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Music Biz ‘N Tech Opposing Internet Radio Fairness Act (US)
In the last three weeks, three coalitions of songwriter organizations have written letters to congress opposing the Internet Radio Fairness Act (IRFA) while asserting that songwriters royalty rates paid by services like Pandora are too low and need to be raised.
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How 10 Major Songwriters Make Big Money
The-Dream, the R&B singer and behind-the-scenes power player, recently boasted of a $15 million payday for writing Rihanna's 2007 smash "Umbrella." True? "When you have a cross-over song, it just makes more and more and more money," says Tom DeSavia, a vice president at Notable Music, a 50-year-old music publisher founded by the late songwriter Cy Coleman. "They just make shitloads of money from every source."
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Songwriting Apps 
If you're into apps, these won't necessarily make you a better songwriter, but they might be fun and even inspirational!
Evolver.fm has apps for songwriting for just about every platform.
Click HERE to check them out! ILikeSongs Blog Check out Irene's new Blog I Like Songs where you'll find lots of her favourite old and new songs!
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A New Forum
If you look at the top of this page, or to the list at the left, you’ll see a new “Forum” tab. I’ve been running a songwriting forum for several years and now I’m hoping to get people to migrate over to this new one, which is a little simpler and easier for me to manage. Plus you’ve got everything in one place, the articles, the info and the forum. I like that :-).
Join up and start a conversation, or respond to one of my articles if you like. Or you can post a song lyric or two if you wish. Hopefully the forum will add to the community of this website.
IJ
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Songwriting Views When songwriters, creativity and weekly quotas mix just fine
Last week was a big week for the country songwriting trio the Peach Pickers, each of whom won awards last week.
The success for writers Dallas Davidson, Rhett Akins and Ben Hayslip boils down to persistence, said music publisher Rusty Gaston. The group meets every Wednesday and leaves with a song.
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What Makes A Hit Record?
We have all heard those hit songs that can be considered ‘timeless classics’. Whether it’s a hip hop track, a rock classic or an 80’s power ballad, these songs share some essential features that ensure they will be on the airwaves for years to come. Obviously there is not one hard and fast rule for this as every song is different, but here is a list of features that many of these hit records share.
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IJ’s Songwriting Store Support this site! Clicking on the links below brings you to Amazon.ca and purchasing ANYTHING will pay IJ a referral.
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I’ve got my first 12 songs written, sort of arranged, and either recorded or waiting to be recorded. I don’t want to write the same 12 again, just said a different way. What are tips for expanding the muse in a new direction?
First of all, stop listening to what you’ve just recorded…there’s always a temptation to keep listening to your old stuff and continuously reassessing it :-) That just reinforces your “same old” stuff. Probably more than anything else, you need to walk away from it for awhile.
Some people “freshen” their writing sound by listening to other songs, sometimes even something in a completely different genre. And if you’re a musician, you can even go as far as playing a few of these songs. Learn the progressions, analyze the melodies, read through their lyrics.
Beyond that, go out and live your life for awhile…you’ve got to find some new experiences to write about if you want to stop writing about the old ones!
IJ
i have a talent in writing..i dream of songs and get up and write them..i have 25 altogether.i believe(of course)that they are something awesome..here are my questions..they are written,not put to music,do i submit them to a publisher like that,what do i do and where do i go from here,do i copyright the songs…i need help..
Hi Adam,
Publishers don’t take lyrics only. What you need to do is to find someone who can put music to your lyrics. I don’t know where you’re from, but if you can find any songwriting groups in your area, that’s one idea. Put a note up in your local music store asking for someone who might want to help you. Or you can join the different songwriting forums on the web and try to find someone that way. Ultimately, you might consider learning an instrument yourself…that would take some time and it might not be your thing, but then at least you could put together some musical ideas yourself, even if you still end up letting someone else do the music.
Even though a lot of people talk about obtaining a copyright for your song right away, you really don’t need to do that until you are ready to send the song out to publishers.
Good luck!
IJ