19 Entertainment wants us to stay glued to our screens all summer as they search for the Next Great American Band. Looks like the Idol format, but with bands instead of solo performers. The biggest questions I have right now……
How Local Record Stores Can Stay in Business
It’s not the first time we’ve covered the issue here, but amidst the horror story that has become the chart of overall music sales, there’s a quiet confidence among the owners of America’s finest record stores. The Columbia Free Times…
Michael Penn to Tour Second Life?
CNN catches up with Michael Penn on the occasion of his “best of” collection’s release — which is, in itself, a curious story of how corporate consolidation can actually benefit the kinds of “dropped” major label acts I wrote about…
Remix Our Masthead
I got a great idea from one of our readers who sent in a new masthead… since you’re all so creative and since we recently revived our old logo, I thought I’d let you take a spin at designing the…
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…
ASCAP/BMI Royalty Monitor for YouTube Videos?
Mark Cuban wonders aloud whether YouTube’s announcement that popular videos will start earning royalties will spawn a videomakers’ guild or performing rights society along the lines of ASCAP or BMI. It’s an interesting concept, since statutory royalties for songwriters have…
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…
Time for Your Rampant Self Promotion
Because there are only so many hours in the day, we don’t have time to review all the unsolicited submissions we receive here at TCM World Headquarters. However, despite the admonishment on our contact page, they arrive anyway. Our new…
American Idol Songwriter Finalists Are Announced!
And we’ve got song-by-song discussion on our boards. Track these topics:
Songwriting Contest Secrets: Entry Fee as Red Flag?
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…
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…