Comments on: No American Idol Songwriter Competition for 2009

By: ReplicaRolexOO

ReplicaRolexOO — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 07:43:54 +0000

"I'm on the side of anyone who wants to make a living making music. "
However,i am not on the side of anybody who wants to make living making music.
it is not an art any more since it contacts with money,benifit and lust

Excelwatch

By: Anna Marie

Anna Marie — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:51:18 +0000

WOW that song was horrible. I was told not to write about climbing mountains and wings and such because its all been done before. And that is exactly what that song was. Yuck!
It would be nice if they did open the contest up again. I made a few good friends here and had fun working with a few people from this board. I did notice that they also did not do Idol Gives Back this year. Just a brief mention of it on the show. Whats up with everything being cut out? Were they trying to spare everyone because of the economy this year?
AM

By: Tony

Tony — Thu, 21 May 2009 00:30:29 +0000

Last night was a joke. That song was so lame. A 15 year old in his bedroom could write better lyrics than that. It was a Miley Cyrus ripoff. I'm a songwriter and was looking forward to this as well. I'd probably never try out for Idol, but I would sell a song as a career move, and for the doors it would open from a publishing deal aspect. Oh well. Maybe now with Kara gone next year it will be open again. I heard part of her contract included writing the final song, ouch.

By: Clement

Clement — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:33:34 +0000

Did you guys HEAR the song (collection of cliche's) that Kara co-wrote with two other "pros"? It has to be one of the most mediocre songs ever written. Both Adam and Chris had difficulty singing it let alone SELLING it. I was thinking "OK, they had to wait to see who the two finalists would be and then they'd write a killer song that would be a perfect vehicle for both." Though disappointed by the lack of a contest this year, I was actually a bit excitied to hear this "perfect" song written by pros but when I heard it I was like (to quote Randy Jackson) WHAT!!!! Simon commented on the trite content of the song's lyrics and Kara herself was apologetic after Chris' attempt. What was Idol thinking? Oh well, I think its a given that they'll have the contest next season and we'll all be extra prepared!!

By: Bruce

Bruce — Wed, 20 May 2009 00:04:04 +0000

I have always loved the idea of the contest....but it is true, the quality of the recording is the most important part regardless of the quality of the song. I know that all the songwriters probably think they have written the best song, but I was truly disappointed when my song didn't get into the top twenty. My first song was more or less a ballad...I was going to re enter it this year with a professional recording, and I've also written an upbeat tune which I like, and thought it would different but very applicable to the contest.
C'est La Vie!
Wouldn't it be great if all the songwriters who entered get together, and play our songs for each other.
Possibility? Yes, but probably it won't happen...there certainly is a comradery among composers.

By: Ian

Ian — Sun, 17 May 2009 21:51:11 +0000

This is very interesting – I never thought about all the people who took the competition seriously and have never been heard of – I am one of them too. I paid $500 to get a professional singer to sing my song , OK so now I have a polished demo MP3 , but what next ?? We were hoping that Idol would give us access to the next level. Maybe one of their contestants going on the road show would be able to choose from those song's from the 2008 or previous years competition that Idol has a vague copyright on .
Failing that, how about an Idol spin off ” American Songwriting Idol”

By: Jack

Jack — Thu, 07 May 2009 19:00:47 +0000

Hello, Brandon & BonJoeV

I agree with both of you, for me the extreme disappointment is that after submitting songs for two years and discovering the same inconsistencies that Brandon did, I started from scratch and wrote a song specifically for and about American Idol. Worked on it day and night and like Brandon invested in a whole lot of equipment that I had to teach myself how to use in order to make broadcast quality Demo's. This is a plus and has taken me somewhere I don't think would be right now otherwise. But I feel it was very inconsiderate for Idol producers to not even announce that there was not going to be a contest this year, to all the contestants they started this venture with, who also happen to be loyal American Idol fans as well. (Huge Oversight I think Idol has become so large that they are starting loose touch with certain aspects of fan base considerations. I wish nothing bad but, remember Star Search? They never saw the beginning of there end. BonJoeV, your story is inspiriting.

By: Mitch K

Mitch K — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:50:27 +0000

How selfish of Kara. She has more media exposure and the largest bully pulpit of any woman in the industry right now, tied only with Paula. American Idol is, at it's core, about undiscovered talent, and why shouldn't that include songwriting talent.

By: Joe Taylor Jr.

Joe Taylor Jr. — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 01:52:45 +0000

Brandon,

I'm totally with you about the gap between what the marketing
department promised and what the contest actually delivered. I could
imagine some conversations at Idol asking whether it was really worth
the hassle or the brand damage to do it again.

The good news is, you've got a broadcast quality demo. What might you
be able to do with it to grow your audience?

By: Brandon

Brandon — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:18:44 +0000

Hey guys. Hi, Joe. Thanks for everything you do. Here's what bothers me about the songwriting contest's alleged cancellation: two years ago, they advertised it as an opportunity for anyone to make a name for themselves as a songwriter. They even alluded to a middle-aged woman penning the next Billboard hit while sitting on her front porch. This implied that recording quality was of minimal consequence. Idol even said explicitly that this contest is about the song, not the recording. So I toiled away and wrote what I thought was a great song, i recorded it with just vocals and piano on my computer, and then I came to learn that all of the top 20 were of broadcast quality. The same thing happened the following year. This year, I finally took the hint that I needed a broadcast quality song, so I went out and dropped a lot of money on making my song of that top quality and now I'm learning that the contest probably won't even happen this year? I think we were mislead by 19 and Fox, and that's what upsets me.

By: Anna Marie

Anna Marie — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 01:33:40 +0000

To quote Joe Taylor's post since Jelly can't read

"Andy Dehnart at Reality Blurred confirmed with both Fox and with American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi that there will be no American Idol songwriting competition this year. In fact, Andy’s report indicates that Kara herself will be taking on the finale songwriting duties, much like Cathy Dennis did in earlier seasons."

He gave you a name. READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE!

Sorry if that is Angry Joe, she is annoying me by blasting you.
AM

By: Anna Marie

Anna Marie — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 01:30:20 +0000

I guess you didn't read the fine print of the rules when you submitted your song. Good luck getting your money back. Why don't you take your anger and write a song and submit it to another song competition.

Joe gave you a name where he got the information if you bothered to read it. Obviously you haven't read the article.
Joe never has nor ever claimed to be associated with American Idol. As I suggested before, take your complaints to American Idol.
www.americanidol.com

They do have their own boards ! Demand your money back there!

By: JellyRoll1981

JellyRoll1981 — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 03:16:54 +0000

Hello grifey,
No I won't be posting a link. It really doesn't matter if it was "The Greatest Song Ever Written" it never got heard by anyone at Idol. All you have to do it search for..... American Idol songwriting contest ..... And just read.

I want my money back.

And to you other songwriters...I'm happy you made some friends, but as far I'm concerned I'm not picking on Joe....It's his name on this post. It's his headline. So I want a name if Joe's going to post a headline like this one, seems fair to me.

By: Anthony Mendizza

Anthony Mendizza — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 23:56:43 +0000

Ah I am bummed that there wont be a contest this year. I had written another song and was hoping to submit it. When I found out that there would not be on competition this year I decided to take the song and put it to a slide show of who i am hoping wins this year Danny Gokey. Please check it out and tell me what you think. Who knows maybe it can be polished and placed somewhere else.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWfThpl54RE

Anthony Mendizza

By: grifey

grifey — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 07:39:12 +0000

I want to hear JellyRoll1981 song that was entered. It must be one Hell of a song. Post a link!