Tuesday, October 11th, 2022.
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For the best indie music from indie artists, click, and follow Independent Artist Of The Week Unda The Hat. This week, The Curtis Family C-Notes. Be sure to hit the like button and follow this amazing group of indie artists. They will be major soon!
How good is your structure? - Let’s go -
Last week we talked about hooks, this week we take on the whole song structure. What is it, and why is it important? Well wait….first let’s say this, a song is a story set to music, be it lyrical or instrumental. Yes, instrumental songs also tell a story. So in as much as stories have structure, it is safe to say that a song will too, right? Song structure refers to how your song is organized, using a variation of different elements. Usually (no not all the time), a song structure will have an intro, a verse, a chorus, bridge, chorus, and an outro which is referred to as an ABABCB structure; again many variations of this have been successful for songwriters, especially in the R&B, Pop, Hip Hop, and Country genres. In jazz and blues, this is sometimes a different story with your 12-bar or 16-bar blues songs. 
Ever heard a song for the first time and it’s familiar? Well aside from copyright infringement, it sounds familiar because the human ear has been trained to recognize common song structures. Hit songs in particular follow this structure and radio stations are more prone to play these because they know their listener will gravitate to songs with a familiar structure; it is not by accident. Successful writers, producers, and singers listen to hits of the past. I’ll say that again…they LISTEN to hits of the past and use them as a muse for ideas. The structure will determine the effect that your song will have on the listener and whether it is a hit or not.
The story is what people are listening for and they want to relate and follow without having to struggle to sing along with it. This is why the verse/chorus or AB version of a song structure is so popular. The verse usually tells the story and the chorus will summarize that story and gives the audience something to sing along to. Make no mistake, hit songs tell a story, and that is what the audience is listening for, your story. There are of course variations such as AABA which was very popular back in the day. And yes there are exceptions to every rule, look at a song like Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, it has no chorus. You (at least in my opinion) have to have a huge fan base first and a large enough persona to pull that off. So you wanna gamble on a no structure song? I wouldn’t, but hey….I'm just the messenger.
Let me ask, ever wonder why bad singers (at least you think they are bad) have booming careers? It’s the stories they tell, the hook, and the structure of their songs. Think about how many songs you know that get stuck in your head, then you say to yourself…I hate that song 🤣structure, hook and story.
To hear great stories and gain insight into the industry, join industry legend Johnny Walker formerly of DefJam now founder of Nabfeme, Philanthropist Robert N. Johnson, and myself on Wednesdays at 4:00 PST, 6:00 CST, and 7:00 EST on Clubhouse. Click and save the link, then join in to ask questions, make comments or tell stories. Untold Tales of the music industry.
This week's #IAOTW - Indie Artists Of The Week - The Curtis Family C-Notes, San Francisco's first family of song is back with a great song called Ms. Lucile.
Click on their name, scroll down, and click the picture to learn more about this amazing talented family. Be sure to like and share the Spotify playlist.
For more information on this or to hire Unda The Hat as your brand or label consultant send a message via undathehat.com. See you next Tuesday.