Yamaha Music London Music Ambassador Beth Keeping talks about her solo adventures, making music you love and shares her tips for songwriting success!
“Last year my song Plane Tickets went viral on TikTok. It’s about being single and escaping that occasional lonely feeling that creeps in by solo travelling. Lots of people related to the song and started using it in their own solo travel videos, which was the best thing ever to see!!
I then invited them to be part of the music video, which I released a few months after the song came out. It featured lots of clips from people’s solo adventures and celebrated the joy and freedom of stepping out and doing things by yourself. It was a really special video and also brought more attention to the song.
I’ve also been featured on a few Spotify editorial playlists over the years, including New Music Friday, Very Nearly Nashville, New Pop UK and Created by Women. This started to happen after I took a risk to focus on my artist project. The night before I released my track ‘I thought this would be a love song’ I was having major doubts that anyone would listen or care about my music - and to my surprise they did!
I tend to know in my gut which songs to record! I’m quite picky with which songs I release because I want to create lasting art that I’m proud of and that tells stories. It’s a long and expensive process to record songs properly and release them, so it has to be something I’m excited about and want other people to hear. Often when I’ve listened to a demo of a song on repeat for days, I know it’s one I’m excited about.
Once we’ve produced the track and had it mixed and mastered, I upload it to my distributor who process it and send it off to stores. In the last three years I’ve used Distrokid and seen some good playlisting from them, but I’m switching back to my former UK-based distributor Horus Music who I’m building a closer relationship with.
As well as pitching to Spotify via their artist app, I pitch to playlists on SubmitHub as well as sharing on social media. When I’m sharing on socials I always try and tell a story to help people connect and emotionally invest in the song.
There is so much advice for people wanting to pursue a career as a singer-songwriter. So many tips! But my main tips would be:
Make music that you love. The industry can be tough and take years to break through - if you love making music, writing songs and sharing them with others, you can always find joy in that regardless of any setbacks. There are so many ways to measure success - being proud of what you create and seeing your music move other people (however few or many) - that’s success to me.
Also make music that feels authentic to you. Everyone has their own opinion on what they think is good music, and what music they think you should make! You’ll never please everyone, and popular trends change so quickly. Make music that YOU love, that feels right for you, rather than chasing trends and trying to please the masses, or a particular critic or label. Your audience will find you - and they’ll love your music.”
