Alexandra Patsavas, probably the most influential music supervisor working today, took some time to answer questions at the Billboard/Hollywood Reporter Film & TV Music Conference, along with estate manager Jeffrey Jampol.

It’s interesting to see how that discussion played out. Jampol, whose job is to protect the heritage of his legacy rock estates, cautioned acts against licensing just for a paycheck. Fans might think you’re cheapening your music if you accept the wrong deal.

Patsavas countered, as I would have, that today’s generation of music fans is a little different. After all, Of Montreal has an Outback Steakhouse ad, and they’re doing fine.

With anything you do, it’s important to maintain integrity and credibility. It’s also important to remember that reality shows and other entertainment programming (like the series that license from Pump Audio) have a tendency to come and go, while beloved albums hang around for decades. Nobody’s going to remember if your song was in “The Biggest Loser,” but the check you earned from that placement might have been the cash you needed to convince yourself to keep writing music.

(Remember, David Hooper is still enrolling folks into his new, hybrid tip-sheet/licensing course.)

More Discussion about Film & TV Licensing originally appeared on spinme.com on November 14, 2008. If you are reading this in a feed reader, you rule. If you are seeing this post included on another website, it is in violation of our terms of use.

USAToday profiles Regie Hamm, the winner of the second American Idol Songwriter competition.

Last year, our boards were pretty heated up, with folks so excited about the opportunity to get their songs discovered. Unfortunately, nothing in the rules specifically stated that an amateur songwriter would win the contest — just that they couldn’t submit a song that was under contract. The revelation of last year’s Top 20 songwriters broke a lot of hearts, and you can still read a lot of those painful entries on our archives.

This year, most of the songwriters I met had managed their expectations about the contest. Unfortunately, it created a sort of bell curve for entrants. Many of the contestants, like Regie Hamm, come from a strong songwriting background. Like most professional songwriters, Hamm lives in Nashville, where he’s done a decent job of stringing together some gospel and country hits while earning extra cash as a session performer.

At the other end of the spectrum, I hear some of the most strident complaints from first-time contest entrants who weren’t around for last year’s debacle. These folks typically have little or no formal training, and submitted very rough mixes to the competition.

As I wrote in last year’s special series on songwriting contest secrets, a strong demo certainly helps to move a song higher in just about any contest. While many judges like to say that a real song will shine through a rough recording, the truth is that production can play a huge role in getting a song past industry screeners. The closer a tune is to “radio ready,” the better a chance it has at winning a songwriting contest.

Did Regie Hamm have an unfair advantage because he’s been previously published? Because he lives in Nashville? Because he co-wrote a song with last year’s American Idol Songwriter winner? Certainly not. As with last year, there’s nothing in the rules that says someone with industry experience can’t win.

Last year, it seemed really unfair, since songwriters weren’t held to the same standards as singers who applied for the show. This year, with Carly Smithson getting called a “ringer,” it’s just another indicator of the blurred lines between “professional” and “amateur.” In ten years, will anyone be able to tell?

What does the American Idol Songwriter contest winner tell us about professional songwriting? originally appeared on spinme.com on May 22, 2008. If you are reading this in a feed reader, you rule. If you are seeing this post included on another website, it is in violation of our terms of use.

Two years ago, as Billy Bragg tells it, the founder of British social networking site Bebo came to him for advice about avoiding the same music licensing pitfalls that Bragg had railed about during the evolution of MySpace. As I wrote previously, Bragg’s lobbying resulted in MySpace clarifying its terms of service so artists could retain copyright of works they posted online. Since then, other online services have followed suit, assuring musicians at all stages of their careers that they would not accidentally close off revenue streams by uploading songs to social networking sites.

Bebo grew so big that AOL purchased the service for “a staggering $850 million,” as Bragg writes in a New York Times Op-Ed piece. Billy makes the case that a social networking service that builds audiences around original music should pay a dividend to those musicians

There’s some precedent for this in the online world, too. When Yahoo! purchased Flickr, Pro account members got their accounts extended. When Yahoo! purchased Upcoming, musicians and other contributors got free t-shirts. (I still wear mine.) If Bebo’s founders walk away with about $600 million in their pockets, why not at least extend some gesture of thanks to the folks who helped bring users to the service in the first place?

Over at TechCrunch, Michael Arrington calls musicians “crazy” for thinking they deserve a penny from services like Bebo. Social networking sites allow artists to gain exposure for their work. However, as I wrote about in all four of my books, simply gaining exposure does not guarantee an income. For decades, courts have upheld the rights of artists to collect royalties for work that is used beyond purely promotional purposes. This is the same principle that film and television writers spent months on strike defending.

Unfortunately, songwriters do not hold the same kind of bargaining power that screenwriters do.

As we observed in the ongoing struggle to find a workable royalty scheme for webcasters, a small group of already-established songwriters hold enough sway with Washington to produce license structures that are simply unaffordable for tech startups. At the same time, amateur songwriters are so desperate for exposure and attention that they willingly give up their existing rights in order to live the dream — forty or fifty listeners at a time.

This is where I think Arrington is not understanding Bragg’s argument. If 10,000 musicians each decide to bring their 40-50 existing fans into a service like Bebo, the service gains half a million users. The aggregation here is around musicians and their fans, not the other way around. Musicians add more value to a social networking platform, than vice versa. Bebo didn’t make anyone famous. Musicians brought subscribers to Bebo, and Bebo cashed in. That’s why Billy’s pissed.

How can tech startups compensate artists fairly? A “per-play” royalty, like the agreement under which webcasters currently suffer, helps nobody. However, a revenue sharing agreement through existing performance rights organizations that mirrors the agreements signed by the WGA can eliminate this argument while clearing a path for musicians to collaborate more openly and aggresively with tech companies. I can assure you that any startup social networking site that compensates musicians for the number of times their song is played and/or the number of new users they refer to a site should do pretty well.

And, at the same time, it’s up to artists to develop the skills and the support teams to leverage any exposure that does come from pages on MySpace, Bebo, Facebook, and any other services that bubble up over the next few years. At the end of the day, even the royalties artists earn from traditional radio airplay aren’t a whole lot — they’re just fair compensation for musician-assisted commerce.

Bebo Sale Spotlights Online Music Licensing Controversy originally appeared on spinme.com on March 23, 2008. If you are reading this in a feed reader, you rule. If you are seeing this post included on another website, it is in violation of our terms of use.

This week’s sponsor:

With not a whole lot of rumor or speculation, the fate of the American Idol Songwriter contest for 2008 was up in the air until this week, when officials reopened the contest site to the public.

By all accounts, this year’s contest is just like last year’s contest. Key points:

• You have just under ten days left to enter. While this might be a point of contention for some songwriters, the idea here is that you can either submit a demo that’s sitting on your shelf or you can write something especially for the contest.
• Production quality counts. Although the rules and the marketing material suggest that “the right song” could just be a Daniel Johnston style riff into a cassette recorder, we learned last year that the screeners do appreciate songs that are pretty fully realized on the recording. You should get yourself a copy of GarageBand or find a friend who can help you polish that demo. If you’re not a particularly strong singer, take the time this week to find someone who can track the song for you.
• Licensing for the contest, as we discovered last year, is favorable. Far better than most contests, and basically licensing the song for use by the production company with the potential for an upfront advance against future royalties.

Last year, we had some spirited debate on this site about the contest, so much that we installed new bulletin boards. All of those old conversations are archived, so you can get a taste of the emotional rollercoaster the American Idol Songwriter competition has become.

Remember that, like all contests, this one is totally subjective. If you don’t make the finals, don’t give up writing. Instead, focus on creating more great songs and sharing them with fellow songwriters on our boards.

Editor’s Note #1: Please remember that spinme.com has no connection whatsoever with the American Idol Songwriter Competition. I am casually acquainted with a few of the contest organizers, and with some of the folks promoting the contest. However, I don’t have anything to do with the screening process and I can’t offer any coaching, support, or insight beyond what I’ve posted here on the site.

Editor’s Note #2: Regretfully, I cannot respond to voicemail or e-mail about the contest — there is simply not enough time to get through it all. Last year, I was getting about 50 voicemails a day from folks who thought that I was in charge of the contest, or that I could provide entry information. Your best bet is to review the official site and to seek advice from fellow contestants on our message boards.

American Idol Songwriting Competition Back for 2008 originally appeared on spinme.com on March 20, 2008. If you are reading this in a feed reader, you rule. If you are seeing this post included on another website, it is in violation of our terms of use.

Earlier today, I asked if it was “fair” that many songwriting contests use interns to screen entries. It all comes down to what is promised in a contest’s terms and conditions.

Unfortunately, many songwriting contests use vague terminology in their terms and conditions that often allows them to screen entries any way they want. On one hand, this is actually a good thing — it shouldn’t require an industry veteran to identify a potential contest winner. Just like a great song sounds wonderful the first time you hear it on the radio, you should challenge yourself to write a song that leaps out of the submission packet and into the screener’s mind.

On the other hand, too many songwriting contests market themselves with the fantasy that music business veterans and chart-topping superstars will be holed up in a conference room, poring over your submission. For the most part, that simply doesn’t happen unless you make it to the final round of the most elite and well-respected songwriting contests.

Read between the lines of press releases you see or websites you encounter. Our “sponsors rule” applies here, as well. If a well-known artist is promoted as being a judge or a sponsor of a particular contest, it should be pretty easy to verify that with a web search or a phone call. For example, you could check the website of an artist’s publicist for press releases related to an event. Or, you could check that artist’s blog or official website for information about an event. If you can’t find any details, then that artist is either not significantly involved in the event, or the contest is so poorly organized that you can’t really be sure that it will help your career in any meaningful way.

It’s a very, very old and common scam in the music business to associate contests, talent shows, and other “exposure” events to well known figures, only to have those stars “pull out” at the last moment. I once counseled a distraught coaching client who paid over $800 to participate in an industry talent night after she had been told that Clive Davis would be attending. She got there, only to be told that Clive’s busy schedule prevented him from traveling at the last minute, and that his trusted assistant was gladly stepping in. (She told me at the time that she knew I would have told her not to go, but that she really felt like the person on the phone was eager to see her succeed. She was simply the victim of a professional, high pressure sales person.)

The same kind of activity happens in some songwriting contests. While it’s unethical in my book, it’s actually not illegal if there’s any kind of clause in the terms and conditions providing for last minute substitutions of judges. While many managers and publicists work hard to protect the good names of their clients, it’s impossible to know about any instance in which an artist’s name or image is used fraudulently. It’s up to you to perform due diligence on any songwriting contest you want to enter, so you really understand who’s conducting it, what they’re getting out of it, and what you stand to gain from participating.

When you have really checked out the rules, the sponsors, and the judges of a songwriting competition, you’ll have a better understanding of what you stand to gain from entering. That way, you can be more focused on delivering a killer demo and less worried about whether the contest was “fair” after you’ve already submitted your entry fee.amer

Track these topics: American+Idol, contest, music+business, songwriter, songwriting

Songwriting Contest Secrets: Who’s Really Judging? (Part 2) originally appeared on spinme.com on May 7, 2007. If you are reading this in a feed reader, you rule. If you are seeing this post included on another website, it is in violation of our terms of use.

So far in this special series, I’ve written about some of the myths and realities of songwriting contests, the reasonableness of entry fees, and the real involvement of contest sponsors.

Today, I’m tacking one of the most subjective elements of any songwriting contest — the judging.

The fact that many songwriting contests are really song critique services is blurring the line between the two reasons that you can benefit from entering a songwriting contest: using external motivation to coax you into finishing a new song faster and gaining professional exposure for your work.

On our bulletin boards, for example, a growing number of songwriters are chiming in with complaints about the expectations set by the publicity for the American Idol Songwriter competition. Although staff members from the show talked about songs that emphasized terms like “quest” and “journey,” songwriters note that the Top 20 finalists for the contest contain few tunes that make those references.

At the very least, there was a bit of a disconnect between show staffers at the top level and the screeners who whittled down 25,000 song entries to just 20 finalists. But the process also highlights a challenge of running any songwriting contest — finding experienced music business experts to evaluate songs.

At most songwriting contests, as at most radio stations that still accept submissions, the initial screening process is brutal. In most cases, it’s handled not by experienced A&R executives, but by newbie interns who have their own ideas about what works. In the same way that medical students must endure crazy 24-hour shifts in an Emergency Room, music business interns must earn their chops the same way — by grinding out the brute force labor required of any organization that wants to discover new talent.

Some of the more bitter posts I’ve seen on our own boards suggest that it would be impossible to review 25,000 songs in the short period of time that the American Idol Songwriter contest provided. If each song was three minutes long, it would take about 1,250 hours to listen to all of them. Consider a 40 hour work week, and you’re going to need about 32 staffers to handle the inbox.

Here are a few more things to consider:

• If the American Idol contest is like most of the organizations I’ve worked for or consulted with, screeners are only listening to the first thirty seconds of the song on the first pass. You have only 10-15 seconds to interest a screener, and you’ve got to get them “hooked” by 30 seconds, or your song doesn’t make the cut. Even if you screen each 30 second snippet twice, you cut the workload down to about 400 hours.
• It’s more likely that the first wave of screenings happened as songs were being entered, not after submissions closed. Given that there was a tax-day style surge of entries at the close of the contest, it’s still probable that screeners reviewed and filtered the first wave of entries before the contest closed. Because you can’t change your entries once they’re submitted, there’s nothing inappropriate about that review strategy.

Under those conditions, it’s feasible that a team of five to ten hard working interns could come up with a short list of 40-60 songs to present at a “war room” full of industry veterans. We have every indication that this was a part of the process. And it’s entirely likely that songs bubbled up that hit judges in the gut even though they didn’t contain the “themes” that normally occur in Idol.

Was that “fair?” I’ll address that in a follow-up post this afternoon.

Track these topics: American+Idol, contest, music+business, songwriting

Songwriting Contest Secrets: Who’s Really Judging? (part 1) originally appeared on spinme.com on May 7, 2007. If you are reading this in a feed reader, you rule. If you are seeing this post included on another website, it is in violation of our terms of use.

It used to be that, to rip off musicians, you had to take out an ad in Rolling Stone and open up a post office box. At least then, a disgruntled contest entrant could sit outside the post office at wait for someone to come and collect the mail. Today, all it takes is a merchant account and a website — both of which can be set up for under $50, in places like Nigeria, or even Burbank. (I kid.)

Why such a grim opening to this post about songwriting contest sponsors?

Because most of the time, when a musician tells me about a bad contest experience or an outright scam, they tell me that they believed it was legit because there were so many legitimate sponsors attached. Unfortunately, it’s very easy to be taken in by a scam artist with Photoshop skills. We’ve even had to deal with folks attaching our logo (hey! our logo is back!) to one or two bizarre little schemes over the years. With just a dollop of digital paste, it can look like your phony songwriting contest is sponsored by every major label in the universe, and the Pope.

Hanging out in front of a post office may sound absurd, but it actually has a parallel in the advice that I’m going to give you now:

Track these topics: American+Idol, contest, music+business, songwriting

If a songwriting contest sponsor is legitimate, they will have some kind of promotion of that contest going on at their website or at their physical location. For labels and publishing houses, check the “media room” or the “press office” of their website. If you can’t find that too easily, call them up and ask for the person who is in charge of publicity for the contest. If you can’t find any material on the website and nobody on the phone knows what you’re talking about, the contest is either a scam or the sponsor is way too disorganized to be any real help to you, anyway.

Remember, also, that legitimate sponsors can sometimes get pulled into bad situations. For instance, sponsors frequently provide small-scale prizes, like magazine subscriptions or gift certificates, in exchange for logo placement. If their involvement ends there, it’s reasonable that they might not have a clue what the contest organizers are doing with the prizes after they’ve left the office.

We hear a lot of stories where Billboard Magazine’s logo is on a site, and it looks like the Billboard Song Contest, but it’s really someone offering a subscription to Billboard as a prize. Read the fine print. If the biggest prize is less expensive than the entry fee, the contest is probably a scam. Responsible brand managers will want to know when someone’s abusing their logos and their goodwill, however. Just remember that the less a sponsor knows about a particular contest, the higher you should raise your alert level.

Coming soon in our Songwriting Contest Secrets series: Who’s really judging these contests? Who’s really winning these contests? And how is online voting impacting the outcome of contests like American Idol Songwriter — can a crowd really pick a winning song better than an experienced A&R executive? Keep your story ideas coming – this series might spill into a second week!

p.s.: We’re not the only ones discussing the ins and outs of songwriting contests. Here’s a great set of guidelines from T.C. Smythe at Stave Magazine.

Songwriting Contest Secrets: Check Out Your Sponsors originally appeared on spinme.com on May 3, 2007. If you are reading this in a feed reader, you rule. If you are seeing this post included on another website, it is in violation of our terms of use.

Our discussion about your entries into American Idol’s songwriting contest rolls on. For newcomers, we’ve been splitting comments into new threads every 100 comments or so to keep our server from melting. Beyond that, there’s a lot of fun, positive discussion going on between some industry veterans and some newbie songwriters about everything from whether someone’s received The Call from Los Angeles to signing up with ASCAP or BMI. Among the highlights in the last thread:

• One commenter has discovered a blogger that’s tracking every single American Idol Songwriter entry she can find. If I had a little more time this week, I’d maybe turn this into a wiki. Does anyone want to volunteer?
• Questions about songwriting royalties and song ownership have been covered in previous threads. Feel free to explore the “you may also be interested in…” section of each page to navigate through all of our American Idol discussions.
• There’s a very compelling debate about how “religious” music overlaps with “pop” music. For example, how does a song like “Jesus Take the Wheel” become a hit if screeners claim they’re not looking for songs with religious overtones?
• And, spinme.com readers are the brightest and most talented audience a writer could wish for. But we knew that already.

Remember, all music criticism is entirely subjective. While some folks like to think that all music fits into a certain set of “rules,” every Billboard Top 100 hit got there because of someone’s gut reaction to a song. With that said, a request. As you critique each other, try to use the “sandwich” method. Find something good to say about the song before you rant about what’s wrong with it. Back that up with what you would love to hear the songwriter do on their next attempt. A few of the comments in the last thread were borderline unconstructive, and I’d prefer to keep this discussion focused on how every one of our songwriters can improve their craft.

Finally, a personal request from me. Our weekly newsletter goes out this afternoon, and I want to make sure you get the benefit of some goodies we’re enclosing in there. I am feeling particularly generous this week. Therefore, I’ll be enclosing a FREE subscriber-only link to a recording of a class I taught about “mailbox money” — ways that songwriters can earn money from their craft, especially if they’re not performers by nature. I’m going to make that a free download for 72 hours, because you all have put so much energy into our songwriting discussions this week. Sign up today, so I can send that to you!

Track these topics: American+Idol, contest, music+business, songwriter, songwriting

American Idol Songwriting Contest Discussion Continues… originally appeared on spinme.com on April 26, 2007. If you are reading this in a feed reader, you rule. If you are seeing this post included on another website, it is in violation of our terms of use.

The discussion among American Idol Songwriter entrants is still going strong. We have opened up a new thread just about every day to accommodate the comments without bogging down the server or creating huge page downloads. If you’re new to our site, welcome!

Later this week, I hope to pull together a list of links to the songs that contestants have shared. There is some excellent songwriting going on. It’s nice to see that American Idol was able to light a fire under some folks — songwriting can sometimes take forever if you don’t have a good piece of external motivation.

The discussion’s also raising some great questions among newbie songwriters in our previous thread, specifically:

• When should I join a Performing Rights Organization, like ASCAP or BMI? (Answer: Right after you finish the first song that you’re comfortable sharing with someone else.)
• What does an “at source” royalty mean? (Answer: It means that your royalty is calculated under the terms of the country in which it is played, which can often lead to larger royalties in countries outside the United States. It really means you got a pretty good deal or a pretty good entertainment attorney.)
• When will American Idol contact the winning songwriters? (Answer: We have no clue. But it seems to be fun waiting to find out.)

Remember that your comments are subject to occasional moderation by our external spam filter, which means that if you see the phrase “awaiting moderation,” it just means I’ve got to take a look at it before it goes live on the site. Tonight, I’m teaching a class and actually eating dinner, so expect some sporadic comment moderation. For the most part, if your previous comments have been approved, you should be able to post without problems. We’ve also got that snazzy new e-mail notifier to let you know when there’s something new to read.

Thanks for making this week so much fun, and keep the comments coming!

Track these topics: American+Idol, contest, songwriter, songwriting

American Idol Songwriting Contest Raises Great Questions originally appeared on spinme.com on April 25, 2007. If you are reading this in a feed reader, you rule. If you are seeing this post included on another website, it is in violation of our terms of use.

It’s been covered in a few tech journals today, but the news that Gracenote will soon distribute song lyrics online is great news for songwriters and for working musicians alike.

Although the web seems like a perfect place for song lyrics, copyright and trade association rules about distributing sheet music has made it pretty hard to turn lyrics into a viable business. That songwriters get paid for reproduction of their lyrics is a covenant that goes back decades — and the wild, wild web had a hard time presenting this information legally and profitably. Sadly, well-meaning lyrics site operators often get lumped into cease and desist notices along with shady companies that plaster the web with song lyrics next to “punch the monkey” type ads or forced downloads.

Song lyric searches are huge, not just for fans that want to understand what their favorite acts are saying, but for working musicians who want to learn the words to popular songs so they can perform them. I’m not sure what, exactly, the method of tracking payments to songwriters will be — I would guess it will probably be similar to the radio/venue pools administered by the PROs. Either way, making this information more readily available to the public is a great step.

Track these topics: gracenote, music+business, royalties, songwriter

Legal Song Lyrics Coming to the Web originally appeared on spinme.com on April 24, 2007. If you are reading this in a feed reader, you rule. If you are seeing this post included on another website, it is in violation of our terms of use.

UPDATE – APRIL 27: Big, huge, fun American Idol liveblog + discussion happening on our new discussion boards.

It’s a really fun week here at spinme.com, because a lot of our clients and readers are waiting anxiously to hear whether they have been chosen as one of the Top 20 finalists in the American Idol Songwriter competition.

In the previous discussion thread, at least one of our readers received a mysterious call from a number in the 213 area code. Whether that’s a real call from the American Idol songwriting contest team or just an errant telemarketing ping, it’s got us all on pins and needles.

I’m not normally one to hold my breath and wait for the lottery balls to pop up. As I wrote in all of my books about the music business, you’re going to go farther by building a direct relationship with your audience than by holding out to “be discovered.” However, this is a very rare occasion — a very public songwriting competition whose outcome really will change the lives of twenty talented winners.

Even for the songwriters who won’t be featured in the top twenty, the American Idol Songwriter project has encouraged a lot of folks to share or create material that wouldn’t otherwise see the light of day.

In the past few threads, songwriters have been sharing links to their songs and/or personal websites. A few folks have asked how they can share songs if they don’t have a personal website (yet). Feel free to use a large file transfer service like DropSend or YouSendIt to get those songs to us at tips [at] spinme.com, and we’ll host the files here for you.

Good luck, as always!

Track these topics: American+Idol, contest, songwriter

213 Area Code Calls from American Idol’s Songwriting Competition Judges? originally appeared on spinme.com on April 24, 2007. If you are reading this in a feed reader, you rule. If you are seeing this post included on another website, it is in violation of our terms of use.

UPDATE – APRIL 27: Big, huge, fun American Idol liveblog + discussion happening on our new discussion boards.

Half of the songwriters I know are busy filing their taxes. The other half are working hard to get their entries into the American Idol Songwriter competition. The deadline for both is the same: tomorrow.

We’ve had a really vibrant discussion going on in my previous post about the American Idol contest. If you haven’t had a chance to poke through the comments, here are some more key points.

First, Jesse from 19 Entertainment, who has worked very hard to answer questions from our readers (and from other entrants) made a great summary of the most asked questions about the contest:

1. You may enter as often as you like. There is a $10 entry fee per song. 2. Songs will NOT be re-recorded prior to posting the final 20 for public voting. We will take the source files (aiff, wav, etc) where available and perhaps clean it up and check for volume parity but that’s about it. 3. The upload process is working. In the last 9 hours alone we’ve received well over 500 songs and that’s simply a random sampling. 4. Every song is reviewed by an A&R staff member. There is no advantage whatsoever to submitting one song multiple times. 5. You must include both music and lyrics to participate. You do not need a full band or professional recording studio. A&R staff can recognize a good song. That being said… is there an advantage in the public voting phase to having a professional mix or accomplished musicians accompany you or perform your work? Perhaps. 6. Your song entry must not be encumbered of a publishing deal in order for you to participate in the contest as the contest winner will receive an exclusive publishing deal for the winning song. 7. All writers must be noted and able to legally participate according to the rules. You are legally attesting to such upon entering. Do not misrepresent yourself as you will be disqualified. 8. Voting closes at 11:59 pm pacific time on April 17th, 2007. 9. Online voting begins May 2nd.

A few other technical notes:

• Folks on Macs seem to have trouble making entries with the Safari web browser. If that’s the case for you, download Firefox and give it a whirl. That seems to do the trick for most folks.
• Make sure you’re uploading your song on a broadband connection. Most folks trying to use dial-up to upload a 3MB song are getting timed out. If you have to drop your songs to a flash drive or a CDR and upload them from Kinko’s so be it.
• The songs will not be re-recorded for the contest, so submit your very best recording. You may want to recruit some friends to help you with this. Even though it’s a songwriting competition, online voters will definitely be swayed by good production.

Good luck!

Technorati Tags: american+idol, songwriting, contest

More questions answered about the American Idol Songwriting Contest originally appeared on spinme.com on April 16, 2007. If you are reading this in a feed reader, you rule. If you are seeing this post included on another website, it is in violation of our terms of use.

UPDATE – APRIL 27: Big, huge, fun American Idol liveblog + discussion happening on our new discussion boards.

Our readers kick butt. Seriously, you guys, you rock. The discussion has been great and my inbox has been full of really insightful stuff.

The American Idol Songwriter contest seems like the kind of poke our working musicians’ hornet’s nest has needed for some time. In some ways, it feels like validation for a lot of musicians that toil at an often thankless craft. At the same time, we have been bombarded by so many crummy contests over the past decade, that it’s natural for so many people to be suspicious about the intent of the producers.

Perhaps I sound like a Pollyanna when I say that I honestly don’t think these folks are out to screw anyone over. There’s a lot of discussion here and elsewhere about whether it’s a good idea to enter. For some folks, this contest is perfect. For other people, not so much. It’s up to you to decide what’s right for you.

Here are some things we’ve learned about the American Idol Songwriter competition that weren’t so clear a few days ago:

• A close reading of the rules makes it appear that EVERY one of the Top 20 writers selected will enjoy a one-song publishing option with a $10,000 advance against royalties. This is not a “publishing deal” in the traditional sense, but its terms are similar.
• As with all song options, there is a danger that a song you write could make the Top 20 and never get used by anyone. That’s a risk that all songwriters take, and you remedy that by doing what Dolly Parton and Diane Warren have done — write something EVERY DAY. If you’re going into this contest with only one completed song under your belt, it’s unlikely you’ll win.
• You can enter more than one song. The rules were a little confusing here, but the intention of the producers is pretty clear — they would be more than happy to take your $10 again and again. Is this the right strategy? Probably only if you have a huge songwriting range and you want to try to submit songs from different points in your spectrum. If all your songs sound alike, you may be better off going with just the best one.
• You can enter only unpublished material. If you’re collecting ASCAP or BMI royalties from a song, you can’t enter it. I’m betting at least one song will end up getting disqualified because of this.

Technorati Tags: music+business, american+idol, songwriting+contest

What We Have Learned About the American Idol Songwriter Contest originally appeared on spinme.com on April 10, 2007. If you are reading this in a feed reader, you rule. If you are seeing this post included on another website, it is in violation of our terms of use.

UPDATE – APRIL 27: Big, huge, fun American Idol liveblog + discussion happening on our new discussion boards.

The entry form has finally popped up on the American Idol site for their songwriting competition. [CUE FRED SCHNEIDER] Surrrprrrriiiiisssse! It’s gonna cost $10 to enter the contest.

Ordinarily, I think $10 is a totally reasonable entry fee for something like a songwriting contest. In fact, in the next week or two, I’ll post a series of articles about how to tell whether a songwriting competition is legit and what the benefits (and pitfalls) are of entering your songs into national or worldwide contests.

With the caveat that I am not an entertainment attorney or a lawyer of any kind, here’s a rundown of key points in the American Idol songwriting contest rules:

Age – You must be 18 to enter, and all of the songwriters to be credited on the track must also be 18 as of the date of entry. If you’re under 18, you’re going to have to sit this one out.

Residence – You must be a resident of the U.S.A. They’re pretty clear about that. A lot of our readers from the U.K. and Canada will be disappointed, but it’s really the only way they can get this deal done legally without lots of tangles. “Free to Contract” – This means you can’t already be in a publishing agreement. Your song really has to be “unknown.”

“Your Song” – It’s got to be yours. 100%. No samples, no borrowed lyrics. You can have a co-writer, as long as they fit all of the requirements.

Royalties – There’s good news, there’s bad news, and there’s “meh” news. The good news is that 19 Entertainment is not immediately claiming ownership of the American Idol Songwriter entries, as some folks thought might happen.

Bad news – they are asking entrants to waive the potential television (sync) royalties for the duration of the contest if their songs make it into the Top 20. While that positions them as kinda cheap bastards, it’s not totally unreasonable. By waiving royalties, they can distribute the song online and on television without a lot of paperwork. This alone probably kept their attorneys awake for plenty of nights, which is what was delaying the launch of the contest.

And the “meh” – if you win the American Idol Songwriter contest, you get an advance of $10,000 against royalties of “75% at source” under a ten year exclusive agreement for the song. I’ve seen better deals, and I’ve seen way worse deals. For a rookie songwriter who is guaranteed at lease a few tens of thousands of units sold, this is going to be a windfall. I really do like the fact that 19 Entertainment took the high road and is offering “at source” right in the contest terms and conditions. As Bobby Borg notes in his Musician’s Handbook, you often have to negotiate for that sort of thing.

The overall verdict: If you were a client in my coaching program and you had a song you think sounded like an Idol finale tune, I’d say, go for it. There’s nothing in the T&Cs that claims your immortal soul, and getting Simon Fuller sniffing around the rest of your catalog wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Yes, there’s a $10 entry fee. That’s not just there to make them money — it’s really there to make sure that only serious entrants will apply. So get going, you’ve got less than two weeks.

Technorati Tags: music+business, american+idol, songwriting+contest

American Idol Songwriter Contest Rules Reviewed originally appeared on spinme.com on April 5, 2007. If you are reading this in a feed reader, you rule. If you are seeing this post included on another website, it is in violation of our terms of use.

IMPORTANT UPDATE — MARCH 20, 2008 — AMERICAN IDOL SONGWRITING CONTEST HAS LAUNCHED FOR 2008. CLICK THIS LINK FOR DETAILS. INFORMATION BELOW IS FROM THE 2007 CONTEST. Wow!We all thought this was drifting way beyond the back burner and behind the stove. However, it looks like the folks at 19 Entertainment are going to use their site to solicit entries until April 17, with a week of online voting beginning May 2.If you’re already signed to an exclusive publishing deal, you’re not eligible to submit to the American Idol songwriting competition. However, it’s fair game for everyone else. In fact, USA Today reports that the competition will have no age restriction — unlike the show.For all the folks that have been leaving comments and talking about how they’ve already been working on their songs, you’re in great shape. Everyone else, get cracking. You’ve got less than two weeks to enter. After I have a chance to review the terms of the contest, I’ll weigh in with some commentary. As with all songwriting contests, review the contract and the rules very carefully, lest you sign away rights to your creation — and your royalties.Here’s where you can get more information about how to enter the American Idol Songwriter 2007 contest.Good luck!Technorati Tags: american+idol, songwriting+contest, music+business, holy+crap

American Idol Songwriting Contest Finally Opens! originally appeared on spinme.com on April 4, 2007. If you are reading this in a feed reader, you rule. If you are seeing this post included on another website, it is in violation of our terms of use.