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Inspirations For Songwriters is I F S
IFS aims to INSPIRE YOU into ACTION
2,550 songwriters, music publishers, artists, and music fans receive IFS
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DIFS/
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Please forward IFS to your songwriting friends

If you want receive IFS or
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send an EMPTY email to

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What fun! Today I sent off 4 publishing contracts.

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Procrastinators UNITE!

2004 SXSW Music Festival Application "Drop Dead Drop-Off Party"
"Attention bands: it's time to put up or shut up. That's because the final
date to submit a packet for SXSW 04 consideration is this
Tuesday, Nov. 11. To help facilitate procrastinators, SXSW is hosting a
"Drop Dead Drop-Off Party" from 6pm - midnight at
Ruby's BBQ,
512 W. 29th St. Packets should include a CD or cassette of at least three
original songs, the $30 processing fee, and if possible, a press kit of bio,
photo, and clippings. Showcase applications will be available at Ruby's or
online
at SXSW.com

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Are you an Advanced Lyric Writer?
or
Are you a talented melody writer who might be interested in working with
Advanced lyricwriters?

If so you might enjoy the
Advanced Lyric Writers Community
for more details drop by

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AdvancedLyricWriters/

Please read the criteria and
apply if you are so inclined
Good luck!

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Singer Searching for Songs

Song submissions needed for WALTERS/SELBY MUSIC PRODUCTIONS Recording Artist
JodyDawn, an artist of superb vocal quality. Song styles should be either
Country, Pop/Rock, or Christian. All music submissions should be copyrighted and
include your name, telephone number, email address and any other pertinent
contact information. Also, include lyric sheets with all submissions and back
tracks with and without vocals if possible. Submission should be on a CD or tape
and sent to the following address:
JodyDawn Song Submission
Walters/Selby Music Productions
c/o JodyDawn Walters-Selby
4902 Marsha Lane
Wichita Falls, TX 76302
Email: jodydawn@...


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maybe you might want to have a FREE listing on the
http://www.songwritersdirectory.com/

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Remember "Send Me Out?"
http://artists.mp3s.com/artist_song/2496/2496245.html

Today this email arrived (below) It seems like inquiries are still trickling
from the article that ran in the Oct 2003 Episcopal Life.

Dear Ande,

I very much like your song, “Send Me Out,” and would like to obtain the
sheet music to use at my Church in Dayton, Ohio.
Where can I buy the sheet music?
I haven’t had much success searching through mps3.com or
some of the sheet music sites that I have found.
Thank you for your assistance.
Mike Kreutzer

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IFS readers now I'm working on and wondering
what to do next to promote "Send Me Out?"

Do you have any suggestions?
please hit reply and email them to me
in the Subject: line write
IFS SEND

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Title Searches

here's several things you can do

try title searches at
ascap.com
bmi.com
sesac.com
allmusic.com
amazon.com

then google the phrase
got to
google.com
type the phrase and put quotation marks "around it"

like
"i want you bad"

you could also google
"i want you bad" lyric
it will show you how many websites contain the phrase
I'm gonna write another IFS about, i'll leave your name out
i try to look for phrases that are unique

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If crowds aren't coming to you,
go to where the crowds are.

On Saturday October 23, 2004 my wife and I (along with several thousand other
people) attended the Fredericksburg Food and Wine Fest
http://www.fbgfoodandwinefest.com/
we enjoyed a delicious lunch then wandered around the merchant booths that
were arranged under humongous tents. There were jewelry merchants, wine
makers, wine accessories, knick knack makers, food makers, but only one musician
had
a booth at this event. Marshall Styler http://stylermusic.com/

As you approach his booth you hear beautiful instrumental music playing,
people were crowded around buying multiple copies of his CD's. At his booth
were
his CD's, brochures about him and a cool looking stereo playing his tunes.
Marshall was playing a gig down the street but his attractive wife was helping
people purchase his CD's.

I'm sure Marshall has his CD's in record stores and probably does pretty
well. But at this particular event his music was the only music displayed as
crowds of people walked past. My guess is they did pretty well that day. My
dad
enjoys listening to instrumental music on the way to work and he's a hard to
shop for kind of person, what do you get the person who already has everything?
So my wife and I bought 5 of Marshalls CD's
two for my dad, two for me and one for my in laws, because the title of one
of his songs was "a Day in Martindale" because that's where I and my inlaws
live.

When I read more about Marshall I discovered the following:

From 1973 to 1986 Marshall Styler recorded and toured with the renowned
Rochester, NY Rock band, Duke Jupiter. The band had seven albums to their credit
on
Mercury, Epic-CBS and Motown.

In 1986 he decided to leave the rock-n-roll life and moved from his home in
New York to Austin, Texas. Although he was the lead singer and songwriter for
the band, he began to feel limited by lyrics and began composing instrumental
pieces.

In 1991, he released Camden Road, his first instrumental album. This was a
compilation of live performances on synthesizers.

"My music is not space or soundscape music. I compose instrumental pieces
that have a definite structure based around melodies. There are no words to tie
it all down so there is a certain dreamlike quality inherent in my sound."

For the past seven years, Marshall has been composing the Red River Trilogy,
a collection of musical impressions of people and places in Texas that have in
some way inspired him.

"I consider myself an impressionist, in the spirit of the French
impressionist painters - Degas, Monet and Matisse. They worked with color and
emotion and
have a powerful elegance that I strive for in my music."

-Marshall Styler

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So I guess the lesson here is look for large events that will be attended by
the kind of people who are likely to buy your CD, make arrangements to get a
booth, create an attractive display, then go work it and see what happens. You
may sell a few CD's, win some new fans, and add a few addresses to your email
list.

If the booth is expensive consider partnering with a few of your friends to
reduce your cost.

A further example is in early October the Texas Parks and Wildlife hosts an
event called Wild Life Expo. It's all about fishing, hunting, being out doors.
the 2002 event drew over 44,000 visitors.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/expo/
I went with my son and we walked past every booth, I didn't see any music
exibitors.
My guess is people who hunt and fish probably also like country music.
I was thinking, why doesn't Austin Songwriters Group have a display here?

Find the community calendar in your area and look for opportunities.
At some point each event has a cut off date where it's too late to get
involved.
http://www.austinlinks.com/calendar.html

http://www.austin360.com/calendar/content/events/index.html

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Austin Music Foundation is up to some cool stuff.

AMF's First Annual Texas Star Gala!

AMF is having its first-ever fundraising Gala.
All proceeds will help fund AMF's programs for the music community in 2004.
It will be a night of great music and great fun, and we hope to see you all
there!

WHEN: Wednesday, December 3rd
WHERE: La Zona Rosa, 612 W. 4th Street
TIME: 6:00pm-7:30pm VIP Cocktail Hour 7:30pm-11:30pm Gala Show & Silent
Auction
PERFORMERS: Joe Ely with Special Guests Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Colin Gilmore, &
other surprises! Opening show by Kacy Crowley.
TICKETS: On Sale at all Star Ticket outlets, by phone at (512) 469-7469, or
on the web at www.startickets.com

Event Details

Silent Auction
A Silent Auction will be held throughout the night. Bid on a Fender guitar
signed by Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and many other music items donated by artists, and
a variety of boutique gifts donated by local businesses.

"One Night Band" Contest
Want your 15 minutes of fame? Literally? The "One Night Band" Contest is
unique opportunity for gala attendees to jam on the main stage at La Zona Rosa!
At
the beginning of the evening, interested attendees can enter a raffle
designating drums, bass, guitar, vocals or the Wildcard Category (in which any
instrument brought in) as their choice for the audition. Between the main stage
sets, five contestants drawn from each category will play for 60 seconds each,
and
the winners will be chosen by audience applause. These winners will comprise
AMF's 2003 "One Night Band" and will play a 15-minute set on the main stage to
close out the evening's festivities!

More About Tickets
General Admission: $25 includes Gala Show and participation in "One Night
Band." VIP: $50 includes admittance to VIP Cocktail Hour with Hors d'Oeuvres,
VIP
laminate, gift bag, an exclusive acoustic performance by AMF Incubator
Awardee WideAwake, and access to VIP section for duration of the evening.


MIBC #9: State of the Industry: Artist's Rights
Monday, November 24 at Momo's Club, starting at 6:30pm

On Monday, November 24th, 2003, the Austin Music Foundation (AMF) will hold
its ninth - and final - Music Industry Boot Camp (MIBC) of the year, "State of
the Industry: Artist's Rights."

The panelists in this last Bootcamp of the year will take a broad look at the
future of music, commenting on topics such as the changing value of music,
the effects of recent congressional legislation on artist's rights, as well as
legal and illegal forms of online distribution and how they affect the artist's
bottom line.

This Bootcamp seminar is intended to raise awareness about important national
issues facing the music industry and how they affect all of us. AMF is proud
to present a panel of local and national speakers to discuss these topics and
round out a successful year of our Music Industry Bootcamp program. Thanks to
all of you for helping us make it a success!

As always, Music Industry Bootcamp is FREE for attendees, and is also a great
place to network with others in the Austin music community. Please see below
for a list of speakers and their bios.

WHAT: the AMF's Music Industry Boot Camp, "State of the Industry: Artist's
Rights"
DATE: Monday, November 24th, 2003
TIME: 6:30pm - 8:30pm
LOCATION: MOMO's Club, 618 West 6th Street

Speakers:
- Chris Castle, Senior Counsel, Music Department, Akin, Gump (Los Angeles)
- Bruce Haring, Managing Director of the DIY Convention:
Do It Yourself in Film, Music and Books (Los Angeles)
- Michael Barnett, Manager, Two Guy Trio (Austin)

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AMF also redesigned their membership categories
http://www.austinmusicfoundation.org/membership.php

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Interested in creating a music foundation in your community?
drop by
http://www.austinmusicfoundation.org/affiliates.php

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Write on!

Ande Rasmussen
Editor and Publisher of I F S, Inspirations For Songwriters

my contact info is

AndeRasmussen@...

Ande Rasmussen
835 Martindale Falls
Martindale, TX 78655

512-217-2728 cell

My Bio
http://hometown.aol.com/anderasmussen/myhomepage/profile.html

If you'd like to hear some of the songs I've cowritten drop by
http://www.mp3.com/ande

If you want receive IFS or
change your email address with IFS
send an email to

difs-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Forward IFS to your songwriting friends

IFS home page is
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I F S stands for Inspirations for Songwriters
I F S is a brief email for songwriters
filled with inspirational and
practical information about the
art, craft, and business of songwriting.

We want to help you be a more successful songwriter.

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
The entire text of
"Inspirations for Songwriters"
© 2003 Anders Rasmussen


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