fast-forward to the 1940’s and 50’s and 60’s, and you had Sammy Cahn writing for Sinatra, Leiber & Stoller writing for Elvis, and Bacharach & David writing for Dionne Warwick. The list goes on and on. Trying googling “Tin Pan Alley” or “The Brill Building”. Buddy Holly and The Beatles introduced the idea of “artists who write their own material”, but there have always been — and always will be — artists who rely on songwriters. That hasn’t changed.

JA: I am sure that as with all other work, talent, skill, patience, and a bit of luck are required when breaking into this area, but do you have any advice, or is there something that works/doesn’t work that we may not be aware of?

Jim V: In my experience, the only strategy that consistently works is writing directly with the artist. I appreciate that not everyone can pick up the phone and call Steven Tyler or Ozzy Osbourne. The reality is, you have to start at the bottom and work your way up to that level, which is exactly how it happened for me. Thirty years ago I started at ground-level with artists like Bryan Adams and Prism, when they were completely unknown. My advice is, find a talented young artist and get in on the ground floor. As their career grows, so will yours. The next thing you know, other artists will be calling you!

JA: Regarding remote collaborations – have you ever done that? Worked with someone via Internet (or any other way), whom you have never met? Would you be keen on that, or do you feel it’s missing something, not having actual/face-to-face/high five-when you’re done/tactile contact.

Jim V: Back in the 80’s Bryan Adams would occasionally phone me from a studio somewhere, when a song needed an extra verse, or maybe a bridge section, and we’d sort it out over the phone. It was awkward, but we managed to do that a few times. More recently (2005) Bryan and I wrote three complete songs on-line. Bryan lives in London and I live in Vancouver. We emailed audio files back and forth, each of us adding an idea until we had something that sounded like a song. It took several weeks to finish each track, but the results were quite good.

JA: Seems to me that the need for an agent or industry contact is still there, in spite of the number of websites out there that focus on ‘helping artists make connections’ (ie: www.eSession.com – Nashville’s RowFax etc).

Jim V: I’ve tried the “song-plugger” websites, but I haven’t had any success with that. I’ve had better luck with publishers placing my songs with artists, or putting me together with artists and other writers.

JA: I realize that with the growth of the Internet people are generally more accessible, but I am wondering if there is a still a gap in getting songs from songwriter to the artist (or maybe ‘popular’ artists)?

Jim V: Anyone who’s ever written a song has dreamed of having it “covered”. But placing songs with artists has always been difficult. Almost impossible. There are layers and layers of people to get past: managers, producers, A&R. It’s terribly frustrating. You have to be persistent and tenacious.

I honestly believe, if your song is really good, it will eventually find a home. I have one song, called “The Right Place”, that took twenty years to get covered. Adams and I wrote it for Joe Cocker back in 1988. Joe was looking for something that sounded like Ray Charles, so we wrote the perfect song, or so we thought. We sent it to Joe’s producer, but the song was rejected. Then we thought, if it sounds that much like a Ray Charles song, then let’s send it to Ray Charles! We tried getting it to Ray — maybe he heard it, I don’t know for sure — but in the end, that didn’t work out either.

Twenty years later, when Taylor Hicks won American Idol, I heard he was looking for songs that sounded like Joe Cocker or Ray Charles. I immediately thought of “The Right Place”. My publisher sent it to Taylor’s producer, but he didn’t like the song. But a week later they changed their minds and recorded it after all. It ended up being the most requested song on Taylor’s album, and it sold nearly a million physical copies, which isn’t bad these days.

The truth is, when you decide to become a songwriter you’re signing up for decades of frustration and disappointment … not to mention paralyzing self-doubt. Of course, there are moments of exhilaration, like when you finish a song and you know it’s good, or when you finally hear your music on the radio. But for the most part it’s just plain, hard work.

JA: Perfect – Thanks Jim!