There are papers strewn all over my floor, and none have
come out of my printer correctly. They are forms for a songwriting contest, and
today is the last day to enter, so time is of the essence. I enter several contests a
year, as another avenue of connecting with the industry- knowing which song contests are “legitimate” and which are scams, is one
of the many things a songwriter must know when navigating the arena of getting
ones foot in the door. I know that this one is the real deal-I researched one
of the founding members and had enriching email correspondence with her, a very successful woman songwriter. This group is also great, because they offer
membership and ongoing support and opportunities; the membership is low, and
with it I have recently been attending song screenings and other opportunities through their L.A. chapter.
Aside from that, and like all song writing contests, it’s a real pain in the
ass to enter. This one is old school-A requirement is to print out a submission
form for each song, two pages long; and to make it worse, the length of the
page is a funny size, not the standard 8x10. After the fifth time
printing and working with different settings, I was still getting half the page
cut off, conveniently right where I had to sign my name…….curse the music
industry gods-or I mean, demons. Another option was to submit online through an
intermediary service,-a place where you sign up and get an “artist page”, and
supposedly industry people check them out when they are looking for people to
sign, etc. There is a fee, of course, but I thought, “what the hell”-I hate
wasting paper; couldn’t hurt to join for a month-try it out and cancel……(as I
write this now, after cancelling my membership 5 months ago; I still am getting
emails from them that they “mistakenly” “forgot” to “cancel” my “membership”
and they “don’t understand how this could have happened”, even though I have
been in contact with them and have gotten very pissed off. ) After spending
an hour setting up my music page-password, bio, picture, etc., I start loading
the songs I want to enter into the contest; seven total. After 5 songs load a
pop up window opens up and says there is a “minimum 5 song limit on my basic
plan”……”would I like to upgrade?” FUCK YOU!! Back to square one…..
After finally printing out 14 oblong sheets of paper
successfully, I start filling out the info and then get stuck on the part where
I have to stick my songs into neat little boxes called “categories”. Is this
song country? There are examples as to be “helpful” and they are Taylor Swift
and Garth Brooks…..SO not the feel of the song-it was inspired by Amy Winehouse
and I always imagined her singing it, but it has a pedal steel so..….what about
this one-rock? Singer-songwriter? They give examples of rock-Bon Jovi, Pearl
Jam……uh-well, it is rock, sort of; can’t I get a woman rock example?…..negative-ok,
well-singer-songwriter? O.K, better go with that, but it is really a mixture of
the two…when in doubt I go for the often not given category of “Americana”,
my saving grace, as most of my music has a mixture of blues and rock…..
After about an hour of putting the songs into categories and
filling out paper work, I go through the process of cutting 7 cd’s, one song
each, and then putting it into my stereo to make sure it plays….anal? Yes, but one
time after having sent out a cd to a famous producer and finding out years later that
it never played was enough for me…..Next step-labeling each one with a good
ole’ sharpie (I’m not going the usual route of using my new laser printer disc
labeler for a song writing contest). Final step-packaging it all up and mailing
it with a check for $140 dollars which, for fun, I like to think of as how many
hours at my minimum paying job I worked, mailing it out, and ………waiting.
The waiting is ok, until you know it is close to when the
announcements are going to be made. Good legitimate song writing contests run by
industry professionals have launched careers, or at least have gotten someone
exposure and the chance to meet people and build connections. It's my excitement, so I wait…..
The first song contest I entered was in 2012. It was an
international contest for songwriters all over the world, age 16 and up, and I
sent in several songs. They contacted me to tell me that I had not won, but
“thanks for submitting!” “Better luck next time!” Five months later someone
online congratulated me for my honorable mention for my country song “Snow” in
SongDoor's 2012 songwriting contest…..I didn’t know what they were talking about, so I
checked it out online, and there I was,
on the honorable mention list of who knows how many international
songwriters……
 | ||||
| Yes, the list is longer and I am indeed at the bottom....... |
I thought it was a big deal-enough to certainly contact a struggling songwriter about, but one gets nothing in that category, though it did give me hope, something I’m always searching for as a very sensitive person in this cut throat business.
The worst part is when you check out the winners and their
music or song is completely to your disliking, lol…..and the usual beating up
on oneself that you just don’t have “what people want”, and the feeling foolish
for spending your hard earned money for the impossible dream…….but then it is
next year, and you do it all over again……
