I have often set unrealistic expectations for myself-getting 3-4 hrs of sleep to get a song recorded for days on end, writing 50-60 plus songs a year for 10 years, maintaining a goal of putting out one record per year on top of doing about 50 song demos for co-writes with a full time personal training schedule and raising 2 boys.
I've often asked myself where all my hard work has gone after years of pursuing my dream. Though publishing deals, show placements and artist cuts have been nice, I've yet to have that viral song; that one tune that has pushed me over into the 'I've finally made it' level of songwriting.
I can recall early publishers saying to write when you don't feel like it and try to co-write at least 2-3 times per week. I've run into other Nashville writers who write 4-6 hours per day doing back to back co-writes.
But still I've wrestled with this question: I know there's strength in numbers, but are my fans and friends going to care about the number of songs I've written? Aren't they just focused on that one song that has drawn them in; that undeniable single that keeps them constantly singing and wanting to go back and listen.
Don't get me wrong-it definitely takes numbers of songs to get a great one, but you just know when a song has 'got it' or doesn't.
My goal in years to come and I believe what has become the reality in our current music scene is better quality songwriting. With the shear volume of music out there, artists and writers are forced to writer GREAT songs and sometimes only get one shot to get the right people to hear the song. I would rather write 5 great songs and have them circulating online then 50 OK songs just to say I've written them-chances are a lot of them are going to sound very similar anyways.
Bottom line is it only takes one and people will often remember you for that ONE song they like-I want to make that song a GREAT one!!!
http://soundcloud.com/nbrumley2/cardboard-testimony
Reply
This has definitely been an exciting year for our side group World Cup. After working extensively with hip hop producer Mynority in LA & co-writing with The Ultras production team in New York City in Electronic/dancepop/dubstep, my friend Shay Watson and I decided to continue the styles even further to create our own brand of dancepop infusing energetic sports themes into high octane electronic tracks. 10 songs later we've realized that we finally have enough tunes to make a compilation and in about another month we should have it to press and on I-Tunes. So far we've been fortunate to have had a song on Nickelodeon, another song make it into Tunecores Top 25 Songs Of Summer, another different 2 songs make it to a world wide remix contest and a song make it to the IStockphoto homepage with over 11 million viewers per month. Over half of the record has had placement in TV or on radio so we're very excited to see where it goes once we get the project completed!
Reply
I consider it a blessing that Godenabled me to cross paths with Wade almost 12 years ago. I used to work for the Forrest service building trails in the Rocky Mtns for 4 years and can remember jamming out at night to his tunes on our small boom box we carried around from job to job that barely tuned into the local stations. I fist had the opportunity to train him as a personal training client and soon became workout partners. Besides being one of the most incredible guitar players I know and an unbelelievable songwriter, there is truly not a more genuine, honest and humble man I know. He would drop everything to help somebody and gives freely of his time and talent and has never expected anything in return. In my 12 years of knowing him I've NEVER heard him say a negative thing about anyone. I have also never had a friend who is so highly respected and loved by his friends and fans. It has been a blessing being friends with him and I pray that God continues to work His miracle through him as he blesses the lives of others.
Reply
We recently got word that our song 'Kick It' that we wrote for both the World Cup Soccer and for the Olympic Soccer teams will be featured on the homepage of IStockPhoto where there are over 11 million hits per month. We are very excited about this opportunity and hope that we can generate some interest from the FIFA for our song as well as for the 2016 Summer Olympics. We wouldn't be upset if ESPN wanted to pick it up too-whoever will take it!!!
http://soundcloud.com/nbrumley2/kick-it
Reply
Things always come at the strangest times and with songs that I never would have expected to get picked up. It's been a fairly long dry spell since I've gotten a big show placement and I was kind of down in the dumps yesterday with all the work I've put towards getting my material out with little return. I went to check my e-mail and the song I thought would have stood the least chance to get cut went to a pretty big new show called 'Hollywood Heights' on Nick At Nite. It isn't Grey's Anatomy but hey at this point I'll take it!! http://soundcloud.com/nbrumley2/ready-to-fall
Reply
In early July I was blessed to get the opportunity to get an artist spotlight interview with Christian Music Magazine (CCM). At the time of the interview I felt a bit scattered with how to describe myself seeming how I finished a 10 song vintage 70s rock project in late 2011, was currently collaborating on some hip hop/r&b with some producers from New York and am currently in a dancepop sidegroup called World Cup that specializes in high energy sports songs. What can I say-I'm a mess and I always will be! ha
Reply
Along with working on our dancepop side project it has been our privilege to work with artist Skye Claire on some new material for her next record. Skye is a phenomenal vocalist and a great writer as well. So far we've finished one track called 'Seriously'-an Adele-style country song with the attitude of Miranda Lambert & Carrie Underwood.
Reply
We recently submitted two of our tracks to a re-mix competition with the site www.tribeofnoise.com. Again, we're aware that these contests get a ton of entrants and we don't ever get our hopes up when entering these sort of things. About a week later we got an e-mail from them and they ended up selecting two of our tracks (Shock Party and Bump) to be remixed for a remix contest they are having. We couldn't be more excited that our tracks are having a good response. We realize things are competitive and that there is SO much great music out there that is never heard; we're just fortunate that people have taken the time to listen to ours!
http://soundcloud.com/nbrumley2/bump-bump-bump-in-the-night
http://soundcloud.com/nbrumley2/shock-party
Reply
We are a pretty new duo and only have about 10 songs between us so far. However, we both have been really aggressive with getting our stuff out for different opportunities in film/TV and contests. We entered a Tunecore summer songwriting competition in May thinking that we'd give it a shot but we figured there would be thousands of entrants so we didn't keep our fingers crossed.
On the first day of June we got an e-mail from the president of Tunecore saying that our song was selected at #17 for the top songs of summer contest. We were both shocked; especially since the song is slightly out of our genre and because of the competition out there with contests. We've definitely got a renewed confidence in our material now! http://soundcloud.com/nbrumley2/two-pieces
Reply
World Kup / Blog
Danger in Numbers?
I have often set unrealistic expectations for myself-getting 3-4 hrs of sleep to get a song recorded for days on end, writing 50-60 plus songs a year for 10 years, maintaining a goal of putting out one record per year on top of doing about 50 song demos for co-writes with a full time personal training schedule and raising 2 boys.
I've often asked myself where all my hard work has gone after years of pursuing my dream. Though publishing deals, show placements and artist cuts have been nice, I've yet to have that viral song; that one tune that has pushed me over into the 'I've finally made it' level of songwriting.
I can recall early publishers saying to write when you don't feel like it and try to co-write at least 2-3 times per week. I've run into other Nashville writers who write 4-6 hours per day doing back to back co-writes.
But still I've wrestled with this question: I know there's strength in numbers, but are my fans and friends going to care about the number of songs I've written? Aren't they just focused on that one song that has drawn them in; that undeniable single that keeps them constantly singing and wanting to go back and listen.
Don't get me wrong-it definitely takes numbers of songs to get a great one, but you just know when a song has 'got it' or doesn't.
My goal in years to come and I believe what has become the reality in our current music scene is better quality songwriting. With the shear volume of music out there, artists and writers are forced to writer GREAT songs and sometimes only get one shot to get the right people to hear the song. I would rather write 5 great songs and have them circulating online then 50 OK songs just to say I've written them-chances are a lot of them are going to sound very similar anyways.
Bottom line is it only takes one and people will often remember you for that ONE song they like-I want to make that song a GREAT one!!!
http://soundcloud.com/nbrumley2/cardboard-testimony
Reply
Final touches to our record
This has definitely been an exciting year for our side group World Cup. After working extensively with hip hop producer Mynority in LA & co-writing with The Ultras production team in New York City in Electronic/dancepop/dubstep, my friend Shay Watson and I decided to continue the styles even further to create our own brand of dancepop infusing energetic sports themes into high octane electronic tracks. 10 songs later we've realized that we finally have enough tunes to make a compilation and in about another month we should have it to press and on I-Tunes. So far we've been fortunate to have had a song on Nickelodeon, another song make it into Tunecores Top 25 Songs Of Summer, another different 2 songs make it to a world wide remix contest and a song make it to the IStockphoto homepage with over 11 million viewers per month. Over half of the record has had placement in TV or on radio so we're very excited to see where it goes once we get the project completed!
Reply
Wade Hayes-the best friend a person could ask for
I consider it a blessing that Godenabled me to cross paths with Wade almost 12 years ago. I used to work for the Forrest service building trails in the Rocky Mtns for 4 years and can remember jamming out at night to his tunes on our small boom box we carried around from job to job that barely tuned into the local stations. I fist had the opportunity to train him as a personal training client and soon became workout partners. Besides being one of the most incredible guitar players I know and an unbelelievable songwriter, there is truly not a more genuine, honest and humble man I know. He would drop everything to help somebody and gives freely of his time and talent and has never expected anything in return. In my 12 years of knowing him I've NEVER heard him say a negative thing about anyone. I have also never had a friend who is so highly respected and loved by his friends and fans. It has been a blessing being friends with him and I pray that God continues to work His miracle through him as he blesses the lives of others.
Reply
Featured on the home page of IStockPhoto.com
We recently got word that our song 'Kick It' that we wrote for both the World Cup Soccer and for the Olympic Soccer teams will be featured on the homepage of IStockPhoto where there are over 11 million hits per month. We are very excited about this opportunity and hope that we can generate some interest from the FIFA for our song as well as for the 2016 Summer Olympics. We wouldn't be upset if ESPN wanted to pick it up too-whoever will take it!!!
http://soundcloud.com/nbrumley2/kick-it
Reply
Song placement with a show on Nickelodeon
Things always come at the strangest times and with songs that I never would have expected to get picked up. It's been a fairly long dry spell since I've gotten a big show placement and I was kind of down in the dumps yesterday with all the work I've put towards getting my material out with little return. I went to check my e-mail and the song I thought would have stood the least chance to get cut went to a pretty big new show called 'Hollywood Heights' on Nick At Nite. It isn't Grey's Anatomy but hey at this point I'll take it!! http://soundcloud.com/nbrumley2/ready-to-fall
Reply
Interview with CCM magazine
In early July I was blessed to get the opportunity to get an artist spotlight interview with Christian Music Magazine (CCM). At the time of the interview I felt a bit scattered with how to describe myself seeming how I finished a 10 song vintage 70s rock project in late 2011, was currently collaborating on some hip hop/r&b with some producers from New York and am currently in a dancepop sidegroup called World Cup that specializes in high energy sports songs. What can I say-I'm a mess and I always will be! ha
Reply
co-writing with artist Skye Claire
Along with working on our dancepop side project it has been our privilege to work with artist Skye Claire on some new material for her next record. Skye is a phenomenal vocalist and a great writer as well. So far we've finished one track called 'Seriously'-an Adele-style country song with the attitude of Miranda Lambert & Carrie Underwood.
Reply
Two songs selected for dance remixes!
We recently submitted two of our tracks to a re-mix competition with the site www.tribeofnoise.com. Again, we're aware that these contests get a ton of entrants and we don't ever get our hopes up when entering these sort of things. About a week later we got an e-mail from them and they ended up selecting two of our tracks (Shock Party and Bump) to be remixed for a remix contest they are having. We couldn't be more excited that our tracks are having a good response. We realize things are competitive and that there is SO much great music out there that is never heard; we're just fortunate that people have taken the time to listen to ours!
http://soundcloud.com/nbrumley2/bump-bump-bump-in-the-night
http://soundcloud.com/nbrumley2/shock-party
Reply
Top 25 Songs of Summer
We are a pretty new duo and only have about 10 songs between us so far. However, we both have been really aggressive with getting our stuff out for different opportunities in film/TV and contests. We entered a Tunecore summer songwriting competition in May thinking that we'd give it a shot but we figured there would be thousands of entrants so we didn't keep our fingers crossed.
On the first day of June we got an e-mail from the president of Tunecore saying that our song was selected at #17 for the top songs of summer contest. We were both shocked; especially since the song is slightly out of our genre and because of the competition out there with contests. We've definitely got a renewed confidence in our material now! http://soundcloud.com/nbrumley2/two-pieces
Reply