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 ca...

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...

''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 freshe...