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

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.

Also appearing at this summer event dubbed “MANTRA” by the organizers, are Papa Lion aka Mankind (USA) and dancer Adjei (Ghana). Dj Dominic is the night’s scratcher from the control tower.

The show at MS Innvik is one of the rare live Ras Nas’ shows in Oslo. The night is also your chance to buy Ras Nas’ CD “Dar-Es-Salaam” at a concert price. The CD contains a mix of reggae and afro (soukous). Last November Ras Nas was one of the headliners at Oslo World Music Festival where among others, Seun Kuti, Rachid Taha, Cessaria Evora and Ba Cissokho took part.

With a tight band and renewed vigor, Ras Nas’ line up includes Chuck Frazier (guitar), Uriel Seri (drums) and Ole Kristian (bass).

Ras Nas’ reputation as one of the best live acts within reggae and African music in Norway is without dispute. Reviewing Ras Nas ’ live radio concert, spring 2007, veteran music journalist with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, NRK, Arne Berg, put it in this way; “It was a memorable experience. From heavy dub poetry to exhilarating soukous – rarely has the public in Studio 19 shaken their bodies so thoroughly and seldom have we experienced such a sweaty, happy and smiling audience go home after a show!”

MANTRA is an urban entertainment concept where musicians, dj’s, dancers and the public mingle in an intimate atmosphere. The first MANTRA this summer season was held at Underground in June where the top Tanzanian R&B singer Ali Kiba was also one of the performers who entertained a packed crowd.

Venue: MS Innvik, Oslo
Dat: Saturday 18th July 2008
Concerts start at 21.30 (9.30pm)
Food is served from 18.00 – 21.00 (6pm – 9pm)

Tickets for both food and concert are: kr 150
for concert alone: kr 80

CHAINDRIVEN won the 95.5 KLOS’ Mark and Brian show’s “Webstock: Battle of the Fans contest,” the band announced today. As the winner, the band gets the opportunity to open the show at The Rowdy Frynds Tour with Lynyrd Skynyrd and Hank Williams Jr. on July 18, 2008 at the Soboba Casino in San Jacinto, CA.

WHO:
CHAINDRIVEN
Mando Medina-Vocals
Scott Herron-Bass
Bob Slattery-Drums
Dave Dzaich- Guitar
Christian Neil- Rhythm Guitar

WHAT:
CHAINDRIVEN will open for Lynyrd Skynyrd and Hank Williams Jr. on July 18, 2008 at The Arena inside Soboba Casino in San Jacinto, CA in front of 8,000 fans.

WHERE:
The Arena, Soboba Casino, San Jacinto, CA

WHEN:
Friday, July 18, 2008, 8:00 PM

WHY:
CHAINDRIVEN’s video Area 51 was selected out of hundreds of videos submitted to the “Webstock: Battle of the Fans video contest.” The top two bands battled it out at the Key Club in Hollywood June 12th while listeners got to view and vote for their favorite band during the live webcast. On June 16th KLOS announced that CHAINDRIVEN was the fans’ favorite.

BIO:
CHAINDRIVEN was formed in 2002 in Santa Clarita, CA by Vocalist, Mando Medina; Guitarist, Dave Dzaich; Bassist, Scott Herron; and Drummer, Bob Slattery. The band was spawned when Scott and Dave decided to start a metal band. After a few false starts with various drummers, they found Bob. He had just recently returned from Europe, and fate had it that they would all cross paths. After months of auditioning vocalists, Mando joined the line up. He was fresh from his enlistment in the military, and he was offered the job right at the end of their first rehearsal together. At that point, they knew the combination of all four individuals had a certain raw magic. CHAINDRIVEN’s first full length, self-titled CD was released in January 2008, and has just started to create some buzz in the music world. The band’s hard-hitting, crunchy, driving sound has hailed venues such as The Whiskey-a-Go-Go, The Knitting Factory, and The Key Club among other legendary stops along the Sunset Strip and surrounding areas. Most recently, CHAINDRIVEN added a second guitarist, Chris Neil, to the line up. His personal style rounds out CHAINDRIVEN’s unique jaw-clenching sound. CHAINDRIVEN is currently working on their second album, continuing to gig, and enjoying every minute playing for their growing fan base.

LINKS:
EPK: http://www.sonicbids.com/epk/epk.aspx?epk_id=135525
Blog: http://chaindriven.typepad.com
Myspace: http://myspace.com/chaindriven
GarageBand: http://www.garageband.com/artist/CHAIN_DRIVEN
iLike: http://www.ilike.com/artist/CHAINDRIVEN/

CHAINDRIVEN is now available on iTunes

Best clip for song “Good Bye,” as judged by Russian-born alt-pop artist Lena and her fans, wins grand prize, with eight runners-up also awarded; submissions deadline is June 30.

Lena is giving fans the opportunity to make a killer video for her – and the winner gets $5,000. Grand Prize is prize was made possible thanks to the generosity of her fans.

The Russian-born singer, whose maxi single “My Little, Temporary Loves”, will be released digitally on Fa Records (currently available exclusively on Nimbit), has challenged all aspiring film makers to produce a stellar clip for her song “Good Bye” and post it on YouTube for everybody to see.

The winning clip will be selected based on two criteria: artistic merit and user votes. The former will be determined by Lena herself, while the latter will be based on number and quality of YouTube views and Diggs.
http://www.farecords.com/lena-contest.html

http://www.songfacts.com/writing/2008/04/american-idol-song-selection.html

Make It Your Own – you probably don’t know who sang “I Can Dream About You,” which makes it a perfect choice.

Futz With The Arrangement – It worked for David Cook with “Billie Jean,” and it can work for lots of other songs, including “Torn” and “Bizarre Love Triangle.”

Avoid The Overdone – “Unchained Melody” has run its course.

Does a great Karaoke song translate to Idol? Not according to the folks who do it for a living. Kimberly Starling of The Karaoke Informer explains: “The typical good karaoke songs tend to lack the uniqueness needed for an Idol contestant to stand out.” Her list of songs that work in Karaoke but would bomb on Idol include “Friends In Low Places,” “Santeria,” and a surprising choice by The Ramones that works every time.

http://www.songfacts.com

Sponsored by online music giant Broadjam, prizes include iPods, royalty advances, CD Players, USB Key Drives, Music Industry Books, and of course, a slot on Kent’s next record. Entrants new to Broadjam also receive a free music web site, and free help placing their music online. Entries may be entered by mail or online, and anyone is welcome to enter. There is also a special section for lyric-only entries.

The owner of Goodnight Kiss, Janet Fisher, listens to every submission. “So many times in music competitions, there are outside judges who listen to the first rounds of music. I like to hear everything that might be appropriate for my own label. Sometimes raw talent or a raw song can be honed into a brilliant, refreshingly original gem. I don’t want to miss anyone’s potential,” says Fisher. “It takes a lot of hours to go through all of the songs, but there’s no other way to make sure I don’t miss anyone’s inspired work. This year Cathy and I will both be listening to find the perfect songs for her new release.”

Goodnight Kiss has created numerous CDs from contests, including a CD about addiction, an original Christmas collection, and a CD of songs written about the military by those serving or who have served. They pay traditional real-world royalties to their writers and artists.

“One of the best parts of owning an independent company is that we are never stuck on one flavor. Each project can be individually created with unique goals in mind. Cathy is an amazing artist which makes this project very inspiring, and I love it,” says Fisher. The song contest runs through July 31, 2008.

The label is hoping to receive both up-tempo songs and ballads in the style of music that could crossover in Country, Rock, and Pop venues. When asked what specific type of songs she is looking for, artist Kent replies, “I’m looking for great, memorable crossover-country songs with interesting melodies, and surprises. Mid to up-tempo is favored for this project, but I also love great meaningful ballads. I also enjoy big powerful choruses with wide vocal range.”

Kent’s vocal range covers three octaves, so she can certainly handle the big-range material, and her songs on iTunes shows her love of melody. She continues, “As an artist, I will be singing many of these songs for years to come, so songs of substance, that have timeless, sincere messages, are what I really seek. Fun or serious, a great song is a great song!”

Fisher’s company has worked on various projects with Broadjam.com over the past nine years, and is highly impressed with their contest delivery system. She refers to the process as flawless. “Every year we discover new artists and songwriters from all sorts of places. Broadjam is key to this, as everyone from anywhere in the country or the world, can get their songs online via their delivery system.”

Besides the plethora of prizes, winners and runners up in the song contest will also receive some nice promotion via Broadjam’s news and the Goodnight Kiss Music News and their respective web sites. In addition to Broadjam.com, sponsors include The Music Registry, Celebrity Black Book, FreeEarbuds.com, and others.

To enter the “Songs For Cathy Kent” Song Contest, see below:

Rules and Entry information at: http://www.goodnightkiss.com/contest.html
Online entries: http://www.broadjam.com/goodnightkiss

For information about Goodnight Kiss Music, see: http://www.goodnightkiss.com

Since 1995, USA Songwriting Competition has been honoring songwriters from all over the world. Winners came from Australia, Japan, Canada, UK, Germany, Brazil, South Africa, USA, etc. Past winners have gotten recording contracts, getting their songs on film, TV as well as getting cuts with major artists. The 2005 Winner of the country category had his winning song cut by Faith Hill. The 2005 winner of the pop catgeory was signed by MySpace/Interscope records.

Entries must be entered by May 30, 2008 or earlier. The entry form can be found at: http://www.songwriting.net/tagit.html

The prize is a gig at the JVC Jazz Festival in Newport. We have now been Number ONE on the CHART since early April and would love to land the gig. We have dates open in late June…so why not. If you are up to it, and like the songs…feel free to vote! You have to sign in and the voting is random to make it fair…the most important time is April 24th..as the finals are in full swing.

By the way…Both “Zack In The Box” our featured tune from “Stained Glass” or

“Yo Bro” can be downloaded at the voting site, or head over to our homepage to download “Zack In The Box” http://www.geofflapp.com/

Here is how to vote:

(i) Log on to Ourstage.com

(ii) REGISTER:then head over to JUDGE and cast your vote at this genre: JVC Jazz Festival Newport. Its on the bottom left
(iii) You never know when the tunes will come around, so please be patient as you wait for the chance to vote

Vote for the Geoff Lapp Trio and send them to the JVC JAZZ FESTIVAL in NEWPORT!

Thanks for casting a vote and thank you Bandweblogs

Enjoy!

Geoff Lapp Trio

Where soulful and cerebral fuse
‘The Geoff Lapp Trio’ delivers a sound that is tasteful, innovative, and infectiously swinging

A self-taught pianist, Megan now gets to experiment with drums and dozens of other instruments with her new Mandala. She loves any kind of music – classical, rock, country, Christian – and says the Mandala 2.0 “sounds like a lot of fun.” The only other thing she’s ever won was a 4-foot Snoopy – back when she was just three feet tall. Megan and her mom used to raise Chihuahuas, but she says the business was doomed – they kept more than they sold because the dogs were just too cute to let go. A disability keeps her from work, but she’s looking forward to experimenting with her new Mandala.

“We’re thrilled to award the Mandala 2.0 to Megan,” said Vince De Franco, Synesthesia founder and CEO, and inventor of the Mandala. “Anyone who’s got the gumption to teach themselves piano will love what the Mandala lets them do. It’s for people interested in music at any level. The Mandala lets creativity run wild, making it easy to experiment with sounds and create music. It looks like a drum and it is a drum – but it’s also just about any other instrument you can imagine.”

Synesthesia was behind the stealth online contest, presented here http://www.whatsthatsoundcontest.com/ – designed to showcase the Mandala’s ability to accurately emulate just about any instrument: a drum, a harp, a guitar, a piano, a marimba… and much more. The contest ran in Q1 of this year.

Among the responses were bongos, a sitar, glasses filled with water, a wine bottle opening, a didgeridoo — a wind instrument of the Australian aboriginees — and a bouncing ball in a long tunnel. Several people answered “synthesizer,” and all were entered into the contest drawing to win the prize. Representatives of Synesthesia randomly selected one contest winner from all correct responses.

A Rich, Satisfying Way to Experiment with Music

A new kind of synthesizer, the Mandala 2.0 packages a musical range so wide it simultaneously offers players the top of the line, most accurate model of a physical drum (via 3,000 professionally created, proprietary samples of the Black Beauty Snare Drum) – along with a library of sounds derived from more than 100 other instruments.

It plugs into a PC or Mac with just a USB cable, and its easy-to-use software comes with more than 100 presets for out-of-the-box functionality. Players also can create their own configurations as they explore and discover its astonishing audio range.

One pad can accommodate from one to seven different zones of sound – each of which can be configured as a separate instrument, with an array of specialized settings. Players can have a snare, a bass and a cymbal (or a harp, marimba or organ, or any other instrument) – all in the same drum head, all at the same time. One Mandala can act as one drum, as an entire drum kit, or as an eclectic combo.

The Mandala 2.0 retails for $349, and is available online at http://mandaladrum.com
Each Mandala is hand-crafted and thoroughly tested before it is shipped.

About Synesthesia
Synesthesia Corporation ( http://www.synesthesiacorp.com ) is exploring new sonic terrain with the Mandala™, its patented high-def drum and synthesizer – the only electronic drum that faithfully emulates an acoustic drum, and then transcends it. A new kind of synthesizer, the Mandala offers the world’s fastest trigger, precise strike detection across the entire pad, and a musical range so wide it can be the top of the line Black Beauty® Snare Drum or virtually any other instrument imaginable. The Mandala plugs into PC or Mac via USB cable, and works seamlessly with most major mixing programs. Co-developed with professional drummer Danny Carey of Tool, Mandalas are used by professionals and hobbyists the world over. Vince De Franco – inventor, physicist and musician – founded Synesthesia to develop his state-of-the-art electronic sensor technology and to use it to create products that inspire imagination and exploration. Based in Laurel Canyon, Calif., the company currently has several other products in development.