Archive for December, 2006

Great candid songwriting videos from BMI

By Don • Dec 18th, 2006 • Category: Inspiration

If you are looking for some inspiration, you got it.
BMI has a gigantic collection of songwriting video clips on their site with interviews and commentary from some of the greatest names in songwriting.
Yolanda Adams
Bill Anderson
Sherrie Austin
Dallas Austin
Steve Azar
The Winans
It would be nice to see these clips up on YouTube or something similar.
(Songwriting Videos)



The Reason Behind Songwriting

By Paul • Dec 12th, 2006 • Category: Songwriting Articles

I wanted to talk to all of you who have ambitions of becoming a “songwriter”, i.e. a professional. What is your job as a songwriter?
A. “To entertain people”
B. “To let out my creativity”
C. “To sell records”
D. “To speak about the things important to me”

All of these answers could be correct - but only one […]



Singers, Songwriters Speak Out Against Media Consolidation in Public FCC Hearing

By Don • Dec 11th, 2006 • Category: Songwriting News

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Radio consolidation is shrinking playlists and creating a homogenized musical landscape, several singers and songwriters told the Federal Communication Commission on Monday.
“Big radio is bad radio,” Rick Carnes, president of the Songwriters Guild of America, told FCC commissioners in the second of six public meetings nationwide. “You can drive I-40 from […]



Rob Crosby, Music Theory podcast, and other songwriting news

By Don • Dec 10th, 2006 • Category: Songwriting News

Concrete interview. Nashville Hype interviews hit country songwriter Rob Crosby.
“But whether there’s alot of lyrical depth or not, craft plays a part, making use of alliteration, double entendres, opposing words like up/down, give/take, stuff like that. But those things just come naturally after 20 years in Nashville and I spend most of my energy with […]



Songwriter Nick Daugherty aims to get a record deal in 365 days

By Don • Dec 6th, 2006 • Category: Inspiration

In the spirit of the 4/4 challenge and the Thing A Week project, Nick Daugherty also placed some hard deadlines on himself to accomplish his goals. Check out this video about his quest to get a record deal in 365 days. His self-appointed deadline is July 7, 2007.
(By the way: I love how the PLAY […]



John Mayer blogs about the return of his songwriting muse

By Don • Dec 5th, 2006 • Category: Inspiration

Say what you want about the man, but John Mayer put up a really cool blog post yesterday. I have the hardest damn time linking to specific posts on his blog (Hey John, how about some Permalinks??), so here is the blog entry in it’s entirety:

“I can’t really explain what happens when, as an artist, […]



Josh Groban, Alka-Seltzer, and Other Songwriting News

By Don • Dec 4th, 2006 • Category: Songwriting News

Cliff Goldmacher. What to do before you go into the studio to make your independant CD. Very cool article from a guy who knows what he’s talking about. (Link)
Awake is the new sleep. Josh Groban talks with Singer Universe about his songwriting collaboration with Dave Matthews, John Ondrasik of Five For Fighting, and British singer/songwriter […]



Songwriting Tip: Flat bookmark pen for your moleskines

By Don • Dec 2nd, 2006 • Category: Songwriting Tools

Say hello to your new “back pocket writing kit”.
So you know I always gush about moleskines, particularly cahiers. You also know my penchant for having a writing utensil and paper at all times via the Blogging Muses series on Capturing Song Ideas.
So imagine my joy when I saw this blog entry on the flat […]



Songwriters, How To Record Acoustic Guitar

By Don • Dec 1st, 2006 • Category: Songwriting Articles, Songwriting Tools

(This article was contributed by Rob Cosh of theHipCola.com and was reprinted with permission.)
It seems to me that many songwriters begin their work with an acoustic guitar. If you’re like me, you’ll probably record most things with acoustic guitar first. I like acoustic guitar because it’s full sounding, has great percussive qualities for banging out […]