Do songwriters have a limited shelf life?

[Mr. Jelly]

I did a short stint years ago working with a publisher in Nashville. I learned that writing songs to sell to people wasn't something that I wanted to do for the rest of my life. And a song always needs to be sold to an audience.

[M19]

Pop culture, and what music(s) fits that changes over time, maybe 5-10 year "eras?"

Example: Yes was pretty popular (in their own way) in the early 70's, then drifted out, only to be revived by swapping out Steve Howe for Trevor Rabin. Totally different sound (except for Jon and Chris' voices) and a new spurt of popularity, even more mainstream than the first.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Brooklyn Bob

I think Bob's comments about recording artists having a 6 year shelf life speaks to what I was thinking of. The people I mentioned had a period where mostly anything they put out went top 10. I'm wondering what changes. Their talent? Their drive? The fickle listener?

Ah so actually you were thinking about performing songwriters who are recording artists . What usually changes is the Labels stop promoting them and other artists stop covering them .... Not to mention being an artist at the top of the music game is a grueling endeavor, and no doubt "burn out" can be a factor also

[Bob from Brooklyn]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Ah so actually you were thinking about performing songwriters who are recording artists . What usually changes is the Labels stop promoting them and other artists stop covering them .... Not to mention being an artist at the top of the music game is a grueling endeavor, and no doubt "burn out" can be a factor also

Yeah, I think this is really what I had in mind. I would even suppose the Burt Bacharach/Hal David/Dionne Warkwick team would fall under this umbrella also.

[Joe Beamish]

Originally Posted by Brooklyn Bob

Think about it. Lennon, McCartney, Fogerty, Elton, Sting, Gibb brothers, etc. have like a 5 year period where they are white-hot. Do their skills fade or is the public just ready to move on?

Maybe more like 10 years. I would say the same thing about most great artists in any field.

After 10 years, people repeat themselves. There are, of course, exceptions.

[KevWind]

Perhaps if you can find the "Open Door" you can breeze past the shelf

[jaymarsch]

Good posts here. Artists that tend to re-invent themselves and grow with their craft can endure for decades. Writing a song that endures the test of time is an art in itself. There are singer songwriters who have endured but are not necessarily household names. They continue to sell CDs, get some airplay and travel the house concert circuit doing what they love and are called to do.
Best,
Jayne

[J Patrick]

…there are some great songwriters whose success both writing and recording as well as performing has lasted decades….so no there is no prescribed shelf life for songwriters in general…..

….still….many successful musicians do have relatively short lived careers….the reasons are many and not necessarily due to burn out, lack of creativity or changing tastes….

….there are other professions that exhibit the same career spans and limitations…I think it is part of human nature….

[Mandobart]

It seems the discussion has centered on wildly commercially successful popular music artists, with a few notable exceptions like Darrell Scott.

There's a whole world of music that the masses will never know, that rarely/never get radio airplay. Steve Forbert had one song that got radio play when I was in high school (Romeo's Tune). He put out over a dozen albums over 40 some years and is still going.

James McMurtry got some airplay with "Painting by Numbers" decades ago. He just put out his 10th studio album. He's been at it for many decades as well.

No one here has heard of Slaid Cleaves, but he is one of the best songwriters you'll never hear.

Talking about "songwriters" and only mentioning the commercially successful artists catering to the masses is like starting a discussion about "great food" but only talking about MacDonald's, Denny's, Applebee's, etc. Or discussing guitars but limiting the parameters to just Gibson, Martin, Taylor and Yamaha (not that I equate these mfrs with fast/cheap/crappy food).

My favorite songwriters have had careers spanning decades - they have no shelf life. The chart-busters, IMO, have possibly been overexposed and become relatively passé as a result.

[J Patrick]

Originally Posted by Mandobart

It seems the discussion has centered on wildly commercially successful popular music artists, with a few notable exceptions like Darrell Scott.

There's a whole world of music that the masses will never know, that rarely/never get radio airplay. Steve Forbert had one song that got radio play when I was in high school (Romeo's Tune). He put out over a dozen albums over 40 some years and is still going.

James McMurtry got some airplay with "Painting by Numbers" decades ago. He just put out his 10th studio album. He's been at it for many decades as well.

No one here has heard of Slaid Cleaves, but he is one of the best songwriters you'll never hear.

Talking about "songwriters" and only mentioning the commercially successful artists catering to the masses is like starting a discussion about "great food" but only talking about MacDonald's, Denny's, Applebee's, etc. Or discussing guitars but limiting the parameters to just Gibson, Martin, Taylor and Yamaha (not that I equate these mfrs with fast/cheap/crappy food).

My favorite songwriters have had careers spanning decades - they have no shelf life. The chart-busters, IMO, have possibly been overexposed and become relatively passé as a result.

……point taken…..but don’t underestimate the number of us who are hip to the likes of Slaid Forbert Mc Murtry and many others who have been writing and recording at a high level for decades but are not exactly household names…..there’s a reason beyond their own talents they have longevity….they have a lot of fans….I’ve seen all the players you mentioned multiple times going back over forty years when I first saw Steve Forbert open for Phoebe Snow……and I’m just some guy from Oregon….

[kurth]

Originally Posted by Mandobart

It seems the discussion has centered on wildly commercially successful popular music artists, with a few notable exceptions like Darrell Scott.

There's a whole world of music that the masses will never know, that rarely/never get radio airplay. Steve Forbert had one song that got radio play when I was in high school (Romeo's Tune). He put out over a dozen albums over 40 some years and is still going.

James McMurtry got some airplay with "Painting by Numbers" decades ago. He just put out his 10th studio album. He's been at it for many decades as well.

No one here has heard of Slaid Cleaves, but he is one of the best songwriters you'll never hear.

Talking about "songwriters" and only mentioning the commercially successful artists catering to the masses is like starting a discussion about "great food" but only talking about MacDonald's, Denny's, Applebee's, etc. Or discussing guitars but limiting the parameters to just Gibson, Martin, Taylor and Yamaha (not that I equate these mfrs with fast/cheap/crappy food).

My favorite songwriters have had careers spanning decades - they have no shelf life. The chart-busters, IMO, have possibly been overexposed and become relatively passé as a result.

thanks for Slaid Cleaves

[TeleBluesMan]

Some songs have a second life. Remember the song Magic, by the group Pilot? It's now used in a commercial for the drug Ozempic.

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by Mandobart

It seems the discussion has centered on wildly commercially successful popular music artists, with a few notable exceptions like Darrell Scott.

There's a whole world of music that the masses will never know, that rarely/never get radio airplay. Steve Forbert had one song that got radio play when I was in high school (Romeo's Tune). He put out over a dozen albums over 40 some years and is still going.

James McMurtry got some airplay with "Painting by Numbers" decades ago. He just put out his 10th studio album. He's been at it for many decades as well.

No one here has heard of Slaid Cleaves, but he is one of the best songwriters you'll never hear.

Talking about "songwriters" and only mentioning the commercially successful artists catering to the masses is like starting a discussion about "great food" but only talking about MacDonald's, Denny's, Applebee's, etc. Or discussing guitars but limiting the parameters to just Gibson, Martin, Taylor and Yamaha (not that I equate these mfrs with fast/cheap/crappy food).

My favorite songwriters have had careers spanning decades - they have no shelf life. The chart-busters, IMO, have possibly been overexposed and become relatively passé as a result.

Yes I agree, there's a difference between some qualities we may appreciate over a long term and something more objectively observable/measurable like fame/streams/chart positions.

For performer/songwriters the fame thing works via fame mechanics. Very long careers at an always rising, or rising to a high level and remaining there for a very long time are exceptions -- and those exceptions for the songwriting side of that slash description are even rarer. Even for those acts that fill large venues and continued careers as moneymakers, the recent songwriting gets put on a back burner. So even at the Rolling Stones/Paul McCartney level you aren't going to hear more than maybe one or two "recent" songs.

But we as individual listeners are able to like what we like, and value what we value. We can't change the fame mechanics in our small personal influence levels though.

[LiveMusic]

There are many apropos comments in this thread. One thing I don't recall seeing in here is... singer-songwriters come to the table as young men/women, with lets say, a dozen (maybe!) exceptional songs that reflect who they are and their perception of songwriting and what is good. And they hit it out the park. Those songs took them, say, ten years to come up with. From early teenage years to their early to mid-20s. It reflects their entire lives, their entire being up to that point. And now the label expects them to have a dozen more of the same quality in a year or two? It won't happen for most. But if they can control substances and remain sane and productive, they can often crank out a great song now and then. Some exceptions occur where they duplicate or exceed the first album at a later time. It's a tough business.

This thread reminds me once again as, to me, how astounding the catalog of Bob Dylan is. It is just mind-blowing to me. I saw him in concert a few weeks ago. He's still doing it. And writing incredible songs. He's just on another plane, I don't know of anyone who is on this level. BTW, if anyone goes to a show these days, get his most recent album because that is what you are gonna hear! And BTW... at this recent concert, his rendition of "Gotta Serve Somebody" was worth the price of admission. It was rockin' and I wish I could get a recording of it. He played that and "Every Grain Of Sand" and that is all I recall that were 'old' songs. (He also did not play guitar and I prefer him on guitar; I wonder if he has arthritis or is just not strong enough to stand. He sat and played piano. Of course, he is 80!)

[Joe Beamish]

Dylan is a freak…he’s had a bunch of great periods, including the more or less current version. For me, he had a couple creative lapses in the late 80s and mid 90s, but he got over them.

There aren’t too many people like that.