From the course: The Dos and Don'ts of Songwriting Collaboration

Disadvantages of co-writing

From the course: The Dos and Don'ts of Songwriting Collaboration

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Disadvantages of co-writing

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- As I mentioned earlier in the course, there are tons and tons of advantages to co-writing. However, there are certain instances where co-writing isn't necessarily the best idea. If you're the kind of songwriter who really is able to find your thread and your focus, both melodically and lyrically, and you write well on your own and have great results on your own, on occasion collaboration can really dilute your approach, and that's not a good thing. At the end of the day, as you begin to know yourself as a writer, you'll know whether or not co-writing is a good thing for you. There are certainly many, many examples in musical history of people who do all their writing on their own, and do an absolutely beautiful job of it. So again, I'm not saying co-writing is for everyone, but if you're not sure, at the very least give it a shot. Another disadvantage, and this is something that happens to all of us who co-write, is that because not all co-writes are successful, there is a risk after a bad co-write of doubting your own ability as a songwriter. And this is just a natural thing that happens. When you have a bad co-write, and you sit in a room with somebody for a couple of hours and come up with nothing, or worse yet, you're sort of made to feel like you don't know what you're doing, even though you've had plenty of other experiences that show you that you do, there's still that tendency as artists to doubt ourselves. So just be very aware that when you go into co-writes, since not all of them are successful, don't take it personally and don't let it discourage you too much, even though it is a natural result of an unsuccessful co-write that you're going to question yourself a little bit. That fades over time.

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