What makes a song go viral, and how can you do it? An article on Medium and Substack by author, screenplay writer. and film producer Gini Graham Scott provides some tips and techniques for unknown songwriters. She wrote after one of her songs I'm a Country Man in a Digital Age which she posted in a YouTube video began spreading like wildfire though she did nothing to promote it, and she wondered why. You can read the full article on Medium at https://tinyurl.com/5fbkf6c5 or on Substack at https://tinyurl.com/tnpcr9dw
As the article describes, sometimes songs by an unknown songwriter go viral, such as Rich Men North of Richmond about a working class man struggling to get by while the rich enjoy their elite moneyed life. Likewise, her song about a man who wishes for a return to a simpler way of life where people were easy to meet and call seems to have struck a similar nerve. Like very many people today, the singer of I'm a Country Man in a Digital Age feels the world today is moving too fast, and there's so much hatred and conflict. He describes how the world is full of smart gadgets, such as phones and robots that can talk, and he worries about a future where AI's all the rage, but it's taking away the human touch.
The song has already gotten nearly 3000 views and over 100 likes in a few days without any promotion, just people sharing it with others.You can listen to it on Changemakers Publishing at https://youtu.be/TXcuOaHSoKQ or on Changemakers Music at https://youtu.be/6iC2QxlxwKw.
After this song took off, Scott wondered what makes a song go viral, and she did some research to help anyone with a song create a viral hit. The article lists a dozen suggestions. Here are a few of them:
- Write something on a topic that everyone is talking about in the news or social media.
- Tell your story about what inspired you to write this song to podcasters or other media contacts.
- Create a professional-looking video to accompany your song.
- Post notices about your song on various platforms.
Scott also describes how a song might go viral on its own after you post it on YouTube, especially if it relates to the latest news. Then, people who listen to the song will share it and the internet world will spread it everywhere, as happened with her song: I'm a Country Man in a Digital Age.
After explaining how she recorded the lyrics with her longtime collaborator, who posted the song on Song Trader, which distributes the song to the major platforms, she created a cover image for the video and posted the song it on her two YouTube Channels – Changemakers Music, which only has song videos, and Changemakers Publishing, which has all kinds of videos beside music videos. Then, soon after I posted it, the song began taking off on its own.
Ironically, she wrote the song with a little input from AI, which is what the song is against. She did so by asking AI to write a song about a man longing for life in a simpler time, and after I got three versions of the song, she wove the ideas together, added her own lines, and made some changes after some suggestions from her collaborator who wrote the music and recorded the song.
Scott also describes how she was inspired to write the song, since she had become especially interested in songs about everyday life and what might be changed, an approach she has used in writing many of her 200 books and 19 films. For example, through Changemakers Productions and Changemakers Publishing, she wrote a series of books on scams which were turned into documentaries. One is The Big Con, about a book-to-film scam in which the scammers invented studio executives to get victims to pay them more and more money which turned into Conned: A True Story. Another is I Was Scammed about dozens of scams and how to avoid them, which was turned into the film Con Artists Unveiled. The documentaries feature interviews with victims, scammers, investigators, and lawyers who are part of this true crime world. The books, published by American Leadership Books, and the films are available on Amazon and Amazon Prime.
So rather than being a professional in the music business, she has mainly focused on writing books on a wide variety of topics, from popular business to self-help and social issues, and producing nearly two dozen films on various topics. And that shows you don't have to be a professional songwriter or musician to create a song that goes viral. And while you can help promote your song with various techniques, you may not have to do anything. Just write a good song that captures the public interest, and it'll go viral on its own.
For more information and to schedule interviews, email or call:
Karen Andrews
Executive Assistant
Changemakers Publishing and Writing
San Ramon, CA 94583
(925) 804–6333
Changemakerspub@att.net
www.changemakerspublishingandwriting.com
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Gini Graham Scott, Ph.D. is the author of over 50 books with major publishers and has published 200 books through her company Changemakers Publishing and Writing (http://www.changemakerspublishingandwriting.com). She writes books, proposals, and film scripts for clients, and has written and produced 18 feature films and documentaries, including Conned: A True Story and Con Artists Unveiled¸ distributed by Gravitas Ventures. (http://www.changemakersproductionsfilms.com). Her latest books include Ghost Story and How to Find and Work with a Good Ghostwriter published by Waterside Productions; The Big Con, I Was Scammed, Scams in the Digital Age, and Love and Sex in Prison, published by American Leadership Press; and Ask the AI Wizard, published by J. Michael Publishing.