エピソード

  • 133. Why You Don't Need Anyone But Yourself to Create
    2025/05/09

    --these notes were created using ChatGPT--

    Episode Summary:

    Feeling overwhelmed trying to do it all as a self-producing songwriter? In this episode, Connor Frost shares a powerful personal story from a solo day in Taipei that led to a DIY music video—and a deeper realization: you don’t need a team, a big budget, or perfect conditions to start creating. If you've been waiting for the “right moment” or the “right person,” this episode will remind you that everything you need is already within you.

    🧠 This Week’s Thought, Question & Tip:

    • Thought: For every two haters, there’s one person who really needed to hear your song. Focus on that person.
    • Question: What is one thing you could get done this week with your songwriting or production that would be a success?
    • Tip: Start your next song with the chorus—you might find it unlocks a powerful new flow.

    ✈️ Story Highlight:

    Connor recounts a recent trip to Taipei, where a $9 selfie stick, a day of solo exploration, and a long flight home became the backdrop for a low-budget, high-impact music video. The takeaway? You don't need permission, a fancy setup, or a full crew—just the willingness to create.

    🔑 Key Takeaways:

    • You don’t need a “team” to begin creating content that matters
    • Low-budget gear (even a selfie stick) can go a long way in storytelling
    • Perfection isn’t the goal—connection and consistency are
    • Focus on making art, not excuses
    続きを読む 一部表示
    7 分
  • 132. Should I Share This?
    2025/05/06

    --these show notes were made using ChatGPT--

    Episode Summary:

    In this solo episode, Connor Frost dives into a question many songwriters face: Should you share your demos, B-sides, or unfinished songs with the world? Through a personal story about a "rejected" lyric video for his single "Real Friends", Connor explores the vulnerability, hesitation, and ultimately, the freedom that comes with sharing imperfect work. This episode is a must-listen for any songwriter questioning what to do with their creative leftovers.

    🎧 What You’ll Learn:

    • Why Connor initially scrapped a lyric video and what made him change his mind
    • The value of documenting and sharing your creative process—even the messy parts
    • How to reframe "unfinished" or "not perfect" content as meaningful content
    • Why your discarded work might still resonate with your audience

    📝 Key Takeaways:

    • You don’t need a perfect product to share your art
    • Sharing rejected or behind-the-scenes content can create deeper audience connection
    • You have full control over how your story and music are presented
    • There’s value in showing the process, not just the polished result

    📺 Watch the Rejected Lyric Video:

    👉 [Link to the “Rejected” Lyric Video on YouTube] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSM8TE-n8PE

    続きを読む 一部表示
    6 分
  • 131. The Gift You're Taking for Granted
    2025/05/02

    **these show notes were generated using ChatGPT**

    Episode Summary:

    In this episode, Connor Frost shares a powerful reminder for every songwriter: you have a gift that you're likely taking for granted. But before revealing what that is, he sets the stage with a thought, a question, and a tip—each designed to inspire momentum in your music journey today.

    Connor draws from his own experiences, including a recent trip to Taiwan to support his mother—a classical pianist—which sparked deep reflection on the unifying power of music. From mindset shifts to long-term consistency to letting go of perfection, this episode is filled with insight and encouragement for artists who want to make lasting impact.

    What You’ll Learn:

    • 💭 A thought about mindset: Why pessimism always wins—unless you choose optimism.
    • ❓ A question to reflect on: What could you achieve with 1–10 years of consistent action?
    • 💡 A tip to implement now: Eliminate the word “perfect” from your vocabulary.
    • 🎁 The one gift every songwriter has—and how to stop taking it for granted.
    • 🌏 A personal story from Taiwan that highlights music’s unique ability to bring people together.

    If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review and share it with a fellow songwriter.
    Until next time—keep creating, keep connecting, and keep moving forward.

    続きを読む 一部表示
    7 分
  • 130. The most meaningful compliment I ever received
    2025/04/18

    These notes were generated by ChatGPT


    🎧 Episode Summary

    In this short but powerful solo episode, Connor Frost brings you one thought, one question, one tip, and one story—all designed to encourage and inspire you as a self-producing songwriter. Whether you're feeling stuck, low on time, or simply in need of a creative reset, this episode offers bite-sized wisdom to help you keep showing up for your music.

    🧠 This Episode’s Four Gems

    🌀 One Thought
    Sometimes you need to step away from your music for a short time in order to do it for the long haul.

    ❓ One Question
    Do you truly lack the time to work on your music, or do you lack the belief that making time is worth it?

    ✅ One Tip
    Set a goal to finish writing one song per month—even if it’s not your best. The habit of finishing is everything.

    📖 One Story
    Connor shares a compliment that completely shifted his creative mindset:

    “You are really creating a universe with your songs.”
    This idea of building an emotional world through your music can become a powerful compass for your writing and production.

    🌌 Episode Inspiration

    What are the songwriting and production elements you can include to make your listeners feel like they’re traveling through your own musical universe?

    👋 Final Thoughts

    Even if you’re still figuring it all out (Connor is too!), the goal is to keep writing, stay curious, and build your own world—one song at a time.

    続きを読む 一部表示
    4 分
  • 129. How I Made an Animated Lyric Video (Without Being an Animator)
    2025/04/15

    Show notes created w/ ChatGPT


    🎙️ Episode Title: How I Made an Animated Lyric Video (Without Being an Animator)

    🎧 Episode Summary

    Feeling overwhelmed trying to figure out how to create visuals for your song release? In this episode, songwriter, producer, and songwriting coach Connor Lin Frost shares a simple, accessible solution: creating an animated lyric video—even if you're not an animator.

    Connor walks through the exact step-by-step process he used to bring his song "Valentina" to life through animation, including how he structured his ideas, found an animator, and collaborated to get the final product.

    Whether you're considering a music video, visualizer, or lyric video, this episode offers a great starting point—especially if you're balancing a tight schedule and budget.

    🛠️ What You’ll Learn

    • Why an animated lyric video might be a smart option for your next release
    • How to create a video treatment to clearly communicate your vision
    • Where to find affordable animation help (hint: Fiverr!)
    • The benefits of collaborating with visual artists
    • Tips for balancing creativity, time, and budget as an indie songwriter

    📝 Step-by-Step Breakdown

    1. Create a Video Treatment
      • Write out lyrics with timestamps
      • Add visual ideas under each section (e.g. scenes, actions, imagery)
    2. Find an Animator on Fiverr
      • Send them the treatment + your song
      • Great platform for a range of budgets and creative freelancers
    3. Collaborate and Revise
      • Go through a few rounds of feedback to refine the animation
    4. Finalize and Publish
      • Approve the final version and upload it to YouTube or your platform of choice

    💡 Why Choose Animation?

    • The song tells a clear story, which fit well with visuals
    • Easier and more cost-effective than filming a full music video
    • Great way to collaborate with other creatives across disciplines

    📺 Watch the Lyric Video

    👉 Check out the animated lyric video for “Valentina” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcSIjxvtcck

    続きを読む 一部表示
    6 分
  • 128. You're not asking this one question
    2025/04/08

    TRANSCRIPT (there may be some errors): Dear songwriter, if you are someone who is starting to produce your songs from your own home, from your bedroom, and you're struggling to finish your projects, it's because, probably because you aren't asking this one question. And I know this because I didn't know the answer to this question or the question itself for a long time, which led to feeling confused, frustrated, and having no idea where to go with the song.

    But then I realized that knowing the question and knowing the answer to that question was important, and it came down to having one clear system. And the question is, what role does this sound, I'm about to add play in the development of this song and the clear system is what I call the production palette.

    So with the production palette, essentially there are five main categories and each sound you add can occupy one of. Those categories. So I'll give you an example for my song Real Friends, which I released back in December of 2024. I'll kind of break down the category and then the sound. So the category is main melody, the sound is vocals.

    The second category is what I call melody support. The sound for that might be a vocal harmony. Um, for this song, I had like a little bells synth that helped the melody. Violin was also another one, right? So it was more melodic rather than harmonic, and it was more in line with the main melody. The third category is what I call accompaniment support.

    So for this song, it was the sound was, the sounds were guitar, violin, and cello. Basically providing that extra layer of accompaniment. Now the main accompaniment, that is the fourth category. That was organ and synthesizer. So that kind of provided the, the chord progression, the bed for everything else to sit upon.

    And then the fifth category is rhythm slash bass. So for this song, the sounds were synth bass, electric bass, and electronic drums. So let me give you those five categories going from the bottom up now. So category one from the bottom up, rhythm slash base, category two, main accompaniment, category three, accompaniment support, category four, melody support, category five, main melody.

    So this way. There's a clear role and understanding for each new sound that you add, and you can decide how and when you want to introduce each of those sounds over the course of a song rather than your song sounding like a big wall of sound, like minded before I started using this. Cool. Hopefully you found this to be helpful.

    Um, if you are a songwriter who's starting to produce from your bedroom and you feel like your songs are taking forever to complete, I want to send you an invitation. And that invitation is to my online community of songwriters and producers called the Songwriter's Vault. And inside the vault, you will get access to even more in-depth resources and you'll be connected.

    Most importantly, with the community of fellow songwriters, I'm making it completely free for the first 50 members, so depending on when you listen to this, it may not be free, but it is worth checking. Okay. That is it for today. Thank you so much. Happy writing.

    続きを読む 一部表示
    5 分
  • 127. You Can Only Take Your Song so Far
    2025/04/04

    Episode Summary:
    In this episode, I share one thought, one tough question, one tip, and one story to help you on your songwriting and self-production journey. Plus, a quick shameless plug—my new single Valentina is out today! Check it out in the show notes.

    What You’ll Learn:
    🎵 One Thought: Consistency without sustainability leads to burnout.
    One Question: Are you being patient, or just putting something off?
    💡 One Tip: Struggling to finish your songs? Try the Just One policy—complete one key task in a single sitting.
    📖 One Story: The lesson I learned when I struggled to program drums and how collaboration helped me overcome that roadblock.

    Links & Resources:
    🎶 Listen to Valentina on Spotify

    Thanks for tuning in—until next time, happy writing! 🎙️

    続きを読む 一部表示
    4 分
  • 126. How I Got My Music Featured with Just 2 Emails
    2025/04/01

    Show Notes: How I Got My Song Featured with Just Two Emails (made with ChatGPT)

    Episode Summary:
    In this episode, I break down how I got my new song, Valentina, featured on the music publication V13 with just two quick emails. I’ll walk you through the exact emails I sent, the importance of follow-ups, and the value of building long-term relationships in the music industry. If you’re a songwriter or artist looking for media coverage, this episode is packed with actionable insights!

    What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

    • The exact email I sent to request a song feature
    • The importance of a follow-up email and what it should say
    • Why relationships matter in securing media features
    • How persistence and professionalism can lead to press opportunities
    • Why you should overcome the fear of rejection and just send that email

    Email Breakdown:

    1. Initial Email:
      • Quick introduction & reminder of past collaborations
      • Pitching the new song and why it fits their audience
      • Outlining how the blog/publication benefits from featuring the song
      • Closing with gratitude and a call to action
    2. Follow-Up Email (Sent a Few Days Later):
      • A short, polite reminder
      • Giving the recipient an easy way to decline
      • Encouraging a response without being pushy
      • The result? A confirmed feature!

    Key Takeaways:

    • Follow up! If you don’t hear back, don’t assume it’s a no.
    • Relationships matter. Start conversations with publications early and stay in touch.
    • Rejection is part of the process. Keep reaching out to different outlets.
    • Be clear and professional in your emails. Make it easy for publications to say yes.
    • Just send the email! Don’t let fear hold you back from potential opportunities.

    Links & Resources:

    • Read the full feature on V13: https://v13.net/2025/04/connor-lin-frost-valentina-single-premiere/

    Thanks for tuning in! If you found this helpful, don’t forget to subscribe and share with your fellow songwriters. See you next time!

    Write something...


    続きを読む 一部表示
    9 分