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.…
Category
Songwriting
What does the American Idol Songwriter contest winner tell us about professional songwriting?
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…
Bebo Sale Spotlights Online Music Licensing Controversy
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…
American Idol Songwriting Competition Back for 2008
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…
Songwriting Contest Secrets: Who’s Really Judging? (Part 2)
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…
Songwriting Contest Secrets: Who’s Really Judging? (part 1)
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…
Songwriting Contest Secrets: Check Out Your Sponsors
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…
American Idol Songwriting Contest Discussion Continues…
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…
American Idol Songwriting Contest Raises Great Questions
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…
Legal Song Lyrics Coming to the Web
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…
213 Area Code Calls from American Idol’s Songwriting Competition Judges?
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…
More questions answered about the American Idol Songwriting Contest
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…