November 2011
Guild Tidings
The official publication of
The International Songwriters Guild
Volume 16, No. 11
NEXT MEETING 5:00pm Sunday, November 6th, 2011
Officers:
President/Treasurer
Russ Robinson (407) 382-9942
Vice President/Newsletter
Matthew Griffin (407) 903-1212
Secretary
Jacquelyn Gould, campkittycat@gmail.com
Membership
Susan Foster-Trewick, susiecool2001@yahoo.com
Newsletter
Jeff Mason, jeffrey_mason@me.com
Matthew Campbell, matthew_sax77@yahoo.com
Website
Carlos Colon (352) 326-4295
The International Songwriter’s Guild meets at 5 PM on the first Sunday of every month at the Central Florida Musician’s Union building, 3020 East Robinson (at the extreme east end of Robinson, near Orlando Executive Airport ) in Orlando .
Songwriters, composers, performers, publishers, and the curious are encouraged to join us. Non-members are invited to attend a meeting or two to get a feel for our group and what we do. For more information, visit our website at www.isgorlando.org or myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/internationalsongwritersguildorlando .
President's Letter
Dear Members,
Salutations, Songwriters. I hope this letter finds you well. Isn’t the cooler weather nice? I don’t know about you, but it’s about at my coolness threshold already; any colder and I’ll start to be uncomfortable! But temperatures in the 60’s and 70’s are invigorating. Maybe we should sit outside and write; just sayin’. J
Last meeting, we started talking about our annual Christmas party. We’re going to do the same basic thing we’ve been doing for several years: hold an informal gathering at the Union Hall in place of our December meeting (12/04). Family members are welcome as always. Feel free to bring original music and/or the instrument of your choice. And please bring a covered dish (proportional to the size of your party, of course). One change this year is that we have money in the ISG treasure chest, so I’m going to spend some of it on food: I will bring substantial main-dish meat and some drinks, so you can focus on sides and desserty stuff. By the way, I often forget to mention that we cannot have alcohol in the Union Hall, just so we’re clear.
For those of you who haven’t heard, Russ is now living with Jenny and her family. Jenny is taking good care of him, as always. I hope to arrange another group visit, similar to what we did in January.
I hope all of you have been busy writing. I always seem to have more songwriting projects going than time to work on them. But Jeff’s newsletter articles have been getting me pumped up! Thanks, Jeff, for your continued words of wisdom.
So, keep warm J and see you all on Sunday.
Matt (for Russ)
Nobody Told Me
By Jeff Mason
The title of this article is borrowed from a John Lennon song. I thought the line “nobody told me there’d be days like these” was an apt way to describe how many people feel today. People are losing their jobs and their houses and no one can agree on a solution. I was watching a boxing match in which one of the contestants was coming off his first loss. The commentator remarked that it’s what you do when you’re losing that’s important. I’ve experienced a slow down in my business in recent months, but there’s been a positive side to things, too.
For example, I’ve had more time to study. I’ve been reading Jimmy Webb’s book on songwriting, “TuneSmith.” Webb is a successful songwriter with a great resume. His best known song is “By the Time I Get To Phoenix .” I thought the chapter on rhyme was good, but it doesn’t compare to Sheila Davis’s book “The Craft of Lyric Writing.” She lays out all the different types of rhyme in a complex chapter on the subject.
There are new subscription music services available on the market today. I have a free membership with Spotify.com that allowed me to listen to the song examples that Davis and Webb were highlighting in their books. Last week I was listening to and studying the rhyme schemes of Gilbert and Sullivan. The negative thing about these subscription services is that very little revenue is getting to the artists. Lady Gaga is reported to have earned only $167 dollars for more than a million plays of “Poker Face” on Spotify. It reminds me of poor old Otis Blackwell in my last article who received $25 for “Don’t Be Cruel.”
The A&R company TAXI has a live video on U-Stream every Monday evening. I watched one hosted by Michael Laskow in which he had an old tip he was using to illustrate how submissions are screened. A New York ad agency was looking for songs about money. The client was a bank with much money to spend. The song had to be modern, fun, upbeat and cool. Laskow played songs that had been submitted for this project. The audience voted a plus or minus one on each song. Those songs receiving a plus one vote would be forwarded by the screener to the client. Only one song fit the stated criteria, and everybody agreed that it should be forwarded. The other songs missed the mark by a wide margin. It was a minute into one song before the word money was even mentioned! One had a line about putting your money under a mattress! Don’t forget the client was a bank. Most of the songs were not positive or upbeat. It became obvious that people didn’t read or understand the stated requirements of the tip sheet. I bring this up because one of the biggest criticisms of TAXI is that their screeners are not fair. You can still see this video on Ustream under the heading of “Live Screening On TAXI TV.”
Keep on trying everyone and I hope to see you next month.
ISG Bulletin Board
Matthew “Sax” Campbell gigs and announcements:
- Performing live original music at Orlando Brewing, 1301 Atlantic Ave. in Orlando , on Friday November 4th at 9 PM.
- Having a Christmas Party or Holiday Party and want awesome entertainment? You can book Matthew to sing and play saxophone in the holiday style, or book Sly to DJ the greatest hits of the season... or... both at a discounted rate! For a free rate quote, email matthew_sax77@yahoo.com today!
Kitty Camp Pet Boarding—A loving, lakeside resort in Fruitland Park . Daily activities include: playtime, bird-watching, brushing, petting, purring, sunbathing, catnapping, and kitty’s favorite…mealtime! Daily/Weekly/Long Term, private rooms and suites available. 25% off weekly stay, FREE first night. Please call for details at 352-205-4284. Posted by ISG member Jackie Gould.
Delivering high-quality FLASH streaming video! No matter what product or service you may be offering, the power of video can be impressive! In fact, flash video is the most effective way to deliver rich media on your website. Video grabs your visitor's interest more so than simply text and images, or even audio. Video keeps visitors on your site longer and often triggers a purchase! Video not only will enhance your marketing message, but it's also entertaining. Video is useful for demonstrating your product or service, as well as teaching, inspiring, and motivating your visitors to become a customer! So if you're holding out with a website that may look outdated or obsolete, you may be losing business. It's time to make a change. Visit my website at http://www.videosaysitall.com. Thanks and call me anytime (352-326-4295)…Carlos Colon
Meeting space graciously provided by Central Florida Musicians Association, Local 389. You are invited to join the largest union in the world, representing the interests of the professional musician. Visit their website at afm389.org for more information. You may reach them by phone at: 407-894-8666.
We’re always looking for material for the newsletter. If you have any information that you would like to see added to the newsletter, please see Matt Griffin at the meetings or email him at isgorl@cfl.rr.com . Please keep your articles brief and to the point. Print deadline for the newsletter is approximately two weeks prior to the monthly meeting.
Classified advertising may be placed free of charge to members in good standing with the ISG . For more information on display advertising and/or classified advertising for non-members, please call Matt or email: isgorl@cfl.rr.com .
Why isn't your gig announced here? Call us with your appearance schedule!
Place your classified ad or gig announcement here! Free to ISG members as always! Just get your text to Matt by the print deadline (usually the Friday 16 days prior to the monthly meeting); email is best ( isgorl@cfl.rr.com ).
New members always welcome!
© 2011 ISG