Sarah Moseley
Collaborative Inspiration
Hailing from Tulsa, OK, Sarah Moseley grew up in a musical family that traveled and sang for their church ministry. As a self-taught pop and country singer-songwriter-producer, the Songbird City founder has always had a passion for music—and the people who make it.
Starting to sing and play guitar, Moseley worked her way through coffee shops and music festivals, moving to Nashville to study at Belmont University. Collaborating with other artists and navigating multiple internships helped launch her pop career, performing as Jovvi in 2017 after graduation. Her music led to multiple sync placements on MTV, including 2018’s “Rise” and “Until I Find You,” “Falling Slowly” (2019), and “This Is Our Time” (2020) for Teen Mom 2, Teen Mom: Young + Pregnant and 16 and Pregnant.
In November 2020, in the wake of lockdowns and natural disasters, Moseley launched Songbird City, a collaborative songwriting platform that gives exposure to writing talent in Nashville and provides them an additional income source. ”I get to help people and also be involved in music. It's so much more exciting when you can bring other people on the journey with you,” says Moseley. Finding herself burned out on her own musical journey before the launch, she adds, “it has been so much more fulfilling because it's not just about me and my own career. We're all in this together: I win, you win. It's breathed life back into me and made me fall in love with songwriting again.
“As I got older,” shares Moseley, “I felt like my strength was more melody. When I'm in a room with someone, I tend to need them to be strong in the lyric department and I tend to hear strong melodies.” Her best advice for new songwriters is to get a solid understanding of the songwriting process on their own to gain confidence and build a circle before writing with others, and to take every opportunity that comes along, while staying humble. “Iron sharpens iron,” she says. “Writing with different people shows you your strengths and weaknesses. Write with as many people as possible. You never know where it's going to end up, so just don't stop. Stay on fire about it because it's easy to get burned out. People that stick it out are the ones that see the fruit.”
Moseley says that the beauty of the Songbird platform lies in the writer getting to interact with the client directly, and receiving immediate feedback. Writers for Songbird are given a specific theme and feel—and a quick turnaround requirement (custom songs are delivered in five business days) and receive fair pay and 100% ownership of publishing rights. Personal songwriting projects for special occasions or commemorations are issued a personal-use licenses, while jingles and branding for businesses is issued under a commercial-use license, with all masters remaining under Songbird’s control in a catalog available for sync license use.
Regularly approached by songwriters eager to be considered for her roster, Moseley has kept the team small to provide more opportunity to existing writers. Her songwriter selection process is stringent in order to guard a high level of professionalism and, while final songs do not need to be full master quality, only writers with the best production, sound and quality are selected. Having hosted a sold-out songwriters’ round at the Listening Room Café in Nashville in October last year, Moseley hopes to host another event in the Spring to help expose the Songbird writers’ material, as well as giving the public an opportunity to learn about the team and process.
In addition to ongoing work with the Songbird team and her own songwriting and sync collaborations, Moseley is gearing up for a new EP release this Spring under her Jovvi moniker.
Contact Shania Smith, [email protected]
Experience Sarah Moseley at songbirdcity.com/sarah-moseley
