How [Not] to Write Songs in the Streaming Age - 40 Mistakes to Avoid If You Want to Get More Streams

By Brian Oliver

“HOW [NOT] TO WRITE SONGS IN THE STREAMING AGE - 40 MISTAKES TO AVOID IF YOU WANT TO GET MORE STREAMS” is the new book by Brian Oliver, author of three 5-star rated books: "SURPRISING RHYMING" ... “HOW [NOT] TO WRITE A HIT SONG! 101 Common Mistakes to Avoid If You Want Songwriting Success” ... and “HOW [NOT] TO WRITE GREAT LYRICS! 40 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Lyrics for Your Songs”.

“HOW [NOT] TO WRITE SONGS IN THE STREAMING AGE” takes a close look at how music streaming has not only revolutionized the way people consume music, it is also transforming the way songs are being written and recorded today. It’s changing the whole methodology of songwriting.

“Successful streaming now requires a different type of song,” says author Brian Oliver. “Songwriters need to rethink their songwriting approach to meet the needs of streaming audiences and the growing number of ‘click and skip’ listeners who don’t always stick around for the chorus.”

The book examines the essential elements consistently found in the construction, melodies and lyrics of the biggest streaming hits. Crucially, it highlights the most common errors made when these key components are built into a song. In doing so, it aims to help new, aspiring songwriters avoid such mistakes in their own songs.

With more songs now being designed to please the streaming companies’ algorithms, the core objective of this book is to help provide a better understanding of the changing building blocks of song structure in the streaming age ... an era in which the verse has gained a new importance.

The book provides 40 insightful tips, plus a comprehensive Checklist, to help new songwriters dodge the most common mistakes that are made when trying to write streaming-friendly songs....so they can go on and gain many more streams as a result.

The book highlights how songwriters face a period of great change as the global dominance of music streaming continues to have a profound impact on the very nature of songs and songwriting.

Song structures that have always been at the heart of hit songs are being replaced by a song form that has one overriding objective: Keep streaming audiences listening for at least the first 30 seconds—otherwise a play won’t count as a stream.... the song may be downgraded on the streaming service’s database....and nobody gets paid.

Streaming platforms are now where the majority of music consumers are, so songwriters and artists need to be there too. But to succeed in the streaming market, creators need to adapt to the new songwriting conventions that are emerging in this algorithm-driven musical environment.

As award-winning songwriter/producer Shane McAnally puts it: "We’re talking about two different worlds now....What connects in the streaming world and what works as a radio song are not always the same thing now."

# # # #

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brian Oliver
• Release date: Nov 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005500894

Brian Oliver

Brian Oliver was Sports Editor of the Observer 1998-2011, and co-inventor of Observer Sport Monthly. He worked for the Daily Telegraph 1983-98, was a Venue Media Manager at London 2012, and has an honorary doctorate from Brighton University for his contribution to sports journalism.

Book preview

HOW [NOT] TO WRITE SONGS

IN THE STREAMING AGE

40 MISTAKES TO AVOID

IF YOU WANT TO GET MORE STREAMS

By Brian Oliver

Published by Big 6 Publishing

www.thehitformula.com

HOW [NOT] TO WRITE SONGS IN THE STREAMING AGE

40 MISTAKES TO AVOID

IF YOU WANT TO GET MORE STREAMS

COPYRIGHT 2022 by Brian Oliver

The moral right of the author has been asserted. All rights reserved.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. EBooks are not transferable. All rights are reserved. No part of this eBook may be used or reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means without the publisher's prior permission in writing, except in the case of brief excerpts or quotations embodied in published articles and reviews. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this publication may be scanned, uploaded, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form, or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher's prior permission in writing.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty

The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher and the author are not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom.

This book is dedicated to Kit, Sam, Bea and Izzie,

with immense pride in all your achievements

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brian Oliver is a highly experienced music publisher, songwriter, musician and music consultant who has been involved in the music industry for over 30 years.

As a publisher, he has worked on the songs of legendary writers such as Neil Diamond, Janis Ian, James Taylor, Albert Hammond, Chip Taylor, Gilbert O’Sullivan and Kenny Young, as well as bands like The Stranglers and The Shadows, and leading film & TV composer Colin Towns. He has also been a consultant to major companies such as Universal Music, Warner Music and BMG.

Oliver is the editor of the five-star rated book, Surprising Rhyming, a new kind of rhyming dictionary that aims to make it easier for songwriters to avoid clichés and create rhymes people may not have heard before. Based on an in-depth study of the ingenious rhymes used by some of the world’s greatest songwriters and lyricists, this 624-page book offers an astonishing array of thousands of alternative rhyme options. It focuses on ‘imperfect’ rhymes that are less predictable than ‘pure’ rhymes—and are therefore more likely to surprise an audience.

He is the author of another five-star rated book, How [Not] to Write a Hit Song! 101 Common Mistakes to Avoid If You Want Songwriting Success. This book takes a close look at the essential elements consistently found in the structure, melodies and lyrics of all hit songs. It highlights the most common errors made when these key components are built into a song so that new songwriters can try to avoid such mistakes in their own songs.

Oliver is also the author of the five-star rated book, How [Not] to Write Great Lyrics! 40 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Lyrics for Your Songs. Written in an easy, non-technical style, the book identifies the most frequent causes of lyric writing problems and aims to help aspiring songwriters steer clear of the many traps they can easily fall into when writing lyrics. From how to prevent common errors in the basic construction of their lyrics ... to the perils of making bad choices when it comes to titles, opening lines, lyrical hooks, verb selection, clichés, rhyming patterns, and many other issues.

* * * *

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

How Streaming is Changing Songwriting

How Streaming is Changing Song Structure

How Streaming is Changing the Role of the Verse

40 MISTAKES TO AVOID:

#1 Not Getting the Structure of Streaming Hits

#2 Not Approaching Your Verse Like a Chorus

#3 Making Your Song Too Long for Streaming

#4 Not Recognizing the Importance of Familiarity

#5 Your Tempo Doesn’t Fit Streaming Trends

#6 Ignoring the Streaming Listening Experience

#7 Not Genre-Blending Your Songs for Playlists

#8 Underestimating Lyrics in the Streaming Age

#9 Not Creating a Killer Opening Line

#10 AWOL: Chord-based Hooks in Your Verse

#11 Not Using Repetition in Your Verse Melody

#12 Not Following the Rule of Three

#13 Not Keeping a Hook Book

#14 ‘Good enough’ Ain’t Good Enough

#15 Letting Verse Hooks Dilute the Chorus Hook

#16 Verse Melody Rambling Toward the Chorus

#17 Not Meeting Listeners’ Need for Symmetry

#18 Introducing Too Many New Elements

#19 Not Contrasting Verse and Chorus Rhythms

#20 Not Using Chords to Build Tension in Verses

#21 Not Using a Pre-Chorus to Boost the Chorus

#22 Not Including a Post-Chorus

#23 Not Checking the View From the Bridge

#24 A Shifting Viewpoint

#25 Too Little Conversation

#26 Not Taking Listeners On a Journey

#27 Not Checking Stickability of Your Verses

#28 Not Choosing an Attention-Grabbing Title

#29 No Compelling Story or Central Character

#30 Not Making an Emotional Connection

#31 Writing From the Same Old Perspective

#32 Not Trying Hard Enough to Avoid Clichés

#33 Not Setting the Scene and Moving Forward

#34 Not Creating Lyrical Hooks That Stick

#35 Not Using Rhyming As a Lyrical Hook

#36 Not Trimming the Fat

#37 No Contrast Between Lyric Patterns

#38 Not Putting Listeners in Characters’ Shoes

#39 Words & Music Don’t Belong Together

#40 Not Following the 90/10 Rule

CHECKLIST

Other books by Brian Oliver

* * * *

INTRODUCTION

EVER SINCE the dawn of recorded music and Thomas Edison’s wax cylinders, technological developments have played a part in shaping musical forms. Today, the dominance of music streaming means new technology is once again having a significant impact on the nature of songs and songwriting.

It is now clear that songwriters are facing a period of great change—especially writers who want their songs to succeed on streaming platforms.

Music streaming is transforming the way songs are being written, performed and recorded. No aspect of a song remains unaffected by the demands of the streaming ecosystem. And songwriters who want to get ahead in the streaming marketplace need to adapt to the new songwriting conventions that are emerging in this algorithm-dominated musical environment.

That’s why this book looks at the importance, from a career perspective, of having your songs do well in the globally interconnected music world created by streaming. It’s a world in which, as one senior Apple Music executive put it, any artist of any description can write and record a song and release it globally.

The volume of new tracks being uploaded to music streaming services each day has grown more than fivefold since 2018 (when only 20,000 tracks were added daily). Now, over 100,000 new songs are uploaded every single day. The downside of this is the ever-increasing depth of content on the leading streaming platforms is making it increasingly difficult for new artists and songwriters to break through.

As Steve Cooper, the former CEO of Warner Music Group, acknowledged: The complexity of being able to separate one’s music from the other 99,999 tracks uploaded that day is incredibly complex and incredibly difficult.

Songwriters are also having to respond to the way leading Digital Service Providers (DSPs)—such as Spotify, Apple, Amazon, YouTube, Deezer and SoundCloud—have revolutionized listening habits and the way people consume music.

Streaming services now offer a massive choice of music which is accessible anytime, from anywhere, on any device, in exchange for a subscription fee or for free with advertising. It has brought about a major transformation in the music ecosystem which was previously based only on product purchase.

Surveys have found that about 80% of people say they use audio-streaming services. Streaming is now believed to account for at least a quarter of consumers’ weekly engagement with music. And the streaming platforms’ influential playlists have become the definitive tastemakers.

Spotify, the clear market leader, now dominates how we discover new music—especially through its music discovery playlists, many of which are generated by AI-driven algorithms (based on real-time user data).

Since the turn of the century, the global music industry has clearly pivoted from a CD-dominated industry to a streaming-driven business. And the major record labels are convinced that music streaming is the way forward. Universal Music Group, the world’s biggest music company, stated in a presentation to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA): DSPs have become indispensable as trading partners for record labels given their significance, ever growing, as a route to market to consumers.

In its own submission to the CMA, Sony Music Entertainment acknowledged that the shift from buying albums to streaming individual tracks has fundamentally changed the music industry. The company said: With most music consumed via streaming, music streaming platforms now occupy a central role in the industry, and function as the primary gateway to consumers.

All of which means, if you want your songs to be found and discovered by music fans (and music publishers, A&R reps and producers), they have to be available for streaming. It’s where the majority of listeners are today, so you need to be there too.

Whether you see the streaming platforms as a promotional channel to reach a mass audience (like a new form of radio), or you primarily regard streaming as a potential source of income, your songs have to be right for this demanding market. Not all songs stream.

If you want to gain many more streams—and succeed in the highly competitive scramble to get onto the most influential playlists—you may need to tailor your songwriting approach to meet the specific requirements of streaming audiences.

With each new song you write with the aim of uploading it to a streaming platform, you can use the tips and checklist in this book to make sure you haven’t fallen into any of the traps that new writers sometimes fall into.

A key factor that is significantly reshaping the structure of songs in the streaming age is the way in which the leading DSPs actually count streams.

The first 30 seconds of a song is what matters most to streaming providers, especially Spotify. If a listener gets past the 30-second mark in a song, that's a positive piece of data for the DSPs’ algorithms and playlist curators. It's also the point at which a stream is formally classed as a stream, and a royalty is paid. If someone doesn’t listen beyond the first 30 seconds, the track doesn’t count as an official play—and songwriters don’t receive any payment.

So there are good financial and promotional reasons why you need to structure your songs in such a way that people will listen to at least the opening 30 seconds before they’re tempted to skip to another track.

Most of the streaming platforms are data-driven, so achieving recognition of a positive engagement with listeners is vital. If a listener skips before the 30-second mark, an algorithm may see it as a negative signal and your song could be downgraded on the platform’s database.

It is issues such as these that are shaking up songwriting like never before. Songwriters are being compelled to re-think the very mechanisms and song structures on which thousands of chart hits have been built over the past 60+ years.

There are, of course, major concerns about the need for songwriters and creators to be remunerated fairly by the streaming providers. And marketing your songs to (and via) streaming channels is becoming increasingly important. However, these two crucial issues are beyond the scope of this particular book.

With more songs now being structured in ways that are designed to please the algorithms of the leading streaming platforms, the core objective of this book is to provide a good understanding of the changing building blocks of song structure in the streaming age.

How [Not] to Write Songs in the Streaming Age is essentially a ‘how-not-to’ guide rather than another ‘how-to’ book about songwriting. It sets out 40 key mistakes to avoid if you want to get more streams.

This book takes a close look at the essential elements consistently found in the construction, melodies and lyrics of the biggest streaming hits.

It highlights and analyzes the most common errors that are made when these key components are built into a song. The aim is to help new and inexperienced writers to avoid such mistakes in their own songs.

In addition to 40 tips that may help you to make your songs more streaming-friendly, this book also puts a special emphasis on writing verses that will grab and hold listeners’ attention on their journey to the all-important chorus.

Why? Because, in the streaming age, your first verse now has to hook listeners even faster. Streaming subscribers may not stick around for the chorus.

With the growth of music streaming, the art of songwriting is evolving. Today, many streaming hits are often collaborative efforts between several songwriters and producers, all trying to achieve the best result for the song and the artist.

This book applies to ALL creators, whether you write solo (words and music) or collaborate with other writers who are specialists in different songwriting skills, such as lyrics, top-line melodies, choruses and beats.

* * * *

Back to top

HOW STREAMING IS CHANGING SONGWRITING

IT WAS back in the late 1880s when music and songwriting first began to be affected by new