Happy Birthday, Kay Hanley
Age is relative. I have friends who are 70 who are younger than others who are 40. They never lose their sense of wonder, curiosity and the capacity to be inspired. Their imaginations are alive and well. They’ll be young forever, at least at heart. I want to be one of them. Like Kay!
Mayday Mayday: Calling ALL Songwriters
Unless you live under a rock, you must have heard of the MMA —The Music Modernization Act—the copyright reform legislation so desperately needed by songwriters. It’s the one we’ve been fighting for for years. Well, it’s being blocked by SESAC. That's right, the PRO SESAC. So roll up your sleeves.
Join The Noise
If the business model of 20 years ago was as it is today, that favorite song of yours...the one you sang to your baby at bedtime ("Surfer Girl" for me), or danced to at your wedding, might never have been written because the writer who wrote it might not have been able to sustain themselves long enough to stay in the game. Well, things are about to change. Hopefully!
For Love Or For Money
There’s plenty of talk about how the music business is thriving and worth billions. It's all true except that those billions aren’t making their way to the pockets of the writers who create the product that make a music business possible.
#Us Too
When it comes to the MeToo movement, Songwriters are not immune. As sole proprietors and small business owners, we are currently unable to unionize. We have no HR departments, no sexual harassment protocols, no real recourse. We only have each other. So where does a female songwriter (or artist or composer or producer) go when a line has been crossed? SONA is stepping up.
The Room Where it Happens
I love these young faces. College campuses. Skateboards. Limitless possibility in the air. I want to be part of the movement that helps make those possibilities possible. Perhaps it’s a different road than I traveled but even a detour should eventually lead to the same bliss, sense of accomplishment and livelihood.
Imagine
Every party involved in the process of getting a song to your ears should be compensated. We’re nothing without each other. The songwriter, the record label, the delivery platform, the technology. The imbalance of royalty distribution is the result of archaic music licensing laws that are no longer relevant. Imagine how workable things would be if we had some new laws.
Song Splits
It’s hard to weigh a contribution. Who’s to say a hook is worth more than the verse that allows the hook to make sense?
Her Name is Diane
In any profession there’s always a force that must be reckoned with. That someone makes us better simply by the virtue of us always having to catch up with them. For me, that someone was, still is, Diane Warren.
Light at the End of the Streaming Tunnel
If you didn’t sell your catalogue during the gold rush, fear not. We may have to think of it as “holding on to real estate during a down market in a neighborhood that could get really hot.”
A Songwriter's State of the Union
There is much work to do and it’s not going to be easy, but if we don’t try we can forget the idea of a next generation being able to make music and earn a living like many of us did. And then music will be written by amateurs, imposters, and the uninspired.
Dear Santa...
We don’t need material gifts, Santa….just some shift in the Universe that gives musicians faith in the idea that we, and the young people who will come after us, will be able to sustain ourselves and keep giving the world what they can not live without: music.
Make the Music Industry Great Again
The Donald has promised to do things differently. This is an area where I hope he does. It would be a Huge gesture of good will and would improve an ecosystem in disarray.
Back To School
The students I’ve been with this week have been open, curious, reasonable and interested. Most of all, they want a future in the music business!
Broken Record
The perception of free is a dangerous drug and the longer we believe it’s okay to use it the harder it will be to get sober.
Where is the "Justice" in the DoJ?
“I can't help wondering if this may be the moment for the songwriting community to try to make a stand as a united front.”
Dear Songwriters....
Our industry is a hot mess. Everyone’s trying to hold onto what’s slipping out of their control in this (still rather new) digital terrain.
Glass Half Full, Please
You never know when or where you’ll find your luck. Luck has more of a chance when we believe it does. It’s as simple as that. Our attitudes are more powerful than we know.
Come Together
When it comes to deciding who should go to DC to represent the creative community it is my view that no single group will be as influential or effective as we can be in a united front.
