Hacked!

Posted on by IJ

Hi all…you will notice a new look to this blog today.  Essentially I had to do a lot of work on it in the last 24 hours when I realized that it had been hacked.  It was a WordPress spam injection, which made the spam itself invisible to anyone looking at the blog, but there were dozens and dozens of spam websites inserted into the code of the blog.

SIERRA MADRE, CA - MAY 29:  Spam, the often-ma...
Image by Getty Images via @daylife

It was a shock to me to find it, as I did quite by accident.  But hopefully I will be able to keep it from happening again.  I’ve added a number of security measures and, needless to say, I will be keeping a much closer eye on it from now on!

Also, my web host has been doing maintenance today, so the website has been up and down all day.  I hope this won’t continue for much longer, and I appreciate your patience (I’m kinda running out of it myself!).

Thanks for continuing to support the songwriting tips website and blog…I’ll keep posting if you’ll keep reading!

Cheers, IJ

Like A G6 Lyrics Analyzed by Kimberly Cole

Posted on by IJ

Okay, I guess I’m stuck in the 70’s because I recently listened to a bunch of songs on Billboard’s Top 100 and could not for the life of me understand (other than by guessing) what the #1 Billboard song, “Like A G6” was about. But here’s somebody who knows a little more than I do:

Well, so okay it’s about getting drunk and partying. It’s just that they call it something else now :-).

IJ

Lady Gaga’s Challenge

Posted on by IJ


 


Here is a news article copied from Reuters Canada:

Lady GaGa
Lady GaGa (Photo credit: ama_lia)

“I feel sorry for Lady Gaga — she’s just a plastic doll generated by the music money marketing machine,” Apps states in a release. “This contest gives people a chance to choose which they prefer — plastic or real.”The competition would take place at New York‘s Madison Square Garden or London’s O2 Arena, with each singer performing a series of songs.

Lady Gaga has not responded to the challenge thus far.

Apps has yet to release her debut album, but a clip of the singer performing the track “How Do I Make Right” has earned 1.2 million views on YouTube.

Here is the problem with the challenge.  Lady GaGa, in spite of her “plastic” and silly make-up and costumes, is actually a talented artist.  I haven’t heard Alisa Apps (and I won’t because that’s exactly what she’s looking for!), but she’s actually put herself in a pretty bad light.  You don’t bad mouth in order to make yourself look better.  I’m not a huge Lady GaGa fan, but I see her talent and so do many others.

What do you think?

IJ

PS… Ah, perhaps Alisa Apps thought GaGa was lip-synching, when, as it turns out, she wasn’t

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Sample Songwriting Partnership Agreement

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The following is a sample songwriting partnership agreement that you might want to use when you are co-writing. Do you need an agreement? It really is up to you, however some may feel more comfortable knowing that there is something in writing just in case your co-written song makes some money. Here it is:

This agreement dated this ______ day of ___________, 20__ ,
Made between

(1)__________________________________________________

Whose usual residential address is

____________________________________________________
(hereinafter called “the first party”) and,

(2)__________________________________________________

Whose usual residential address is

____________________________________________________
(hereinafter called “the second party” )

in respect of the musical composition known as :

_____________________________________________________
(hereinafter referred to as “the Said Work”)


WHEREAS IT IS HEREBY AGREED as follows:

1. The parties to this Agreement shall own the Said Work jointly.

2 All monies, receipts, benefits, benefits in kind or other remuneration, whether of money’s worth or otherwise received in respect of the said work shall be divided between the Parties in the following proportions:

50% (fifty percent) to the First Party, and
50% (fifty percent) to the Second Party.

3. The Parties to this Agreement may jointly make any alteration to the Said Work, or allow others to do so, but any such amendment, alteration, or otherwise shall not affect the contents of clause 2 herein.

4. The parties to this Agreement may jointly or separately promote the said work, or allow others to do so, but neither party may commit the other party to any expense, loss of earnings from the Said Work without the consent of the other party, save that no reasonable request for consent shall be withheld.

5. The period for which this Agreement shall remain in force is 5 years, or is mutually cancelled by the consent of both Parties in writing, or this Agreement is superseded by a Publishing, Recording or other Contract with a Third Party.

6. At the end of the five-year period, either party shall be entitled to demand the return of their component part in the Said Work, by notice in writing, posted in an pre-paid envelope and sent by registered post within a period of thirty clear days immediately following the fifth anniversary of the date of this Agreement.

7. Any further changes to this Agreement shall only be validated by written agreement signed by both Parties and duly witnessed and dated in a like manner to below.

In witness to this said Agreement: –

Signed (by the First Party)_________________________________

Witnessed this day by (signed)_____________________________

Name and address of Witness:

______________________________________________________

Signed (by the Second Party) _____________________________

Witnessed this day by (signed) ____________________________

Name and address of Witness:

______________________________________________________

You might want to copy and paste the above agreement, print out two copies and remember to have everyone sign each!

IJ

Songwriters – Are You Too Self-Centred?

Posted on by IJ



For the umpteenth time this week, I received a “hello” from a songwriter on a popular music-sharing website I have a page on.  It’s nice that people say hello, but I know what they’re really saying.  Usually it is a disguised request for a critique.  “Come and listen to my songs” or “I sure would like to know what you think of my music” is what they really mean.  Sometimes they come right out and ask;  well, at least that’s honest!

Songwriting Class
Image by Shazari via Flickr

Part of being a songwriter is connecting to others and getting feedback, as well as getting advice on what to do with your songs.  But you are already somewhat self-involved simply by BEING a songwriter (I mean, who else do you write about except yourself or someone you’re infatuated with?? 🙂 )  so there comes a time when you have to not only step away from yourself, but do a little bit to help others along their path.  So consider the following etiquette:

1. Don’t Be A Spammer – when you sign up to a place like Soundclick or MySpace, don’t spam everyone else on those websites with a “listen to my new song!!” message.  Seriously, doesn’t it suck to get spam like that from others?  And when you do, do you go off and listen to their songs immediately and with wild enthusiasm?  Okay, maybe some of you diehards do 🙂 .  But think about how YOU would feel if someone made you feel obligated to listen to their music all the time.  You’d probably feel like they were pretty full of themselves!  Isn’t it nicer to discover other people’s music on your own?

2. Don’t Be Offended – if somebody doesn’t like your song, get over it!  This is a big world and it’s utterly impossible to please all of the people all of the time.  Do you like every song you hear?  Of course not.  Which leads me to my next thought…

3. Take a Step Away – when you are too close to your songs, you can’t possibly be objective enough to fix what ails them, let alone listen with any objectivity to feedback you receive about them.  If you find it difficult to remove yourself, then don’t make every song you write all about you!  Mix it up a bit, make some of it fictitious.  I’ve given this advice before in other articles, but it can’t be said often enough…it’s only about you when you’re in the bedroom by yourself writing it, once you take it out the door, it’s about everybody else.  Think about that.


4. Take The Time To Listen To Your Peers – join songwriting circles, open mic nights, anything that exposes you to other songwriters. You’ll learn a lot from them, including what NOT to do. Listen to their songs and give them feedback. This also goes for online songwriting websites where you can post your songs to be critiqued. If you post a song, then critique two others. Make it a habit. And of course, critiquing is a great way to learn, so what can you lose?

5. Be Polite – the songwriters who get the most exposure, the most connections and establish strong relationships with people in the business are those who know how to be nice. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Be polite and thank anyone who gives you advice, directions, suggestions. They’ll remember that.

I used to critique songs years ago. It took a lot of time and sometimes it was the last thing I wanted to do at the end of a long day, but if somebody asked, I critiqued. I finally stopped one day when I got a nasty response to one of my critiques. Imagine that…I took the time to give a detailed response to somebody’s song and they blasted me for it!

That’s a self-centred songwriter. Don’t be like him!

IJ

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