Collaboration.
Decent word.
Group project.
You probably got shivers down your spine.
Good news for y’all…this industry is a group project BUT in the best way possible.
It is nothing like the type of group project you used to have to sit through for hours on end in high school or college. The bridge that takes this from a “group project” to “collaboration” is the passion.
In high school or college, for the most part, not many students were extremely passionate about working on a class assignment with other students. While you and your group may end up being proud of the product at the end of the project, it is nothing like the feeling a creative may get once them and their team finally are able to put a project out into the world.
They say it takes a village. In this case, a village may be hundreds or it may be a couple dozen or it may be two. The beauty within the music industry is that no matter the number within the village, it’s the passion that drives the project forward and brings it to life for so many others to experience.
It’s the initial idea where two writers look each other in the eye and gasp when they finally figure out how to finish the bridge. It’s the jumping up and down when you hear the first recording of a new demo. It’s the running into the office or into your friend’s house and forcing whoever to listen to the new master you just got sent to you. It’s the jumping up and down when you both realize just how special the song is. It’s the meeting at the coffee shop or impromptu meeting in the car where you call whoever you can call to get this song into the right hands.
The passion for music, creation, and experience is what drives this industry. The people who keep this industry going are the same people who have felt the most feelings listening to a song. It’s the same people who have every memory of theirs linked to a song. It’s the same people who turn to music when they need a sense of purpose or security.
The passion makes this industry so special.
When the passion of the professional who has a soundtrack for his life meets the songwriter who creates the soundtracks to peoples’ lives, that is when careers flourish.
As a creative and as a professional in this industry, you have to be willing to collaborate. While some creatives feel better writing alone, there is always going to be a need to collaborate with your peers. Not only is it desired from many creatives, it is necessary. The more someone can bounce off another, the more magic can be created. While some of the best ideas come in the quiet, alone in your room at 3 am, some of the best ideas also come when you and your peers are all screaming out ideas and acting like fools in someone’s living room at midnight.
TRUST
Collaboration is inevitable, especially if you are a professional in the industry. There is NO WAY you could do your job if it was not for others. Within the industry and within the passion is trust. You have to have the trust instilled within your team and within your circle.
With songwriting being such a vulnerable activity, the trust of shouting an idea into a room full of people or playing a song outlining a hard time in your life to someone behind a computer can be terrifying.
Trusting someone with that part of you is a big step. The collaboration that follows can be the biggest step of your life.
So find your circle. Find your trust. Find your passion.
