Conceptualizing Creativity and Strategy in the Work of Professional Songwriters

Abstract

Drawing upon interviews conducted as part of the Sodajerker on Songwriting podcast this paper explores professional songwriting as musical labor. It explores how songwriters conceptualize creativity and what strategies they employ for the delivery of original songs. It argues that individuals evince a faith in their own autonomy in the face of the demands of form and industry, expressing intuitive concepts of inspiration and practical insights into the nature of their work as work. The paper suggests that achieving and maintaining success is affirmed in a conjunction of value that is both economic and aesthetic, personal and public.

Valuing in Songwriting

“…Sloboda 1985;Bennett 2014;Csikszentmihalyi 2014) which limited the insights available to the researcher. Beyond the academic literature there is a world of literature on songwriting written by and for songwriters, what Long and Barber (2017) refer to as 'how to' books. This literature would often draw from the sole experience of the author (cf.…”

Do-It-Yourself or Do-It-Together: How digital technologies affect creating alone or with others?

“…Collaboration provides access to a larger pool of knowledge inputs and implies greater combination possibilities, and thus potentially enhanced outputs (Singh and Fleming, 2010;Bennett, 2011;Long and Barber, 2017) and higher novelty (Nieto and Santamaría, 2007). It also benefits from the division of labor between specialized skills (Becker and Murphy, 1992).…”

Producing the self: Digitisation, music-making and subjectivity

“…Sacha enjoyed listening to current hip hop and R&B, not to try to make these genres, but finding the rhythms and singing styles a big influence. Sacha was the kind of songwriter that Long and Barber (2017: 564) describe as ‘receptive and dedicated’, attuned to inspiration where everything was potential. Sacha’s curatorial taste embraced the best elements perceived in the musical universe, able to incorporate them into songs seamlessly through time-stretching, pitch-shifting and the judicious use of a range of effects processes.…”