The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Inspired by this post:

Spud wrote:The consecutive entry goal had benefits for us, while we were doing it. It kept us recording. Good or bad, we put something down every week and sent it in. Some (some would say most) were crap. However, we did get better. Once we stopped after 26 weeks because our lyricists was getting married (in hindsight, what a stupid reason to stop), we have never gotten back into it with the same level of commitment. Everyone has a different reason for submitting to SongFight!

This is an open question for everyone: Why do you songfight? What do you hope to get from submitting a song to a weekly online songwriting competition however frequently you submit?

Competition inspires me. Knowing that my ideas will be held alongside those of other people and voted upon lights a fire under my ass, and I come out with more adventurous material than I otherwise might. It also helps make sure I keep my standards high. Knowing that I'm going to be in a competition makes me less forgiving of bad (or, worse, boring) ideas and sloppy performance.

Of course, that wasn't always the case. The reason I started Songfighting was because I wanted to showcase my talent. The reason I continued Songfighting was because I realized that it was a community of active and (mostly) friendly listeners who provided helpful feedback—and lots of it. And the reason I came back after such a long break was because I misses those people. Oh, and for the songs.

So, in short, lots of reasons. Yay Songfight!

At first I started to SongFight because I hadn't done anything with vocals before. I did some beats in Fruityloops for a couple of years. Mainly I used them to make my own levels in Dance With Intenisty, a PC clone of DDR. I wanted to branch out and do something more so I joined SongFight after finding it on google (don't remember what I was looking for).

As time went on, the reason I continued to use SF was basically to improve myself. To go into other genres and styles of music and lyrics. Over the last couple years I've gone from strictly techno drum beats to something more complex.

And I'll continue to contribute every once in a while to make sure I don't lose any momentum. Admittedly I've been really lazy about my songwriting in 2007 so I really hope that 2008 will be a better year.

Generic wrote:Competition inspires me. Knowing that my ideas will be held alongside those of other people and voted upon lights a fire under my ass, and I come out with more adventurous material than I otherwise might. It also helps make sure I keep my standards high. Knowing that I'm going to be in a competition makes me less forgiving of bad (or, worse, boring) ideas and sloppy performance.

Yay Songfight!

ditto

I'm a competitive person. So it really sparks my inner ........ermmm, sparky thingy. But I also like to hear somewhat honest opinions by other musicians. It keeps my chops up and I learn new things. I'm like a sponge when it involves something I love. SF competitions have pushed me to travel roads I would never have even considered before.

I do Song Fight because I lack inspiration on my own and need an idea to come to me and I need to know that someone else will listen to it when it's done.

Caravan Ray wrote: ditto

ditto

Ego trip.

I think you gotta charter a whole 747 for that, Sober.

I'm honestly not sure. I guess I wanted to write music on my brother's guitar, and the titles provided me with ideas. I stuck around because I realized my music was crap and I wanted to improve. Now I just enter because I'm addicted to SF and a bit of a social failure. I write for titles that inspire me because I really have no other way to properly express myself.

Reïst wrote:I write for titles that inspire me because I really have no other way to properly express myself.

Music as a form of self expression is a wonderful thing. I base my life on it.

I wrote quite a bit based on plain inspiration from 1981 or so until 2000. Following the birth of my daughter, I wrote much less: Partly due to time constraints/priorities, partly because she wouldn't let me play guitar in the house. I certainly felt the absence of that type of creativity in my life. Ken invited me. Songfight! is a great outlet for me to scratch the creative itch. It has also turned out to be a nice element in my relationship with my brother, which I am really enjoying.

I crave attention. And I like to make things.

left to my own devices, song ideas will sit in my head for years, undeveloped. song fight forces you to both create and complete a song. and so far i have written over thirty songs that i wouldn't have otherwise. that is why i'm here. i am also now much more proficient in using my recorder and i am a better songwriter and singer than i was last february (evidenced by my pre-songfight fawm 2007 songs).

It was (and is) that extra bit of focus that got me to start finishing songs, instead of letting them lie there like a sex murder on the side of the road with their panties rolled down around their ankles.

There's still a lot of corpses lying around, but a lot of finished songs, too.

Pro'lly says something that my first fight was "I Want to Get Better," heh.

Hey Eric, thanks for the thread. Also, thanks for not making it a poll and giving people the easy way out.

I wrote in the liner notes to our first CD "I have been collecting musical instruments and learning to play them for 30 years, and had never writting a song. Who would have thought all it would take was someone giving me a one week deadline".

SPUD

When I fight, I try to write a song that I can play at my shows. It doesn't always work like that, but that's always my initial motivation.

What Spud & Jim just said, too.

When I started it was because I had done a lot of instrumental music, but I wanted to do songs with words. The site and the deadline gave me the kick in the pants to write something, and the title helped with inspiration. These days I still have those motivations, but I've added the community - this many years hanging out with you people has added more motivation to make music, for you or with you (especially the collaborations).
-bill

It was motivation to finish songs, not start them. I kept throwing them away and songfight seemed to provide an excuse not to, or to accept them for what they were.

Rabid Garfunkel wrote:It was (and is) that extra bit of focus that got me to start finishing songs, instead of letting them lie there like a sex murder on the side of the road with their panties rolled down around their ankles.

There's still a lot of corpses lying around, but a lot of finished songs, too.

Pro'lly says something that my first fight was "I Want to Get Better," heh.

Cuz they know how to fight. Or they're too ugly to sex murder.

The titles give you a direction. I spent many years writing songs to titles but had wound up re-doing old 4-track tunes until I bumped into 'The Fight'. Like so many things in life, you just need a litle focus.