Inside Songwriting: Getting to the Heart of Creativity (Paperback)

by Jason Blume (Author) "I spent more than eleven years dreaming of becoming a successful songwriter and doing everything in my power to make that dream come true..." (more)
Key Phrases: cowriting session, independent plugger, music business professionals, New York, Britney Spears, Los Angeles (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Jason Blume's Inside Songwriting: Getting to the Heart of Creativity picks up where his bestselling 6 Steps to Songwriting Success left off.

A songwriters' version of Natalie Goldberg's classic, million-selling, Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within - a book that virtually every serious student of creative writing reads - Blume's new offering is an inspirational book of insights and lessons meant to speak to songwriters, singers, and musicians. It provides an uncensored, behind-the-scenes look at the author's personal experience as a struggling, and then successful songwriter, and thereby offers comfort and hope, as well as valuable tools to other songwriters, whether they are just beginning, or well into their journey.

Inside Songwriting was undertaken when Blume realized that while most of his songwriting students had read Goldberg's book, there was nothing available to them that would address their unique issues in music. While not a traditional "how-to," each of the 60-plus short chapters relates galvanizing and/or educational anecdotes and is filled with valuable insights and lessons.

Blume's book provides a rare look at the business of songwriting from "both sides of the desk." Its stories relate how success happened for Blume, and what steps readers can take to make it happen for them.

About the Author
Jason Blume is a staff writer for Zomba Music. He has written songs for the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, as well as John Berry’s Top 5 country single, “Change my Mind” and Steve Azar’s country hit “I Never Stopped Lovin’ You.” He also developed and teaches the BMI Nashville Songwriters Workshop. He lives in Nashville, TN.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Billboard Books (April 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823083616
• ISBN-13: 978-0823083619
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #794,024 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An autobiography shamelessly marketed as a creative guide!, February 27, 2005

By	Rick Sandy (Detroit) - See all my reviews

Be warned: this is not a guide to sparking your creativity as a songwriter and has nothing (and I mean NOTHING) at all in common with "Writing Down The Bones"! The writer and/or publisher should be ashamed of themselves for marketing it as such. This is nothing more than the autobiography of Jason Blume and how he became a successful (though not particularly creative) songwriter. While it might contain some useful tips for anyone who wants to move to Nashville and write songs, it has nothing to do with "getting to the heart of creativity". It only has to do with getting to the heart of the record industry. That's would be fine if that's what it was being sold as but it's not. The chapters consist almost entirely of his stories about himself and then you get the barest excuse for an "exercise" after some (not all) of them.
He almost lost me right at the beginning, with his chapter entitled "Why Is There So Much Crap On The Radio?". He says he can count on being asked this question at every seminar he attends but never actually addresses why people feel that way. He takes the coward's way out by sidestepping the entire issue and instead discusses why songs get RECORDED, not how they get ON THE RADIO. Note to Jason: these are two entirely different subjects! As such, of course there's no mention of the sad conglomeration of the radio industry, payola, corporate music directors and play-it-safe playlists that are squeezed down to almost nothing and don't vary from one city to the next, anywhere in the country. In other words, while he's telling you your goal is to get your songs on the radio, he doesn't tell you that you have almost no chance in hell of ever doing so because of the nature of the business as it exists today. It bothers me when people who have so many years in the industry are dishonest by omission like this. The truth is that things have changed dramatically for the worse over the past 10 or 15 years and Jason Blume is pretending to be oblivious to it in order not to bite the hand that feeds him.
I also find him to be condescending and insulting to songwriters who don't simply want to regurgitate whatever the current flavor of the month is. Anyone who has any artistic integrity is disregarded by the author as someone who will end up playing his/her songs for nobody but "friends and family". This is someone who claims to know something about "the heart of creativity"? He says he didn't find success until he discovered that he had to write to formula in order to get anywhere. It's unfortunate that this is what things have come to.
I have to admit that I only made it through 2/3 of this book, so take my review for what it's worth. I had gotten bored by his life story by that point and it was obvious that there wasn't going to be any real discussion of creativity in this book. Don't waste your time or your money with this one.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Getting to the heart of wining is more like it!, January 13, 2004

By	twcfan "twcfan" (Tornado Alley) - See all my reviews

I bought Mr. Blume's first book, "6 Steps To Successful Songwriting" and absolutely loved it!! So when I saw this book in the bookstore one day, I didn't hesitate to pick it up. I don't know what Mr. Blume's intentions were when he wrote this book, but it came across to me as nothing more than a b***h session on the problems he encountered before becoming a successful songwriter. Unlike his first book, this one had very few (if any) examples and advice on songwriting. If you're looking for a book that's basically a diary of a songwriter, then this is a great book. If you're looking for a book on how to write songs or hoping for a great follow-up to his first book, don't waste your money.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nothing to do with "The Heart of Creativity", December 28, 2003

By A Customer

This book is a bunch of brief essays regarding how to sell your songs, organize your songwriting ideas, pick collaborators. It has virtually nothing to do with writing good songs itself. I got this as a present, and feel sad that a friend spent his money on this...