SONG CONTEST BLOG

Songlines Magazine
Songlines Magazine covers the world’s most exciting music from traditional and popular to contemporary and fusion, featuring artists from all around the globe, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, from Miriam Makeba to Mariza, from Gilberto Gil to Gogol Bordello.
http://www.songlines.co.uk

Monolith Festival
For today only, Monolith Festival is giving you $5 off your submission. By submitting, you will have the opportunity to share the stage with this year’s amazing line up at the incredible natural amphitheatre, Red Rocks. Monolith alumni include The Flaming Lips, Justice, Cake, Band of Horses and many more.
http://tinyurl.com/6ks6el

Songwriters Circle
The New York Songwriters Circle Loft Series is a monthly gathering designed to support a thriving community of musicians at all levels and abilities through education, information, and peer-to-peer interaction.
http://www.songwriters-circle.com

We Are Listening & MTV
Two months after We Are Listening panelists selected Tim Mahoney as winner of The Singer/Songwriter Awards, We Are Listening, together with Tinderbox Music, secured Tim’s music on MTV’s hit television series, “The Hills”. In addition, Tim closed an attractive digital distribution deal with IODA and is looking forward to additional licensing opportunities currently in the works. “Companies like We Are Listening are the reason why independent artists make it”, Tim wrote to We Are Listening, adding, “Talking with the founder, Lior, and shaping a custom television placement campaign was the best prize I could have ever hoped for. I was impressed.”
http://www.wearelistening.org/about_contest.php?type=ssa

Band Camp
Bandcamp, a free publishing platform for bands, provides artists with the most relevant content management and social marketing tools, with a super clean interface and friendly user management system.  Bandcamp update.
http://www.bandcamp.mu

The much-talked-about 360 music deals give labels the traditional percentage of CD and MP3 sales in addition to a cut of ticketing, merchandise, licensing, publishing, and sponsorship opportunities.

In the Web 2.0 Summit, Warner Music Group CEO, Edgar Bronfman, outlined that new artists will have to sign 360 contracts, and that about a third of their signed artists are under such contracts already.

Bronfman expressed that it’s is no longer feasible to pour money into artists when CD sales continue to diminish. Without a stake in the other aspects of an artist’s career, WMG will simply avoid going to market altogether.

“Life Is a Highway” is a song written by Tom Cochrane, from his 1991 album Mad Mad World. The song was Cochrane’s most famous song, as it was a number one hit in his native Canada, and was ubiquitous on Canadian radio in 1991. The song also peaked at number six on the Billboard charts in the United States in 1992. The song has been covered and released by Chris LeDoux, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Rascal Flatts.

Tom Cochrane

Chris LeDoux

Rascal Flatts

CDbaby has been selling CDs online for the last ten years on behaf of approximately 250,000 independent artists, accounting for 4.5 million CDs and $83 million in sales revenues distributed to its clients.

Derek Sivers, CDbaby’s founder, interviewed on Venture Voice

MP3 metadata contains a large amount of searchable information, including the basics of a song: song title, artist name, and album title and artwork. Some artists take the time to include discography and biography details, as well as liner notes, lyrics, images, and anything that allows the digital file to be found, catalogued and, most importantly, relevant and a source of added value to the consumer. The successful distribution of digital files largely depends on the manner in which they are tagged.

Online music licensing marketplace, YouLicense.com, launched an amusing initiative this week that compiles playlists based on “your weather”. If you’re feeling “hot & sweaty” or it’s “sunny” outside, click on the corresponding icon and listen to the music that matches your forecast.

Data Syndication for Artists
ArtistData.com allows you to publish and manage your gig schedule across many different networks including MySpace, Last.fm, and Indie911, saving you time by seamlessly updating and distributing your data from a single hub.
http://www.artistdata.com

Breaking the Band
16 days and counting… the independent music event that puts artists on the stages at major festivals, provides network tv licensing opportunities, radio promotion, press coverage, tour support and much more, is open for submissions!
http://www.sonicbids.com/BreakingtheBand

Moving Large Music Files
Earlier this month, German startup, SoundCloud.com, launched a music-centric solution for moving large digital files online, a process artists and music industry professionals often go through to collaborate and distribute their work.
http://www.soundcloud.com

World of Music Awards
Ghalia Benali, a native of Tunisia, was selected by We Are Listening’s judges as the winner of the World of Music Awards, the first World music contest of its kind. Ghalia will be attending WOMEX, the acclaimed annual World music festival in Seville, Spain, next month for a weekend of networking, music promotion and career development. World of Music Awards is sponsored by Songlines Magazine.
http://www.wearelistening.org/winner_woma_1.php

Derek’s Entourage
Not enough time to do-it-yourself? CDbaby’s founder, Derek Sivers, is rolling up his sleeves so that you can focus on your music while MuckWork takes care of the rest.
http://sivers.org/muckwork

I’m delighted to welcome Bahar Tozman to We Are Listening’s panel of judges. Bahar has been working for EMI Music Publishing for more than a decade. She started at the company in 1996 as a radio and television promoter and, in 1999, was promoted to A&R Manager. In 2002, she was promoted again to General Manager of A&R Germany and runs the A&R office in Berlin to this day. Among many others, Bahar signed and developed German chart-topping artists such as Juli, Culcha Candela and AZAD. She is also a member of the EMI Music Publishing A&R Forum which drives creative cooperation between artists and songwriters throughout Europe.

I’m delighted to welcome Hiten Bharadia to We Are Listening’s panel of judges.  Hiten started his career as a singer/songwriter signed to BMG and then MCA. He was then headhunted by Universal where he worked for the next 12 years in both Marketing and A&R, while continuing to write songs as a hobby. He was responsible for the A&R and Marketing of the English language launch of Enrique Iglesias which resulted in 7 million world-wide sales. He left Universal in 2005 to follow his dream of songwriting and developing artists full time. Together with some very talented songwriters, producers and artists, he formed a new publishing, production and artist development company called Phrased Differently. The company has managed 90 song placements since its inception including three No. 1, thirteen Top 10 and eight Top 20 records around the world. As a songwriter, Hiten has collaborated with artists such as Craig David, Lemar, Ben’s Brother among many more. Hiten believes that only a continuous stream of great songs can save the music industry as we know it!