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Songwriting/Performance Resources
Songsalive!
Songsalive! is a non-profit organization
dedicated to the nurturing, support and promotion of songwriters
and composers worldwide. Founded in 1997, Songsalive! is run
by songwriters for songwriters. Perform at regular Songsalive!
Showcases worldwide; get marketing tools from Songsalive! partners
in the ArtistToolbox; workshop your songs in a safe, nurturing
environment; pitch your songs to film and TV supervisors and
publishers through Songsalive! CD Samplers, Songsalive! Songshop
and the ArtistToolbox; song leads provided to Elite members;
build a national tour using SongsAlive Chapters and their growing
database of venues worldwide; record your music and get studio
education through Songsalive! Songstudio, and MUCH more.
http://www.songsalive.org/main.html
Songcrafter's Coloring Book by Bill
Pere
Songcrafters Coloring Book is a free (for non-commercial use)collection of
articles by Bill Pere, award- winning songwriter, IMC Indie Artist of the Year,
Official Connecticut State Troubadour, and President of the CT Songwriters
Association. Originally appearing in several major music industry publications,
this information on songwriting techniques and music business insight has been
helping aspiring songwriters for more than 25 years. Available online in a
series of downloadable PDFs.
WHERE: http://www.billpere.com/Songwriter_Tools.htm
CD Baby
More
than 35,000 independent artists can't be wrong. A great service to
use in the sale and distribution of your CD. Takes 5 minutes. Send
them a box of CDs. They'll sell them and pay you. It's really that
simple.
WHERE: http://www.cdbaby.net
The Craftsman's
Corner: Insights on the Craft and Business of Songwriting
Publisher/song
consultant/indie label president Mary Dawson covers topics including
principles of success, song form, the mindset of a songwriter,
and the realities of getting airplay.
WHERE: http://www.cqkmusic.com/CCorner
The
Cliché Finder
Looking for a good cliché for your next country hit? Or want to make
sure your tune is cliché-free?
WHERE: http://www.westegg.com/cliche
GoGirlsMusic.com
This is one of the oldest and most popular websites for women
in music.
WHERE: http://www.gogirlsmusic.com
IndieMusic.com
A key resource for the Indie music community.
http://www.indie-music.com
I Write The
Songs
This is an on-the-air seminar designed to help people acquire and polish effective
songwriting skills. The shows archived on the website include how-to and inspirational
segments and interviews with some of the biggies of hit songwriting. The site
includes a list of participating radio stations.
WHERE: http://www.lyricalline.com/show
Janis Ian's website
www.janisian.com
A thinking musician's musician for sure, Janis Ian offers lots of great
reading for the songwriter/performing songwriter on her site. All her
Performing Songwriter columns are collected here, and I devoured them
all in one marathon evening session. I particularly appreciated her "Internet
Debacle" piece, in which she makes a seemingly airtight case that
the Age of Free Downloading is a major boon to the great majority of
recording artists, and not at all the death of the music industry,
as organizations such as the R.I.A.A. would have us believe. Janis
also has quite a personal story, and you may just laugh and cry while
reading it. (Several of the "Monumental Mistakes" she's made
over the course of her four-decade career are indeed monumental, and
constitute a cautionary -- and in retrospect, often wryly humorous
-- tale for all of us slogging along in "the music bidness.").
At the end of the email I sent Janis, I said, "You're one class
act." Her gracious reply two days later simply reconfirmed it.
There's a lot more to her site, but I hope I've whet your appetite.
Enjoy.
Just Plain Folks
A community of more than 25,000 Songwriters, Recording Artists, Music Publishers,
Record Labels, Performing Arts Societies, Educational Institutions, Recording
Studios and Engineers, Producers, Legal Professionals, Publicists and Journalists,
Publications, Music Manufacturers and Retailers and about every other type
of member of the Music Industry. Their motto is.... 'We're all in this together!'
WHERE: http://www.jpfolks.com
Li'l Hank's
Guide for Songwriters
Hal Cohen covers "the street level of live performance, offering
advice and tips on lyric writing, song publishing, copyright information,
performing, music law, recording, live music, venues, books, and
inspiration for what you do.
WHERE: http://www.halsguide.com/index.html
The Lyricist's
Assistant Free ebook
This very useful,
downloadable "e-book" features 146 pages of songwriting
mojo. And it's free to download, with no obligation. (The
author does pitch his song services in the book, but in a non-pushy
fashion). Good information and insights here on lyric essentials, chord
theory, Nashville number system, composing with MIDI and sequencing,
the business of music, collaboration and co-writing, songwriter
resources, and a FAQ section with solid answers to common questions.
NOTE: You will need Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer to
read and print out this e-book.
WHERE: http://www.songsculptor.com/freebook.pdf
Moneychords.com
Richard Scott says of his site that it's "The Best Free Songwriting Lessons
on the Web." He may be right.
WHERE: http://www.moneychords.com
SongU: Songwriter
Courses Online
SongU.com offers songwriting courses online and bills itself as
the place "Where
Great Songwriting Begins..." The site was founded by professional songwriters
Sara and Danny Light, who write for companies such as Zamalama Music and Curb
Magnatone Music in Nashville. "We have been fortunate enough to have our
songs recorded by several artists, including a chart-topping country hit by
John Michael Montgomery, 'Home To You,'" writes Sara Light on the
site's 'Back Story' page. "We have also written songs for theater and
received a Tony Award nomination for Best Original Score for the Broadway show
'Urban Cowboy, The Musical.' We have taught songwriting classes and seminars
at Belmont University and Vanderbilt University in Nashville and Berklee College
in Boston as well as co-authored an educational tape series,' The Songwriters
Survival Kit.'
WHERE: http://www.songu.com
TAXI
A leading independent company for connecting songwriters, artists, unsigned
bands
WHERE: http://www.taxi.com
Tonos
Tonos is an online music insider's network. The underlying
purpose of Tonos is to not only seek out and develop undiscovered
talent, but to inspire, enlighten and educate musicians and artists
around the world. Founded by Oscar/Grammy winning lyricist Carole
Bayer Sager, Grammy winning producer/composer David Foster and
Grammy winning singer-songwriter/producer Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds.
WHERE: http://www.tonos.com
PLACES
TO SUBMIT SONGS
'All Songs Considered'
"All
Songs Considered" accepts submissions from established musicians
for performance on the public radio show or on the news program "All
Things Considered," and also accepts music from unsigned
and independent artists for the weekly Open Mic show.
WHERE: http://www.npr.org/programs/asc/submissions/index.html
Indian Rock Records
Indian Rock Records holds "open calls" for indie artists. Their 'Featured
Tracks Section' highlights new songs every month and allows artists to post
their music, enabling them to reach a wide and varied audience. Service is
free, but space is limited.
WHERE: http://www.indianrockrecords.com
IndieJukeBox.com
IndieJukeBox.com says it is out to prove that pay-per-play should mean the
artist is getting paid and the music
fans can enjoy new music without paying a fee. Check it out.
WHERE: http://www.indiejukebox.com
SongLink International
Each month, SongLink magazine provides details of around 30 to 40 upcoming
recording projects around the world requiring songs, with concise details
about (a) the artist; (b) the style of music required; and (c) where to
send your demos. Subscribers then respond by sending the required items
directly to the contacts listed in the magazine.
WHERE: http://www.songlink.com
MUSICAL
WEBSITES and INTERESTING READS
Just intonation
Who
says we have to write songs based on even temperament (the
standard 12-equal-half-step octave)? Learn about Just Intonation,
which results from creating a scale based on the natural
harmonic series. Plenty of sound clips. Warning: listen
at your own risk. Your guitar or keyboard may never sound
quite (as) in tune again. "Far beyond the mere theoretical
purity, playing in just intonation for long periods sensitizes
me to a myriad colors, and coming back to the equal tempered
world is like seeing everything click back into black and
white. It's a disappointing readjustment. Come to think
of it, maybe you shouldn't try just intonation -- you'll
become unfit to live in the West, and have to move to India
or Bali." -- Kyle Gann
WHERE: http://www.musicmavericks.org/features/essay_justintonation.html
'Plunderphonics'
This long article, "The History of Plunderphonics," discusses the
use of musical borrowing of ideas, sounds, and actual recorded sequences --
for recasting within new creative works. It also addresses the limitations
that notation places on musical expression. A thought-provoking read.
It got us thinking about what our current definition of a song would be (if
we were to attempt to define it), as opposed to the possibility of a much more
inclusive definition. A truly cutting-edge train of thought.
WHERE: http://www.l-m-c.org.uk/texts/plunder.html
World's Largest Xylophone
If you can listen
to sounds on your computer, check out this primer on the xylophone,
with a nifty sound file attached. This is from a very cool website
with a section on 'Instruments of the World.'
WHERE: http://www.eyeneer.com/World/Af/Instruments/doublepit.xylophone.html
'Friends
Don't Let Friends Play to an Empty Room'
A must-read weekly reference for the Music City's songwriting
community by NewSong compadre Doak Turner.
WHERE: www.nashvillemuse.com
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