Beyoncé
blog Shelly Peiken blog Shelly Peiken

Beyoncé

Way back when I first started writing songs, before there were algorithms and expectations and boxes we needed to check … I wrote something that had a spoken lyric. In my novice mind I thought of it as white-girl rap, if you will. Nobody suggested I didn’t have any business trying to be something I was not. I was just making a song. It felt right. It came out of me. I let it rip. No one was the boss of my creative spirit.

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Songland 2019
blog Shelly Peiken blog Shelly Peiken

Songland 2019

In 2016 when Songland was still just a twinkle its creators’ eyes, the submission form stated: “NBC would own all rights to use and exploit all of your songs involved in the show including the songs you submit in the initial application.” Now that the show has aired, please tell us that is no longer the case!  😫

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We Did It
blog Shelly Peiken blog Shelly Peiken

We Did It

If music delivered to us by an invisible digital stream was here to stay (and don’t get me wrong, I love streaming—it’s versatile, convenient and an all-you-can-eat buffet), then laws had to change to bring digital royalty distribution into a digital age. But how?

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Confessions.