What A Song Contest Can Do For You
January 27th, 2010 by Lior ShamirThe 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?
January 27th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
Hello,
I was subscribed to the rss feed because this blog used to be interesting. Just now I unsuscribed because lately you don’t seem to talk about anything else but song contest. This is of no interest to me.
I’m not demanding anything here, I just thought you could use the feedback.
Cheers
Lior Reply:
January 27th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
Thank you for the feedback.
I’m sorry to see you go…
I care about this blog and I care about its readers. Should you stumble upon this comment, please send me an email at liorshamirATgmailDOTcom with more of your insight so I can do a better job.
I appreciate it.
Nacho Reply:
January 29th, 2010 at 11:32 am
Deal.
January 28th, 2010 at 7:25 am
When you look at all those who are charting in the last couple of yrs how many won a song contests? The only contests that seem to have chart success in come capacity are those reality show competitions but even they are not dominating the charts. Name me one song contest winner that has dominated the charts ever? Most new artists dominating the charts started off writing for other people(Robin Thicke) or doing session work on albums ect.I have never heard a artist/writer dominating the charts from a contest nevertheless competitions can be useful!
Lior Reply:
January 31st, 2010 at 3:19 pm
Would it not be enough if a handful of song contest winners made a good living from music as a result of winning a song contest? Must they “dominate the charts” to prove that entering a song contest has some worth?
January 28th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
Great songs are everywhere though a select few make it to a Faith Hill. The difference is exposure… a song contest can provide that and can open doors to publishers and top artists.
January 28th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
Definitely some good food for thought. Artists need to be open to the idea of exploring any and all avenues to get their music heard by as many people as possible.
Thanks for the post.
Damon Cisneros
January 30th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Lior asked me to share with everyone my email to him as a comment, so here it is, unedited:
“When I write my songs I normally stray off a bit (or a lot) from what a normal song is supposed to be.
I still think they’re as great songs as I can craft, yet I know I would lose any song contest out there. Or maybe not. Still, I feel that those contests are aimed to a different kind of songwriters.
While I don’t mind reading about them now and then, lately you had a dozen posts on the subject.
I follow a lot of music blogs, and sometimes I have to narrow down. I unsuscribed hypebot because they were posting way too much. I unsuscribed studio manifesto because they kept reposting what I had already read from the source. While this is great for the ones who are not following all the other blogs, it was redundant to me.
Art is communication. The kind of songwriters who enter into song contests (I’m guessing here; I don’t know any) are those who are trying to master the art of connecting with lots of different people. It’s remarkable, and very hard to do. To reach masses and speak to each individual personally; it’s a beautiful thing.
But there are other people like me. When we write a song we are sort of saying, “I found this within me. It’s weird, but I think it’s beautiful”. Then we go out and try to find the audience which will connect with that beautiful weirdness. I don’t want to be a hit. I just want to make a living doing what I love. That’s why I follow blogs like yours, they’re full of great advice. A panel of judges would think my songs are no good because they’re weird. Duh. If they weren’t I wouldn’t have written them.
I like your blog. Really. When you published the first posts about song contests, I realised I never thought of entering one. After a while, though, I decided I didn’t want to. And that’s when the other ten posts came along. Like Seth Godin says, attention is scarce. And just because I write songs doesn’t mean I should care at all about song contests.
(In case you’re curious, here are some of the songs I write. I love the one called Nerve, and yet I guess a song contest judge would feel like I should just keep the first three minutes).
I hope this answers your question.
Best Wishes
Nacho”
January 31st, 2010 at 10:08 am
I do agree that an artist must not try to write songs trying to anticipate what is expected, however there are some boundaries that need to be kept in mine if you are to write popular music and make a living at it.. the specific music track, whether it be dirty south beats, or pop. there are always exceptions of course, and many times greatness comes from that.
February 1st, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Interesting…we don’t enter competitions, but we just picked up a nomination in the Celtic Radio Music Awards for one of our songs. We sent them our latest album for possible inclusion on their playlist and they were so blown away by it that they made us featured artist and play us regularly on their stations. We’ve been able to follow the increase of our fanbase on ReverbNation which has coincided with our nomination-fascinating. So it seems you don’t always have to enter competitions in order to be included in them
All the best, Jeremy and Poitin.
March 4th, 2010 at 11:17 pm
I think song contests are a great idea. Firstly it gives you that incentive to polish your act/music to a good level. I am not sure if winning a song contest means anything. Ages ago I won a song contest in Australia. Okay I got a trophy, but that it and a pat on the back. Mind you I am sure there are other contests where people would benefit. I am not out of the game when it comes to song contests. I have been trying to submit a song called ‘You Got Me Going’ as an Irish Entrant to the Eurovision song contest and I was a bit late in sending it. It was strange a friend was listening to my song and suggest to send it.
Ultimately if I answer if song contests are worth participating in and my answer would be yes. This is a big yes especially if its a big contest where you can get some exposure and make some friends. Before you send your song, record a few songs and get some feedback and then send your song in. Make sure you have a decent website so when people look you up they can keep in contact with you.
All I can say let the best person/band win.
Good luck.
Vic Stathopoulos