SONG CONTEST BLOG

When I first arrived in Boston back in 1996 to begin my studies at Berklee College of Music, I had preconceived notions about the process of songwriting.  Like many ‘natural’ songwriters, I felt that songwriting came from within; free from form, rules, or a specific discipline.  I decided to major in songwriting and began to study its craft in the commercial sphere.  During the span of my four year degree, I picked up specific songwriting tools and strategies to make songwriting as much a professional discipline as an intuitive recreation.  Songwriting is as methodical as it is artistic.  Or, rather, ‘professional’ songwriting (i.e. songwriting for recording artists, radio jingles, television etc.) is as much a professional craft as a vocational talent.  For fledgling songwriters, I highly recommend an in-depth revision of ‘successful’ songs from the last two or three decades.  Whether it’s “Yesterday” by The Beatles or “Yellow” by Coldplay, I am confident that you will find patterns – tried and tested songwriting principles – that will guide you when you craft your songs.  Once you have a number of songs you feel good about, go out and get as much professional feedback as you can.  Try entering a song competition too (if the organizers provide an assessment service).  Remember: the record industry is founded on superb songwriting because that’s where the money’s at!

Overplay, the independent artist platform for music promotion and discovery, announced today that they have given their website a facelift and added some exciting new interface features.  To celebrate this re-launch, Overplay are accepting free entries for their international song competition, “Play & Rate”, for which I have been a member of their song competition panel for some time now.

Since 2003, Overplay has been providing independent artists and fans with communication tools and promotional incentives with a one-stop-shop platform.  In addition to a variety of awards, sweeps and the “Play & Rate” international song competition, Overplay empowers fledgling artists to sell their digital assets and merchandise directly to their fanbase.

SoundOut, a member of the SliceThePie family, is an innovative platform for music marketing testing, providing its users (independent artists, labels) with detailed consumer research before releasing their music to the public.  Users upload their songs to the site anonymously and the songs are scrutinized in a focus-group environment by members of SliceThePie.  It acts as another means for independent artists and labels to learn about and better target their audience before spending lots of money on going to market with their music.  It’s also an excellent resource to help guide the decision makers as to which song from the album should be the ‘single’.  Whether SoundOut has really gone to bat by ensuring that the necessary focus-group conditions have been met remains to be seen.  However, it is a great idea and, for only $20 – $50, certainly worth a test drive.

With only 15 days to go…

The Singer/Songwriter Awards from We Are Listening is about the hottest international songwriting contest in the world. It’s no surprise that participating artists have gone on to sign with top management, license their music for film and television, as well as collaborate with renowned producers and enjoy substantial uplifts in independent record sales.

When Pandora first came to my attention, I was blown away by the possibilities and, quite frankly, its ingenuity. I mean, how do they do that – successfully match one song to another with ‘similar’ qualities?

Pandora is an amazing application but now that I’ve seen Musicovery, I am really lost for words. Unlike Pandora, there are no playlist restrictions such as forwarding and searching within a ‘station’. Pandora, to me, is something you switch on and walk away from. It hasn’t failed me yet in terms of quality and accurate tastemaking but Musicovery is a lot more fun.

With an interface that looks like a solar-system, Musicovery is visually stimulating, simple to use and limitless, albeit a little retro in graphic design. Perhaps they were aiming for an older demographic?

Will I spend my listening leisure with Musicovery and abandon Pandora? I already have. The bar has been raised and I have pledged my loyalty. Until I find something better of course.

www.musicovery.com

We Are Listening has teamed up with Onlinegigs to help you better manage your booking, fan base, gig schedule and more. When you enter The 2007 Singer/Songwriter Awards online, Onlinegigs will give you a six-month membership free ($120 value!).

About Onlinegigs:

We are a group of Do-It-Yourself musicians, bands and agents that understand the power of information. We realize that the ability to perform live is the lifeblood of most artists’ careers. And while some may desire the ever-elusive record-deal/MTV route, all of us realize that any level of true success requires real work and organization first.

The process of finding locations to perform at in unfamiliar markets is a grueling one. Add to this the frustration of trying to keep up with the never-ending changes in talent buying staff, or tracking conversations and emails with a multitude of contacts at the same time, and we began to understand why many bands did not “make it.”

What we started was a central database, one that the members could help to maintain and contribute to, from different parts of the country simultaneously. Each of us actually acts as a market researcher for the other, allowing all to benefit from every interaction with every contact. As a result the information is constantly up to date and as more members join it will continue to become even more accurate and grow.

We welcome any and all suggestions on ways we can make booking gigs more efficient for independent musicians. By providing access to the right tools and resources, we believe that we can transform the current popular musical landscape into one that is not dominated by a few cookie-cutter performers. Every artist should have the ability to survive and prosper through practicing their craft.

www.onlinegigs.com

The Future of Music Coalition (FMC}, the alliance of musicians and music fans that conducts the nuts-and-bolts research on media consolidation that should be done by the Federal Communications Commission, has completed a groundbreaking study documenting the damage done to American culture by consolidation of radio-station ownership. [b][link=http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?pid=148791]More..[/link][/b]

Steven Page has seen the future. In it, there are walkable cities with plenty of bike paths, cleared for cyclists even in the dead of winter. Whole communities are powered by wind and other renewable energy sources. And his pop-rock band, Barenaked Ladies, liberated from its major music label, releases music online and on refillable USB thumb drives instead of CDs encased in plastic. [b][link=http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2006/12/18/BNL/]More..[/link][/b]

This year, we wanted to address an issue that we felt would greatly improve our service to you and the quality of our evaluations from our judges. In the past, artists would wait up to six months to receive the results from the date of entry. Although most of you enter right before each contest deadline, many enter well before and have to wait. We realise that patience is a rare virtue and we have a solution!

Instead of announcing three winners every six months, we will announce one winner every two months. Everything remains exactly the same except that you don

We Are Listening has teamed up with Broadjam to increase your online coverage and allow you to take advantage of a variety of their musician resources specifically developed to improve your music business. When you enter The 2007 Singer/Songwriter Awards by post, Broadjam will give you a six-month membership ($25 value!). It