I have been asked to compose, record and produce a high quality piece of music that will be used by a filmmaker in their attempt to receive funding from a funding body for a music video.

I have been given complete creative freedom in terms of choosing the Genre, Theme and Style and will have to create the music with the intention of it potentially being released to the public and giving me future opportunities to charge a fee for my work.

The purpose of this project is to give me the opportunity to experience what it's like to make original music in a media context. It also will allow me to build on my knowledge of the different ways in which I can earn a living from my ability to create professional material and gain a solid understanding of how I can get any projects I make in the future distributed and sold.

One way that I can get my final project distributed is by using a music distribution company. Some commonly used ones are Distrokid, CD baby and TuneCore. These companies will usually charge an affordable monthly or yearly fee or even a one time payment to take the material I wish to distribute and put it onto online streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube Music and Amazon Music and can even put it onto a digital music store like iTunes.

The prices are different from each company, CD baby doesn't offer any subscriptions and the artist is billed $9.99 for each individual release. This can be beneficial as if you are an independent artist who is just getting started, you won't feel any pressure to release music every month just to get value out of a subscription. However, CD baby takes 9% of your revenue which is a high amount compared to other distribution companies that for to give you 100%.

Distrokid for example, gives you 100% of the revenue you make across all streaming platforms and has options to select a plan that suits your needs, the lowest one starting $2.80 a month or $24.99 annually and the highest being $7.50 a month or $89.99 annually. Each plan offers different things and offer more, the more you pay. As an independent artist who wants to spend the least amount of money but also would like to have freedom with the control of when my music is released and my pricing on digital stores. I would consider paying for Musician Plus plan for $3.75 a month. This plan would let me view how my music is performing, choose release and pre-order dates and release an unlimited amount of songs and more.

In the terms of making revenue from potential commercial use like online ads. I can have the distribution company monetise my final project of various social media platforms such as Youtube, Instagram and TikTok so I can earn revenue every time someone on any of these platforms uses my music for any reason.

Unfortunately, If I wish for my final project to be released and sold as physical material such as CDs and Vinyl. These Distribution companies usually don't offer to produce these and only specialise in releasing your material digitally.

SOURCES:

https://distrokid.com/product/distrokid/plans-and-pricing-2?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=DA_DK_Google_UK_Search_NB_DistroKid_ENG_Allplatform_Purchase_EXT-PHR&utm_adgroup=160918636547&utm_term=music%20distribution%20platforms&utm_content=736822413990&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20949418212&gbraid=0AAAAACcI0SO8dS8pWThGPEITx4XtTeiYS&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8Incx7aZkAMVjIFQBh0V3gPoEAAYASAAEgIfbfD_BwE

https://www.amuse.io/en/content/the-best-music-distribution-services/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/recommended/tech/best-music-streaming-service/

https://cdbaby.com/ads/music-distribution-lp/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=cdbaby&utm_content=711270819293&utm_campaign=&utm_adgroup=&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21644411272&gbraid=0AAAAAD3wZhSQ-Asdzr0I7ee9BciRTP8KK&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-7Xn07eZkAMVZpVQBh00ezTvEAAYASAAEgLn7_D_BwE

During the songwriting process of my project it is my intention to utilise the knowledge I have acquired through my research of the different lyrical, harmonic, rhythmic and rhyming techniques that are used in the genre of Pop. I plan to make a song that has my own personality put into it but also explores the conventional themes and musical elements that are in Pop songs today.

I also plan on referencing elements of Indie Pop, as I am an independent artist who is going to be writing, recording and producing the song all on my own. This interlinks with the creative freedom I have been given by the filmmaker.

SOURCES:

https://sevenintegration.co.uk/music-technology-50-year-history-making/

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/what-does-science-say-about-modern-pop-music/

https://bsu.libguides.com/popular-music/pop

https://www.loopmasters.com/articles/3489-Songwriting-Production-8-Tips-for-Writing-Pop-Songs?srsltid=AfmBOopDlL08CW3raX2dnUGPja5ANQl7DDoFPKrFexL_nSjkXUJ5Ukj6

https://www.soundoflife.com/blogs/mixtape/indie-pop-history

https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/blog/2017-02-secret-science-of-pop

When making my project it is important that I consider the copyright restrictions I may face.

This means that If I wish to use a sample, I must obtain two written licences that allow me to use the sample. One is from the Record Label that allows me to use the master recording of the song and the other is from the Songwriter/Publishing Company that allows me to use the composition itself. I also have to remember that it is not garuentted that I will receive permission therefore it is best to do this first before including the sample during my songwriting process so prevent any last minute changes within my project.

In my project, I do not plan to include any samples which means I will not have to do this but I do plan on protecting my own rights to prevent my material being stolen.

I will be doing this through time stamping my work and sending it to myself to keep for legal evidence if I am ever placed in a position where I have to prove my project is mine. I will also have voice recordings and timestamped images of my work during the songwriting process.

SOURCES:

https://diymusician.cdbaby.com/music-rights/clear-samples-to-copyrighted-music/

I plan on presenting my work on online streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music through the Digital Music Distribution company DistroKid as it will be a Project made on Logic Pro consisting of only MIDI and Loops. I feel the this is the easiest way for me to present my work and as due to my resources, presenting it as a live recording wouldn't be possible for me. The song will not include the recording of any live instruments apart from my voice and I do not have a live band that could perform the song with me.

It is my intention to make a soft pop song that explores the theme of loneliness and fear of rejection. I want it to be written from the perspective of someone who feels like they don't fit into someone in their life's schedule. I will be experimenting with different rhyming techniques and more conversational vocal phrases that will generate a direct yet emotional tone within the melody. I will be writing lyrics for this piece first, before creating the musical elements on Logic Pro through Loops and Live Midi. I will be taking inspiration from the pop artists I have analysed in detail to make sure that my idea fits within the Pop Genre. The song will include a main vocal line with high and low harmonies layered on top where I feel necessary. I want the guitar instrumentation to be simple to uplift my vocals and lyrics.

In terms of distribution, I plan to release this piece of music digitally on streaming platforms through an Online Music Distributor.

CHOSEN SOURCES

I will mostly be accessing my sources online such as information regarding online music distrubutors and copyright protection. I will also be using an online dictionary to aid me in my lyric writing process through the following website;

https://writingexercises.co.uk/rhyming-dictionary.php

Any inspiration I plan on taking from other artists within my chosen genre will be accessed through my spotifty account, articles and wesbites. Additionally, I will be using my previous written analysis on Pop, Indie Pop and Trad Pop through Microsoft PowerPoint for any extra support I need during the composition process.

ACCESSING SOFTWARE

Fortunately, I have access to Logic Pro, headphones, a midi keyboard and an audio interface at home which means I will have more opportunities to work on my peices. I plan on creating the lyrics and midi intrumentation at home, however, I will be recording vocals and any potention live instruments i.e guitar at college using the microphones I have been granted access to. To do this, I will be booking a studio booth at college in advance to ensure that my planned times for recording are fulfilled. This is also to ensure that if I have another student play an instrument for a song, we can communicate a time to record that suits us both and stick to that time, avoiding any miscommunication or potential problems.

Since I am using the studio booth at college for recording I have to consider the safety of the environment for both myself when reccording vocals and for whoever is recording any live instrumentation for me. I will be ensuring that there are no trip hazards in the booth that could potentially cause injury to myself or others in the room. This means checking that any cables not being used are organised neatly and not scattered on the floor, or if they are being used, making sure that they are out of the way when recording. Since I will be using electrical equipment, It is also reccommened that I am aware that all sockets in the room have been PAT tested to limit the risk of a potential electrical fire. If any music is being played out loud rather than through headphones or live instruments are played at a loud volume, It is my responsibilty have earplugs on hand, I will also have a spare set incase any other person in the room needs them too.

In terms of distribution, I plan on distributing my musical works to streaming platforms by using an online music distribution company. I have researched and compared prices for multiple potential companies and will have to consider not only which one is best for me but also best for my budget.

When attending any concerts or music events, I will also have to consider the costs of the journey since I live outside the city. If I am unable to drive, I will have to ensure that I am able to fund the cost of potential public transport such as trains, buses and trams.

Additonally, If I wish to print any physical research material or my lyrics, I will be using the college library printer to do so. I do have a print allowance but if I use all of it, I will need to use my local library and access a printer there. This means I will need to be aware of the public library's printing fees.

I plan to dedicate 2 hours on a monday afternoon to research I will be conducting in order to support my lyricism, instrumentation and distrubution of each peice. I have deliberately put research at the start of the week so that I can be prepared before working on other elements.

For the writing process, I have given myself 2 hours on a Tuesday to focus on writing lyrics. I have chosen a Tuesday so that if I potentially want some advice or feedback on my lyrical choices, I have the ability to show the material to my songwriting lecturer in class on a Wednesday.

On a Wednesday, I have chosen to spend 3 hours for any recording at home. This does not include any recording I will be doing at college, as this will most likely be done during my dedicated college hours. I also may spend longer than 3 hours working on the recording process as it is the most time consuming one but I plan to take breaks when nessassary to prevent burnout.

Unfortunately, I do not have much free time during the evenings of the weekend; however, I have included 6 hours that I am usually available on a Friday evening for any potential musical events or concerts that will support my music-making process.

This image shows the final lyrics to the song. Any other versions of lyrics are drafts created during the songwriting process.

This is a screenshot taken from the notes app on my phone that I created to begin the process of writing the lyrics for "Warbirds". It shows the initial ideas Andrew and I had for the structure and theme of the song, followed by rough lyric ideas organised into sections with short descriptions attached to them.

During the songwriting process, I wanted to be quite organised when it came to figuring things out at the early stages, so I wrote down a list of potential topics we could explore in the song and created a breakdown of what each section was going to be about. This made it a lot easier to think of lyric ideas later into the songwriting process as from the beginning, I made sure we had written down the ideas we had thought of together so we had more than one option to choose from.

The image above shows a draft of the lyrics for "Warbirds" that were later changed closer to the recording of the final song. Most of the changes that were made were quite minor but I think made a big difference in the melodic clarity and lyrical sense throughout the song. A few months into the songwriting process, Andrew and I attended a songwriting circle during our songwriting class where we had the opportunity to play what we had for our song so far and receive feedback from other students and our lecturer. During the songwriting circle, I played of recording of what we had so far and our lecturer mentioned that during the C section, I had written "Now the Enemy, is in front of me...so I shoot him down and turn around." but in the recording I made after those lyrics were written, I can be heard singing "Now the enemies, are in front of me...so I shoot them down and turn around." which she suggested sounded more natural as that's what I shouldn't have sung but did without even noticing. I ended up taking my lecturer's advice as now looking back on it, the use of plurals works better with the point I was trying to make with the lyrics regarding the sheer size of the problem the protagonist is trapped facing.

Some additional minor changes were also made in the C section that were just a result of how I chose to sing them in the final recording. After doing the live recording of the song, I actually like the way I sang the lyrics better than the way I had them written above as it sounds way more natural.

This audio recording reflects the very beginning of the songwriting process for "Warbirds". It shows the guitar instrumental of the song at the beginning of the songwriting process.

During the songwriting process I did ask Andrew to make a few changes to this instrumental which can be heard in the final recording of the song. When writing the lyrics for "Warbirds" there wasn't enough room for the final A and B sections before the C section to have the same structure as the first A and B sections which made it difficult to continue the storyline of the song without missing out an important part of the plot. Therefore, I asked Andrew to extend the time between the second A section and the C section so that we could fit the lyrics in. We also decided to make the intro twice as long as I thought that the intro only being played once made the start of the song sound rushed rather than setting the relaxed tone Andrew intended to have in regards to the instrumentation. Another thing we changed was the tempo of the song. During one of our rehearsals before the final recording was taken, I felt that the guitar was slightly too fast which made it harder to vocally produce the longer phrases found in the song. Slowing it down slightly not only made it easier to sing, but it also let the lyrics sit for a while longer before moving on to the next which I think helped with the emotional captivity of the piece as a whole and fit the soft rock genre more.

This is an audio recording that was taken in the later days of our songwriting process. Before filming the final recording, I was curious to see how the song would sound if it not recorded in a live setting. I also did this to hear the song as an actual song, rather than the lyrics and guitar instrumental being separated. Making this was actually quite useful during the songwriting process because I was able to use it to identify any issues with the lyrics, melody or even the instrumental and I also used it to receive feedback from my peers.

For my final project, my initial idea during the planning stage was to create a song that explored the genre of pop. However, during September of last year, a classmate I get on quite well with expressed to me that since his first study instrument is guitar, he has struggled with coming up with themes, lyrics and vocal melodies in the past when trying to write songs and was curious if I would be willing to support his songwriting process by working alongside him to bring his song idea to life. When he asked, I had not yet started my own project and was still planning on creating the song I originally planned to make, but I thought that it would have been better to dedicate my full attention to collaborating with Andrew to make a song as a duo. I chose to do this because I have not yet had the chance to work on an original piece of music with other people and thought that this would be a great opportunity to gain some experience in doing so.

From September 2025 until February 2026, Andrew and I then spent 5 months working together in person and individually at home to create our song 'Warbirds'.

This is a written notation of the vocal melody line used in the B sections of the song. I have chosen to notate this section specifically because even though there is no obvious chorus in this song, the B sections act as the chorus.

This songs vocal melody was built on experimentation during the lyric writing process. When I have wrote songs in the past, I usually find that the vocal melody comes to me when trying out lyrics. For this song, I spent time deciding what melodically suited the chords of the song by humming along with it and just coming up with random lines on the spot which helped me figure out what fitted and what didn't.

The video above is our full completed song in its intended format. At the beginning of this project, I had originally planned to distribute my original piece on online streaming platforms through an online music distribution company but when it came to deciding how we wanted to distribute "Warbirds" Andrew and I decided that we wanted the song to be recorded in a live setting and posted online instead.

We chose to do this instead of distributing it on streaming platforms to honour the songs intimate, raw sound that we intended for it to have.

This is a digitally drawn out image of the chords of the song which have been simplified, showing the chords in the context of them being strummed. In the final recording, Andrew uses finger style playing to add a more complex yet intimate sound to the piece.

The songwriting process for this song began with Andrew playing me the full guitar instrumental live in person so that I could gain an understanding of his intended genre so that we could start figuring out what the theme and structure were going to be. Andrew expressed that he wanted to explore the soft rock genre but wasn't sure what he wanted the song to be about. After listening to the piece, I mentioned that I felt it also had a cinematic feel to it, as if you could imagine it in a movie. I also thought that it had an implied structure before we even started to explore what the structure was going to be. I thought that it was very similar to the three act structure most commonly used in the film industry which stands for the beginning, middle and end. The beginning introduces the world and the characters living in it with hints to the main plot, the middle has some sort of tension build up, eventually leading to a resolution which brings the plot to an end. We agreed that this would be interesting to explore in a musical context through the structure of the lyricism. This ultimately made us decide to write "Warbirds" using the ABABC structure to create a lyrical journey for the listener. We wanted the A sections to tell the story, the B sections to be a slight uplift in energy while still reinforcing the song's theme followed by a C section at the end of the song that acts as the final big release of tension that builds up throughout the A and B sections.

With this in mind, we began figuring out what the theme was going to be. Since it was Andrew's intention to explore the soft rock genre. I thought that it was important to consider the different ways we could use songwriting techniques not only found in soft rock music but also typical in rock music to maximise our creative abilities. In terms of themes, soft rock songs most commonly explore love and nostalgia as those are topics that pair nicely with a calmer instrumental sound. However, rock music is slightly more aggressive with its instrumentation and themes, usually exploring topics such as rebellion or social issues to match its "heavier" instrumentation. Since the guitar in our song is quite mellow for most of the song and fits the soft rock genre, I thought that we could choose a theme that contrasts with the relaxed feel. With some humour, I began thinking "What do people usually write songs about?" and it got me thinking of the social issues that are commonly explored in rock music. Andrew and I started giving each other suggestions for topics such as political corruption and war, I then wrote down the lyric "The walls are thin" which is a submerged metaphor that explores the emotional separation a lot of people have surrounding the outside world. Andrew then suggested that the song could be about an individual who is completely ignorant to environmental, political and humanitarian crises happening in society today and that we could explore their experience of choosing to ignore the chaos so that they can continue to live in peace in their own bubble. I thought that this was a unique idea considering a lot of songs under the rock umbrella talk about issues like this one. To narrow it down to one specific theme, we decided it should be war because it's a topic that could give us plenty of scenarios to explore surrounding the separation between peace and conflict.

With the theme decided, we spent the next few months coming up with lyrical ideas. I didn't want to completely take charge of writing all of the lyrics on my own because I wanted to give Andrew a chance to feel a bit more confident in his lyric-writing abilities. I did this by presenting lyric ideas to him each week, asking for his opinion on anything that could be changed, added or removed. This approach proved to work quite well as we got through the lyric-writing process, avoiding any writer's block since two people were working on them instead of just one. It also not only allowed Andrew to have more of an active role in the lyric writing process but gave me the opportunity to receive feedback on my ideas on a frequent basis.

During the planning process of this project, I conducted an analysis on the genre of Pop, Traditional Pop and Indie Pop since my original plan for this project was to create a song within the pop genre. However, since I started working with Andrew and he wanted to create a soft rock song, I had to consider that there may be different lyrical techniques outside of the ones I had studied during my planning stage that suit the soft rock genre more. To combat this, I did some self- research on the lyrical techniques commonly used in Soft Rock so that the lyrics of the song made sense for the genre. However, lyrical techniques can be used across all genres when used correctly to suit the specific genre so I wasn't too worried about it affecting anything.

We wanted this song to tell the story of an individual who blatantly chooses to be oblivious to ongoing issues in the world and thought the best way to do this was by writing the song in a first-person perspective. This was inspired by the raw storytelling that's typically found in Soft Rock music and choosing to write in this perspective immersed us more into the experience, making it easier for the listener to imagine how the individual in the song feels and maybe even relate to it. Writing in a first-person perspective also allows the listener to have more of an emotional connection to a song as they can listen to it and imagine themselves in the experience of whatever the topic is about. In my opinion, songs that are completely written in a first-person perspective can sometimes end up sounding harsh since there can be less room for the listener to use their imagination when listening. Therefore, I decided to focus the first-person narrative during the A sections (Verses) of the song. I did this by using singular pronouns such as I, me and my in the lines "and I hear nothing", "Will someone tune it out for me?" and "It is my duty to go outside". but for the B sections, I wanted to take a more metaphorical approach with the lyrics. For example, I used a proportional metaphor in the line "There's nothing a fly could do". I did this not only emphasise how useless the individual feels when to comes to making the world a better place but also to add more imagery to the story of the song. In terms of rhyming techniques, I decided to avoid using perfect rhymes during the A sections (verses) of the song, this is because I wanted the piece to have a real conversational sound, almost as if the protagonist of the song is speaking rather than purposefully singing a song. This is mostly prominent in the second A section where there is an imperfect rhyme between "name" and "win" and even though it doesn't sit that nicely on the ears, it mirrors the unease intended in the full line. It is not until the final C section of the song where a more perfect rhyme scheme is present. "Enemy" is rhymed with "me" and "down" is followed by "around". This was purely decided based on the plot of the song. The protagonist at the start of the song is completely happy in their own little world but is eventually swallowed by propaganda to join the military and forced to fight for their country and I wanted to reflect that robotic like feeling soldiers have by making the phrases quick and simple, almost like the protagonist is marching while saying them. I felt that because of this, the C section wouldn't have suited the rhyming scheme found in the A and B sections. To add some familiarity into the A and B sections, I used repetition in the first A and B sections where the word "nothing" is said once in section A and again in section B. I chose to do this because even though it is a subtle use of repetition, it ended up really supporting the idea of how helpless the protagonist feels.

In terms of songwriting techniques, I think that Andrew and I have used techniques that fit well with the soft rock genre and have produced a song that we are both quite proud of.