In response to an email alert that automatically goes out to our members seven days before a song contest deadline, I received this email this morning. It made me chuckle. Is that bad?
I am pleased to see that there are only 7 days remaining before this farce comes to a blissful end. Every day this “opportunity” has been before us it has seemed like a miserable exercise in futility. Please inform me when you have completely closed your doors to any additional submissions so I can rest in peace. It’s been a nightmare.
Hi. My name is XXXXXXX. I was wondering if we could maybe strike a deal. You see, I have no money because I am not famous yet. If you can help me become famous, then instead of giving you 30 dollars, I will give you 500 dollars!
In a blog post, Spinme.com Editor, Joe Taylor writes:
“If you type the words ’songwriting contest’ into Google, you’re going to come back with close to a million entries. And that number is growing all the time. Too many scam artists are realizing that it’s far too easy to convince a songwriter to part with her money on the assumption that she’ll get ‘found’.”
In a separate post, Joe Taylor writes:
“Too many songwriting contests market themselves with the fantasy that music business veterans and chart-topping superstars will be holed up in a conference room, poring over your submission. For the most part, that simply doesn’t happen unless you make it to the final round of the most elite and well-respected songwriting contests.”
Do you think there’s any merit to Joe Taylor’s sentiments?
Our songwriting competitions are open for up to three months at a time. That’s 90 full days. Or 2160 hours during which anyone, anywhere, can submit his songs to us in a matter of seconds.
Yet, we receive the vast majority of our submissions during the final hour. And just minutes after, we’re flooded with emails from individuals who missed the deadline and would like us to make an exception… which we don’t.
If we were to extend a deadline at the very last minute, send a bonus email blast announcing it, and make an ‘exception’ for anyone that asks for it, we would receive more submissions.
I happen to know of a few songwriting competitions that routinely extend their deadlines at the very last minute.
And I have to ask, why do they impose deadlines if they themselves don’t stick to them?
The USA Songwriting Competition announced yesterday the launch of their 15th annual song contest.
In the email announcement and on their blog, they celebrated a decade of success stories by their song contest winners.
Among the Top 10 USA Songwriting Winners Of The Decade, the likes of Kate Voegele, Ari Gold and Darrel Scott were mentioned. I’ve never heard of them either but check this out:
Kate Voegele (2005 song contest winner) appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien performing her song “99 Times”, a Billboard Adult Top 40 Hit, peaking at #24. Her album, “A Fine Mess”, was released on Interscope/MySpace records and made the Top 10 on The Billboard 200 Albums Chart.
Ari Gold (2007 song contest winner) hit #10 on the Billboard Charts and #1 on Sirius OutQ with his winning entry.
Darrell Scott (2005 song contest winner) pitched his song and got it cut by Faith Hill in 2006. Wow!
Do you think these artists would have achieved such success had they not entered The USA Songwriting Competition?
Graduating from the University of Southern California with a degree in Public Relations and Entertainment Communications, Eavan began her music career as an A&R intern at Atlantic Records. In 2007, she joined the Artist Management Department at Vancouver-based Nettwerk Music Group. Out of Nettwerk’s LA office, Eavan works directly with the artists Jars of Clay, Sixpence None the Richer, Maria Taylor, Griffin House, and Lucy Schwartz on a day to day basis. In 2009, she began working with manager Kevin Kocher for the artists Chromeo, Datarock, and Fan Death, as well. In her free time she throws parties and books shows with other music industry friends under the moniker “Less Jack More Jill” and is quite fond of gummy bears and puppies. We’re delighted to welcome Eavan to our panel of song contest judges.
For his prize, Vincent Robert Trocchia, winner of Round 3 of The 2009 Lyric Writer Awards, joined forces with We Are Listening’s songwriting duo, Pat and Pete Luboff to polish his lyric, set it to music, and produce an outstanding demo.
Hearing Things
We Are Listening have teamed up with StudioPros.com for the Lyric Writer Awards, a lyric writing contest with a 360-degree approach to turning the winners’ lyrics into publishable, radio-ready soundtracks. Learn more…
StudioPros.com brings the studio recording experience, production value, and LA’s finest session musicians and audio professionals to your home at a price you can afford. From quick songwriter demos to radio-ready masters, the entire tracking, mixing, and mastering schedule is managed by you, online and in real-time, from the comfort of your desktop. The StudioPros.com team comprises of session players who have performed with Seal, Jessica Simpson, Miley Cyrus, Jesse McCartney, among others, and Grammy nominated mixing engineers credited by Wyclef Jean, Leona Lewis, Kelly Clarkson, OneRepublic, Beyonce, and more.
After winning The Singer/Songwriter Awards in the last quarter of 2008, Jesse Terry opted to work with We Are Listening’s accredited music supervisor and founder of Tinderbox Music, Jon Delange, as his prize package. With only ten copies of Jesse’s latest release, “The Runner”, Jon secured no less than nine network-sized television placement licenses on Jesse’s behalf, including MTV (Road Rules, The Real World, Road Rules Challenge, The Hills, The City, Human Giant, My Super Sweet Sixteen, Teen Cribs, Parental Control); E Network (Keeping Up With the Kardashians); and Oxygen Network (Bad Girls Club). The relative ease in which Jon placed “The Runner” is a reflection of Jesse’s adaptive songwriting style and compatibility with today’s leading pop-culture entertainment.
“Just got news that nine TV shows (including The Hills and The City) are interested in using music from my record. I am holding the licenses in my hand!! This is all possible because of We Are Listening and your investment in my career. I’m so grateful. I feel like things are really starting to line-up…” — Jesse
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