SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- A San Diego songwriter/performer finds himself, like so many, sidelined from his usual gigs by the pandemic, but a random discovery on Instagram has opened up a whole new, paying platform for his talents.
Singer/songwriter Rodrigo Barbas moved to Mission Valley five years ago from Guadalajara, Mexico. He's been appearing at local clubs and producing new music in his home studio. The 26-year-old released his pop tune, "Fake Doors," to Spotify last August, looking to open real doors for his career, but the pandemic had other ideas.
"Before coronavirus, I've been performing in bars or in other shows," said Barbas, "but after that it got a little bit complicated."
With many live performance venues forced to shut down, Rodrigo said a lot of his musical friends did the same. But in November, he spotted an online ad for Songlorious, a website matching singer/songwriters with everyday people who'd like to have their own special tune.
"How do we tell the stories of our heart," sings a female voice on the Songlorious website, which features sample works for customers to review, as they select the style of song they'd like created.
The site works a bit like Uber for music. Customers post the kind of song they'd like and artists decide if they'd like to take on the creation.
"A lot of people think they need a deep studio to record that," said Rodrigo, "But you just need a simple thing: a microphone -- a good microphone. A cable with an interface so you can record everything on your computer. And a good pair of monitors."
And, of course, musical talent, which Rodrigo demonstrated to become a Songlorious member.
He's now produced some 15 tunes, mostly for anniversaries, but he says they can be for anything and humor is big. Like one man who wanted a lyric on his wife's flatulence.
"OK, let me see how I can fit that into a chorus," Rodrigo recalls telling the client, "And I'm just singing, 'I'm a fart piercer!' But mostly it's like a love song."
On a much tamer note, I asked Rodrigo to show us how it works by recording a lyric for ABC 10News' Positively San Diego.
After a little collaboration, Rodrigo strummed a chord progression and began to sing, "We gonna be okay ... We gonna be Positively San Diego ..." He then polished up the line as he would for a Songlorious tune.
Songlorious allows artists to maintain the rights to the songs they create and Rodrigo says he has plans to release of couple of his works to Spotify. He says the site also pays the artist $40 to $90 for each composition depending on its length, which usually varies between 30 seconds to 3 minutes.
