Songwriters in Seattle

Category: Music Biz

These are blog posts (mostly text) that are specific commentary on a music business related topic.

  • NWME IndieGoGo Seedfunding Campaign Launched!

    NWME IndieGoGo Seedfunding Campaign Launched!

    After 9 months of planning, anticipation, and building excitement, we are very happy to announce that we are ready to make the big push to bring the Northwest Music Experience convention and expo to life! Our grassroots effort to create a major multi-genre event which educates, connects with music industry, and creatively inspires in Seattle that serves the entire Pacific NW region needs your help…it’s as simple as going to:

     


    http://www.indiegogo.com/nwme

     

    All you need to know about the seedfunding campaign is there, and more great news regarding the exact date and venue are coming within the next few weeks! Please share the link, post it on social media and spread the word – it is as important, if not more important, than contributing yourself. Please consider giving $5, $10, or more – every little bit helps. This is going to be a music community event like nothing else in the Northwest. Have a look and be a part of launching something special! We hope you are as excited as we are to see this event take shape and become reality. Share it, contribute, and let’s make it happen!

     

     

  • The NW Music Experience Convention and Expo

    The NW Music Experience Convention and Expo

    Songwriters in Seattle is proud to be planning the 2013 Northwest Music Experience convention and expo. Teaming up with other key organizations in the community such as Seattle WAVE Radio and Music Aid Northwest, SiS member volunteers have played a large part in getting this exciting project underway. There is a lot in progress right now, and there are many ways you can be a part of making it happen. First, you can go to the NWME Facebook page and join the discussion – also while you’re there, take a quick survey and be entered to win a $150 gift certificate from Pacific Music!

    So, what is this conference all about? Here’s the overview:

    Northwest Music Experience is a convention/expo for musicians and industry professionals to develop and promote performance, as well as inspire and connect in community.

    Over a three day weekend in the city of Seattle, NWME will provide an environment of collaboration and inspiration between musicians, music industry professionals, and music fans. Musicians of every age, experience and skill level will find the tools they need to enhance their creativity, boost their productivity, hone their delivery, and find support and community. With keynotes, panels and breakout sessions as well as an industry packed expo floor during the day and performance showcases at local venues in the evening, NWME packs a lot into just a few days. Participants come to network, perform, learn, do business and enjoy the community of other artists and their fans. The goal is for this event to become an annual showcase of regional talent with a sprinkling of the best from the national and international music community, drawing speakers and attendees not only from the western region of the United States, but from around the world.

    Summary of key event activities:

    o 2 days of packed music education and business tracks

    o 3 nights of live music at local venues featuring the best of the Northwest and beyond

    o Music industry expo floor featuring top brands for gear, services, and more

    o Friday youth music events

    o Friday evening VIP reception/gala at EMP honoring local music celebrities

    o Saturday morning keynote (speakers TBD)

    What makes NWME different from other Northwest region music events?

    o Created and run by musicians, NWME is organized under a non-profit organization, Songwriters in Seattle…

    o …with the goal of supporting and nurturing musicians, not making money from them.

    o The only NW music event that combines education, industry expo, and public performance across all genres and interests.

    o NWME focuses on the independent musician and music professional’s complete needs, from licensing and copyrighting to performance and home studio recording.

    o A welcoming and supportive environment for musicians with a variety of levels of experience and goals, whether it’s weekend hobbyist or making a fulltime living as an artist.

    o Genuine and honest feedback from professionals and peers.

    This is bound to be an incredible event for our creative community, and with our combined efforts will be a lasting annual event for years to come. Get involved now!

     
     

  • Night Out Radio – Part 2 (Interview)

    Night Out Radio – Part 2 (Interview)

    Interview with Mark & Linda Gordon of My Seattle Night Out and Seattle Wave Radio

    With a website containing an online radio station focusing on local, Greater Seattle (and really the State of Washington) bands and singer/songwriters, Linda and Mark Gordon have jumped on a current trend that seems to be replacing the way we listen to music. These Internet radio stations not only reach our area through Seattle Night Out but throughout the US in most major cities (and many minor ones) through the “Night Out” organizations, with a total reach upwards of 40,000 people a day. In the previous article I listed why and how to sign up with MySeattleNightOut – for this week I was able to ask Mark and Linda a few questions about their organization and online radio:

     

    Jeff: So all this is free? I can just sign up and get my songs played? There’s gotta be a catch!
    Mark: Yes, it’s free – but since it is FREE, we ask all the artists and bands to promote and talk about our website and radio to all their fans, friends and family with routine endorsements publicly, and through their social media network.

     

    Jeff: What’s the best way to do that?
    Linda: To follow us on Twitter and fan us on Facebook, to engage us in conversation on those accounts, to make sure they post their gigs on our calendar of events on our website, and post on our newly launched Seattle Music Facebook fan page at https://www.facebook.com/SeattleWaveRadio. We will share with our “personal” page which has 4,380 friends. When gigs are posted on our calendar, we tweet about them @SeattleNightOut and @4SeattleMusic, plus they will auto-post to our “personal” Facebook page.

     

    Jeff: It’s free cost-wise but you’re hoping we invest a little time?
    Linda: I realize that takes a small amount of daily effort, but if they want more fans and to sell more CD’s, they have to “work it.” Our social media reach is very deep and we are highly rated and respected in the Seattle social media circles. Our total reach can be upwards of 40,000 people a day. This is worth more than any premium someone could pay for.

     

    Jeff: So how does one get airplay on your stations?
    Mark: To have your tracks spinning on our radio is not a pay to play, nor are there politics involved. We make judgments on how often a track gets air time based on quality of music and demand. Everyone, though, that submits quality recordings has their tracks played. We want everyone to be heard.

     

    Jeff: Is there anything I can do to say…get MORE noticed by you guys?
    Mark: When a band or artist promotes us, we will promote them heavily. As well, keep sending us new music, which keeps our programming fresh for the listeners.

     

    Jeff: So not only are you heard in Seattle but you’re nationwide, too?
    Mark: On our MySeattleNightOut.com website player there is a selection for “National.” What this is is a play-list of songs from all the 400 plus NightOut sites across the country. When an artist puts a link to a single mp3 track in their profile, that track will play on all the other NightOut Radio players.

     

    Jeff: I understand your national presence. Do you have any plans for a worldwide audience?
    Mark: With Seattle WAVE Radio, our goal is to have a global presence. We will do that through our mobile apps deployment, marketing and station programming, and of course, it won’t happen without Seattle’s great music.

     

    Jeff: Yesterday Seattle, today the nation and tomorrow the world…is there anything else you would like to say?
    Linda: We did not start up Seattle WAVE Radio for any more important reason other than we saw a space which needed to be filled; we did it to support the local music community, and the local businesses. We are not just another advertisement post on Facebook or Twitter; nor simply just a community billboard. We socially engage people in conversation, and are personally active in promoting businesses, bands and artists with value added features.

     

    If you haven’t yet signed up with MySeattleNightOut, access the first article in this series “Why and How To” and sign up. If you have quality recordings, and would like to have the prospect to reach a global audience of listeners every day, there’s no reason not to.

  • SiS Podcast: Jennifer Cadence

    November, 2011

    Jennifer Cadence
    “Sapphire Blues” pop artist Jennifer Cadence is interviewed by SiS Organizer Chris Klimecky. They discuss the origins of her unique pop sound, her new EP “Mr. Universe,” and she gives 5 music business tips all musicians should follow.


    Click the play icon above to stream, or click here to download

    Click here to read more about this podcast from Chris’s blog archive.

    Subscribe to the SiS Podcast on iTunes

  • Music Biz – What To Do Next? Part 1: The CD

    (Editor’s Note: Jennifer runs a monthly Music Biz Workshop event for SiS and has agreed to share some of her notes and recommendations in a 3-part series)

    You have passion and music and want to do something with them. Here’s the best order in which to proceed:

      1. Record your songs. Suck it up and either put down the money for professional recordings or barter for them. If you’re a songwriter, find or hire talented musicians (don’t settle with your friends) to perform on the recording.

    Some helpful tips:

        a. If you’re flat broke try the following for fundraising:

          i. http://www.kickstarter.com/
          ii. http://www.slicethepie.com/
          iii. http://www.pledgemusic.com/

        b. Hire a producer or bring in a trusted, truthful musician to give you outside feedback. YOU NEED TO GET OUT OF YOUR OWN HEAD during this process which is why your money would be well spent on a producer.
        c. Go in with a plan. It will save you lot’s of $ in the long run.
        d. Remember QUALITY OVER QUANTITY! If you can’t afford to pay for a full-length album, a four or five song EP is all you need to get your career going and will save you money.
        e. Eugene Foley www.FoleyEntertainment.com Has this to say about information for songs regarding commercially desirable structure (the most appealing structure for a sellable song) “One thing to keep in mind, at least for your songs designated as “Singles” (the songs geared towards winning over radio stations, record company executives and music publishers) – try to keep Intros under 10 seconds and try to reach the Chorus between the 40 and 43 second mark. This is very important in the following genres: pop, rock, singer/songwriter, R&B/pop, alternative rock, jazz/pop and punk/pop. If it’s 44 seconds or longer into a song and the Chorus did not kick in yet, you should edit the arrangement accordingly. In rap music, the chorus can come in at the 59 second mark or even a bit later, since the verses are traditionally longer, compared to other genres of popular music. Radio, Record Company and Music Publishing executives pay close attention to song arrangement, as they decide if an artist is developed enough for them to show interest.”
        f. A recommendation for order of songs on your disc:

          i. Your strongest song should ALWAYS be first.
          ii. If you will be submitting the cd to record companies, (similar to a demo CD setup) radio stations, etc. the first four to five songs should be in the following order:

            1. Upbeat (and/or strongest) song
            2. Midtempo OR ballad (whichever one is stronger)
            3. Midtempo OR ballad
            4. Upbeat (if this is your closing song) if there will be others on the disc a Midtempo song.
            5. Strong, Upbeat closing song.

          iii. This particular song order has been deemed the most appealing and is considered an industry standard.

      2. Have songs professionally mastered. Don’t just run them through garageband, have them taken (or emailed in) to a professional mastering studio and watch the magic.
      3. Hire a graphic designer and photographer to do the cd art. Don’t let your music be hindered by bad artwork. Check out local colleges for graphic design students or try posting an article on craigslist to find someone if you’re on a tight budget. If you have a strong fan base, ask your fans to get involved. Have them design it for you in a contest or have them vote on it. Fans love being involved. 🙂
      4. Duplicate your music. Start small, 100 cds is a good starting point. Discmaker’s 1000 cds deal is tempting BUT it takes a LONG time to sell/ get rid of 1000 cds. I would recommend having two sets of cds- 1 printing for press kits and 1 printing for merchandise.

        a. The press kit printing should include your contact information (email, name, phone number and physical [use a PO Box] mailing address) on the physical cd, on the back of the cd and near the liner notes on the inside of the cd. Get it in a standard jewel case WITHOUT plastic wrap.
        b. Merchandise copy can be in whatever format you’d like- just make sure you have a UPC code on it. If you don’t have one, CDBABY.com can get you a UPC for $20
        c. Studio North Duplication can do small order in a short turn time numerous different cases relatively cheap PLUS they’re based out of Lynnwood, which will save Seattle-ites on shipping costs. http://www.studionorthduplication.com/

      5. Register your copyright

        a. Also check with your performing rights organization to see what needs to be done to have your song accounted for so you can collect any royalties you generate.

          i. If you don’t have a PRO, get one- ASCAP, BMI or SESAC

      6. To CD release party or to not CD release party? You’ve just finished your project and are super excited to share it. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

        a. You’re either a starting artist with a small fan base or revamping your current direction into a new style do you have enough fans to be the headliner that the venue would want you to be? This typically means bringing in enough people to make the venue happy.
        b. A proper, successful CD release (the type that record labels do) involves AT THE VERY LEAST 10 weeks of prep time Check out the Music business toolbox at http://www.musicbusinesstoolbox.com/ to see the checklist and more. I highly recommend purchasing this product! Worth every single cent!
        c. It typically takes 2-3 months to book a release show.
        d. Will you have everything digitally in line with your physical release?
        e. Here’s a great article on Music Think Tank with more CD release tidbits http://www.musicthinktank.com/blog/10-key-to-dos-for-a-successful-cd-release-party.html
        f. Sometimes the smarter thing to do is simply start selling cds at shows and send out an email announcing that your cd is now available.

      7. Digital distribution. If you are having a CD release party try to make sure that your digital distribution date happens around the same time. The top used digital distribution services are:

        a. http://www.cdbaby.com/
        b. http://www.tunecore.com/
        c. http://www.reverbnation.com/user/login#!/main/overview_artist?feature=digitaldistribution
        d. http://bandcamp.com/ This one is FREE!

    Now that you have your music in your hand you have a tangible product to sell. One VERY important thing to remember is that you are not selling simply music, you are selling yourself. Next up in Part 2 is most likely the hardest, most time consuming, the most confusing and the most frustrating- Marketing.

  • What Genre Am I?

    We had a great monthly meeting this week at Cafe Allegro. As always, the meeting inspired me in many ways and gave me things to think about. One area that I heard from many fellow musicians there was the difficulty everyone felt when they tried to classify their music into a “genre”. There are many reasons for this.

    First of all, the genres are loosely defined and each person may have a different perception of whether a particular musical element fits into a particular genre or not.

    Secondly, when we write a piece of music, sometimes we do not set out to have the piece belong to a certain genre. The songwriting mindset may have nothing to do with genres. The composer thinks in chords, melodies and rhythms and the lyricist thinks in characters and story arcs and verses and hooks; but they may ignore whether a particular chord progression is Western/Americana or Gothic Metal. Hence, the genre assignment comes as an afterthought and things just don’t seem to always fit.

    Genres may also make an artist feel trapped, afraid to lose some amount of artistic freedom (and a chance for uniqueness).

    I feel your pain. My personal struggle with assigning a genre to my music took more than a decade (even though a large part of it was an inactive period for me) and finally ended some months ago when I read the book “Music Success in Nine Weeks” by Ariel Hyatt. Now, before you ask, let me tell you right away. No, I didn’t apply all the advice in the book; and no, I didn’t get music success in 9 weeks (although that depends on how you define “success”). However this book had a section about the topic of genres that helped me formalize my stance on this issue.

    Since I don’t have the book at hand right now, I won’t be able to quote directly, but what I got out of the book was this:

    Genres are loose classification tools. Genres help people who have not heard you before determine whether they would like to hear you or not. Genres help online databases and distribution channels show your name as a suggestion to those listeners who are most likely to enjoy your music. Genres help music business professionals (and yourself) have some idea about how to position you, do your marketing, and do your PR.

    Given the abundance of music available right now, it is more critical than ever to somehow reach the people that are likely to enjoy your music and become your fans (“finding your niche” in fancy terms). Any tool that helps those potential fans discover you, be it a genre, or a similarity to a famous artist, or a YouTube “tag”, seems well worth using.

    That was what led me to finally go through the exercise of analyzing my influences and various elements in my music, tracking down which genres they originate from and finally draw some lines around what I call “my genre”. And since nothing stops you from claiming to be a crossover between multiple genres I did exactly that. Now I confidently and comfortably claim to be “a merge of rock, classical and electronica”. And once you go through this exercise it doesn’t feel “trapping” anymore. After all, every single one of these genres have so much variety in composition, arrangements, and sound, I feel like I could do pretty much anything under the sun and still be able to claim “Hey, I am just stretching the boundaries of my genre!” 🙂

    Of course this is a personal choice and what I wrote is my story of arriving at a genre decision. Maybe it doesn’t work for everyone. Plus anything we hear and read about Web 2.0, social media and online music discovery is subject to change in very short time periods. Assumptions and observations could be inaccurate. No one can really prove, without a doubt, that assigning a genre will help more fans find you. Maybe as an artist you don’t even care how many fans you reach. Maybe you are just out to communicate.

    So what do you think about your music and genres? Do you feel comfortable with saying your genre is X or Y? What are your experiences?

  • Review: Bandcamp.com

    In this day and age, distribution of your music has become accessible to every musician, whether they are signed or not. You can get your music up on the net and make it available for free or for sale. Various sites can produce several hundreds of your CD’s relatively cheaply for you to sell them at your gigs. The challenge has become choosing which of these plethora of online services to use. To help with that decision, here is my review of one such site: Bandcamp.

    (more…)

  • “Mooncakes” on NPR’s Marketplace

    Songwriters in Seattle had a really cool and unexpected bit of national media attention Monday with our song, “A Black Market For Mooncakes” being part of a segment on NPR’s Marketplace. I’ve been asked a lot about how it happened, all the way back to the origin story of the song, so I thought I’d give you the lowdown on how it went down. First, here are the links to the NPR piece itself, as they have the text of what was read on air along with the whole song posted here:

    NPR Marketplace segment on Mooncakes song

    You can hear the entire audio of the Marketplace segment on their posted podcast here (our “Final Word” bit starts around 25:15):

    9/12/11 Marketplace segment audio

    So what’s the connection to Marketplace in the first place? Back in Sept. of 2010 my friend Skye Hansen posted a link to a Marketplace article by NPR Marketplace China correspondent Rob Schmitz called “A Black Market For Mooncakes” on her Facebook wall. I had only seen the headline come across my screen and it struck me as unique and poetic – so off the cuff I immediately commented on the post, “Sounds like a song title…” (completely in jest, of course). What Skye commented back was magical:

    “There’s a black market for mooncakes
    That appears in the dead of night
    It’s right next to that store with the fallingstar jam
    And other unearthly delights!”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    As I was at once surprised and blown away, I definitely wanted to make this into a real song. So I did try in vain for a few weeks to see if I could do anything with it, to no avail. Thus the Songwriters in Seattle “mashup” event where I brought what I thought could be a decent seed for a group collaboration. After some discussion about Rob’s article and the potential themes of China’s repression, underground rebellion, people coming together despite restriction to celebrate their passions, and the poetic symbol of the cosmic eatery, it was agreed that we’d give it a shot. (Note: Rob’s article wasn’t really about any of those things – it was more what we were inspired to think about based on the seed idea). With the throwing out of my portion of the attempted lyrics and some tweeking of Skye’s original chorus, we went to work.

    As you can imagine, 10 songwriters in a room trying to write the same song was…challenging. Lyrics and associated chords were written (and crossed out) with big black markers on large sheets of paper and stuck to the walls. There was much chaotic guitar playing and random singing. Some were frustrated, some thought it was going nowhere – or at least nowhere worthwhile. But after 3 hours or so, we had something – it wasn’t much, but we had something and it was actually pretty good. With me standing up at the sheets on the wall and trying to direct everyone to verses and choruses that would make a reasonable finished structure with what we had (only one verse of lyrics in addition to what we started with plus the chords to the two sections), we hit record on Jessica Lynne’s iPhone and ran through it best we could:

    (Warning – this is super rough, with beer bottles clanking as they fall over, yelling directions, and other such fumbling to get through)
    [audio:https://songwritersinseattle.com/audio/BlackMarket_SiSmash.mp3]

    Now fast forward a few months…based on that recording I obviously had some work to do to make the song into a listenable finished piece, but it finally came together. Recording was fun as this is not anywhere near a typical style for me. Breaking out the nylon string guitar for a flamenco solo and faking castanets with spoons from the kid’s toy percussion set were especially unusual. And then singing along with Jessica Lynne and David Rix to make us sound like a much larger group was a real kick. Overall, I am very happy with how the song and recording turned out. I feel it represents the collaborative talents and aspirations of Songwriters in Seattle very well.

    Many thanks again to David whose great idea and, more importantly, his action it was to send the recording to the original author of the Marketplace article which inspired the song, Rob Schmitz, and got the next part of the story started. Rob’s response:

    “All I can say is: Wow. I knew I had hit upon something when I reported the
    mooncakes story, but I never in my wildest dreams thought it was worthy of
    moving a group of musicians to song. Well done. I¹m honored my bizarre
    little story inspired your group to write and perform this piece.”

    Rob forwarded it to his producers in LA and next thing you know, David and I are working out the details with Marketplace Producer Fiona Ng to get the song on the air and linked on their website. Some vague details about what we should expect and when…then a few days later…boom! “I thought it was kinda catchy…” – Marketplace host, Kai Ryssdal. How cool is that? Thanks to Rob and Fiona for making it all happen.

    There you have it! This is yet another great example of the amazing things that can happen when we work together!