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Songwriting Articles |
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Entertainment Cyberscope by Jerry Flattum, CyberAstronomer[ Back To Portal Menu ]
Search Engines & Major Portals
There are specialized search engines and databases (SEE Databases-Film; Databases-Music) but many of the commercialized search engines are quite powerful. Many search engines are multiple search engines in one.
Use your browser's bookmarking capabilities.
1Reader
About
About Internet Keywords - Netscape
Alexa
AltaVista
AltaVista - Image Search
Ask Jeeves
Backflip
Brint
CDNet
Copernic
CUI
CUI Search Engines
CUI Software Tools to Access Information Servers
CUI W3 Search Engines
Dogpile
Earthlink
eLibrary
Encyclopedia Briannica
Excite
Expedia
Ferret
FindArticles
Fortune
Go
Good Keywords
Google
Hotbot
Internet FAQ Archives
Internet FAQ Consortium
Library of Congress
Lycos
Maple Square (Canadian Search Engine)
Metacrawler
Microsoft Corporate
Microsoft Network
MyPlay (also a digital music subscriptions service)
Pay Per Click Search Engines
Netscape
Netscape NUGgies
Project Gutenberg
Real Cities
Reference Desk
Search Engine Watch
Search Engines Worldwide
Silverplatter
STAT-USA
SubmitWizard - Network Solutions
TheGlobe
Thomas Register
Tucows
Union of International Associations
WebBrain
W3 Search Engines
Webmonkey
Webocracy
Webcrawler
What Is
Yahoo
Yahoo Geocities
Yahoo - Searching the Web
yourDictionary
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Songwriting
Obviously Muse's Muse is a premier songwriting website. This portal of the EC will strive to supplement Muse's Muse with some unavoidable duplication.
A listing here does not imply an endorsement.
Warnings are in order. Beware of sites that claim they can teach you how to write a hit song. The same applies to song critique sites and song placement sites. Many of these sites are far removed from the actual decision makers in the industry whose job is to find new material and new artists.
The worst mistake any songwriter can make is to try and sell or showcase their material in front of the wrong people. A heavy metal producer is unlikely to be a good judge of your country tune not because of prejudice but more so because of preference.
Songs are highly personalized and so are the opinions of the people who listen, produce, and buy those songs. What is a hit to one person is a rejection by another.
Beware of the comments you hear: "The intro is too long." "No one wants to hear a song about growing up on a farm." "June and blue don't rhyme." "You need a guitar solo." "You need to write dance music." "Where's the hook?"
Are there weak melodies, weak lyrics, weak vocals and weak productions? Perhaps, but it never stopped songs containing these mishaps from becoming hits. Is Bruce Springsteen a great songwriter? What if you don't like Bruce Springsteen? If you LOVE Springsteen, then most likely any intro will never be too long. Are rap lyrics and Shakespearean poetry similar? Opinions vary greatly as to what constitutes a good lyric or what is poetry and what is fodder.
Be unique.
American Songwriter - Articles
American Songwriter Magazine
Guild of International Songwriters and Composers
Independent Songwriter Web-Magazine
International Lyrics Server (Songfile)
Jason Blume
Jeff Mallet's Songwriter Site
John Braheny
LyricDepot
LyricFind
Lyrics World
Nashville Songwriters Association International
Nashville Songwriter's Foundation - Songwriter Hall of Fame
New York Songwriters Circle
Northern California Songwriters Association
Paramount Group
ProAudioMusic.com - Songwriting Resources
Real Lyrics
Seth Jackson
SongFile
SongLink
SongScope
Songwriter Associations - Beaird Music Group
Songwriters Association of Canada
Songwriters, Composers and Lyricists Association
Songwriters Directory
Songwriters Resource Network
Songwriters Showcase of America
Songwriters Webring - Jukebox
Songwriting Education Resource
Songwriting.Org
SongwriterUniverse
Unisong
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Talent Agencies
Many of the major talent agencies do not have an online presence. Of the top three major talent agencies ICM and CAA do not have websites. William Morris does. Surprisingly, Ford Modeling Agency has a site.
There are thousands of talent agencies, modeling agencies and casting agencies. Unless you're a major star or you were born with a silver spoon, if you're looking for an agent--start small.
Agents pose the classic dilemma facing artists across all realms of entertainment: You can't get a job without an agent and you can't get an agent without a major credit. Many guilds require commercially released work before membership, with associate memberships meaning very little in terms of earning income.
If you are not a performer and you want to sell a song to a major artist, how do you get them to listen to your song? The EC attempts to reveal some of the secrets behind this mystery but only from a broad perspective. Generally speaking, agents, agencies and professional guilds happen after the fact.
The entertainment industry has created some of the most famous humans in history. The agencies that represent these artists are as protective over their clients as governments are over kings, queens and presidents.
Major talent agencies, like ICM, William Morris, et. al., are the industry's power brokers. Negotiating talent contracts crosses the lines of technology and entertainment, where producers, technicians, software developers and IT specialists intertwine and and interweave in an ever increasing matrix of the entertainment industry's talent pool. Bill Gates has no less a profile than Al Pacino.
Talent is morphing. Numerous music artists have turned film stars and many film stars have released top 10 hits. Music video is a training ground for many new Hollywood filmmakers. Other conversions or multi-role players include Thomas Dolby, musician extraordinaire turned technologist and now famous for the Beatnik Player (SEE Technology - Media Players). When actors like Robert Redford turn to directing and producing, they have much to say about the film's soundtrack.
Music producers and engineers contribute immensely to an artist's final product. And when they don't, the artist takes over the engineering and producing duties. From Todd Rundgren to Prince, many artists have embraced the combined roles of artist and technologist, producing their own original work while producing others as well.
Like corporations, artists who diversify successfully become bigger celebrities. The bigger they are, the more they need high-powered brokers to do their bidding.
AFTRA
About.com (Search Engine - list of talent agencies)
Contracts, Wages and Working Conditions - SAG
EntertaiNet (includes other source listings)
Ford Modeling Agency
MusicBizBuzz (A global resource covering many areas with multi-lingual translation capability)
North American Performing Arts Managers and Agents
SAG Franchised Agents
William Morris Agency
Worldwide Internet Music Resources - Agents and Artists Services
Yahoo (Search Talent Agencies using the Yahoo Search Engine)
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Jerry Flattum is a songwriter (BMI), screenwriter, freelance writer, book writer and singer/keyboardist/arranger. Jerry has written Bridge On Fire: A Holistic Journey in Song Creation. Bridge On Fire is a comprehensive manual on songwriting from the technical, social, cultural and entertainment industry perspectives. The book will be published by Publish America in 2005 and available through major and other retail outlets. In 2002, Jerry wrote a full-length feature comedy, 7/11 Pair-O-Dice Road for Lear Entertainment (Las Vegas). Several screenplays are in-progress: The Acrobat; Watertown, South Dakota; Lars; Out of Context; Amazon Moon and others. He has written the story, music and lyrics for Time Travelers in the Celestial Age, a screen/stage musical loosely based on H.G. Well’s, The Time Machine. As a freelance writer, he has covered live shows for e-Vegas.net, the Las Vegas film scene for Callback, and written several articles for Musesmuse.com, Script Magazine and others. Jerry has worked as a singer/keyboardist in several bands throughout New York, the Twin Cities, and on the road. Prior business experience includes CBS, Harry Fox Agency, Samuel French Play Publishers and other indie ventures. He has a self-designed BS in Songwriting (graduating Phi Kappa Phi) and a Masters in Liberal Studies (U of MN). Jerry is a member of the Songwriters Guild of America, the Nashville Songwriters Association, and the International Songwriters Association. He is soon to become a member of the National Writers Union and plans are to join the Authors Guild and the Writers Guild of America. He is also launching JerryFlattum.com in October 2004, featuring original songs and other works. This site will interface with SongCatalog.com, an online service designed to connect songwriters with song buyers.
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