Words and Music

The following is an article written by Diona Devincenzi , a songwriting acquaintance of mine I met through the A&R company TAXI.  It is taken from her website blog, which can be found HERE.   I wanted to share it as I feel it's not only practical and informative, but well written and inspiring. OPPORTUNITIES IN MUSIC LICENSING Part 1 Five platforms where music can make money PLATFORM #1:  Film & +TV There are five platforms where songwriters can make money with their music. In Part 1 of this series, we’ll explore the first platform:  Film & Television. The following is an excerpt from my e-book,  How To Explode Your Income By Licensing Your Songs .  You can download the complete book  here . Let’s look at some of these opportunities in a little more detail. MAJOR NETWORK TELEVISION These are the dramas, comedies, reality shows, entertainment, sports, news programs, news magazines, daytime soap operas, infomercials cartoons and specials. This is

Did you know that under USA copyright law, if you give your recording of a cover song away for free (either download or hard copy), you are liable to pay the copyright holder/publisher the statutory 9.1c copyright fee for every single copy you sell or give away ? As per a quote from the IMRO website: "Copyright is an intellectual property right. It allows the creators of original works to control how their work is used and to benefit financially from its use. Copyright in Ireland is regulated by statute ( The Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 )." If you live in Ireland, like myself, the copyright on your music will expire 70 years after your death.  It will then go into the Public Domain, meaning anyone can record it in any way they please, with nothing owing to the original composer/publisher. So if you cover a great hit which is not yet in the public domain, and it goes viral on YouTube, the copyright holder can, and usually will, get YouTube to 'monetize&#

I was recently lucky enough to co-write with  Robbie Hancock  of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. The amazing result was " Our Side Of The Sun ", a sunny summer love song to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The song was originally written for the Facebook  GYAWS song-writing group , but as we liked it so much we decided to produce it fully  for film & tv licensing .  I also have to say that Robbie is a sheer joy to work with - very easy going, encouraging and positive at all times.  Hopefully there will be many more songs where this one came from ! If you are interested in licensing this song, please contact Robbie Hancock Productions at  robbiejhancock@gmail.com ,  or Amanda Anderson at  sheeaunmusic@gmail.com The  lyrics  are posted after the SoundCloud widget. LYRICS Verse 1 I like the way you nestle in to my mind Your smiling eyes they draw me in so tight So here we are with all this warmth in our hearts Livin’ love on our side of the sun Verse

''Accepting the world as imperfect, unfinished, and transient, and then going deeper and celebrating that reality, is something not unlike freedom.'' Author: Richard Powell, author of 'Wabi Sabi Simple: Create beauty. Value imperfection. Live deeply' (2004)

If you are a professional songwriter or musician, you will know that there are far more low periods than high peaks in your career. And it's those long, low valleys that sort the men from the boys, so to speak.  Sorry ladies for the sexist analogy! Today I happened upon the  following article , which talks about this sea-saw effect, and how to hang on and not give up. Navigating the Tough Times as a Songwriter  - an article on a  blog from Educated Songwriter Hope you find it as encouraging as I did.

A recent co-write of mine, entitled 'Walk Away', was accepted by a top Canadian Production Music Library within 2 days of being completed.  Made my month !  Well almost, because my very first grandchild was born mid February. 'Walk Away' was co-written with the ultra talented Briand Melanson aka Bamtone, who is himself from Toronto, Canada. I really enjoyed writing the lyrics and working on this song with Briand - it was a lot of fun and the process wonderfully smooth. Thank you Bam !

I wrote this poem, called 'The Outsider' in January 1999, whilst living aboard my boat in West Cork, Ireland. When you live on a boat at sea, people, in general, make almighty assumptions about you - who you were, who you are,  where you came from, you must be weird, you're homeless, you're a dropout, you're totally nuts, and far worse. Others never really know the truth about us, which in my case was that I felt this way  before  I left land to float away.  Living on the sea gave me freedom and taught me to survive, no matter what life threw at me...  and it threw with a vengeance. The Outsider There are worlds of people everywhere, A life that is not mine. I’m swimming through the mud and dirt Of life’s floor Feet heavy Head high Alone. Trees are my conversation, Whispering mass sweet nothings in my ear And shouting out so loud that They are alive. The sky holds me in Keeps me grounded, The pale blue ceiling of my life. The air cleans and freshens m

Music is what feelings sound like... This is why I love to write lyrics for film and tv. I can make the listener feel what I am feeling, or what I want them to feel...  deep down inside themselves where it is real, for a moment, where it brings back a memory or a feeling or a thought, and makes it real again for a minute or two... Well I try !

"You're my love, you light the sky when angels sleep at night You're my light when morning dawns, bringing sun into my dreams You're my life, my love... My first breath in the moonlit pre dawn light" (Copyright @ Amanda J Anderson 2014) What do you do when you have the makings of a chorus you love, but the verses don't want to come out of the closet ? Do you force the door open ? No.  Whenever I try doing that I end up with something that sounds 'constructed', rather than flowing and natural. In the case of the above four lines, which I am very happy with, I have decided to just keep them on the side table until I know the moment is right.  Then the rest will flow as easily.  I hope ! When I say that I am willing to put something aside 'until the moment is right', I may have created an inaccurate image of how I normally write. Most of the time when I am writing, I feel inspired.  I have a very clear process that works, for me, 95

“The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt”    -  Sylvia Plath. I find the above quote incredibly powerful. And personally life changing. To doubt yourself unduly, is like living in a negative bubble.  You will never have that sharp point of self-confidence that can burst the bubble, letting your true creativity out into the wider world.

Just about the biggest part of my songwriting education has been through TAXI, a Californian A&R company whose attitude towards its clients in simply incredible. Not only do they have extremely useful feedback on all songs submitted and $20 complete song critiques for members, but they have several facilities for non members too - all free.  This includes a well run forum and  the amazing TAXI TV . The forum is extensive and the people using it very friendly, and so willing to help new members and each other. As long as you take part and contribute, you will get as much help as you need or want.  The experienced songwriters and musicians on that forum have helped me in more ways than I can count, and continue to do so. And the icing on the cake....  TAXI TV  , which is amazing !  It's on every Monday night at midnight BST (UK & Ireland), in the USA that's 4pm PDT or 7pm EDT.  Each week there's a different topic, many are client based, where you can listen to

Songwriting is a muscle that needs to be constantly worked in order to stay strong. Quote from the  Educated Songwriter blog So stretch it daily !