The September 30th, 2008 deadline for submissions to the New York Songwriters’ Circle’s (NYSC) annual Songwriting Contest is quickly approaching.

For over 18 years such notable artists as Vanessa Carlton, Norah Jones, Gavin DeGraw, Jesse Harris, Lisa Loeb, Charlotte Sometimes, Avril Lavigne, John Oates and Chris Barron (of the Spin Doctors) have all been a part of this legendary circle. This year’s grand prize winner will take home over $15,000 in cash and prizes, including a performance spot at the world renowned Madison Square Garden, The Live Nation – Jones Beach Concert Series, recording sessions with Grammy award winning producer Glenn Barett and so much more. The contest winner will also be featured on Jonathan Clarke’s highly rated “Out of the Box” radio show on New York’s most popular classic Rock station, Q104.3. For the first time ever, the NYSC will present two additional awards at the contest finale, an International award to an outstanding songwriter from anywhere outside the US, and a Young Writer award, for songwriters ages 8 to 18.

The New York Songwriters Circle contest annually gives performers the rare opportunity to perform their music live in front of top music industry professionals and excited music fans as part of the New York Songwriters Circle’s ongoing showcases series in Philadelphia (at World Café Live), Boston (at Johnny D’s in Somerville), and the legendary Bitter End in New York’s Greenwich Village. Past contest winners include Kate Voegele, (currently starring in the hit TV Show “One Tree Hill”) and “Company of Thieves,” (recently featured as a breaking artist on Billboard Magazine).

The Live Finale events on November 5th and 6th at the Bitter End in New York will spotlight the twelve contest finalists and include rare special guest appearances by Grammy Award winning Singer/Songwriter Marc Cohn and Indie music sensation Dave Barnes. Aside from his own impressive music catalog, Marc Cohn has worked with such notable artists as Tracy Chapman, Jackson Browne, David Crosby, Shawn Colvin and many more. Currently, Dave Barnes is touring with “Los Lonely Boys” and has achieved both critical and commercial success as an indie recording artist.

The panel of judges includes Grammy-Award winning producer Russ Titelman, 785 Records/Publishing and Denise Rich Songs President Mark Eichner, Rolling Stone and New York Magazine contributor and author John Colapinto and many more. Sponsors include 785 Records, Denise Rich Songs, Ascap, Bmi, Sesac, MorningStar Studios, Broadjam.com, SongU.com, Dubway Studios and Sam Ash Music.

For more information and to submit your music please visit http://www.songwriters-circle.com

Tim Young – “The Cost” MP3

Tim Young’s single “The Cost” tugs right at your heart-strings with fully-charged, emotive lyrics like “Now the night is sawin’ at my heart… nobody knows the cost of losing you.” Moving forward from the pain of loss, this twang-y, sorrowful lament about heartbreak infuses country-western-rock to create a catchy melody.
http://www.timrocksweb.com

“Just Say So Baby” the new digital single release by Mike Runnels is receiving airplay and accolades across Europe. The Tex-Mex single available on iTunes is making impact on the radio in Denmark, Sweden, The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and France.

What the disc jockeys are saying,
“A very great song, love the Tex-Mex sound”
- Kjell Horlin MCWC Radio Sweden
“I love it ”
- Mike Penard Radio ISA France

Radio programmers can download the single for free at http://www.AirplayDirect.com/MikeRunnels

Mike Runnels is a Retro-Country and Tex-Mex artist based in Austin, Texas. The upcoming movie Fuel starring C. Thomas Howell and directed by Oktay Ortabasi features three of Mike’s songs.For more information visit http://www.MikeRunnels.com

Boston, MA — If you’re riding the wave of the indie music revolution you’re about to get a huge boost. Music career coach Peter Spellman has just released the second edition of Indie Marketing Power: THE Resource Guide for Maximizing Your Music Marketing – a 388-page resource-rich handbook designed to help all music entrepreneurs navigate through the hundreds of marketing and promotional opportunities available today.

“This is a guide you can refer to again and again because it is full of easy-to-apply best marketing practices any music company can benefit from,” says Spellman. “Just put this Indie Marketing Power on your desktop and you’ll have a reliable marketing tool kit to refer to for all your promo and marketing needs.”

Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby has this to say about this new book: “INDIE MARKETING POWER is the most helpful book for musicians promoting their music that I have ever seen. I’m considering this not just essential reading, but REQUIRED reading for every musician I know!”

Indie Marketing Power delivers market intelligence, smart strategies and fresh perspectives on essential music marketing ideas and practices. It covers everything from discovering your unique market niche and assessing your current marketing practices, to tapping the power of your audience, securing profitable license deals and expanding your music overseas. In between you’ll discover the best promotional practices for live performance, selling merchandise, working the media, using ecommerce, building your mailing lists, securing radio airplay, finding the right distributors, attracting sponsors, and much, much more. The final chapter walks you through the process of writing a results-driven marketing plan, and three glossaries and a 38-page Further Resource Guide top it off.

Indie Marketing Power sells for $24.95 (eBook) and $34.95 (print) respectively and is available exclusively from Music Business Solutions (mbsolutions.com/books).

Additional MBS Guides include “Plan Your Band!,” “Your Successful CD Release” and “Indie Power: A Business-Building Guide for Record Labels, Music Production Houses, and Merchant Musicians.”

Author Peter Spellman is Director of Career Development at Berklee College of Music, Boston, and a recognized expert on music business development and grass roots music marketing. He is featured in the documentary film, “What is Indie?” and his Guides are used in universities across the country and in over twenty-five countries around the world.

All MBS Guides can be purchased at http://www.mbsolutions.com/books

Sonoma Wire Works announces RiffRumble 12, an online song contest for RiffWorks recording software users. Entries will be accepted for two weeks: September 10 – 23, 2008. Contestants worldwide will record songs on their own or team up into virtual bands of two to four musicians, record songs together online, and compete for over $2500 in prizes from IK Multimedia and Drummerheads. RiffRumble 12 takes place on RiffWorld.com, a vibrant online music collaboration and song posting community for RiffWorks users. No purchase necessary (RiffWorks T4 free edition may be used). No entry fee.

How to Play
Use RiffWorks to create a song yourself and enter it by RiffCasting it to “RiffRumble 12”. Or use RiffWorks to create an “invite-only” collaboration, invite 1 – 3 people to collaborate with you, then RiffCast it to “RiffRumble 12”. Or join RiffRumble 12 song collaborations by being invited to a song in progress. Enter songs September 10 – 23. The public votes September 10 – 30. Contestants vote September 24 – 30. Contest & Prize Details: http://www.riffworld.com/riffrumble/rr12

First Prize (Contestants Choice Category): Up to 4 musicians who use RiffWorks to create or collaborate on the song that wins first prize will each receive an IK Multimedia Total Guitar & Bass Gear Bundle download (AmpliTube 2, AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix, AmpliTube Metal, AmpliTube X-Gear, and Ampeg SVX). “Powered by AmpliTube” product information: http://www.amplitube.com

Second Prize (Public Vote Category): Up to 4 musicians who use RiffWorks to create or collaborate on the song that wins second prize will each receive 3 RiffWorks InstantDrummer Sessions by Drummerheads. Drummerheads product information: http://www.drummerheads.com

About RiffWorks
RiffRumble 12 celebrates the launch of RiffWorks T4, a free edition of RiffWorks guitar recording and online collaboration software. With RiffWorks T4 musicians can record ideas at the moment of inspiration, create complete songs with drums and effects, collaborate online with musicians worldwide, cast tunes to the RiffWorld.com online community, and compete in song contests for free. RiffWorks T4 includes an interactive “Quick Start” tutorial (translated into many languages) to help guitar players start recording ideas and complete songs immediately. Upgrade to RiffWorks Standard for 24 tracks plus drums, REX, ReWire, 9 InstantDrummer session loops, AmpliTube 2 Live and more. http://www.riffworks.com/T4

About RiffRumble
RiffRumble song contests are hosted by Sonoma Wire Works and sponsored by the hottest music industry companies. The first nine RiffRumbles were for solo songwriters, and now online collaboration song contests occur as well. Sponsors for past RiffRumbles have included Line 6, IK Multimedia, Taylor Guitars, Recording Magazine, and more. Recent prizes include a Taylor SolidBody Electric Guitar, an IK Multimedia StompIO and a Line 6 Variax Guitar.

About Sonoma Wire Works
Incorporated in 2003, Sonoma Wire Works develops high-quality, innovative products and services that help musicians enjoy playing, recording and sharing music. Headquartered in Los Altos, California, Sonoma Wire Works’ development group has more than 25 years of audio engineering experience. Sonoma Wire Works products have received multiple editorial awards for performance and innovation, including a NAMM 08 Best in Show Trendsetter Award.

Tim Young Band is becoming more and more associated with the Podcast nation. The first week of September has seen three podcasts pick up on the sounds of Tim Young Band.

Two on either side of our USA and one from our brothers and sisters in Italy. First up is a program from New Hampshire known as Opinionated Ramblings hosted by a DJ by the name of CeeJay. CeeJay chose to start off her Labor Day special podcast with the song ‘Work Today’ which is from Tim Young’s solo album RED. RED was released in the Spring of 2005. This year’s THE COST is the follow up. CeeJay is a southerner transplanted to New England and a musician herself. The Labor Day special is Podcast number 56 and first aired on September 1, 2008. http://ceejay64.blogspot.com/

‘Hangin In’ caught the ears of two gentlemen in Italy who have a podcast known as AmiciAmici. The site is all in Italian but it sounds like these guys really love what they do. ‘Hangin In’ debuts on their Podcast number 61 or Puntata 61. ‘Hangin In’ is showcased on THE COST. This program first aired on September 3, 2008. http://www.amiciamici.com/rubrica/podcast/

Rounding off the week was The choice of ‘Outta Town’, from THE COST. A very prolific podcaster by the name of David Tanny aired this track on his I Still Get Demented Podcast Edition show number 32 out of San Diego, CA. David makes special notice of ‘Outta Town’ and also fills his shows with parody and political humor. A very entertaining listen. Show number 32 first aired on September 6, 2008. http://www.dfsxradio.com/5200.htm

Podcasters are able to search for and find podsafe music, which is original music wholly controlled by its creators, at the Podsafe Music Network. Artists can create an account there and post the music they’d like to make available for podcast. http://music.podshow.com/

As this first week of September is demonstrating the music of Tim Young Band is appealing and attractive to people in the industry. These podcasters are among the vanguard in their support and attempts to help spread the buzz about these great songs. In addition, Tim Young Band, is beginning to build a potent web presence with the aid of MusicDish.com in their tireless efforts to help promote the new album THE COST.

www.timrocksweb.com

Beatbuggy is a new innovative social music beat catalogue discovery service aimed to let music consumers participate in the music industry. The new beatbuggy service will expand the company’s existing services by including mainstream music producers, incorporating links among friends, and offering free MP3s from emerging music producers. These new services also allow consumers to share ratings, discover new music beats, and play the music production quiz to see how their skills rank against their friends.

With a brand new look and a fresh image, Beatbuggy will help consumers discover music beats based on what they and their friends like. “This represents an epic change in how music beat catalogues can be marketed and promoted on the web,” said Duane Washington, CEO of Beatbuggy, inc. “We’re thrilled to be at the forefront of innovation, and we have re-oriented the site to create a more efficient channel for music beats from undiscovered music producers to reach fans.”

The company anticipates supporting other media players in the future.

http://www.beatbuggy.com/

2008 Dove Award winning musician Ryan Farish announced the release of his brand new single, “In This Moment”, available worldwide via iTunes and all major digital music stores/distributors. The EP reveals the next chapter in Farish’s signature chilled electronic pop sound, and includes two remixes – the “Summer Mix” and “Positive Chillout Mix.”

“‘In This Moment’ by Ryan Farish begins with a beautiful piano line that segues into a delightful mix of breakbeats and choir-like background vocals. The piano remains consistent throughout the song, serving as the backbone to a stunning instrumental. With its chilled out atmospheric vibe, “In This Moment” will transcend listeners to a sea of tranquility. Simply put, a peaceful, majestic, song.” Eric Hartline, MusicDish

About Ryan Farish
From his first music lessons at the age of four, to his studying music performance at Old Dominion University and music business at UCLA, to his recent releases – Everlasting & Selected Works – composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Farish has clearly been making a musical splash.

Ryan Farish first launched his artist career, back in 2000 on the former mp3.com. Ryan almost instantly became one of the most popular and downloaded artists in the history of the mp3.com era. Having received over 1.8 million downloads from his website on mp3.com, Ryan Farish (at age 28) ranked as one of the most popular artists of all time on the legendary mp3.com. Many of his tracks held the coveted #1 spot for months at a time, over 38 different times reaching #1 for their genre, and his cds sold to almost every corner of the earth.

Ryan Farish’s music has been featured on The Weather Channel’s “Local on the 8’s”, which led to TWC commissioning an original score/theme for their primetime TV show “Storm Stories”. Ryan has also been honored to have his music featured as part of the “Freedom Towers” documentary.

http://www.ryanfarish.com

His is a unique vocal style, a one-off musical vision and an out of the ordinary personal story. Unlike many of his musical peers, Osaru has spent years honing his talents before cutting a record, and the maturity shows.

Having learnt African percussion at the age of 8, church organ at 9 and subsequently discovering the joys of the keyboard and bass guitar, Osaru went on to play music in three separate continents. His inspirations coming from the worlds of soul, jazz, R&B, hip hop, reggae and even traditional African music. Only after such an extensive musical education, and while simultaneously working as a physician in North Carolina, has Osaru decided to share his gifts with the world.

Listening to the quality and diversity of Home, you will agree that it was certainly worth the wait. The album combines hip hop and R&B beats with jazzy instrumentation and even elements of classical music. This all comes together to form a whole that is satisfyingly head-nodding at first, but deeper and more interesting the more you listen.

There is something here for everyone, without the quality ever being compromised. From the dance floor inspired Start the Dancing to the slow, contemplative soul of the title track Home, Osaru is adept at supplying every musical need.

There is music for getting into the groove at the club, in the shape of I Know and Made Up My Mind, and there is also music for those quieter moments – The ‘Piano version’ of Pretty Lady and ‘24′ spring to mind here. However, most of all, this is music for lovers of great music who do not want to be constrained by the narrow boundaries of genre.

The best news is that this is only the beginning. Although Home has only just hit the shops, Osaru is already working on his next album, which he promises to deliver in the next Year. If it’s anything like this one, it can’t come soon enough.

Home is available now on CD Baby.

http://www.osarumusic.com
http://www.osarumusic.com/audio/OSARU-Home-2.m3u

Tim Young Band’s ‘The Cost’ is the perfect summertime soundtrack. It feels best to listen to it while sitting in front of a campfire, surrounded by company but alone with your thoughts. Every fleeting idea of pain, loss, and confusion come to full circle on each track, bringing to light the themes we all need to spend time thinking about.

The single ‘The Cost’ tugs right at your heart-strings with fully-charged, emotive lyrics like ‘Now the night is sawin’ at my heart…nobody knows the cost of losing you.’ Moving forward from the pain of loss, this twang-y, sorrowful lament about heartbreak infuses country-western rock to create a catchy melody. ‘Outta Town’ adds the electric guitar and makes you imagine what it would be like to just run away from all your problems as Young lists daily hassles we all deal with, such as traffic, landlords, and stresses from work.

One of the strongest songs, with the best intro, is ‘Drifting Cowboy.’ With sliding guitar riffs, the vocals slow down, providing a nice tune to meditate to, amidst your confusion. While listening, you can actually envision a cowboy alone on the ranch, gazing out at the flat land ahead, wondering where to go. Creating an original story on this track, Young tells the tale of a young cowboy from Alabama who quit school: ‘Rejection filled his cup until he landed on the stage in Nashville.’ As Young switches to first person with ‘I’m a drifting cowboy,’ we have to wonder if Young himself is the drifting cowboy. Either way, the story is nothing short of riveting.

‘Just For You’ has a nostalgic feel to it, bringing Elvis’ generation of country/rock back to the mainstream music scene with strumming guitar and wailing, honest vocals: ‘I’d shine every night just for you / I can see just what I need to do.’ ‘Remember’ certainly has an Elvis attitude, with its ‘bad boy’ tone shining through: ‘And even when I write these words / I don’t understand the past.’ The track presents a concept any listener can understand: being at a crossroads of the past and present, trying to decipher what’s happened before in order to know where to go in the future.

On ‘Hangin’ In,’ Young sings the blues, country-style, telling middle class woes of trying to get by, while inspiring listeners to keep their heads up: ‘It’s a long road every day / everyone I know says they’re hangin’ in.’ Shifting the album’s tone, on ‘Cold Wind’ Young introduces the theme of being, as Bob Dylan sings, ‘Blowin’ in the wind’: ‘Cold wind keeps on blowin’ me around; cold wind spins the truth right through the ground.’

‘Renegade’ fittingly closes the album, since after moving from a wandering cowboy, to a lost soul, to the dust blowing through the cold wind, Young advances to a renegade: a proud, brave man advancing forward through nature and city scenes alike, ready to dominate whatever environment he finds himself in. Without looking back, and with his eyes always set straight ahead, Young proves the ability that we all have to completely move on past the painful yesterdays and transform ourselves into powerful individuals that we never thought we could become. Then, truly, the cost of the pain becomes inconsequential; all that matters are the rewards reaped from the incredible growth process that we all are able to enter and emerge from.

‘The Cost’ forces listeners to ask themselves, ‘Where am I? Where have I been? How does it all make sense?’ And more importantly, ‘Where am I going?’ But by the time the CD stops spinning, you realize, thanks to the Tim Young Band, that, no matter what the answers are, everything’s going to be all right.

http://www.timrocksweb.com
http://www.myspace.com/timnycyoung