Muses’ Clues Apr/09

M u s e ‘ s C l u e s : by Irene Jackson

From The April 2009 issue of Muse News at Muse’s Muse

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Years ago I heard about a songwriting challenge called “50 Songs
in 90 Days”, which was basically a summer-long (for those of you
in the northern hemisphere!) challenge to complete 50 songs
within a limited amount of time, brilliant or not, just to do it.
A lot of songwriters enjoy the challenge of a deadline, and if
you’re one of those, then you might enjoy this challenge. It
started out as a Yahoo group but it grew and was eventually
sponsored by another group called FAWM, or February Album Writing
Month, which you can find here: http://fawm.org/.

February is over, of course, but check their website out anyway,
because even though you’ve missed the challenge this year, you
may find some inspiration in some of the forums and submissions
on the site. They have also spurred some online and live
regional events in a number of places, mostly in the US, where
songwriters gather to showcase and hobnob. As well, there are
some online events including podcasts and chats, mostly held in
February but certainly worth checking out as well.

One of the best parts, of course, is their Jukebox where you can
peruse some of the songs that have been uploaded to the site by
songwriters participating in the challenge. This year they had a
total of 7375 songs uploaded by 754 active members. You can also
look through the songs page and listen to the latest submissions.
Some of the songs are listenable but others are “locked” for
various reasons.

The website is kept alive by donations, and even though the
challenge is over for this year, songwriters are still able to
join up and for those who are participating, there is a little
meter beside each name to show their progress. There is also a
forum where songwriters discuss their progress among other
things.

To those of you who are constantly looking for inspiration,
Google “songwriting challenge” and you’ll find other songwriters
who have participated in the 50/90 challenge, or who have created
challenges for themselves and are blogging about it.

Inspiration is always out there if you look hard enough!

IJ

The End of “Performing Songwriter”

A magazine which I have subscribed to and enjoyed online is coming to an end.  Performing Songwriter has been around for 16 years, filled with well-written articles and interviews with well-known and little-knowing performing songwriters from everywhere.

It looks like difficult economic times are the main culprit of the end of this wonderful magazine.

If you have ever subscribed to it or enjoyed the online version, head over to the website while it is still there and email Lydia Hutchinson, the editor, and let her know.

“Why do all good things come to an end…” – Nelly Furtado

‘Tis The Season for Song Contests

 

I am always skeptical of song contests, especially smaller ones that promise all kinds of wonderful prizes if you pay the entry fee, and enter as often as you want!! Yeah, yeah, pull the other one 

However, I’ve come across a couple lately that have caught my attention, the first one being the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council competition for a new song. It looks like they’re interested in a video version of whatever song you do…but here’s a chance to win a whole bunch of free hot dogs!

National Hot Dog & Sausage Council Contest

Okay, let’s get more serious.  The USA Songwriting Competition is about 14 years old and seems to be one of the more legitimate of those that I have come across.  This high profile competition has a grand prize of $50,000 in cash and merchandise, so I suggest that if you’re going to try for one, it might as well be this one:

USA Songwriting Competition

And here’s another one that I found by the Eastside Folk & Blues Festival.  Thank goodness there are song contests in categories other than pop or rock!  The entry fee is very reasonable and if you’re a folk songwriter (or blues or bluegrass!), this might be the opportunity for you:

Eastside Folk & Blues Festival Song Contest

Write on!

IJ