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  • Songstuff Writer and Artist Development Challenges

    By john

    Independent writers and artists face several large disadvantages when they are compared to signed, mainstream writers and artists.  Disadvantages that add up to making it a competition that indies can’t win. Hell they can’t even compete.   Lack of budget and poor contacts are fairly obvious disadvantages. Lack of experience and a lack of knowledge restricts songwriters and artists alike. Lack of an overall strategy, and a limited set of incomplete tactics, makes for a critical problem
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The Writer's Blog

Radio (&c.)...

So a writer in Florida posts on a Website out of Indiana that a radio station DJ in Manchester, England is looking for country music for his show, and the DJ gets submissions from folks in Oregon (me), California, Tennessee, Florida, Texas, and Nova Scotia (it’s in Canada, but it’s close). Is this a new thing? Not really; 30-plus years ago, myself and another guy would go on the road with a Dodson Drifters single for several weeks, hitting every rural radio station that played country music, a

roxhythe

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Industry News

Bmi Annual Review 2008-2009

BMI has released its 2009 Annual Review highlighting several aspects of their operations, admitting that it had been perhaps the most challenging in the organizations 70-year history. According to the report, BMI realized revenues in the 2008-2009 fiscal year of over $905 million with royalty distributions totaling more than $788 million, both figures higher than BMI's results from the previous year. An operating expense of approximately 13% was recorded for the year 2008-2009. The re

Songstuff

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The Writer's Blog

"the Tempest," Et Al...

Yes, I will be the bo’sun in TAPA’s production of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.” Crusty, crotchety old fellow with relatively few lines (mostly chewing out the Idjit Noblemen who keep getting in the way while the ship is sinking). Yes, I can do that. It’s almost type-casting. It would be possible—and I suggested it—to do “The Tempest” as Rock Opera, rather than using the conventional Elizabethan-music soundtrack; so many classic rock songs would be appropriate for this play (the authors

roxhythe

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FinnArild's Blog

Classical guitar down

I got the house for myself this weekend, so I figured it would be a good time to do the remaining instrument recordings - classical guitar. It got very well until I came upon a bit more delicate part where I noticed one of the mics had a rather high hiss to it. I tried switching the cable but the hiss remained, so I ended up doing that part with the guitar microphone + studio microphone. All in all it worked out fine and I can check one more thing off the list. Today - just while I waited

FinnArild

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Industry News

Celtic Connections Celebrates A Successful 17Th Festival, Sponsored By Scottish Power

Celtic Connections 2010 comes to a close tonight, after an extremely successful 17th year. For the third year running, attendances topped 100,000 with gross ticket sales reaching over £1 million. This was the festival’s fourth successful year of working with principal sponsor ScottishPower. Music fans attended approximately 300 concerts, ceilidhs, talks, free events, late night sessions and workshops, which took place in 18 venues across Glasgow over 18 days in January and February. Th

Songstuff

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The Writer's Blog

The Thirsty Lion (Again)...

The gig at the Thirsty Lion is confirmed. TUESDAY, 9 FEBRUARY; show starts 8:30 p.m., and I’m on after host Eric John Kaiser—probably about 9:00. I’ll be playing solo, and I’ll have 25 minutes. Unpaid, of course (I’ll bring the Big Yellow “Tipping Is Not A City in China” Bucket, and see if I can at least recover gas money). Last time I did this—last June—that was enough time for seven songs; I’ll plan on seven this time. I usually introduce myself with the “describe what you do in one s

roxhythe

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How i see it

From: In Memory Of John Martyn

John Martyn who was a big influence in scotish music John Martyn, OBE (11 September 1948 – 29 January 2009), born Iain David McGeachy, was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. Over a forty-year career he released twenty studio albums, working with artists such as Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, and Phil Collins. He has been described as "an electrifying guitarist and singer whose music blurred the boundaries between folk, jazz, rock and blues Info Courtecy of wikipedia So

musicthom

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Site Development

Blog And Gallery Updates

The blog and gallery have been updated with a number of small bug fixes and a list of major improvements: Blog User Interface The user interface has had a complete facelift to bring it up to standard. The new look feels more 'bloggish' and enhances the experience. We have added drop down menus at the top so that you can quickly access common areas and start new entries where you have permission to. The post screen has been overhauled to add functionality. You should find the new vers

Songstuff

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Industry News

Winners Announced, 15Th Annual Usa Songwriting Competition Begins

(Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA) January 29, 2010 – Teen phenom Sarah Lonsert won the Overall Grand Prize of the 14th Annual USA Songwriting Competition along with co-writers Jonathan George and Jami Templeton. Her winning song “Dancing Through Life” will be on the USA Songwriting Competition's compilation CD this year. Sarah is only 17 years old and she not only broke the first prize record of being the youngest winner but also the overall grand prize winner of being the youngest winner ever. The pre

Songstuff

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The Writer's Blog

--And St. Leif's Day Is Coming!

Sometimes it is just hard to write… I didn’t finish this week’s column for the paper until nearly 1 a.m. (about seven hours later than I like), and it was hard to get the two news articles for the paper done, too. They are done, though, along with yet another job application (which just might turn into an interview—they did call to talk after they got my stuff), and maybe the worst of the Dead Writing Spot is over. The Ballad is still waiting on a fifth and final verse—I would like to be d

roxhythe

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Dahlnotes

Phyllis / Light

Light I received some. Tonight while practicing, I suddenly began playing as if doing a set. I knew the order, the venue, and it was a webcast esp. hooked via FB where it was as if I was seeing Arlo Hennings, (possibly Shawn Phillips), Mon Capitaine and Steve, Michael Mlazger, Jill and Phyllis Johnson + other friends watching via their PC's! It was no daydream, that's all I can say, and it of course was not really happening. Yet I've not had such an experience before, very odd.

Donna

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Songstuff Stuff

Tecamp Puma 350

In Graeme Carswell's first article for Sonstuff he reviews the TecAmp Puma 350 bass amp TecAmp Puma 350 review Prepare to be impressed... a video of Graeme playing the bass part for Lenny Kravitz's "Always On The Run" is the currently featured video on the Songstuff Channel

Songstuff

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Songstuff Stuff

Make The Most Of Your Music On The Web

As musicians we often hear that the internet has "levelled the playing field" between indie artists and record labels. While that may be closer to the truth regarding small labels the marketing machines of larger labels are still miles ahead of what most artists and labels can expect. So what can you do? Realistically most bands are short of money... so what can you do for free? This article is intended to give an overview of the possibilities, the strategies and the tools. Read Make T

Songstuff

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The Writer's Blog

What About Dave?

Like Bilbo Baggins said, “I’m back.” Southern Oregon is always fun, and I always accomplish stuff. It’s what I miss about living there. Dave, the host at the Wild Goose’s open mike, approached me asking if he could cover any of my songs on his new album—to which the answer, of course, is “Of course.” All my material is up for grabs, and I told him so. Dave plays with a good band (which is getting gigs), and is a good guitarist himself. So I’ll send him a copy of the Songbook, which has

roxhythe

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FinnArild's Blog

One down, nineteen to go

As you can see on the tracker, one solo down - planning on doing the rest this week. Some more piano should be done next week, and every day I am working on getting the sound I want in the mix. The mixing will in earnest start when all tracking is done, and you should also be able to follow the progress on the tracker. The guitars are finally up on the wall - here's the pictures I promised (click for larger images). Source

FinnArild

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Songstuff Stuff

Graeme Carswell Joins Songstuff As A Writer

Please welcome Graeme Carswell to Songstuff as a new writer! Graeme will be writing regularly for the guitar section of our site, focusing on the bass guitar, and taking part in the bass guitar board discussions. Graeme has been playing bass for 19yrs now, having first found his love for the instrument after hearing The Spirit Of Radio by Rush. He considers Geddy Lee as his teacher in the early days as he tried to learn all Rush's back catalogue, and since then has caught onto ot

Songstuff

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The Writer's Blog

Just An Idea...

An independent musician these days has to do everything. They write their own lyrics, and set them to music, and unless they’ve got a band to work with, they perform the songs on their own, too. They have to arrange their own gigs, and mostly do their own promotion. They have to either record their own stuff or find somebody to do it, and they have to either play all the instruments themselves or find somebody to do it (and in both cases, that “somebody to do it” probably has to get paid). T

roxhythe

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FinnArild's Blog

Working those fingers

It's been a while since I did some serious bends on the guitar, so these days I am preparing my fingers a bit for a recording session for the missing solos sometime next week. I also packed up my Hagstrøm Viking for the first time since I got back into my home studio again. Coming Saturday a friend of mine will come and help me get some shelves up in the studio, and then I can finally get my guitars up on the walls. The previous week I made 2 neat racks from some IKEA nightstands and set u

FinnArild

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LYNZEE : Retrospect Recording Artists 2009 Blog

Lynzee Album Combo Pack Now Available At Retrospect Records : Free Victim Of Nirvana T-Shirt

Welcome to the Wonderful World of LYNZEE… ****** ORDER your copies of LYNZEE's three new albums available at Retrospect Records NOW. In celebration of our Retrospect Records FIRST THREE big releases of this year we bring to you the “Lynzee Combo Pack”. You can get all three of the new Lynzee releases: 1. “Victim of Nirvana” (the Two Cover Edition) 2. “Man of the People” 3. “Lost in America” (includes FOUR all new recordings from the reformed line-up)

LynzeeAlive

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The Writer's Blog

Album Thoughts (&c.)...

Saturday’s practice with the band in Astoria went good. Just three of us—myself, Joe the bass player, and Larry the drummer—but we went through a lot of material. Joe made CDs with the songs (good) and we played along with those as we tried to figure out the keys; I can play a lot of the stuff—the trick is going to be making the songs sound different, because so much old rock ‘n’ roll uses the same handful of progressions. I played the Strat, which is really better for this material than an a

roxhythe

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indieshoegazer's Blog

3 Day Weekend

Trying to write songs, focused on alternate tunings. Came up with some stuff that seemed to have potential at the time but lost interest in them later on - probably because I didn't record them right away, I should have. I will record these ideas at least the next time I practice - I probably won't be able to tonight due to having to go to my mom's tonight. There are two to three ideas - fingerpicking in full step down standard on the fifth fret to the chord progression of Atlantic City trans

indieshoegazer

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The Writer's Blog

First Contest Of 2010...

A winnable contest, maybe—the Chris Austin Songwriting contest, put on by Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, N.C. as part of the annual MerleFest. (No, the “Merle” is not Merle Haggard. This Merle is kin to Doc Watson.) Three finalists get to perform their entries on stage at MerleFest, and that’s what is attractive as far as I’m concerned. I have always done best at competitions that entailed performing on stage—I don’t know why. If you get to be a finalist, they put you up for free i

roxhythe

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