If you type the words “songwriting contest” into Google, you’re going to come back with close to a million entries. And that number is growing all the time. Too many scam artists are realizing that it’s far too easy to…
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Songwriting Contest Secrets: Myths and Realities
The American Idol songwriting contest is probably the highest profile event of its kind for songwriters in the past ten years, if not more. For all of our talk about the importance of building an audience and playing gigs, songwriters…
Get Ready to Vote for American Idol Songwriter
They told us that voting on the American Idol songwriting contest would begin on May 2. They just didn’t tell us when. In the meantime, the speculation still abounds about whether or not all twenty finalists have actually been chosen…
More American Idol Songwriting Contest Discussion
It’s still going — over 2,500 posts strong on our first discussion thread, as well as dozens of songs in the song critique area. We’ve just opened up a second American Idol Songwriter discussion thread to keep the server happy…
Live Burnlounge Podcast This Sunday
Lest you think that this weblog has gone “All American Idol, All The Time,” here’s news on another wildly popular subject around here: Burnlounge. David Jackson from Musician’s Cooler is hosting a live podcast on Burnlounge this Sunday night, and…
American Idol Songwriting Contest Winners Being Notified This Weekend
At 4ish on the West Coast, fax machines are buzzing with contracts. I’ve received confirmation from two reliable sources so far that contracts are going out to songwriters who have been selected to compete in the online voting round of…
Have you entered a song into the American Idol Songwriter Contest?
UPDATE – APRIL 27: Big, huge, fun American Idol liveblog + discussion happening on our new discussion boards. If so, we’d love to hear it! A number of songwriters commenting in a previous thread have started sharing their songs with…
CBGB: Punk’s First Theme Park
[Thanks to a Stereogum commenter for a great headline.] In my books, I’ve written about the ways that baby bands would push hard to get a date at a venue like CBGB, then complain when a talent buyer would insist…
Three Vital Things to Know Before You Can Succeed in the Music Business
We have a lot of new readers rolling through the site this week, so I thought I’d sum up my philosophy on how to make money making music. I just typed out a quick note to one of the members…
Tell us what your music sounds like.
Bob Baker has an excellent post about getting more music publicity. Indeed, every time a band would pitch one of my radio stations with the line, “we’re like nothing you’ve ever heard before,” someone would chortle, “and like nothing we’re…
How much destruction can a rock star write off on his or her taxes?
Here’s an awesome interview with an experienced band business manager about the kind of expenses he sees each week from his clients (and other musicians). Smashed Guitar? Investment in your image. Nephew wants to open a bar? Stay away, especially…
Learn without your world imploding.
We talk a lot about “getting out of our comfort zone.” But, for many of us, that means dealing with anxiety that can pretty much shut you down. It’s why a lot of musicians fail to grow their audiences beyond…