Remember to check out my other blogs

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I wanted to make sure that my readers on this blog are aware of my other blogs and that you are checking them out. Those blogs are PACKED full of helpful information too. So remember to check these blogs out:

Interviewed.blogspot.com - new interviews from members of The Clutch, Bryan-Michael Cox, Midi Mafia (Fantasia), Chris Blackwell (Prez. of Island Records), Stephen Hill (VP, BET), Irv Gotti, Jimmy Iovine, Kanye West, Timbaland, Jermaine Dupri, and the list goes on. Watch these videos and get great advice and inspiration from industry professionals on how to step your music game up, how to write a hit, how to survive in the industry, how to expand your money, etc.

Musicpanels.blogspot.com -see video footage from the ASCAP I Create Music Expo during a panel with Johnta Austin, Bun B, Chamillionaire, Greg Watkins (allhiphop.com), Carvin Haggins & Ivan Barias of Karma Productions. There's also video footage of the Southern Entertainment Awards Panels with the TMI Boys and Music Mogul Wendy Day. Also watch videos of Bryan-Michael Cox, Russel Simmons, TJ Chapman, and Killer Mike at recent conferences.

Mobilemusicbusiness.blogspot.com - learn about which mobile companies are providing opportunities for recording artists to brand, market and promote themselves, connect with fans, and make more money. Learn some of the key players in the mobile music business. See which recording artists have already started going mobile with their music.

Musiclabels.blogspot.com- here you can find out about Jermaine Dupri's new label, John Legend's new record label, Bryan-Michael Cox's new music publishing and film and television company, and Jazzy Pha's new label. You will also find contact information and discover what each label is looking for.

http://globalmusicbusiness.blogspot.com/ - learn different methods of taking your music to the international market. Here you'll find music resources, contacts, industry news, and websites that will be useful in helping you as a songwriter, producer, beatmakers, artists, and artist managers. You'll learn how to brand, market and promote yourself overseas.

Keep checking these blogs, subscribe and/or bookmark all of these sites! You will be glad you did!

Thedy B, Attorney/Songwriter

Hits A Million, LLC

More Songwriting Contests

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Check my previous blogs on other songwriting contests I've mentioned. But here's other opportunities to compete:

Songwriting Contest #12

Mid-Atlantic Songwriting Contest- Opens June 1st. Deadline is August 15th.

www.saw.org/masc.asp
The Songwriters’ Association of Washington (SAW), founded in 1979 as a nonprofit organization, holds the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest to help songwriters receive recognition and assistance in their musical endeavors. The proceeds from the contest enable SAW to provide programs throughout the year that educate and develop the talents of those interested in the art and business of songwriting. For more information on becoming a SAW member, call: (301) 654-8434. For more contest info: masc@saw.org

Songwriting #13:

Billboard's Song Contest - Deadline November 15, 2008

Whether your style of music is pop, rock, country, jazz, gospel, Latin, blues, or dance, the 14th Annual Billboard Song Contest could offer you unparalleled professional exposure among some of the music industry’s most influential names. All songs receive a judging report. Our judging report will tell you how your song performed with tips on structure and content.

Our professional songwriting and music industry judges will be considering your music on the basis of originality, lyrics, melody, composition and commercial appeal, so you don't need to book studio time to produce your entry. Although production does make the song prettier, production values do not count. A homemade "track" is fine. Don't worry if you're not a great singer - after all, it's a songwriting contest!

If you've averaged less than $5,000 per year total royalties earned from music since 1992 (including prize winnings from previous song contests), you're eligible to enter. Here's how a star could be born! Enter your original song(s) in any of these categories: Country, Pop, Rock/Alternative, Contemporary Christian/Traditional Gospel, Latin, Jazz, Dance, or R&B/Blues.

For more information, visit http://www.billboardsongcontest.com/


Songwriting #14:


Songdoor International Songwriting Competition - Deadline is November 15, 2008

With the goal of helping songwriters everywhere to improve their craft, SongDoor provides all entrants a free self-paced songwriting course from SongU.com and a professional, personalized evaluation of every song. The Grand Award winner receives a private-session, full band demo produced on Music Row in Nashville, as well as a one-year Platinum Membership to SongU.com and many other great songwriters' tools. There are also seven Category Winners. The judges (industry producers, engineers, artists and songwriters) have worked with the likes of Neil Young, *NSYNC, Tony Bennett, Britney Spears, Kenny Rogers and The Allman Brothers, to name just a few. The competition is open to amateurs and professionals worldwide. Competition opens: April 15. Entry deadline: November 15. Entry fee: $10. For complete details, go to: http://www.songdoor.com/. You must be 18 or older to enter.

Thedy B, Attorney/Songwriter
Hits A Million, LLC
hitsamillion.blogspot.com
myspace.com/hitsamillionllc

Songpull » Are You The Next Jingle-Writing Genius? Compete For A Chance To Win $100,000 » Songwriting Community Blog - Songwriter Networking

In addition to the 10 songwriting contests that I mentioned in my previous post, here's another chance for you to participate in a songwriting contest, get exposure, win some money, and win a contract with one of the companies! This time you can compose and write a jingle to win! For more information, click on the link below. Sign up today to attend an open call nearest you! The deadlines to enter this jingle writing contest are from May 28th through June 7th.

Songpull » Are You The Next Jingle-Writing Genius? Compete For A Chance To Win $100,000 » Songwriting Community Blog - Songwriter Networking

Posted using ShareThis

Thedy B, Attorney/Songwriter
Hits A Million, LLC
hitsamillion.blogspot.com

Can't Erase - My Political Song

In my most recent post on creative song ideas, I attempted to inspire songwriters to dig deeper when writing their lyrics and to write about the things that are going on in society. I too wrote my version of a social/political song some time ago. The song is called Can't Erase. I want to do a video of Can't Erase and post it on YouTube. As soon as I get a better singer to sing it, I will. Prayerfully, a recording artist will choose the song, record it, and perform it. In the meantime, if you'd like to hear the song, go to my myspace page, www.myspace.com/hitsamillionllc

Thedy B

Creative Ideas for Songs- Part 5

While my blogs are usually dedicated to educating and helping other songwriters, I also from time to time post blogs that are meant to encourage songwriters. Well, I'd like to take today to inspire you as a songwriter to write songs with meaning. What made me think about this? I was listening to Marvin Gaye's Make Me Wanna Holler while shopping this weekend and thought where is that type music? Why isn't there more songs out now, especially in R & B, that are talking about the ills of society? Is Hip Hop music and pop music the only genres that dare to say what's going on in society? Why is there a lack of political R & B songs? Why aren't we as the music creators writing and singing about things that's going on in the world? There are only a handful of songs that come to mind that do so: John Mayer's Waiting on the World to Change is one example.

What was true back when Marvin Gaye sung Make Me Wanna Holler is still true today but soul singers don't seem to be singing about that. Instead it seems we'd rather sing songs like T Pain's I'm in love with a stripper, or Plies' Bust it Baby and other songs of such.

I'm all for balance because music is supposed to on some level entertain but dog, seems like we got our eyes wide shut and we see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Those singers that went before this generation saw the things going on in society and spoke out, sometimes at their own risk, but speak out they did. Look at the Dixie Chicks when they choose to sing about their political stance against the war: their music and their group was boycotted. Recently though, they won a Grammy.

So I want to encourage us a songwriters to dig deeper, write more meaningfully, and inspire a generation like the singers of old. And don't worry about who's going to buy the music, don't worry about if people don't "get" the music, or even hate what you are saying. Why? Because if your song is making a difference, a positive difference, it will later be recognized for just that!

Thedy B
Hits A Million, LLC
hitsamillion.blogspot.com

My Songwriting Contest Experience

In my prior blogs, I shared with you 10 upcoming songwriting contests and the benefits of entering a songwriting competition. Now I'd like to share with you my own experience.

I will never forget the first time I entered one of my songs into a songwriting contest! I was at my very first music conference, the Babbie Mason Music Conference, a gospel music songwriting contest. This contest was my very first songwriting contest ever. Songwriting for me was, and is, at times, a very personal thing for me. I was hyper-sensitive about exposing my songs to people until recently. But nevertheless, I decided to shed my song-shy ways to enter this contest.


And the song I entered I just knew was a hit! I loved singing it. Me and the guys who worked on it, worked on this song for hours, days, months even. I wanted it to be perfect! We believed our sweat and tears made the song a hit. I just knew EVERYBODY who heard this song was going to love it. I was confident that this song was going to place at the very least in the top 10 songs out of 100. Being a type-A personality and an over-achiever, I placed high value on my scores and rankings. So imagine my shock when the top songs were announced and I didn't see my song anywhere on the list. Then when I got my song back, my song was returned with a score of 70 out of 100! Are you kidding me?! They basically said I failed!


I was crushed and hurt.

There were three judges who critiqued my song and each had something positive and negative to say about the song. Because I was hurt initially, I refused to listen to the critique. I didn't even want to finish going to the music conference! I didn't want to hear what ANY ONE of those judges had to say to me. They didn't know how much time, and money, and effort had gone into this song! So I started not to return to the conference at all. But listening instead to my instinct rather than my hurt feelings, I went back to the conference, humbled, and ready to listen and learn. Returning was the best decision I made as I learned some valuable songwriting tips, gained some resources now, and am a better songwriter because of it. That's one of the reasons why I encouraged you as I did in my prior blogs to participate in one of the 10 upcoming songwriting contests and gave you some benefits of participating in songwriting contests. I hope you will take my advice!

I want to help you avoid some of the embarrassment that I felt when I found out my song was not up to industry standards. So I'm going to be doing a series of blogs on how to critique your own song. So stay tuned!


Thedy B, Attorney/Songwriter
Hits A Million, LLC
myspace.com/hitsamillionllc
interviewed.blogspot.com - contains interviews of top producers, songwriters, & music execs
globalmusicbusiness.blogspot.com -helping you go global with your music
musicpanels.blogspot.com -missed a music conference, find some clips of it here
mobilemusicbusiness.blogspot.com -go mobile with your music, find ways to do mobile marketing
musiclabels.blogspot.com - find out information on new record labels recently launched
hitsamillion.ning.com - network with other producers, singers, songwriters, and beatmakers

Songwriting Contest and Competition Benefits

In my prior post, I gave you a list of 10 upcoming songwriting contests that you can take advantage of. The advantages and benefits of participating in a songwriting contest are:

1. You can get your music heard. Many songwriters and artists are looking to get their music heard by music industry professionals. Well here's your chance to get your music heard by music industry professionals.

2. You can get your music evaluated. In some of the songwriting contests, your songs will be evaluated regardless of whether your song places in the top or not. This evaluation or feedback will help you enhance your songwriting skills by hopefully showing you areas of improvement, areas of strengths, and help you gage how your songwriting skills compete with others.

3. You can compete with other songwriters. You compete every day anyway with other songwriters to get placements so you might as well compete with songwriters in a songwriting contest. Who knows? You might win!

4. You can receive recognition. Since songwriters need to brand, market and promote themselves, entering a songwriting contest and placing in the top spots will win you some recognition in the music industry.

5. You can receive prizes. Each songwriting contest has prizes for the top songwriters. Those prizes could be musical gear, a recording contract, free branding and promotion, and many other things that will help you boost your songwriting career.

6. You save money. Though most songwriting contests require some sort of entry fee to participate, you can actually save money by participating in these contests. How? You save money by investing the $30 entry fee for example, and find out now that your song needs a lot of work versus paying hundreds of dollars in studio fees, paying musicians and singers, and engineers to produce that same song that needs work. Getting feedback well before you invest your money is a good investment of your music money. (For additional money saving tips for songwriters, click here!)

7. You get the opportunity to network. Here's yet another way to network! (To read all my blogs on networking, click here!) Here's your chance , for $30, to have an industry professional listen to your music. Many people spend hundreds of dollars going to a music conference or showcase to have an industry person listen to their music. This is your chance instead to pay a little and potentially get much more out of it! (For additional money saving tips for songwriters, click here!)

So take advantage of the songwriting contests that I mentioned in my prior blog, they could be another valuable tool in getting you signed as an singer-songwriter to a record label, getting you a music publishing deal, and/or building your brand, your name, and your songwriting skills.


Thedy B, Attorney/Songwriter
Hits A Million, LLC
myspace.com/hitsamillionllc
interviewed.blogspot.com - contains interviews of top producers, songwriters, & music execs
globalmusicbusiness.blogspot.com -helping you go global with your music
musicpanels.blogspot.com -missed a music conference, find some clips of it here
mobilemusicbusiness.blogspot.com -go mobile with your music, find ways to do mobile marketing
musiclabels.blogspot.com - find out information on new record labels recently launched
hitsamillion.ning.com - network with other producers, singers, songwriters, and beatmakers

Songwriting Contests, Competitions & Awards

The following is a list of some upcoming songwriting contests:

Songwriting Contest #1 -Deadline May 30, 2008

2008 USA SONGWRITING COMPETITION
The 2008 USA Songwriting Competition deadline is fast approaching. Win a top prize of $50,000 worth of cash and merchandise such as cool gear from Sony, Ibanez Guitars, D'Addario Strings, Peavey, Audio-Technica and more. Also, have your winning songs played on radio! Enter in Pop, Rock/Alt, Folk, R&B, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Instrumental, etc.

Since 1995, USA Songwriting Competition has been honoring songwriters from all over the world. Winners came from Australia, Japan, Canada, UK, Germany, Brazil, South Africa, USA, etc. Past winners have gotten recording contracts, getting their songs on film, TV as well as getting cuts with major artists. The 2005 Winner of the country category had his winning song cut by Faith Hill. The 2005 winner of the pop category was signed by MySpace/Interscope records.

Entries must be entered by May 30 or earlier. The entry form can be found at:
http://www.songwriting.net/entryform.html

Songwriting Contest #2 - Deadline June 7, 2008

BLACKDOG MEDIA GROUP LAUNCHES UPSTATE NY SONGWRITING CONTEST!
The Upstate New York Songwriting Contest is open to all musicians of all music styles. Simply record a demo and submit either by mail (CD or Cassette) or online (mp3) – entries will not be judged by recording quality, but by the quality of the song. Entries are due no later than June 7, 2008 and can be submitted via the contest website or by mail. Contestants are eligible for over $10,000 in prizes. Visit http://www.songcontestny.com/Home.html for full details.

Songwriting Contest # 3 -Deadline is June 15, 2008

The John Lennon Songwriting Contest is an international songwriting contest that began in 1997. The Contest is open to amateur and professional songwriters who submit entries in any one of 12 categories. The JLSC is open year-round and features two Sessions -- with 72 Finalists, 24 Grand Prize Winners, 12 Lennon Award Winners and 1 Maxell Song of the Year.
You don't need a professional recording. Entries will be judged on originality, melody, composition, and lyrics (when applicable). Your songs may be entered in any of the following categories: Rock, Country, Jazz, Pop, World, Rhythm & Blues, Hip Hop, Gospel/Inspirational, Latin, Electronic, Folk, and Children's. Instrumental compositions are encouraged. For a complete list of prizes, go to http://www.jlsc.com/prizes.php. To see who the judges will be, go to: http://www.jlsc.com/judges.php. To enter the contest, go to: http://www.jlsc.com/enter.php

Songwriting Contest #4 - Deadline is June 30, 2008

BREAKING THE BAND 3

Breaking the Band from We Are Listening is every song contest, licensing, press, booking, touring and festival showcasing opportunity rolled into one. We've created an enormous independent artist campaign with a major label budget. This may be the single, largest investment in your career by an independent music company.

Details: http://www.wearelistening.org/contests.php
Fee: $40
Deadline: June 30th 2008

Songwriting Contest #5 - Deadline is June 30, 2008

INDIE INTERNATIONAL SONGWRITING CONTEST Now accepting song entries for its first semiannual competition. Come see the new contest standard. Green-friendly - conducted entirely online with no mailed entries accepted. Know your judge and your score! Entries are limited for greater chance at recognition. Don't be "screened out" of other competitions. $16,000 value in prizes to be awarded and all genre winners also featured on front page. Contest closes at only 150 genre capacity, so enter today! Enter online with your new permanent profile http://www.indieinternational.com/

Songwriting Contest #6 - Deadline is midnight August 1, 2008

The Independent Music Awards
Unlike any other music industry contest or competition, The Independent Music Awards delivers real career opportunities for Indie artists, labels and releases. The Independent Music Awards helps Indie artists & releases worldwide overcome mainstream obstacles by placing Winners & Finalists in front of more than 20 Million new fans via yearlong promotion, marketing & distribution programs. Winners are also promoted key industry players including: Commercial, Public & College Radio Programmers, Music Journalists , Film, TV & Gaming Music Supervisors, Club & Festival Talent Buyers, Ad Agencies, and National & Regional Promoters

Songwriting Contest #7 - Deadline is August 15, 2008

WORLD OF MUSIC AWARDS

The World of Music Awards from We Are Listening is the first international and multi-lingual contest for World music artists and songwriters. Armed with an expert panel of judges and a prize package that includes an all-inclusive trip to WOMEX in Spain, We Are Listening delivers an unparalleled opportunity to be seen, heard and signed!

Details: http://www.wearelistening.org/contests.php
Fee: $30
Deadline: Aug 15th 2008

Songwriting Contest # 8 - Deadlines varies

AMERICAN SONGWRITER MAGAZINE'S AMATEUR LYRIC CONTEST
Established 1984. One contest per issue, 6 issues each year.

Requirements: Send lyrics only. Lyrics must be typed and payment for $10 (per entry) must be enclosed. No limit per contest. Include an entry form with each lyric sheet submitted. Call for required official form (615-321-6096) or print it from our website. http://www.americansongwriter.com/ ~ Lyrics only, no cassettes or CDs.

Awards: A Martin guitar DX-1 with case, D'Addario strings to each contest winner. Top 4 winning lyrics for each contest reprinted in American Songwriter Magazine. Honorable Mentions are listed as well. Each issue features a Lyric Entrant Q&A as well. One overall winner per year receives airfare (from American Airlines) to Nashville and a demo session at Music City Music Productions.

Songwriting Contest #9 - Deadline is October 2008

THE BOSAs SONGWRITING AWARDS:
The BOSAs Songwriting Awards is a twice yearly global competition where the best songs and artists are showcased to Music Publishers and other Industry Professionals for review in addition to category prizes.

Site URL: http://www.thebosas.com/
Current Deadline to Enter: October and April of each year
Contact: info@thebosas.com

Songwriting Contest #10 - Deadline is October 10, 2008

The 10th Annual Great American Song Contest features:
Opportunities to win prestigious songwriting awards and valuable Prizes;
Opportunities to get your songs heard by qualified music industry professionals;
Opportunities to advance your songwriting, promote your songs & open doors in the music business. The 10th Annual Great American Song Contest offers 45 awards in nine different categories. ALL entries receive a thorough review from prominent music-industry professionals (see Judges); ALL submissions receive a written evaluation from the contest judges;
ALL entrants receive an entry confirmation and Judging Schedule to track the evaluation process. ALL ENTRANTS receive a free online Self-Paced Educational Course from SongU.com (a $39.95 value!) Easy to enter by mail or online.

Thedy B, Attorney/Songwriter
Hits A Million, LLC
myspace.com/hitsamillionllc
interviewed.blogspot.com - contains interviews of top producers, songwriters, & music execs
globalmusicbusiness.blogspot.com -helping you go global with your music
musicpanels.blogspot.com -missed a music conference, find some clips of it here
mobilemusicbusiness.blogspot.com -go mobile with your music, find ways to do mobile marketing
musiclabels.blogspot.com - find out information on new record labels recently launched
hitsamillion.ning.com - network with other producers, singers, songwriters, and beatmakers

Save yourself money on entertainment attorney/legal fees!

In my prior blogs, I gave you some tips on finding an entertainment attorney, tips on selecting an entertainment attorney, told you about the benefits of having an entertainment attorney, and even gave you tips on firing an entertainment attorney. Also in prior blogs, I gave you tips on how to save money and make the most of your music money. Now I wanna help you save on entertainment attorney fees! Yes, you can save yourself a lot of money in entertainment attorney fees. Again, before I do that, let me put my disclaimer here: These pages are created to inform and educate the public only. They are not and should not be considered legal opinions or advice. You do not and cannot have any client-attorney relationship with me based on these blogs. You should not act upon legal advice found here but are instead advised to seek professional counsel before taking any action based upon information found on this blog.

Okay, with that being said, here's how you can save money on entertainment attorney fees:

1. Educate yourself!!!!!!! Read some of these books on the legal side of music business that I've recommended. Click here to see my list of recommended books.


2. Select the right entertainment attorney! Again, read my blog on how to select the right entertainment attorney. Selecting the right entertainment attorney will save you money from having to fire the attorney and then start all over again with a new entertainment attorney who will likely bill you for the time it takes him or her to become familiar with everything your prior attorney did or needed to do.

3. Ask the right questions! If you educate yourself on the business, you won't spend time asking your attorney questions that you should know, such as what is a copyright? what is a trademark? Sure you can pay an entertainment attorney by calling him or her with these same questions but why when you don't have to?

4. Do it yourself! While I do highly, highly, highly recommend getting an entertainment attorney's advice, there are some things that simply do not require an attorney's help. The Internet has made it so that you can do some things just by researching them on the Internet and filling out the paperwork yourself. For instance, you can fill out a copyright form yourself. You can find and fill out split sheets yourself. If you wanna know some of the things that I'd suggest you get an entertainment attorney, click here!

5. Go to music conferences! I stress over and over in my blogs that I go to music conferences. Some conferences have a whole panel with entertainment lawyers or at least have one or two entertainment attorneys on a panel who provide their legal advice just to the attendees. At the recent ASCAP I Create Expo, there was a whole panel just on that. The entertainment lawyers told attendees that for that one hour panel discussion, they had saved themselves $1,500 in attorney fees! For a complete list of 2008 music conferences, click here or here!

6. Do things right the first time! Lawyers and attorneys are brought in sometimes when the problem is big. By that time, you have to spend a lot of money in attorney fees fixing a problem. If you know you are struggling with doing things yourself, I'd suggest you SAVE money by hiring an entertainment attorney and avoiding a lot of back end legal fees. For example, it's a lot cheaper to start or fight a copyright infringement suit with a registered copyright form in place than without one. Another common scenario: At a recent conference I went to, some entertainment attorneys told the story of one of their clients who didn't find out if the name he used was registered as a trademark, the client used the name, the name became popular because of the client, and then suddenly when the name became popular, someone in a distant city in another state noticed that someone was infringing his trademarked name and prohibited the client from using the name! Moral of the story: do it right the first time.

I want to caution you though that cheaper isn't always better. So really weigh all that I've said in my prior posts on when to get an entertainment attorney and this post on when you don't need an entertainment attorney. Google this issue some more and then make your final decision!

Much success!

Thedy B, Attorney/Songwriter
Hits A Million, LLC
myspace.com/hitsamillionllc
interviewed.blogspot.com - contains interviews of top producers, songwriters, & music execs
globalmusicbusiness.blogspot.com -helping you go global with your music
musicpanels.blogspot.com -missed a music conference, find some clips of it here
mobilemusicbusiness.blogspot.com -go mobile with your music, find ways to do mobile marketing
musiclabels.blogspot.com - find out information on new record labels recently launched
hitsamillion.ning.com - network with other producers, singers, songwriters, and beatmakers