MEW is a music community and songwriting accountability group that I’ve been facilitating since November 2019. We’ve written 8,685 songs as of May 2024, and more every week.

These are the rules:

• Write and record a new song every week – or you’re out!
• When you submit a song, you can hear everyone else’s songs
• There are optional theme prompts each week, but it’s very open ended: above all else you just have to keep making things
• Registration is closed now that we’re in session, and will open again early next year.
• We’ll have peer workshops and skill shares too sometimes (all free!)
• You’re invited!

FAQ

How does it work?

You make a song, and submit it via a special link before the deadline each week. If you miss the deadline, you’re kicked out! Every week I make a secret playlist and share it with the group. You can listen to everyone’s wigglin-fresh creations on your own, or if we have a volunteer to run it we try to stream it and chat live. Sometimes we’ll do shows (streamed for now) or compilations for public release!

What counts as music?

Literally anything. It can have words or not, lots of instruments or just one, acoustic and/or electronic components, or you can bang on pots and pans and make a legitimately sick track. You don’t have to have access to fancy recording equipment either. MEW works best when you give your song a genuine try, but as for scope, genre, and content? Entirely up to you!

Does it cost money?

No! We are very anti-capitalist here at MEW Inc. (aka me- it’s just me and sometimes some helpful friends making it happen). Music Every Week is about doing the thing you love every week and making cool stuff and being a part of a community while everything (especially the music landscape) is upside down. There are hosting costs that I pay, and the prep every week takes a fair amount of time on top of my day job and my own music-making practice, so at the behest of some members I added a *totally optional* Patreon to help support the project. Both members and non-members can contribute if they’re stoked about MEW, or want some element of financial accountability. But MEW will always be free! Access to the project is based on participation only.

How did it all start?

Well, a friend of a friend was putting on this thing called Song a Week with the same basic rules (make something or else) and I participated for about eight weeks before flunking out. It was an incredible accountability system, and the music I was hearing from the other folks was so good and pushed me to really come up with something I was excited about each week. I reached out again the following year to see if it was happening, and he said “no, but YOU should run one!” 

I won’t take credit for the idea: there are a lot of chapters that are doing similar things! Some of them are affiliated with magazines or are pay-to-play, or are based around short sprints like Song A Day For A Month. We’ve added some things along the way based on community suggestion, like Peer Workshops and weekly prompts, and we’ll continue to try out fun things together to try to mobilize this incredible creative community!

I don’t think I can make a whole song every week.

That’s what they all say. I’ve heard that from at least five of the people who are still doing it three+ years after we kicked off. Also, not a question. The question is “could I make a whole song every week?” The answer is ABSOLUTELY YES YOU CAN.