Listening to The Fat Lady Sings by Nanci Hobson, available for music publishing and licensing: http://ping.fm/6L1jY

Listening to Mood Swing, ha, so true! Available for music publishing and licensing: http://ping.fm/uBGd5

New XMAS song, Christmas in Nashville, by @imjessicarae, sales benefit Toys for Tots, Listen here: http://ping.fm/5tIKf

Listening to Fools Anonymous by Christina VanWey, available for music publishing and/or licensing on StartMySong http://ping.fm/M1CfG

Nashville Band In Need of Help on the Road

Just got an email from a Nashville band in need of some help. The Delta Saints bus has broken down on their tour and they need help getting it fixed! Here is the email:

Hello Friends,

Today we are launching a campaign to raise money to help save the bus. Due to 

transmission failure, we need some dough in order to stay on the road and get 

the ol girl repaired. 

To make a donation, click here: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/thedeltasaints

See the current progress: http://thedeltasaints.fanbridge.com/campaigns/show.php?id=677392&sid=119438479

Any contribution will be rewarded by the corresponding task. If you donate $10, 

we'll send you our albums. $15 gets you a t shirt, and so on. If you give $350 

you get to name the bus and live on in Delta Saints history. Take a minute and 

check out our campaign, and donate to help keep us around. Every little bit 

helps.  

We've also added the Pray On E.P. (2008) to bandcamp. Download a copy now! 

http://thedeltasaints.bandcamp.com/album/pray-on Consider any of these your 

personal early Christmas present to the band. Thanks in advance. And for those 

of you in Lawrence, KS and Jonesboro, AR; we'll see you this weekend!

Please donate if you can and support these Nashville musicians!

Posted via email from Start My Song

How to Find a Songwriter for Your Project: http://ping.fm/Sbp8z

Listening to I DON' DO IT FOR CASH © Christina VanWey :) Lyrics are crackin me up http://ping.fm/j4KWL

Dance song needed for young pre-teen, female artist, pop/AC category with a dance beat ($500). Details: http://ping.fm/VtLVI

Music Publishers and Labels, Have You Seen the New Orchard?

The Orchard, one of the original companies allowing for digital distribution of music for labels and music publishers is announcing some big changes to its Release Builder system.

Labels can now upload large amounts of music, complete with metadata, artwork, and of course audio.

...the real magic comes from the ability to repackage on the fly.  So, that means that labels can quickly reorganize tracks into different album bundles, remotely and without having to upload tracks a second (or third or fourth) time.  This is an easy way to create retailer exclusives and album variations, something that fits the highly-varied release landscape of today.

Digital Music News has the full story with photos here. 

Posted via email from Start My Song

Radio Jingles are Still Rockin

Traditional radio is expected to post a revenue increase for 2010, the first time an increase has been seen since 2006. This is good news for the music industry overall as there are billions in revenue flowing from traditional radio in forms of performance royalties to songwriters and music publishers as well as as labels and artists in the form of music exposure.

This is also good news for the radio jingle business as that advertising money will continue to flow in to traditional radio stations. 

Most radio stations now have a digital form online as well. If you're considering running an advertising jingle, you may want to consider making a buy on the digital side to tap into that growing market.

Posted via email from Start My Song

Listening to the Top Songs ready for music publishing on Start My Song, listen here: http://ping.fm/jV67O

Great Explanation on Sound Exchange and Getting Paid as an Artist

Great video explanation from IndieConnect featuring John Styll, CEO of StyllPoint Consulting.

View the video on IndieConnect's website.

In the video, John talks about SoundExchange vs the traditional performance royalty services ASCAP and BMI. Where the traditional services pay music publishing houses and songwriters for song play over traditional radio and in public venues, Sound Exchange pays artists for play on digitial mediums such as internet radio or cable music channels.

MusikPitch Adds Chat and Sets $500 Project Minimum http://ping.fm/cGzO6

Listening to Just 18 © Matthew Stemme, http://ping.fm/LJUAB

Apple Extends Previews to 90 Seconds Without Asking

Apple sent out a nice letter to music publishing services and record labels to let them know they were increasing the song preview time from 30 seconds to 90 seconds for songs over 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Smaller publishers and labels were a bit upset that they weren't consulted on this at all before the letter was sent. It seems Apple is really starting to flex its muscle based on their established control of the market. 

Posted via email from Start My Song

Is Traditional Radio Still Important for Music Discovery?

A study from Edison Research is showing that 88% of 12 to 24 year olds still discover new music from traditional radio. Good news for those in the music publishing business who are used to having radio play ensure the success of an album or song. Radio has been such a powerhouse in the music industry that seems to be holding its ground a little better than the record labels in recent years. The thing that makes radio so powerful is that the reception hardware is built into multiple devices (especially cars) and there don't seem to be plans to remove it in place of a Wi-Max internet receiver anytime soon. I think radio may be around for a few years longer although the Internet will eventually take its toll. The question then will be, what will radio become when it's no longer the place to find and hear music? 

You can see the full Edison report here.

Posted via email from Start My Song

Listening to TRYIN TO MAKE IT TILL PAYDAY © BASHA JAYE and others http://ping.fm/EgQtE

Songwriter needed for new mortgage lender jingle ($500) http://ping.fm/8uFNM

Listening this Must Be Real by Fernando (ready for music publishing and licensing) http://startmysong.com/

Listening this Must Be Real by Fernando (ready for music publishing and licensing) http://startmysong.com/

Music publishers who think they may be owed payouts from the labels for the years 2007-8 ("phase II") http://ping.fm/OjZKw

Paying Musicians and Recording Artists for Radio Play May Pass Soon

Changes may be coming that effect the Nashville songwriting and music publishing scene. Yesterday, I had a chance to sit in on a recording session for a new song co-written by Jessica Rae. While I sat, I noticed all the elements that go into producing a hit song. Everyone in the room adds a special element that makes that song unique. Most of the people in the room, however, are paid a flat fee, never to see future royalties from their creative help.

Changes may come soon though as the NAB Joint Board has ratified settlement terms to MusicFirst Coalition trying to settle radio performance royalties issues...

According to Radio Ink Magazine:

Under the terms approved by the Radio Board, broadcast stations that play music would pay between .25 percent and 1 percent of net revenues. A law requiring cellphones to include a radio chip -- with an "acceptable phase-in period" and the inclusion of HD Radio chips when that is "economically feasible" -- is part of the term sheet, but if that can't be accomplished right away, radio would agree to an initial performance royalty of .25 percent of net industry revenue.

Thereafter, the performance royalty would mirror the penetration of radio-capable cellphones. Once market penetration reaches and maintains a level of 75 percent, broadcasters would pay a full 1 percent performance royalty. That rate has no expiration date.

See the full proposed terms here. 

Posted via email from Start My Song

At OMNIsound for Recording of New

> > Hanging at OMNIsound for recording of Jessica Rae's new song, Between Sundays - Coming Soon!
>

> > > > Sounding good guys! Always enjoy the Nashville music publishing scene.
>

Posted via email from startmysong's posterous

90% of Artists Are Eligible To Sue For More Digital Royalties Thanks to Eminem

Music attorney says 90% of older music sold is owed music licensing fees!

!

Posted via email from startmysong's posterous

Listening to Funny how! by John O' Grady on StartMySong: http://startmysong.com/

PR Success Story - A Press Release About A Press Release

So a few months ago, I sent out a press release about a success we had with MusikPitch and The Local Taco jingle. I really enjoyed writing the release which you can read here: Get a Jingle

Following the success of that release, PRWeb called to interview me about my experience using their service. I basically told them that I loved it :)  I had first read about using PRWeb for press releases in David Meerman Scott's book: The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Social Media, Blogs, News Releases, Online Video, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly. A great read and highly recommended. I also read Made to Stick after the recommendation of a couple people including Nashville's top UX expert, Justin Davis.

I tailored my press released based on the recommendations of both books and got a tremendous response from the release. It was picked up by over 5,000 sources and had 107,610 impressions to date. See attached data sheet.

Overall it was a brilliant success and a lot of fun to watch the news spread. 

PRWeb has written a great story about the effectiveness of that release here: PRWeb Helps MusikPitch Sing its Tune (which is a very nice looking blog by the way, well done guys). Which they then released across the wire and it was picked up by some big services to include Yahoo! News and the San Francisco Chronicle. 

So overall, I think the original release has paid for itself many times over. 

Have you ever used a press release wire service? What was your experience?

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from startmysong's posterous

Great story on Yahoo! News about Nashville music company @MusikPitch http://ping.fm/dzu4a #PR

What Should I Use for My Profile Picture?

A quote from Google Juice:

You are going to be setting up a bunch of different accounts in the next couple chapters and you’ll need a few things on hand. You already have your GMAIL account so use this as your email to keep everything under the same email account. You will also need a good profile picture of yourself. Honestly, get a professional photo done. There is nothing worse than the obvious fact that you cropped your face from a group picture taken at your cousin’s wedding two years ago. You also need to avoid the creepy badly lit webcam image.

 

It only costs a few hundred dollars to hire a professional photographer to meet you at a location and get a few nice photos. Take some shots in your office, home, or around your city. Dress nice and look professional. Don’t have a few hundred? Call that friend with the nice camera to help you. Technology has made it so easy these days for anyone to take some pretty decent headshots. However, if you want to look your best, try and hire a professional. Need help finding one, put an ad on Craigslist. Be sure you let your photographer know that you need jpeg images for use as profile pictures on social networks for business purposes.

 

The other choice you have for a profile photo is to use your logo. There is debate back and forth about which is better to use on services like Twitter. If this is your sole business, use your own image. However, if you own a number of businesses, you may want to consider using a logo for the Twitter accounts and other accounts that we’ll discuss later. For Facebook and LinkedIn use your headshot.

You Lika the Juice? 

Posted via email from startmysong's posterous

$200 - Song needed to celebrate Dr Chau's achievement of PhD and to wish him all the best: http://ping.fm/aJNeP

How To Respond To Comment Trolls - 3 Rules To Follow http://bit.ly/cOLM4S

Listening to Matthew Stemme - Little Girl Grown (great song) http://ping.fm/SdYAa

Introducing Google Juice | A Guide to Increasing Your Online Presence and Search Results http://ping.fm/MnnrC

Need a better online presence? Need help with your web rankings? Need to sell more music? Get Google Juice: http://googlejuice.co

Free presentation in Nashville: WordPress - All You Need to Know to Set Up a Blog or Website (Details: http://ping.fm/l7bOf)

Listening to Long Slow Burn by Nanci Hobson: http://ping.fm/HoooP

Congrats to Tim Wittman and all his success from using StartMySong http://ping.fm/2Uggj

Listening to Matthew Stemme - She's On Her Own http://ping.fm/nPswz

listening to Tony Varcoe - All Hands On Deck, want to listen? http://ping.fm/cxLFQ

Best Ways to Get Custom Songs For a Video Or Film Project http://ping.fm/6zoXj

Top 5 Music Licensing Myths Debunked http://ping.fm/X3jx4

Excellent discussion ongoing, Songwriting: How Much Money Can I Make?: http://ping.fm/HCh8y

Darkest Hour’s Mike Schleibaum on Do It Yourself Vs. Label http://ping.fm/HRiZm

3 ways to get music for my video http://ping.fm/n1UO7

Listening to Laughter in the Hallway by Matthew Stemme, available for publishing: http://ping.fm/FL8oQ

Plenty of new song added and ready to be heard and ranked by you! listen now http://startmysong.com/

Help HEAB name her new invention of Almond Milk Yogurt (Algurt?) http://ping.fm/AQeOR

When The HEAB Version Just Won’t Do http://ping.fm/eGO2Z

Almond Butter Is Heather's Secret to 100-Pound Weight Loss - That's
Fit http://ping.fm/5cefj


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Social Media - There's More Than MySpace http://ping.fm/THigl

Why Just Bieber Is Such A Big Hit

Sent to you by Scott via Google Reader: Why Just Bieber Is Such A Big
Hit via hypebot by Bruce Houghton on 3/29/10

GUEST POST: Jay Frank is the author of Futurehit.DNA and SVP Music
Strategy of CMT. You can download a free chapter of his great book on
his blog FuturehitDNA.com and Hypebot's Kyle Bylin interviewed him
earlier this year. In this guest post, Frank looks at the factors
behind the meteoric success of teen idol Justin Bieber using the
FuturehitDNA methodology.

Justin Bieber mania has arrived. With the release of his new album, My
World 2.0, and a sure thing #1 debut, many people are wondering how it
happened. Teen phenomenons can certainly happen fast, but rarely
without the help of a Disney show in recent years. By my rough
calculations, after the first week sales of his new album are accounted
for, Justin will have grossed approximately $15 million in total
recorded music sales, not including ringtones, streaming revenue,
T-shirts or posters in less than 9 months. And that’s just in the
United States. For a music business in “trouble” and an artist aimed
clearly at teenagers and below, this is a success, especially because
the train is really just leaving the station.

So the question is, how did this become so successful so quickly?
There’s been plenty of other artists who have been released in the same
timeframe that can’t count this level of success in this short of a
period. What made it work? There are a lot of specific elements in each
song which I’ll detail shortly, but readers of Futurehit.DNA know the
answer lies in Chapter 7 of the book.

RELEASE MORE SONGS MORE OFTEN
Look at this time frame of songs being released:

- APRIL 2009 – Release of “One Time” single
- JULY 2009 – Release of “One Time” video
- AUGUST 2009 – Release of “Favorite Girl” YouTube Video w/Taylor Swift
- OCTOBER 2009 – Release of “One Less Lonely Girl” single + video
- NOVEMBER 2009 – Release of My World 8-song Album
- JANUARY 2010 – Release of “Baby” single
- FEBRUARY 2010 – Release of “Baby” video
- MARCH 2010 – Release of My World 2.0 Album
Did you get all that? In a world where many people are in the game of
milking singles for all they’re worth, Justin just kept releasing
content. A new official video has been released every 3 months. Two
album releases. 18 total tracks have come out. All within 9 months.
Considering that most artists are at a pace that’s nearly twice that,
it’s not surprising that Justin runs rings around them.
And this all occurred by focusing on the fan and constantly feeding
them content rather than just chart positions. The first two singles
didn’t crack the Top 15 on the Billboard Hot 100. And Justin’s biggest
hit, “Baby”, reached #3. Meanwhile, #1 songs are regularly engaging in
much less commerce.
And Justin’s songs regularly engage in a Futurehit.DNA formula to
engage his young audience:

SHORT INTROS (Chapter 1)

“One Time” has a 7 second intro. “One Less Lonely Girl” has no intro.
“Baby” has a positively long 14 second intro. Yet both “One Time” and
“Baby” make use of Justin utilizing an “ay” and “woah” vocal during the
intro. Since Justin has a young higher pitched male voice, one could
make the argument that he is creating a distinctive vocal right from
the get-go so you know who’s singing.

LONGER SONGS (Chapter 2)

Justin Bieber’s songs are hardly epic with lengths of the singles
ranging from 3:30 to 3:50. However, considering that Ke$ha’s big hits
don’t even reach 3:30, he’s definitely competitive in his category.
Regarding length, Justin’s songs actually fall right into the range of
the majority of Top 100 songs at the moment.

CHORD CHANGES (Chapter 3)

There’s not a lot of chord changes going on in Bieber’s hits. However,
he puts the dramatic changes where it counts. I often talk about the
need to change things up around the two minute mark, and Bieber does
this regularly. In “One Time”, the song drops all instruments except
drums giving Justin a moment to sing acapella, which given his talent
is very distinct. In “One Less Lonely Girl”, a very distinct key change
occurs. And in “Baby”, there is a significant drop out towards the end
of the 2nd verse that’s attention grabbing that then leads into the
Ludacris verse. Nothing earth-shattering, per se, but all effective in
engaging the listener at a time that counts.

REPETITION (Chapter 10)

If there’s anything that occurs in Bieber’s songs, it’s repetition.
And to hit the teen and tween market, it’s almost too obvious that this
technique would be utilized. The title of “One Time” is repeated 32
times in the song, with the word “one” used an additional 17 times. A
long song title doesn’t prevent “One Less Lonely Girl” being repeated
39 times. For “Baby”, they probably went for the world record with 55
mentions of the title. Within the rest of the songs, there are numerous
other instances of repetition to just add to the effectiveness of
repetition.

Again, all of these elements and more contribute to the phenomenal
success of Justin Bieber. Towering above them all, however, is the
super serving of the audience thru constant releases. This is an
element that can occur on any scale with any style of artist. The more
you keep momentum within your audience and the more you keep them
engaged, the more likely you will succeed. If more artists followed
this formula, a $15 million US gross for recorded music would be a more
regular occurrence.






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Let your fans sign up to your email newsletter with just a text http://ping.fm/btUoR(hypebot)

ReverbNation Expands Music Distribution Service http://ping.fm/p3cft

Slacker has opened up to unsigned acts and allows them to create their own branded radio channels http://ping.fm/DdgBw

Nashville 2.0 meeting changed to tomorrow at 7pm - @jwd2a of Madera Labs discussing importance of user experience: http://bit.ly/9F1GZ6

See how Gaelic Storm successfully used email marketing to increase fan-base http://ping.fm/6CbpW

Great interview Ellis Paul about supporting yourself as a musician-including actual revenue numbers http://ping.fm/1b7X9

Music distribution service Zimbalam now open- lets artists submit and distribute their music through 25 of the most popular music platforms.

If you enjoy the Christian genre of music, we have a bunch of new songs from artist Jon Vayu, listen here: http://ping.fm/fngcM

Enhance Your Facebook Fan Page with RootMusic http://ping.fm/o0EZg(Indie+Music+Tech)

Great new resource for songwriters just launched in Nashville, Music Starts Here: http://ping.fm/D4Hu7

Great meeting today at the Indie Connect Monday luncheon. Met Laurie McClain, listening to her music now, love it: http://ping.fm/6oXVa

See what virtual meetings are coming up for independent musicians from Indie Connect http://ping.fm/4OP6Y

http://ping.fm/KiarY

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Move beyond MySpace for promoting your music/ band online! Setting Up Your Broadcast Channel http://ping.fm/hbkUM

Need to charge credit cards for merchandise at your shows? Use square: http://bit.ly/baxQYX

15 points that must change in a song if artists, songwriters and producers of tomorrow want a chart topping hit http://ping.fm/KsQtb

This one will work!! http://bit.ly/9oaNR4

Let's try that Jeremy Lister link again: http://ping.fm/HKKEL(American+Songwriter)

Starting the day with some music by Jeremy Lister and a nice cup of Frothy's finest: http://ping.fm/XMJ9l(American+Songwriter)

BetterThanTheVan giveaway at #sxsw Register to win a VAN filled with gear http://ping.fm/7xoZO

Songwriters Hall of Fame 2010 Inductees' List Includes Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire http://ping.fm/bKrnI

For all those going to #sxsw : Austin-Bergstrom Just Became the Number One Airport in America http://ping.fm/93qDf

TLC's hit show What Not to Wear is coming to Nashville and is looking for songwriters, @startmysong for details...

Listening to newest songs uploaded http://ping.fm/waJfh #musicmonday

How To Make The Whole World Sing: “Anytime” http://ping.fm/xSLbx(American+Songwriter)

Listening to Jessica Lea Mayfield's Run Myself Into the Ground: http://ping.fm/SDDOY(American+Songwriter)

Listening to the #SXSW Shoutcast radio show previewing 2010 South By Southwest artists: http://ping.fm/YTiNB

Insight in music business & management from MPN, great quick video http://ping.fm/E7DiM

Getting Your Music Into Film And TV http://ping.fm/ukvSz


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iTunes' 10 Billionth Song Contest http://ping.fm/mNwn8

Advice for songwriters and producers from MPN http://ping.fm/JQaOD

Anyone tried ASCAP Plus? ASCAPLUS Awards Information: http://ping.fm/fH1b4


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http://ping.fm/exSLz


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Listening to new song from Charley Boy, http://ping.fm/LevD4

30,000 Songwriters in the Making http://ping.fm/Xdcim

Bandize: Manage Your Band Like a Business: an idea so sharp you’re likely to wonder why it hasn’t already been done http://ping.fm/q1NPX

Rascal Flatts Turns the Tables on Songwriters | GAC News & Notes

http://blog.gactv.com/blog/2010/02/04/rascal-flatts-turns-the-tables-on-songwriters/

Sent from my iPhone

Posted via email from startmysong's posterous

The Ridiculousness Of Copyright Clearances: Fight Club Producers Had To Pay Off Marla Singer? http://ping.fm/JIrEk

Feature Film “Battle” seeking Hip-Hop music submissions http://ping.fm/YLnEB

“Getting Label Attention” with Traci Snowe http://ping.fm/86gs6

WINNERS ANNOUNCED, 15th ANNUAL USA SONGWRITING COMPETITION BEGINS http://ping.fm/z9S0t

Kris Kristofferson followed his heart to Nashville http://ping.fm/rto11

10,000 musical artists in new Facebook game could create whole new music sales and promotion dynamic: http://ping.fm/SCQdQ

Steve Jobs: How To Live Before You Die http://ping.fm/Xnsoy

Bored? Like music? Take this music survey and help a student with her graduation paper: http://musicsurvey.org/

After a request, StartMySong adds FOLK MUSIC category, need some Folk music now: http://startmysong.com/

Trouble with chopsticks? Chopsticks training wheels http://ping.fm/yKPTs

Saw this at Edgehill Cafe, press your bands albums onto records, seems pretty cool: http://ping.fm/K08gP

@Scobleizer @Mashable Can you patent a web application? I see Microsoft has filed this: http://bit.ly/6Q2PBU I thought you could not patent

A List Of Income Streams For Musicians http://ping.fm/tkQZj(hypebot)

Nashville music labels involved in suit over song prices http://ping.fm/GSUv3

How To Stay Motivated As A Songwriter: http://ping.fm/croJs

Listening to Sometimes When We Hug http://ping.fm/uuS9G great demo ready for publishing...

Checking out http://readit.me, nice clean simple interface, love it. Nice job @brian_dailey

'Up In The Air' Songwriter Kevin Renick Amazed By His Real-Life, Feel-Good Tune http://ping.fm/2NwTo

Nashville Inches, Ever So Grudgingly, Into the Future http://ping.fm/7rceB

Join the Songwriting Industry Group on LinkedIn to discuss trends and opportunities in the songwriting business: http://ping.fm/5SY78

Songwriting: How Much Money Can I Make? http://ping.fm/0sNVY