Writing “Take Me As I Am”.

In 1986 our band Erotic Exotic put out our first record called “Take Me As I Am”. Within the freestyle market the song did very well, and actually saw the top 10 spot on billboard’s dance chart. Every now & then someone will ask me “what are you singing in the last part of the chorus”? The reason they ask is because that line is very long considering it’s only 1 bar long. The chorus goes like this: (each line is a bar).

Come on baby take me as I am,

Come on baby.

Come on baby take me as I am

Or don’t even take me at all girl.

As you can see the fourth line which sings the same as the second is way longer, so you have to rush the words together. This is something that within the craft of songwriting is a no-no, but freestyle music was more about the beat and the hook, and none of us really had any technical songwriting knowledge at the time. Fortunately the song worked as it was.

The New Royalties Agreement

Yesterday The Digital Media Association (DiMA) came to an agreement with several associations that represent songwriters, publishers and record labels regarding royalty rates for interactive streaming music and limited downloads. Up until recently there was no royalty base for these online distribution forms, but now all the parties involved have agreed to 10.5% of revenues (after other royalties are calculated).