Posted by Jessica Brandon on Wed, Jun 23, 2010 @ 03:05 PM
The music industry is an interesting one. 20 percent of the music industry record labels owned by Sony, Universal, EMI and Warner owns 80 percent of the music industry. This Pareto's Principle like "80-20" rule is hard to acknowledge but true.
Success in the music industry is in the eye of the beholder. Less than one out of a hundred artists (music artists such as singer-songwriters) will have a song or album on the record charts such as Billboard or make 1 million in sales. That's less than 1%. This superstar 1% level control 80% of all music sales, songs you hear on the radio, downloads, concerts, etc. Singer-songwriters such as Lady Gaga, Madonna, Kate Voegele, Darrell Scott have sustaining careers, playing large venues hitting the Billboard Charts or making 1 million in sales.
The remaining 99% of the rest of the industry struggle to get signed, let alone hitting the charts, remaining in perpetual captivity. Most independent artists print 1,000 copies of their CDs and struggle to even sell half (500). They would make $80,000 or less per year in revenues or concert tickets per year. With no direction 99% remain in this captivity as they struggle through each day. The top 1% are using a system that 99% aren't.
However, there is a solution, it is called The Hit Songwriter Process™ , this is a proven method used by major record labels would release 99% of the music industry. The music artists break through out of that captivity and shatter the ceiling of complexity. This missing structure is what missing in the music industry. The general public thinks American Idol and America's Got Talent are means to an end. The missing structure is a tough 8 step method to make a music artist breakthrough.
The Hit Songwriter Process™ , is the missing structure where talent and ambitious music artists can achieve the $1 million in sales and above. It is the only way to do it in a strategic manner
Posted by Jessica Brandon on Wed, May 12, 2010 @ 09:19 PM
Tune in to the USA Songwriting Competition Podcast.
Music featured in this episode by:
Melissa Greener – Bullets To Bite
Kyler England – You And I
Eric Colville - The End of War
Nicole Morier – Good Boy
Carla Coppa – I’m Not
Anne Simoni – Papagaio
Sarah Lonsert – Dancing Through Life
Jordan Zevon – Home
Ari Gold – Where the Music Takes You
The Waifs – Bridal Train
Kate Voegele – Only Fooling Myself
Listen to the songwriters radio podcast show here:
Music Playlist at MixPod.com
Posted by Jessica Brandon on Mon, Jan 25, 2010 @ 06:52 PM
These are the top 10 USA Songwriting Competition winners of the decade:
1. Kate Voegele (2005 USA Songwriting Competition, 1st Prize Winner, Pop) appeared on "The Tonight Show" with Conan O'Brien performing her hit song "99 Times", a Billboard Adult Top 40 Hit, peaking at #24. She hit Top 10 On Billboard 200 Albums Chart on June 15, 20. Her album "A Fine Mess" was released on Interscope/MySpace records. Her winning song"Only Fooling Yourself" hit the Billboard charts at #37.
2. Ari Gold. Winner of the 12th Annual USA Songwriting Competition (2007). After his win in the USA Songwriting Competition, Ari's winning song went on to hit #10 on the Billboard Charts, #1 on Sirius OutQ, #1 on Logo TV, etc.
3. Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer. They won the first prize in the Children's music category of the 2005 competition for their song "Scat Like That". The album of the same name won a Grammy award in the "Best Musical Album For Children" category.
4. (3 way tie) Kyler England, Gabriel Mann and Adrianne Gonzalez. Kyler England (2009 USA Songwriting Competition 1st Prize Winner), Gabriel Mann (2003 USA Songwriting Competition Overall Grand Prize Winner) & Adrianne Gonzalez (1999 Overall Grand Prize Winner) formed a Pop group "The Rescues", were just signed to Universal Republic Records in 2009.
7. Sarah Lonsert. Only 17 years old, not only broke the first prize record of being the youngest winner but also the overall grand prize winner of being the youngest winner ever. The previous youngest first prize winner was Kate Voegele, who won in 2005 at 18 years old. Adrianne Gonzalez was the youngest overall grand prize winner at 22 years old when she won in 1999. Sarah also won first prize in the Dance/Electronica category, making her the first from that category to ever win the overall grand prize. Sarah Lonsert will be releasing a full length CD earlier next year. Although Sarah suffers from autism (first autistic winner ever), she is a budding singer-songwriter and has also won the L.A. Music Awards a month before her win.
8. Darrell Scott. His song "Good Ol USA" (first prize winner of the country category in 2005) was released by Faith Hill's album in 2006.
9. Vikki Simpson. Vikki became the first non-USA based musician to ever will the overall grand prize at the USA Songwriting Competition. She achieved that in 2006. She is part of the award winning group "The Waifs".
10. Steve Tannen. Steve won the overall grand prize in 2001. He went on to get signed by Nettwerk records with his duo "The Weepies" .
Posted by Jessica Brandon on Tue, Dec 15, 2009 @ 04:17 PM
The 2007 Overall Grand Prize winning song of the USA Songwriting Competition "Where The Music Takes You" written & performed by Ari Gold will be on ABC TV's "Scrubs" on 12/16/09. The winning song hit Top 10 on the Billboard Charts 6 months after winning the competition.