Songwriting can be one of the most personal things an artist can do in the process of creating a track, but over the years, it has become a much more collaborative experience, especially when big names are involved. Very few songs that make any impact on the charts are penned by one person, and there are plenty of instances of up to a dozen writers appearing on the same track, and sometimes none of them are even the act that ends up recording the tune and making it a hit.
Hookist is taking collaborative songwriting to the next level, and the startup is doing so in a way that helps up-and-coming artists make a few dollars in the process. An artist can partner with the company to launch a competition of sorts, and they then promote it to all of their fans. Those that love their art can submit lyrics one line at a time, which the musician running the show sorts through, choosing as many as they like to compose a final product. Hookiest is a place online where lyrics can be crowdsourced, and while that might sound somewhat impersonal for the artist collecting submissions, it is a way for the biggest fans to open up their hearts and become part of the art they’ve always loved.
Those that want to take part in the fun pay just $0.49 to submit every line, a price point which co-founder Meredith Collins felt was important to keep intact.
“It’s not going to break anybody’s bank,” Collins suggested, “but it will provide just enough friction so that people actually craft something.” If there wasn’t any money connected to the submission process, artists might be flooded with terrible suggestions, and then it’s not about choosing the best of the bunch, but sorting through the garbage. Most projects receive just under 1,000 submissions, but as the startup grows and more people learn about it, that number could easily double or even triple, and it might soon become difficult for acts to read every submission, even if fans need to pay.