Diversifying Your Music Career
By Etan Rosenbloom, Associate Director & Deputy Editor, Communications & Media

We all know that the record industry isn’t what it used to be. As it continues to contract, so will any one songwriter’s chance of superstardom. Of course, hitting the top of the charts isn’t the only way to live comfortably off of the music you write. If you’ve ever pitched a song to a music supervisor, produced a beat on spec for an upcoming rapper, scored a friend’s indie film or played a session gig, you know that there are many ways to monetize your music. For those of us that wish to make a career out of our art, all those different income streams represent more than just increased opportunity – these days, the multi-faceted approach is becoming a necessity.

To find out more, I spoke with ASCAP members Guy Erez, Judith Owen and Lance Hayes. You might say that these three exist in a “middle class” of music makers, in that they’re working professionals who may not be household names, but are making their music work for them all the same. Their preferred styles differ greatly, as do the paths they’ve taken to get where they are today. But they do have one important thing in common. All three have found success, and creative satisfaction, through diverse careers.

Judith Owen

British singer/songwriter Judith Owen has released nine albums of sophisticated, introspective originals that showcase her wit and wisdom – the most recent, the classical-inflected Some Kind of Comfort, was released digitally just this week on her own Courgette Records. And while Owen’s records have earned her garlands of critical acclaim and dozens of film and TV placements, writing and recording is just one part of the equation. An ongoing partnership with Richard Thompson found her singing songs from across the centuries in his 1000 Years of Popular Music project; this fall, she’ll play multiple roles in Thompson’s wide-ranging Cabaret of Souls live show. Owen got the theater bug early on from her opera-singing father, and her passion for the theatricality informs much of what she does – especially her acclaimed Losing It show with comedienne Ruby Wax, an evening of music and monologues that exposes the inner workings of the depression that has racked both performers for years. For Owen, diversity is at the heart of her artistry.

Q: What kind of impact has the Losing It show had on your solo career?

A: I think the most important thing for me is that it’s put me in touch with and in front of the kind of people I’m always looking to reach…people like me, who are isolated, lonely in their illness, highly emotional…the list goes on. Music has been such medication for me, such an immediate form of self-expression, and I’ve always wanted others to be helped by it in the same way. It’s been remarkable really, turning my depression, something that’s been such a curse, into a gift.

Q: Could you make a living solely by selling records? Was that always the case?

A: I certainly can and do on the performance end of things. I love being able to tour and sell, tour and sell. For someone like me, there’s no better way of gaining lifetime fans and selling your music than to be seen live…it’s always made sense because live performance is my thing…my true joy in life. Of course, I remember not so long ago having just enough money in my purse to get the bus home from a gig, but guess what? I was doing what I loved and I didn’t think twice about waitressing, or manning phones to support the music. If you can make a living doing the thing you love most in life, you’re the luckiest person in the world.

Q: How important is it to you to understand the business of being a music creator?

A: I think it’s hard for creative people to be business people as well, but the truth is that most of the biggest and most successful names in music are extremely savvy business heads. Now I’m NOT a business woman, but I am smart and do need to know exactly what’s going on with my life, career, money, I’d be crazy not to, but nothing, NOTHING comes before the music.

Q: Do you seek new outlets for your creativity more now than you used to?

A: Well I’m constantly stretching and growing, not setting myself any boundaries. And regarding music, I Twitter, YouTube live versions of songs, blog, the usual stuff, but it’s still the same basic idea, just worldwide thanks to this digital landscape. You hear something, you love something, and you tell someone else and so on and so on…it’s global word of mouth, pretty great when you think of it.

Q: Do you think that having a diverse career is a financial necessity for music creators today? What about an artistic necessity?

A: I’ve always seen diversity as being a natural thing and never really understood why you had to be branded as one thing only and never move outside of that. People in the business are always looking for a pigeonhole to put you in, a label to pin to you, that’s not what I’ve ever wanted. I’m not saying re-invent just to make money…I’m saying if you have the talent and ability for more than one thing then you should do it…you only have one life after all, and at least you won’t get bored!

Judith Owen’s new album Some Kind of Comfort was released on January 30th, 2012.
Find it on iTunes here.

Variety effusively described her as ‘a charmer and a seducer, a rocker and a jazz chanteuse’. The Los Angeles Times has portrayed her as ‘a drier, hipper Norah Jones who is whip smart, soulfully cool and deeply introspective’. And from a recent Boston Globe Arts cover story: ‘Owen’s voice is gorgeous. It’s a phenomenally forthright instrument that whispers when necessary and wails when the moment calls for candor.’

Judith is best known to UK audiences as the exquisite voice of Richard Thompson’s 1000 Years of Popular Music and Cabaret of Souls. Jamie Cullum calls her ‘a female Randy Newman’ and The New York Times states that she has ‘the kind of wailing folk-jazz voice that slices away surfaces to touch the vulnerable emotional nerve endings and leave you quivering’.

Her live performances brim with humour and theatrics, distinguishing her from other female singer/songwriters. With worldly wisdom beyond her years, Judith turns suffering into divine lyrical melodies, as she draws on her life-long battle with depression and lays this as the foundation of her latest releases Some Kind of Comfort and The Beautiful Damage Collection which feature songs from Ruby Wax – Losing It.

Her albums include: Some Kind of Comfort, Emotions On A Postcard, The Beautiful Damage Collection (which features songs from the West End show Losing It, co-starring Ruby Wax), Mopping Up Karma, Here, Happy This Way, 12 Arrows, and Christmas In July.

Q: Do you think of your lyrics as poetry?

A: Yes I do. I’ve been writing poetry since I was a child and love combining words and music. My lyrics have to stand alone from the music, whether prose or poetry. I feel let down by great songs with thoughtless lyrics, or mediocre rhymes. There is a pure musicality to language, just listen to Shakespeare. Writing lyrics for me is an extension of the music and always feels as if I’m plumbing the depths emotionally, like unraveling a puzzle. I usually only see their true meaning… months, even years later, it is so subconscious. The words always take longer to write and as with many poets, I strive to achieve the greatest of meaning in the simplest of ways, with sound, rhyme, rhythm, texture, onomatopoeia… told you I love language!

Q: Do you think it is important that songs rhyme and if so why?

A: I cringe at crudely constructed rhymes and swoon at the great ones. To me, it’s an art to write rhymes that aren’t obvious and yet seem effortlessly perfect. I do think that that’s what the Cole Porters and the Gershwins of this world excelled at… smart and emotional lyrics that rhymed and still surprised you with their eloquence.

Q: Do you think song lyrics must conform to recognised song structures such as clear rhyming schemes, choruses, refrains, hooks and bridges or that songs can also be like free verse?

A: I think everything and anything works as long as it isn’t mediocre and gives you goosebumps and gets you thinking! I’m rehearsing songs right now from my new album Some Kind of Comfort and I’m aware in hindsight that the lyrics reflect the rhythms of the music. So in a song like ‘Tidal Wave’ which is a folk/classical gig, the words are fast and precise in verses when it talks about the child within, becoming more legato and therefore thoughtful in the chorus when it refers to the contrasts of joining an adult world. It’s all about creating a mood, telling a story, painting a picture for any suggestible and imaginative listener.

Q: When you read poetry in school or elsewhere did you recognize any connection to the music you enjoyed?

A: I remember loving Yeats’ words which were used in the traditional folk song ‘Sally Gardens’, and being incredibly moved by the simplicity and power of them… a perfect complement to the melody. And that’s how I view lyrics, as being the mirror to the music.

Q: Was there anything about poetry in books that influenced your songwriting?

A: Growing up, I loved the poetry and prose of Shakespeare, Robert Frost, Chaucer and Dylan Thomas, but actually, I think the words of the Great American Songbook has had the greatest influence on my songwriting, as they were every bit as important as the music… pure poetry.

Q: Why do you think songs are more popular with people than poetry is?

A: I think music is the greatest communicator and it touches and reaches us in a way that words alone cannot. Together they can leave you a quivering mess. Perhaps it’s that music is so emotional and poetry cerebral that makes the difference. In my own writing, the need to say very hard personal truths through the more accessible medium of music is incredibly important. Again, in the case of the title track of my latest album Some Kind of Comfort, I can talk honestly about self-harming by imbedding provocative information in soulful, gentle music, to draw the listener in rather than repelling them, which words alone can’t often do. That to me is the real magic and power of words and music combined.

by Paul Vale

There is a celebratory air as Judith Owen takes to the Pheasantry stage. Not only is the talented vocalist preparing to release her latest album but it is also her birthday, an event Owen marks by allowing her audience of fans the opportunity to request favourite numbers.

To begin with, however, we have an insistent, rhythmic rendition of Eye Of The Tiger, given a greater urgency here and precipitating what turns out to be a deeply emotional journey in song. Owen’s banter between numbers rarely seems wholly relaxed, possibly not helped by a portion of the audience refusing to keep quiet.

Owen wears her heart on her sleeve and her difficulties with depression, family life and addiction are an important feature in her songwriting. Indeed, Some Kind Of Comfort, the title song of the new album is an oblique reference to how, in many different ways, we all self-harm in order to find inner peace.

Owen is joined on the stage by the accomplished Laurence Cottle on electric bass and the sublime cellist Gabriella Swallow, both providing a perfect accompaniment to Owen at the piano.

Certainly the livelier section of the evening’s entertainment is when audience members suggest songs. The feisty Walking The Dog moves the tempo up apace whereas Shine, a touching musical tribute to Owen’s talented sister, is both a popular and moving choice. There is also the melancholic I’ve Never Been To Texas and Here But It Is My Father’s Voice, dedicated to her Welsh, opera-singing father, which brings the evening to an eloquent and thankfully positive conclusion.

“Owen, who sits at a piano and has a hauntingly beautiful voice, provides musical interludes and backdrops to Wax’s descriptions of her experiences”
 ~ The Arts Desk

“Her music adds classiness, texture and dramatic clout to the show, with her haunting voice singing brief but hugely effective refrains to underpin the story Wax so engagingly tells.”
 ~ Chortle

“Her self-confessed ego both fed and tempered by the presence of singer-songwriter Judith Owen, who makes an admirable straight woman and contributes a deliciously melancholic soundtrack.”
 ~ The Observer

“Her songs, which punctuate Wax’s wise-cracking act, are beautifully husky and pertinent.”
 ~ The Express

“The poignant songs expressed a grief words alone could not manage”
 ~ Theatre Fix

“Hauntingly seductive vocals”
 ~ Metro

“The songs, which punctuate Wax’s wise-cracking act, are beautifully husky and pertinent.”
~ Daily Express

“Wax is as splendidly rude, brash, acerbic and outré as you’d expect, but she is also, at times, surprisingly tender, self-deprecating and serious”
~ The Observer

“A thoughtful, memorable endeavour from a tour de force talent.”
~ Metro

“Cuttingly hilarious”
~ WhatsOnStage.com

“A theatre show that is warm, funny, inventive… Owen has a hauntingly beautiful voice… The evening is illuminating for those who have no experience of mental ill health and affirming for those who have.”
~ Arts Desk

“Losing It is defined by both poignancy and wit, proving both a touching and amusing night out.”
~ Chortle

“What they modestly fail to mention in the show is that depression and artistic gifts often hang out together. Ruby is captivating and hilarious and Judith Owen’s voice so soulful she could induce heartbreak in a pavement. Genius.”
~ Sally Phillips

“Powerful beautiful stuff”
~ Annie Lennox

“Judith and Ruby have created something extraordinary. I always knew Ruby was the funniest woman alive, but I never expected this to be so raw and emotional.”
~ Jennifer Saunders

“Seeing this has restored my faith that I am well on my way to a nervous breakdown”
~ Paloma Faith

“This is the greatest double act I’ve ever seen. I thought I ought to remind you that last night you was brilliant. Many thanks for letting me come, watch and admire. It’s a snazzy little gem of a show.”
~ Terry Gilliam

“You’d be MAD to miss it.”
~ Kathy Lette

“Incredibly brave and heartbreakingly funny”
~ Harry Enfield

“Absolutely marvelous… Judith’s songs are beautiful.”
~ Ronnie Wood

“This show is too important, too funny and thought-provoking, too touching and inspiring to miss. I recommend it wholeheartedly: it’s fabulous.”
~ Joanna Lumley

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