TAKE a FREE songwriting course at
http://www.SongU.com/ifs
plus they do so much more it will truly blow you away as well as take
your songwriting to a whole new level.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dear IFS Friends,

I hope this email finds you well.

I first extend my condolences to my friend Monte Warden, his mother
Seareatha Carson Matetich passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on
Saturday, February 18, 2006, while visiting Austin.

Please keep Monte and his family in your prayers during this
difficult time.

Ande



Itunes had it's billionth download last week.



As of this week I now have over 1,500 friends on
http://www.myspace.com/anders
Send me an invite or post a comment
I've found some tremendous songwriters and singers. like
http://www.myspace.com/karynrochellesongs
http://www.myspace.com/evienicolemusic



A new cowrite arrived last week, it's called "Let's Make"

the artist and cowriter is Bret Bingham
Bret Bingham is the artist and my cowriter
http://www.myspace.com/bretbingham

you can hear it at
http://www.songramp.com/view.ez?sampleid=42279

if that link doesn't work try clicking on:
http://www.songramp.com/homepage.ez?playcatalog=Yes&Who=ande




I'm enjoying this years American Idol. My favorites are
Katharine McPhee and Chris Daughtry
I also really like Paris Bennett, Taylor Hicks, Kellie Pickler,and
Ace Young.

Mandisa, Elliott Yamin, Jose "sway" Penala, Lisa Tucker, and Ayla
Brown are quite good as well.

Bobby Bennett, Stevie Scott, Patrick Hall, and Becky O'Donohue were
eliminated last week.
http://www.idolonfox.com/contestants/



Nashville Star is about to start up on March 14th
you can now see videos of the contestants
I'm very impressed with Chris Young and Kristen McNamera.
I also like Shy Blakeman and Nicole Jamrose.
http://www.usanetwork.com/series/nashvillestar/

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TRULY EXCELLENT EVENT

Texas Heritage Songwriters Association

On Sunday, March 12th
3:00 pm at
Hills Cafe in
Austin, TX (4700 South Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas 78745)
the Texas Heritage Songwriters Association
www.texasheritagesongwriters.com
will be honoring the following Texas Songwriters
Freddy Powers,
Sonny Throckmorton, and
Kris Kristofferson.
Each writer will perform thirty minute sets with their bands.
Also the Texas Heritage Songwriters Association will be honoring
former UT football coach Darrell Royal for his contributions in
supporting Texas songwriters.

The Texas Heritage Songwriters Association will be honoring several
songwriters who are deceased and
Allen Shamblin, Monty Warden, Kimmie Rhodes and a few others will
perform tributes to these writers.
The seating is limited
The event will be at Hills Cafe in Austin, TX.
Tickets are $15.00.
You can only get them on line at
www.texasheritagesongwriters.com

There will be other surprise guests!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I'm EXTREMELY pleased with the demos, Eric Copeland produced for me.
He is a true Christian Craftsman. Have a listen and decide for
yourself. ~ Ande Rasmussen
Tumble
http://www.songramp.com/view.ez?sampleid=12547
http://www.creativesoulonline.com/listen.htm


Creative Soul is a production company based in Nashville, TN and
can take your musical idea from bare demo to complete arrangement
on any budget.

Producer Eric Copeland has been helping artists around the US and
the world for years, producing hundreds of albums, singles, and
demos.

"We have access to the best musicians, studios, and engineers in
the world for higher budgets, or we can just help you put together
a lower cost, pro demo of your music. We are artist-based, not
industry-based. This means we want to help you be successful with
your music any way we can."

Creative Soul serves many in the CCM market, being located near
Franklin, TN, but also specializes in pop, rocks, R&B, and jazz
styles.

For more information, check out
www.creativesoulonline.com/music.htm

_____

EC
-------------------------------------------------------------
Eric Copeland
Creative Soul | Music Production, Demo Services, Consultation
www.CreativeSoulOnline.com
Nashville, TN | 615-400-3910

Free New Christian Music Radio
www.CreativeSoulRadio.com
-------------------------------------------------------------

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

rachelhauck@... writes:

Hey Ande,

I'm writing a fictional book, Lost In NashVegas, that comes out in
October 2006. My publisher is Thomas Nelson's WestBow Press out of
Nashville.

Anyway, my protagonist is a songwriter. She moves to Nashville
to "make it."

I'd love to hear real experiences from those who've moved to
Nashville, or have spent some time there pitching songs, singing open
mics, networked. Is it possible to post a request to your email? They
can email their experience or stories to me at:

rachelhauck@...

Thanks, Rachel

*************************
www.rachelhauck.com
Heartsong Presents Lambert's Peace - February 2006
Steeple Hill Café "Georgia On Her Mind" - August 2006
WestBow Press "Lost In Nashvegas" October 2006

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~


Singer Searching for Songs

Rustie Blue is preparing to record her next cd! While Rustie is a
great songwriter, she knows there are some great, unrecorded songs
out there! Rustie is looking for upbeat as well as strong ballads,
traditional country as well as mainstream. Rustie has quite a range
to her voice, so send her something challenging!

Rustie has been getting a lot of attention lately! Her current
single, "Cloud Of Dust," debuted on the R&R chart, and was "picked"
during Blair Garner's "Pick it or Flick it". She has appeared in
Country Weekly, and was Music City News "Artist of Interest" in
August. Her current cd, Chip Chip, includes a duet with Bill Anderson
and a song written by Deborah Allen.

To get a feel for what she can do, please visit her website or e-
press kit (below). Please mail (no MP3s, please) up to 3 of your best
to:

Center Stage Productions
Robert D. Keister
512 West Sixth Ave.
Lancaster, OH 43130

740.653.1916

www.csphome.com

www.RustieBlue.com

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Just Plain Folks Member Daniel Ho Wins Grammy: Here's How It
Happened!

http://www.justplainfolks.org/ubb/Forum2/HTML/005227.html

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

ROCK STAR: "THE SERIES"
RETURNS THIS SUMMER TO THE CBS TELEVISION NETWORK

CBSs ROCK STAR returns for a second season in Summer, 2006. Casting
for this
sleeper-hit series will begin in early March, 2006. Applications for
potential
singers can be found at www.CBS.com and

http://rockstar.msn.com. ROCK STAR:
"THE SERIES" auditions are open to men and women all over the world
who are at
least 21 years-old.

Open calls for ROCK STAR will take place in the following cities on
the
following dates (cities are subject to change; venues will be
announced at a
later date):

March 01, 2006 AUSTIN, TX
March 03, 2006 BOSTON, MA
March 06, 2006 ATLANTA, GA
March 08, 2006 NEW YORK, NY
March 11, 2006 CHICAGO, IL
March 13, 2006 TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA
March 16, 2006 MINNEAPOLIS, MN
March 18, 2006 SEATTLE, WA
March 21, 2006 SAN FRANCISCO, CA
March 23, 2006 VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
March 31, 2006 LOS ANGELES, CA

Last summer's inaugural edition of ROCK STAR averaged 6.32 million
viewers on Tuesday, winning its time period in adults 18-49 (3.1/8)
while the Wednesday performance show averaged 5.44 million viewers.
Both the Tuesday and Wednesday shows increased their ratings
throughout the summer, culminating with a season high 7.83 million
viewers for the finale.
The series will be produced by Mark Burnett Productions.

~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

posted by Derek at CD Baby on Sunday February 19 2006 @ 08:16AM PST

We're going to start a new section on the CD Baby site about
musician success stories. Artists who have a great/newsworthy success
with something related to CD Baby.

It could be a story of how you sold 1000 CDs, how you got your music
into film/TV, or anything like that.

Send a SHORT summary of the story to ss@... (get it? "ss" =
success stories. ss@...). You can do this any time. Doesn't
need to be now. It could be years from now. This will be an ongoing
thing.

We'll constantly go through the short summaries submitted, and if it
sounds really interesting, we'll ask you to give more details, so we
can turn it into a full-length story. It's limited to one story per-
artist, to give more people a chance.

All I ask is that you keep the information useful to others. Don't
just say "we got played on 300 radio stations" - tell HOW you did it,
and give some advice to your fellow musicians on what you learned and
what you would recommend.

from
http://cdbaby.org/stories/06/02/19/5792653.html

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here's an interesting email from TAXI

Dear Passengers,

I promised to turn you on to some of my favorite marketing
techniques, so let's
get down to business!

Did you know that on average, each of us is hit with something crazy
like 3,000 different marketing messages per day? Yep, per day!

So, is it any wonder that it's getting harder and harder to break
through the noise and get your message into the psyche of your
intended targets? Then again,
what IS your message, and
WHO are your intended targets.

If I had a dime for every person I've met who has recorded an album
and pressed a thousand CDs or more, I'd be rich.

If I had a dime for every person who whacked out a thousand CDs and
still has eight hundred sitting in the basement years later, I'd be
Bill Gates!

If you're going to manufacture them, you'd better know how to SELL
them first.
"But Michael, I'm a creative type person. I'm not good at the
business stuff,"
you say.

"Bummer," I say!

It's a new day and age kiddos, and the era of having the label do all
the work
for you is long gone. Everybody's talking about how Indies are going
to rule the
world, and they're probably right. But it's going to be the
Independent artists
with a marketing plan who will win the day.

When I say the word, "Volvo," what do you think of?

Uh-huh, "safety"!

When I say, "BMW," you think of the "Ultimate Driving Machine" don't
you?

"Safety" is Volvo's Unique Selling Proposition, or USP. That
brand "owns" that
little piece of real estate in your brain.

I didn't invent this stuff, but I've read hundreds of books about it,
and know
that it works.

So, now let's use it for your music. When I say, "Your Music," what's
the first
thing that pops in to the heads of your fans?

Did you come up empty handed? If so, then you're robbing yourself of
the best
marketing tool you could have. A USP is the root of most everything
you do in
marketing. Without it, you're just another one of those 3,000
marketing messages
that will hit your potential audience in the face today, and probably
go
unnoticed.

Most artists have never had a USP -- and I'm talking about the big
boys and
girls . . . you know, the major label artists. Just imagine how much
MORE
successful they might have been if they had a USP!

So, that's your homework assignment for this week. Come up with your
USP.
Describe your music in just a few short words. AND, tell me what
makes it unique
in the world.

TAXI's USP is, "The World's Leading Independent A&R Company."

Truly being the world's leading anything makes you unique. It also
tells people
that to use any other company probably means that they're NOT using
the world's
leader, and therefore may be settling for 2nd best. A subtle
implication, but
sometimes that's what makes the difference.

So, what makes your music unique and worth talking about?

Yes, worth TALKING about.

We all know that word of mouth is the best marketing tool of all. So,
not only
do you have to get people talking about you because you're unique,
you have to
give them a concise description they can easily remember and pass
along to their
friends.

And don't fall in to the trap of trying to be all things to all
people. "We do
Rock, Pop, Country, and a little R&B!" the band members said proudly.

"What ARE they?" asked their potential listeners.

This relates back to the "Don't let your music fall between the
cracks" topic,
doesn't it? You've got to be ONE thing, or you risk being nothing at
all. To
clearly define yourself is to make it easier for your "customers" to
understand
what you are, and to tell others about you.

Some other examples of USPs, quoted from Jack Trout's terrific
book, "The Power
of Simplicity":

"You can certainly (derive your USP) in terms of product attributes.
(Volvo:
Drive safely.) Or you can do it by preference. (Tylenol: Pain
reliever hospitals
use the most.) Heritage is always good. (Stolichnaya: The Russian
vodka.)
Reliability is a reliable way. (Maytag: The lonely repairman.) Being
first is
different. (Coke: The real thing.) Convenience is always a winner.
(Fresh
Express: Pre-packaged lettuce.) Being first in sales is the simplest,
easiest
and most direct way to say you're better. (Toyota: The best selling
car in
America.)"

So, what are you? What is your music? What is it about your music that
differentiates it? What makes it remarkable?

Don't fret if you don't come up with a USP in five minutes. It took
me years to
get it right with TAXI, and only then because we HAD become the
world's leading
independent A&R company.

Do your homework! I'm going to go help my kids with theirs, and I'll
talk to you
next week.

Till then,

Michael

P.S. I know it's late in the game, but I just found out about this
very recently
myself. The Digital Music Forum is being held in New York next week,
and I'll be
on the panel discussing the future of Indie music.

This conference is more for digital futurists than for bands or
artists trying
to get signed, but I've got to believe we've got some digital
futurists on this
list.

Here's a link to check out it. It looks GREAT! I hope to see you
there!
www.digitalmusicforum.com

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT "EAR FATIGUE"?

The first step is acknowledging that ear fatigue is a common problem
in the
studio, primarily during overdubs and mixing. The best way to combat
this is to
work at low volume. While turning the monitors up may inspire you to
create a
great mix, you can work much longer with a clear head by keeping the
levels
down. (Naturally, you'll need to crank it up every now and then to
make sure the
mix is exciting.)

Tip: If the guitar player is in the control room and needs to hear it
really
loud -- maybe even to the point of creating feedback through the
control room's
monitors -- wear earplugs and let the musicians' ears bleed if they
want.

One of the keys to a successful mix is to take frequent breaks. Maybe
it's a
five-minute break every hour or a 20-minute break every few hours.
It's easy to
get so deep in the process of tweaking levels and frequencies that
you start to
lose perspective. Eventually, you don't realize that you can't hear
anymore. If
the client is there with you and paying you by the hour, don't be shy
about
stepping away from the console several times.

Also, be careful about packing too many hours into a mix session.
It's tempting
when you're on a roll (or if you've blocked out a studio for 24
hours) to keep
going for 12, 16 or even 20 hours of mixing. But there are two
reasons to cut
your session short before then. One, your ears naturally shut down
after too
much exposure, and finding the right frequency to tweak can get
elusive. Two,
there's a tremendous benefit to sleeping on it. You can learn the
same things in
fifteen minutes the next day as in 3 hours of late night hair-pulling.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The information above came from "Studio Buddy -- The Home Recording
Helper."
It's a self-contained, easy to use database of recording tips designed
specifically for people with home studios. If you find this article
helpful, you
should download the FREE program at:

http://www.studiobuddy.com

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

Do I need to copyright my material?

Technically, a song is copyrighted at the moment you write it down or
record it.
However, you should always register your copyright with the Copyright
Office so
you can PROVE that the song is yours, and when you created it.

How do I copyright my songs?

Contact the U.S. Copyright office at (202) 707-9100, or download the
forms you
will need to submit.

What are the chances my song will be stolen?

Pretty darn slim. I've been in the business for thirty years, and
I've never
personally known anybody who really had a song stolen. I've met the
occasional
person who had a song that did bear resemblance to another song, but
there was
no connection between the two writers that would have permitted the
theft.

Have you ever noticed that most of the big copyright infringement
cases are
against huge stars like Michael Jackson? My guess is that people who
are looking
for a quick settlement from a wealthy star in order to avoid the
embarrassment
of a lengthy court trial bring many of the high-profile suits.

That being said you should always register the copyright to your
material. You
don't want to be the first person to prove my theory wrong.

Should I copyright my material before submitting to TAXI?

Yes. You should copyright it before sending it to anybody. But, don't
wait to
for the registration confirmation to come back to you. The copyright
office
takes months (often 6 months or more!) to get the confirmation back
to you. As
long as you've sent the form(s) in, you're good to go.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Read more in TAXI's "Music Biz FAQs," a helpful collection of
articles and tips
on everything you need to know about the music industry:

http://www.taxi.com/faq


~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Write On,

Ande