Can you find success with one excellent song only?

[CabDriver]

You also have to consider the changes in the music industry since Rihanna's hit song 'Umbrella' came out. In the past decade every fan and DJ still bought the song on a CD, writer profited from heavy radio rotation that was paid for by record companies and also received considerable revenue from traditional TV whenever the video was played. Nowadays most of these avenues only yield a fraction of the traditional income designated for a co-writer of a hit song.

[mazz]

The lottery analogy is a very good one. One song does not a songwriter/career make.

I would add that getting into songwriting simply to make millions from one hit song is probably not the best "get rich" strategy. Doing songwriting because you love it and can't imagine doing anything else is usually the reason people start doing this. People who want to make a lot of money more than anything else typically go into investment banking or something along those lines.

I think the misconceptions around the music business tend to be because people only really see the high profile artists but in reality the business is made up of many more "behind the scenes" people and tons of folks that are out there writing every day and maybe selling or licensing some songs/year while they are growing their career.

If you have one "great" song, then your entire career hinges on the success of that one song. It's like getting to play exactly one inning your entire life in the big leagues. If it's a straight 3 up 3 down inning, then it's going to be a pretty disappointing "career", but if you actually work your way up to playing in the big leagues and you have a long career at 100+ games/year, then those innings blend into one another and one year of hitting .210 or one bad inning won't be devastating.

If you don't love songwriting enough to make it a priority in your life so that you are practicing your craft and business skills pretty much every day, then I would suggest you reconsider your strategy. As has been mentioned, your lone song is up against songs that have been crafted by people that have put in their 10,000 hours and more honing their craft, people that probably have more connections than you and an actual resume and presence in the music business.

I know this was a rhetorical/theoretical question so I'll offer a suggestion to this hypothetical songwriter: Rinse the stars from your eyes, start writing every day whether you feel like it or not, learn the business, collaborate with people that are better than you and start making connections. Oh, don't quit your day job just yet.

Cheers,

Mazz

PS: If you don't recognize the 10,000 hours quote, check this out: http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/outliers_excerpt1.html

[melodymessiah]

if you want to test your theory, have a professional demo of your song made and submit it to some of the recording artist listings (including the superstars). and of course, you could also make a killer video and post it on youtube. if you have a killer song performed by a killer artist with a killer vocal in a killer video, you might gain some momentum.

[melodymessiah]

oh forgot to mention, could we hear your song please?