SONG CONTEST BLOG

The Independent Music Awards (IMA), an international program that delivers major results for indie releases, recently added new promotional programs that place IMA Winners and Finalists in front of 20 Million music fans and industry decision-makers.

The IMAs also announced the deadline for entries for the upcoming program has been extended. Submissions must now be postmarked by midnight on August 17, 2007.

For the past 7 years, the Independent Music Awards has helped indie artists & releases worldwide overcome mainstream obstacles & reach larger audiences & opportunities.

Supporting nearly 50 album and song categories in a variety of music genres spanning Punk to New Age and design categories including Music Video & Swag, IMA Winners benefit from yearlong promotion, marketing & distribution programs via print, broadcast & online initiatives.

Winners & Finalists credit the program with boosting their visibility among festival bookers, club talent buyers, radio programmers, distributors, industry insiders and fans. Past Winners & Finalists include: Speech, Lacuna Coil, Mary Gauthier, Sugarcult, Chris Whitley, Richard Julian, Eleni Mandel, The Mooney Suzuki , Girlyman, Dan Bern, Sweet Honey in The Rock, Bitter:Sweet and God Forbid.

New Sponsors Will Place IMA Winners

Produced by Music Resource Group, publisher of The Musician’s Atlas & co-sponsored by mega retailer, Borders Books & Music; online retail giant eMusic; radio promotion gurus, The Planetary Group; digital networks, ManiaTV & HavocTV; Burnside Distribution; social networking community, Trig.com and radio tracking service, MediaGuide, IMA Winners are promoted to more than 20 Million music fans & key industry players including Radio Programmers, Talent Buyers, Film, TV & Gaming Music Supervisors and Music Press.

Judges For The 7th Annual IMA Program Include: Ray Davies, Suzanne Vega, Les Claypool, Snoop Dogg, Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Mavis Staples, Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance), Angelique Kidjo, Tim Pagnotta (Sugarcult), Duncan Sheik, Judy Collins, Rob Wasserman, Chuck Comeau (Simple Plan), Charlie Musselwhite, Mobb Deep, Susan Tedeschi, MickDeth (18 Visions), Martin Atkins (Public Image Ltd./Nine Inch Nails), Ice-T, Carrie Hughes (MTV Music Supervisor), Anthony DeCurtis (Rolling Stone Contributing Editor), Kevin Lyman (Vans Warped Tour Creator/Producer), Stefan Goldby (Mania TV Music Programming), Chris Douridas (Tastemaker/KCRW DJ), Mike Errico (Blender.com Editor).

Program Highlights Include:

• Winning songs and contact information are promoted to over 10 million Borders Books & Music customers in 12 consecutive weekly “Shortlist” opt-in eNewsletters. The artist’s own releases will be available for purchase at the BordersStores.com site.

• The IMA Winners “Now Hear This” CD is promoted to more than 1 Million eMusic subscribers.

• IMA Jukeboxes feature artist music and contact info. All IMA Finalists are included in the Vox Populi Jukebox which allows music fans to vote for their favorite songs.

• The Winners of this Vox Populi Poll are also promoted to press and industry.

New Sponsors Will Place IMA Winners

• 10,000 copies of the IMA Winners CD compilation is distributed to music fans & industry pros at international music conferences, festivals, Spring Break & other events throughout the year.

• The sampler, promoted at 650+ US & Canadian college & public stations by leading promotions company, The Planetary Group, routinely places in the Top 1-25 CMJ charts.

• Winners & Finalists to be promoted to more than 9 Million viewers at digital broadcast sites including ManiaTV.com & HavocTV.com.

• Winners & Finalists to be promoted to Trig.com, MySpace & other social networking communities.

Entries must be postmarked by midnight August 17, 2007.

Prince angers British music retailers with a promotional distribution deal that will make his latest album, “Planet Earth”, worthless for traditional CD stores in the UK, a sector in the music industry already facing rapidly declining CD sales.

Last Sunday, The Mail on Sunday, a British tabloid with an estimated 2.9 million copies sold, packaged “Planet Earth” with its newspaper as an unprecedented promotional giveaway.

Sunday papers are a British gem and often include various added-value magazines, digests, CDs and other eye-catching purchase incentives at a premium price point. This, however, is the first time we see an artist release an entire album in exclusive association with a newspaper as opposed to the traditional or even modern, digital means.

It is not yet clear how much Prince was paid for this campaign and how he intends to milk it (i.e. UK tour, merchandising). This controversial step appears to mirror Paul McCartney’s alliance with Starbucks earlier in the year. I think that while record companies are scrambling for marketing ideas and music retailers fighting for dear life, artists – and a new breed of artist managers – are crossing over to alternative media for mass, public penetration and leaving a weeping music infrastructure for dust.

To the determent of music retailers, the potential for something like this is obvious and exponential. Let’s face it, Prince is not where he used to be – neither is Paul McCartney – so a massive push by a media giant to blitz its readership with a new product may generate some very satisfying, financial returns for all. All except the music retailers, that is.

Is the album any good? It doesn’t matter. When 2.9 million people receive the same CD, on the same day, around the same time, the artist formerly known as.. is, now, the artist at the very fore.

Breaking the Band from We Are Listening is every song contest, licensing, press, booking, touring and festival showcasing opportunity rolled into one. We’ve created an enormous independent artist campaign with a major label budget. This may be the single, largest investment in any emerging artist’s career by an independent music company.

Canadian duo, Hill and David of Drowning Girl, pick up the number one spot for Round 2 of The 2007 Singer/Songwriter Awards with their sexilicious track, “Bang”. This is the group’s second attempt at gold after making the finals in the New Music Video Awards from We Are Listening. Here is what some of the judges had to say:

“My pick for the bluesy place it was coming from, the pop sensibility, the infusion of enough originality into the chords and phrasing to keep it interesting and the groove that kept my old bones happy.” – Jack Perricone

“Cool and hard to pigeon-hole which is always a great sign in my opinion. I can see this selling with the right look around it.” – KK

“I would buy this record and go to the concerts.” – Thomas Scherer

“Very powerful vocals, production and lyrics. The lyrics are especially substantial for this genre, with some great original ideas.” – Andrea Stolpe

“Loved the singer.. powerful, interesting and full of expression.” – Sharon Farber

Interntional publishing company, Parasongs Group, headed by one of our very own panelisits (and a good friend), Thomas Scherer, is looking for a hit single for one of their multi-platinum selling Asian artists. This is a rare opportunity to pitch your songs for what could, potentially, set you up for a very long time and launch your writing career to the stratosphere! Parasongs is making an unprecedented offer of $100,000 to the writer with the ‘right’ material. Submissions are via email to songcontest at parasongs.com

Thank you, Thomas, for bringing this unique opportunity to the We Are Listening community!

You must present yourself as a sound investment. If you can show A&R Joe that you are a safe bet, financially, and that your music will make him more money than a conservative savings account, you are half way there.

The wife (and manager) of Swiss artist William White got in touch with me last week. She was charming on the phone, confident about her husband’s prospects and, above all, sincere.

They secured a record contract in Germany that did not do much for White’s career, she said. As a result, they went ahead and sold his music independently – an impressive 7000 copies last year!

Furthermore, instead of relying on their German contract, they approached every agent/promoter they could in other territories to see if they can expand their horizons. Of course, the label they are signed with will insist on a ‘first option’ but that is no reason not to try and bring other agents into their deal, right?

She asked nothing more of me than to spread the word and assured me that their success, thus far, is testament to her husband’s gift for converting a passive audience into a loyal fan base. I believe her.

To me, this is a healthy mix of good music and business savvy. Will A&R Joe listen? I don’t know but I did, intently.

www.williamwhite.ch

There are a handful of emerging artist (or unsigned artist) sites on the net that dominate the musician community. Dotcoms such as Garageband, Purevolume, Bandspace etc. have achieved great success founded on the artists’ desire to be in as many places on the web as possible and, in some cases, coupled with a technology driven product/service innovation such as Sonicbids’ EPK and Broadjam’s Promo Studio serving to aid the independent artist’s promotional endeavours.

There is a common goal amongst these sites which is to bridge the gap between the artist and promoter and audience/consumer. Is the success of these artist community services going to continue to grow or stabilise at a small number of large sites with all the trimmings? What does the future hold for, say, www.stayaround.com or www.imgifted.co.uk who are still trying to lift off?

What is your most valuable resource? (MySpace?)

Last week, Simon Osborne completed mixing Vivek Shraya’s “Logic Vs.” and Walter the Orange Ocean’s “Someone Who Loves You”.

Simon received a Grammy Award for Mixing and Engineering Sting’s “Brand New Day” (Best Pop Album 2000), an Emmy Nomination for Sting’s “All this Time” (2002) and an Emmy Award for ‘Outstanding Sound Mixing For Variety Or Music Series 2004′.

As well as Sting, his credits include U2, Les Paul, Jimmy Hendrix, Texas, Elton John and more…

The two tracks were mastered at Abbey Road Studios on Friday, 10th March. We hope to have them both online for your listening pleasure very soon.

More about Simon Osborne:

www.simonosborne.co.uk

Jamie Lynn Fletcher, a Runner Up in The 2005 Singer/Songwriter Awards, was awarded a place at The Berklee Songwriting Workshop for the song “Forever When We Kiss” and her incredible thirst for learning. She will be attending classes in August ‘06.

I would like to extend a heartfelt congratulations to We Are Listening for The Singer/Songwriter Awards. Not only were the winners, finalists, and runner-ups superb, but the judges and administration did a fantastic job with selection and care of the entrants.”

It was an honor, yet also very humbling, to be a part of the runner-ups. The talent was awesome!!!

Lior Shamir, the director, took a lot of time and consideration to answer my questions and concerns as a new writer. My material does not necessarily fit the ‘mainstream’ radio and I was full of hesitation when I entered my songs. But the submissions were not bound by the unspoken rules of what is ‘marketable’ by North American standards. I thank We Are Listening for accepting, understanding and considering all genres of music. YOU GUYS ROCK!

It was also a great honor to receive the Berklee Songwriting Workshop Scholarship. It’s difficult to be a musician, make a living, plan for the future, even just be accepted as what you are and want. Even though I am very new to writing and even playing, the care by staff gave me inspiration to keep trying and acknowledgment that our music can make a difference someday, no matter where you’re from or who you are.

Thanks again We Are Listening!!!!

- Jamie Lynn Fletcher

Katia Cadet (a.k.a. BabyKat) joins We Are Listening’s panel of Judges for The 2006 Singer/Songwriter Awards. Her credits include Stevie Wonder, Marc Anthony, Macy Gray, Eric Clapton, Steven Marley, Whitney Houston and a Grammy nomination for Best Song of the Year for Group or Duo 2001 for Wyclef Jean’s “911″.

Learn more about We Are Listening’s Judges:

www.wearelistening.org/judges.php