How This Works

You got to learn someday my friend
That the means ain't just defined by the ends
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose
But one thing will never change
It's how you play the game
--Michelle Shocked


[Go to Quick Start]



There really is no one "How This Works".

Really, the best thing we can suggest is that you just dive in and start exploring, and discover you're own way of doing it. Cuz, you know, a lot of the music we love wasn't created by following any well-beaten path!

So, yeah, you are free to use SW.com for any of many purposes. It is just a very functional and responsive container for any and all aspects of your world of songs, and how it can interact with other song worlds.

You can come here to just socialize or network with other songwriters. You can upload half-finished songs you are stuck on and see what happens when they are on a new interactive platform. You can upload your totally finished and produced recordings for a test audience before you press it. You can just listen to other people's stuff to get inspiration. You can use it solely to network around promotional or recording questions. See? It's endless.

So, this page is here to list the basics of how this online environment can serve any of your needs. And if you are just itchin' to get your networking on right away, go to the Quick Start.

First let's get some quick administrative stuff outa the way:
1) Terms of Service Agreement
2) Copyright info

Now for the fun part. Now, obviously there are strong resources for interacting here. And its hard to ignore that its called SongwriterWorkshop. This can be a very broad term for any aspect of working with your songs, from lyrics to album-covers to recording software. But it also is inspired by our collective experiences working in groups on songs.

There is an easily followed tide of individualism and adverse competitiveness in the music world. We feel that although songwriting (and recording, and promoting, and performing...) is a personal thing, and often needs solitude, sometimes this is taken to an extreme that starts being counterproductive. We believe, through years of our own personal experience, that it is a false assumption that the individual songwriter's unique style or character is compromised when it interacts with others in a cooperative spirit. The most obvious example of this of course is the great bands that inspire us, the famous song writing collaborations of the ages.

Go to the "our....advice" tabs under each menu item for more thoughts and philosophies about the world and process of song writing.

Meanwhile, here's our Guide to help start you on your way:


1) start your basic profile: the more info the better.......

2) add music

3) add friends

4) interact
--Getting feedback: how to imbed player in forum for feedback, etc.
--Giving feedback: listen, rate, comment, etc
--post a video
--Rise to "The Challenge"
--Share Tips