I got in a few new blues songs Saturday morning. I love blues songs and thought I'd pass these two songs along by Brian Walstad from St Paul Mn.
James Breedwell
Sings his original song titled
"My Guitar"
Are you Fed Up to your Ears in the Government making this country something we dont recognize?
Well Mason Jarre has had it!!!!
Mason Jarre has written a protest song that says it all.
Please send this song to every person you know that wants to save America and quit spending our childrens money
I have run across a duo group named Summertown. They sent me a new live recording that they put on youtube.com that is really fantastic. Summertown will be playing at our Dec 4th show at the Bost Harley Davidson showroom. Give it a listen and hear some great music.
Featuring Mike Musick and Lindsey Davis
I got this one in Saturday from a doctor named Mark Elliott
His songs make you think...
He has 169 songs on a site that I will go through and find more that I like later this week but these stood out . They sound like old vintage Shel Silverstien .
Soft Drugs Hard Liquor and Easy Women
God Bless the America I dont see on TV
http://www.memarkelliottme.com/
If you didn't know what an Angel Flight was, you will never forget it after seeing this.
This one put a tear in my eyes.
Last week I received a song from a guy named Elexus Quinn after asking for folks to get the old songs out from under the bed that you have been keeping in an old shoebox. He wrote back:
Please enjoy the attached old school country ballad (which has been in the old shoe box since the 1980's). Unfortunately, that song is the only country song that I have written (and typically I don't sing using that rich baritone sound). Please feel free to to include I'm All Over You on your website.
I really liked it, Most guys have at least one woman in their life that this song would apply,
Elexus Quinn
I got this one in yesterday. It has some pretty fancy guitar pickin that runs throughout the song and liked it cause I am a working man too.
By Jonathan Taylor
I received a very touching song and story last week that I want to share with you.
Dear Sir,
I have a song that I wrote called Scarred Hands.
It is a true story about my mother who saved my sister from a fire when she was a new born
Her hands became scarred when she saved my sister
My mother was so ashame of her hands she always wore gloves to cover them so people wouldn't make fun of her..
When my sister was older and she told my mother about another person named Jesus who had Scarred Hands she never wore the gloves again.
Our pastor of our church has a studio which he makes mp3s to help support the church.
Three of the girls in the choir sang the song and the church band played the music for the song.It is a modern day country Gospel Song.Can you listen to this song and tell me if the song is worthy for your company.
This is my first song I have ever written.Everybody tells me this song has a lot of heart and can touch a lot of people.
Here is the mp3 of Scarred Hands.
I received a song and video from a guy in Atlanta Georgia that I thought was worth a listen:
I thought the video was so appropriate for the song, that I can't help but share it with you.
Chris wrote these words, along with the link:
Music, lyrics and video by Chris Hebert.
Some old video I had from 2003 shot on my Super 8.
I recorded the song a few months ago
Agents For Songwriters Part 1:
Do You Need An Agent?
Once you’ve progressed to a certain point in your songwriting career, you’re writing regularly, you have various entities interested in your songs, you may begin to wonder “Do I need an agent?”. Sometimes it’s a difficult question to answer, especially if you aren’t a “seasoned” songwriter with years of experience in the business.
With artists who have not yet been blessed with a wealth of experience, the idea sometimes forms that if you want to put your career on the road to success, you need to hire an agent. What some are surprised to learn is that actually, the very opposite is true. Some of the misconception is due to the simple fact that many individuals are really unfamiliar with what an agent actually does.
Conversely, there are those who experience some songwriting success, but don’t have agents because the idea of paying an agent 15% of their income is unpleasant, and often viewed as unnecessary (Why hire an agent when I can do it myself?).
What does an agent do? That’s a good question, the full answer of which would take more space and time than this article allows, but here’s the basics:
An agent essentially operates as a “go-between” or middleman between the artist and the entities he or she is marketing to. However, the agent’s duty and responsibilities don’t end there. An agent works as an advisor to the artist, providing creative advice as well as critique, making suggestions as basic but important as how songs should be submitted for consideration. An agent also provides career and professional advice. A good agent works to protect the artist and songwriter, to negotiate the best possible deal on their behalf, and to help direct the marketing of the songwriter’s work in the most advantageous and profitable way.
What are the advantages of having an agent? Agent representation gives the world the perception that you are indeed a professional. But more importantly, and sometimes most importantly, it is evidence that an objective source (the agent) has enough confidence in your songwriting abilities and your career as to think that you have a marketable product. That can be a powerful statement.
Another advantage of agent representation is that agents are professionals at what they do; you’re not. They are familiar with industry and legal wrangling, certain protocols and intricate points of negotiation needed to obtain the best results for you.
In the second part to this article, we’ll look at several things you should do before hiring an agent.
Agents For Songwriters Part 2:
Before You Consider Hiring An Agent…
The relationship you establish with an agent is a partnership, a collaboration of sorts that can prove most important to you and your songwriting career. If you are contemplating hiring an agent, make sure you understand what an agent does and his responsibilities, and what are your responsibilities within your partnership. Here are a few pointers:
Produce A Quality Product
An agent works to help you to market your product, but you must present him/her with a promotion-worthy product. If your songwriting has not yet reached a point that you are experiencing success with it, or the quality of your writing has not reached a level of critical excellence, then you can’t expect the agent to work miracles. You have a responsibility to produce a high-quality and marketable product.
Build Your Audience
It’s not the agent’s job to build an audience for you. You should already have an audience following by the time you seek an agent. His job is to increase your sphere of influence. It’s your job to “close the sale”.
Learn Your Business
It’s not the agent’s job to teach you the songwriting business. An agent can provide guidance, advise and critique, but it’s your job to research, study and keep abreast of current trends and industry developments. Seek resources for industry insights and information, professional instruction and strategies. This will help you to be a better partner to your agent, and help you both to achieve what is in your best professional and career interests.
Supply The Resources For Marketing Your Work
Provide promotional materials for the agent to work with. Supplying biographical information, copies of your work recorded on CDs or DVDs, copies of critics reviews, articles, records of sales or other evidence to support the quality and marketability of your work helps your agent to do a better job on your behalf.
Hiring an agent is a significant step in the progression of your career. There are many factors that should be taken into consideration. Making sure that you first are well informed and prepared to make this very important step, helps to assure that hiring an agent is an advantage for you and proves profitable for your songwriting career.
In the last article in this three-part series, we’ll review what characteristics you should look for when hiring an agent.
Brian Cook is a freelance writer whose articles on music and songwriting have appeared on many websites.
You can find more of these at SongwritersGuide.com.
A&R Reps – The Talent Scouts Of Music
If you are an artist you have probably dreamed about getting signed to a major recording contract, but the sad truth is that few artists actually know anything about the record companies’ personnel who is responsible for discovering new talent, where and when they look to find talent, and what they are looking for in that talent. Now, I could easily write a book on a discussion of A&R but here is a brief overview of it.
The first thing you need to know is who A&R is. A&R is an acronym for Artists and Repertoire and they are representatives who are record company personnel whose job it is to go around and discover new talent and help to develop that talent. The further those reps climb in their business the more they begin to get paid and the more stressful their job becomes.
A&R reps have a huge responsibility to make money for their company and to justify their career positions; because of this A&R reps try to follow the current trends to look for the next big hit or watch and see what reps from other labels are pursuing. Most believe that these reps have signing power within the company but they do not. A&R reps first need to find potential artists, and then get the approval of the record company president, which is the hardest part of the job. All of this makes it extremely hard to be an A&R rep at a label, an average life-span of three years in fact.
Now, if you are trying to get a record deal you probably want to know what these reps are looking for. The key things they are looking for are artists who have potential hit songs, a marketable image, a great live show, signature sound, and long-term career potential. Although it is not a must, reps prefer bands that are business-minded and first help themselves. What that means is artists who press and sell their own recordings, build a strong fan base, establish a strong web presence, and have a clear vision of their goals are far more attractive to record company reps than those who do not.
Now, where do reps discover new talent? A&R reps discover new bands through: surfing the internet for MP3 music files, attending local club performances, listening to college radio stations, independent record labels, reviews in local and nation trade magazines, etc. The best way to get spotted by a rep is to just play music through these different ways and if you are good enough you will get found.
As I said, I could write books about what an A&R rep does, but the basic run down is they are paid by record labels to go out and find potential talent to be signed by that label. If you are an artist looking to get signed I hope understanding what an A&R rep does and how they do it will help you to get signed.
Brian Cook is a freelance writer whose articles on music and songwriting have appeared on many websites.
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