Pro Tools Expert team member Paul Drew posted this article on our sister site Studio One Expert outlining his past experiences of dealing with rejection in the Music Industry.
Rejection is a hard thing to take at anytime, but as Songwriters/ Producers/ Mixing Engineers we have to deal with it much more than the average guy.
I've been doing this for about 20 years, and even after all that time I still sometimes find it hard to take rejection. I recently was involved in a project where I was all 3 of the above so I had to wear a good few hats during the project, The first 4 songs I thought I could conquer the world as the Artist/ Management/ Record company had nothing but praise. The 5th song was a different story, it felt like I couldn't do anything right in their eyes. Sometimes we can be clouded by compliments, We become a little over confident and when we get some feedback that is the opposite it hits like a ton of bricks.
Confidence
Confidence can be a good thing if you know how to not take it to arrogance. Always remember that there are always better people than you. We can always learn something from someone who has been doing it less than us. I remember walking into a studio a few years back and hearing this track written by a guy that was half my age and thinking wow.
Criticism
Take peoples criticism a learn from it. If someone doesn't like what you have done thanks them for it, this is the only way we can learn and improve. Sure there are guys who just love to put people down when in reality they are just disappointed with there own self worth, you can normally spot these people a mile off. But most people want to help and there might be something you can learn from improving what you first submit.
Tenacity
At DWB Music ltd, We have a roster of writers, some of these writers submit over 100 songs a year. Most of these guys will probably expect to have 10 songs cut a year. This past week I have had three songs go on hold for major artists and 2 of these songs were written 5 years ago. As long as its a great song and the production is still current the song will still have legs and could get cut at any time. We see it time and time again, where a writer starts feeling despondent and all of a sudden they become the writer who gets cut after cut after cut. Now this can tip the writer to arrogance and most times they will take a hard fall. Just remember to keep a level head and importantly, DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE!