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Inspirations For Songwriters (I F S)
IFS aims to INSPIRE YOU into ACTION
over 2,600 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
CHANGE your email address with IFS
SEND an EMPTY email to

difs-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

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ASG is offering a mini-workshop and House Concert with
Sonny Throckmorton Deborah Allen on
Thursday April 1st, 2004 (no foolin)

Sonny Throckmorton has written eighteen (18) # 1 Hits &
Deborah Allen has written six (6) #1 Hits

When: Thursday, April 1, 2004 (NO FOOLIN)
Randy Willis' home (randy owns ropers)
Where: 12319 Blue Water Drive (Randy Willis' home)
Austin, Texas 78758

6:45 pm arrive

7:00 pm Private meet and greet / (mini workshop) with Deborah Allen
presentation questions and answers for the Austin Songwriters Groups

8 p.m. Pickin' Party with
(There's very likely to be several other very special guests)

Later: When the featured artists show is over
they're gonna have a song circle so bring your guitar.

What Else: Salt Lick BBQ, OPEN BAR, and Lots of Pickers!

Tickets are $20 (for everything).
There's limited Seating,
Make advanced reservations NOW

RSVP with Randy Willis at
randywillis@...
or
512-565-0161
Mail your payment to
Randy Willis
12319 Blue Water Drive,
Austin, Tx 78758

If you want to go but things are kind of tight
*** THERE ARE 10 ASG SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE FOR THIS EVENT! ***
to apply for this ASG scholarship send an email to
info@...
containing a brief paragraph (around 100 words) why our judges should
select you.


More info on the Guests of Honor:
Sonny Throckmorton has recorded for the elite of major labels such as
Capitol, MCA, Mercury and Warner Brothers. Sonny has written 18 #1
hits and many more number 2, 3, 4... He has been the Nashville
Songwriter Association International's Songwriter of the Year four
times. Sonny was inducted into the Nashville Songwriter Association
International's Hall of Fame in 1987. He had over ninety songs
recorded in just a six month period. Two major motion pictures have
been based on Sonny's hit songs

Deborah Allen Discography Highlights: "Over 1000 Songs Published",
including hits for LeAnn Rimes, Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, Tanya
Tucker, Janie Frickie, John Conlee, Patty Loveless, Issac Hayes, and
many more!

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Support IFS' own Sheila Marshall on Nashville Star this Saturday at
9:00 pm CST voting begins at 10:00
http://www.usanetwork.com/nashvillestar/
Sheila is one of the top 9 finalists

On the last show they took them all to Houston and gave them the
challenge to fill and perform at a local honky tonk

How many people could you get to show up an event
if you absolutely had to?
What would you do?

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LET THE WORLD KNOW!

Has been extremely popular in the past.
Many people have made connections because of it.

Don't hide in your home
Don't let your best songs go unwritten, unrecorded, and undemoed.
Just because a few pieces of your puzzle may be missing.
Find those missing pieces and put your puzzle together.
SOLVE that SUCKER.

One way you can find those pieces is to
LET THE WORLD KNOW

WHO you are
WHAT you've done
WHAT you hope to do
WHO you're looking for
or
WHAT you're looking for

An upcoming IFS issue is dedicated entirely to YOU.
In the past some people have gotten wonderful results.

If you want to participate
Write a brief paragraph
about who you are
and
who or what you're looking for
be interesting and original
with information about how to contact you
and I'll share it with the entire IFS list.

Are you a singer looking for songs?
Do you have songs and you're looking for singers?
Are you a lyricist looking for melody writers?
Are you a composer looking for lyricists?
Are you a producer looking for artists?
Are you an artist looking for a producer?
Is it something else?
Let me know and I'll let the entire IFS list know

You must email your blurb before
Midnight Wed Mar 31 to

AndeRasmussen@...

in the subject field write
IFS LTWK < ~ ~ ~ ~ this is important, it's how I sort emails

over 2,600 songwriters receive IFS
many are very talented
and maybe your blurb might help you connect
with who or what you're seeking

ARE YOU GONNA LET THE WORLD KNOW?
send in your blurb

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Last week I did a little experiment.

I put my latest demo "Pieces of Her Past" that I cowrote with Donna
Aylor and Brock Goodwin up on
http://songramp.com/ande

Then placed messages on several songwriting Message Boards asking
people to listen to the song and write a comment. I was looking for
feedback and plus I wanted to find out which site would generate the
most comments.

The 4 sites were:

SongRamp
http://www.songramp.com/view.ez?sampleid=13728

Just Plain Folks
http://www.justplainfolks.org/ubb/Forum21/HTML/002197.html

Let's Talk Music
http://www.kuju.biz/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1015

Tunesmith.net
http://tunesmith.net/.ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=001893

So Far "Pieces of her Past" has received:

12 comments on SongRamp.com
7 comments on Just Plain Folks
6 comments on Let's Talk Music and
3 comments on Tunesmith.net

One artist asked us if she could
perform "Pieces" at an upcoming event.

The nice thing about songramp is people are very friendly and start
checking out your recently loaded songs and writing comments shortly
after you load it on the site.

I'm curious what will happen
now that people know about this little experiment.

Other things, I mentioned my cowriters because some people might know
them and listen and write a comment because they might be friends
with them.

I think there are other factors that determine how many responses you
get to a post, like :
1) how well known and liked you are in a particular community.
2) What kind of community member you are.
3) If you frequently comment on other people's lyrics and mp3's
4) how helpful you're suggestions are
5) what else? Any one care to comment?

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As a side note:
right now "pieces of her past" is ranked
# 2 in the songramp country division and
# 12 on the entire songramp site
please follow the instructions below to help it improve it's ranking
please ask your friends to do the same

1) sign into songramp.com or join for free then

2) drop by
http://www.songramp.com/tuner.ez?Hot=Yes&Sectionid=5

3) then click on "add fav" beside "pieces of her past"

let's see if we get "pieces" to be # 1 in country on songramp and
hopefully #1 on the entire songramp site

if you'd like to listen to it please drop by
http://www.songramp.com/view.ez?sampleid=13728

Let me know and I'll return the favor sometime.

I think you're likely to get a better response if

1) you ask people to take an easy and specific action than a
difficult or vague action and

2) you're an active involved community member

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Locally and Globally

Sometimes people ask me,
"How have you written so many songs with so many people?" and
"How can I do the same?"

And my answers are:
1) continually improve your songwriting skills,
2) continually search for interesting song ideas,
3) put your songs on the web where people can hear them,
4) put your bio on the web where people can read it and
5) Network and Collaborate Locally and Globally.

Locally is where you are or where you're near or where you will be
physically present.

I live in Martindale and work in Austin. I belong to the Austin
Songwriters Group (ASG), since April 1998 I've attended ASG's
meetings, in 2001 I joined ASG's board and in 2003 I served as ASG's
President. Through ASG I've met many wonderful songwriters and a few
collaborators. I entered ASG's contests, attended their meetings,
conferences and events.

Steve Seskin lives near San Francisco, but he makes regular trips to
Nashville. He told me shoots for 10 ten day trips a year to
Nashville. So he's there about a third of the time.

Make the best of where you are and think about where you need to be
and when you need to be there. Conferences, workshops, and award
shows are great events to attend.

When you attend a workshop, get to know the people attending the
event, talk with them, make friends, listen to them and their songs.
Be complimentary on what you admire, be constructive on what needs
improved, be laid back. Make friends, get their email addresses,
snail mail addresses and phone numbers. Make an effort to stay in
touch after the event.

Globally. Many writers don't need to be in the same room to write a
song. I do much of my cowriting by email. I collaborate with other
lyricists and melody writers online and by phone. But how do you
find talented online collaborators?

The best place to find talented online collaborators is in
Songwriting Communities:

Songwriting communities consist of websites, Message boards, and list
serves.

Websites
There are many websites where artists can post their songs and demos.

1) First begin with Your own website.
I encourage every songwriter, every creative person on this earth to
own their own URL
I own www.AndersRasmussen.com
I encourage you to own your name

2) Use websites where you can post your mp3's and info about
yourself.
I use soundclick.com and songramp.com
There's many other sites like iuma.com, Broadjam.com, Cdbaby.com

IFS reader Marc Gunn of brobdingnagian bards does a great job of
promoting himself and his band online. Just google "brobdingnagian
bards"

You can visit those web sites and browse. Drop by different site
and listen to clips, find a writer who's work you love.


Message Boards are a great way to meet fellow songwriters from around
the world, find out info, get feedback on your work and give feedback
to others.

Try the few I mentioned above and

Musesmuse.com
Writerswrite.com

Which Message boards do you like and participate on?
Email me and let me know

List Servs
List servs are email lists where you can send an email to it and it
will distribute the email to the entire list. It's a great way to
interact with other writers
Yahoogroups has several and topica does too.
When you become a member, you can you can also decide how you want to
receive communications. If you're on a busy i suggest you get a daily
digest or select web only.

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

Contact info is:

Ande Rasmussen
835 Martindale Falls
Martindale, TX 78655
AndeRasmussen@...
512-217-2728 cell

You can read my Bio at:
http://www.andersrasmussen.com/

You can hear a few of my tunes at:
http://songramp.com/ande
http://www.soundclick.com/anders

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

All IFS messages are archived on
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DIFS/messages

Once you're in the IFS archive, if you're looking for something in
particular, you can do a key word search

I F S stands for Inspirations for Songwriters, I F S is an ezine for
songwriters filled with inspirational and practical information about
the art, craft, and business of songwriting. We want to help YOU
become a more successful songwriter.

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
The entire text of
"Inspirations for Songwriters"
© 2004 Anders Rasmussen