Looking For a Fun Last-Minute Gift? Look No Further than Downwrite
Time is almost up to get that perfect last-minute gift for the people you love, but you still have time.
Ellie Mason
Time is almost up to get that perfect last-minute gift for the people you love, but you still have time. Consider Downwrite: the premier collaborative songwriting platform that has something special up their sleeve this holiday season. If you know someone who loves music and has always dreamed of their very own hit song – look no further. Downwrite lets you feel like the subject of a famous song.
Downwrite
Downwrite is a collaborative songwriting platform that hopes to bring fans closer to the artists they love than ever. In the era of COVID-19, connecting with fans is a challenge that Downwrite has risen to meet. For a special gift this season all you have to do is share your life story, personal dream thoughts or ideas with the artist of your choice – and they will write and record your very own song.
The most exciting part? If the song turns into a hit, you get a little bit of the dough. The artist will also share in the potential future profits, which means you share the rise to fame. It’s a personalized and intimate gift that’s perfect for the music lover in your life, and Downwrite has an impressive roster of artists to choose from including:
- 3x Grammy Award Winner, Asdru Sierra
- Richard Patrick (Filter, Nine Inch Nails)
- Shontelle (Grammy nominated R&B singer)
- Jonathan Radtke (Kill Hannah, Filter)
- Justin Warfield (She Wants Revenge)
- Lady Tigra (L’Trimm)
- Lauren Denitzio (singer/songwriter)
- Shane Told (Silverstein, River Oaks, lead singer in Syndrome)
- Kanga (electronic musician, producer and remixer)
- Nick Thomas (frontman of The Spill Canvas)
- Plus many more.
Search through Downwrite’s database by genre, artist and instrument/vocal type, pick your person, and select Rush Add-On if you want to get it in time for Christmas. If you don’t get it in time for the big event, consider that telling someone they have a song being written for them is pretty special too. To find your artist and get started on the process, visit Downwrite and start searching.
A Brilliant Concept
It’s a fascinating concept, bringing artists straight to the people who love them. Customizing the music experience to the degree that you get your own dedicated song? Brilliant. The concept was created by Chicago-based musicians Mark Rose and Bob Nanna, who wanted to problem solve how musicians could carve successful careers out of a world where so much music is available online for free.
When crafting a song, commissioners reach out and share their stories with the artists, who then create magic.
Spectrum News 1 shares, “‘Usually I get requests like this from fans,’ said Asdru Sierra, triple Grammy winner as the lead vocalist, trumpet player and keyboardist for the LA Latin band Ozomatli. He signed up with Downwrite two weeks ago and has so far had one commission from a man who hired him to write a 25-year wedding anniversary song for his wife, whom he met at an Ozomatli show.
‘This guy obviously loves his wife. He wrote down the whole story of how they met. It’s cool because all I’ve got to do is write this song, record it and send it as his anniversary gift,’ said Sierra, who will make $500 for writing the song, singing it and playing piano.”
Prices range the gamut, from $150 for a short silly song from Panic! at the Disco’s Jon Walker, all the way up to $6,000 for a custom song by FILTER frontman Richard Patrick.
Connecting with Fans is a Challenge During COVID
It’s the perfect concept for a pandemic-era challenge. Not only does it rise to meet the needs of artists in a free music wonderland, but it also provides a way for artists to connect with fans when concerts are being canceled in record numbers. Although the lockdowns of 2020 likely won’t return, many entertainment events and venues are already shuttering to combat the resurgence of COVID with the Omicron variant.
Therefore, Downwrite is the perfect way to connect with that artist you love but whose shows you might have to miss out on for the foreseeable future. Spectrum adds, “The artist gets 80% of what the commissioner pays, with Downwrite taking a 20% cut. If Downwrite places a commissioned song in a television show, movie or commercial, the artist is paid 75% and the person who commissions it makes 5% off the sale.
Sierra said he has never been the type of musician who likes to be put on a pedestal. ‘That’s just not me,’ said Sierra, who ends his Ozomatli shows by joining the crowd. ‘If I start thinking, ‘I’m a Grammy-winning artist. Why do this for a regular Joe?’ Regular Joes buy our records. When they come to a show, they pay $20 or $25. They buy a T-shirt. I’m getting more from this.’
Downwrite, Sierra said, is ‘going back to basics. I know I’m the product. I write the music and people see me play live and that’s the experience of it. The way we used to make money isn’t what it used to be anymore, so this is just a sign of something really cool and interesting and artistic to be creative for people that really like our music, which is an honor.’”
Not only is it the perfect chance for an artist to see a bigger cut of their music than usual, but it’s a chance to make some money if your song gets big. Win-win for everyone.