A Songwriter's Journey

Your Way Home
Kentucky (He Made Sense of It All)
She Beleieved
Say Bring It On
Change The Way
This Child Of Bethlehem
Carefree Days
My Eyes Well Up

The songs will be available on iTunes, AmazonMp3 and all other digital Distributors in a few days!!
I am really proud of all these songs and hope you will enjoy them as well!
Musically Yours,
Dave

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I recently attended a 2 session panel discussion on Music Supervision at The Nashville Film Festival hosted by SESAC.
On the panel were the following Music Supervisors: Evyen Klean, Jenee DeAngelis, Tricia Holloway, PJ Bloom, Wende Crowley and Music Producer Michael Freeman. Moderator was Stacy Freeman.

The first session they discussed how they prefer to receive submissions and the format. Generally they no longer want CD’s nor even mp3s but links to players that allow the files to be downloaded. The one site discussed the most was Box.com. They also recommend having all versions including instrumental tracks and a new one for me – the plain vocal track. They discussed how to contact them directly in the first session but backed off that in the second session stating it was best to get your songs on a music production site and they would go there. The staff of such music production sites speak their language.  While they would love to meet us personally they said they just don’t have the time nor the time to talk about the things they need in the language of music supervisors.
One person attending asked about what they thought of re-titleing songs. In unison the panel said NO!! They said that the major networks and studios would not license our songs if they were re-titled. It never was clear why re-titleing is a bad thing. It can’t be because songs can only be placed once – I can think of several examples of songs showing up in different movies or shows.

The reason I’m confused so much on this subject is because I have obtained FIVE placements with re-titled songs! Three placements on the Discovery Channel, one on TLC and a nice Star Trek Enterprise placement on CBS Network!! So they were certainly willing to select my song…

So, let me know here what you are doing, if anything, with getting your songs placed on TV or Film and also let’s discuss further the topic of Re-Titled songs – the Pros and Cons. So far fo me the 5 placements are generating royalties for me on a quarterly basis! I am being more discerning in which songs I put out there but at this point will continue what I am doing on the 3 sites I use: Musicsupervisor.com, musicdealers.com and scorekeepersmusic.com. The last two re-title but musicsupervisor.com does not.

I look forward to your comments!

Musically yours! Dave

What possible advice could the National Football League team, The Tennessee Titans, have to offer singers/songwriters? Well more specifically, advice for newbie writers or artists.
The Titans find themselves today with a chance to make the post-season playoff games. But to make the playoffs several things need to happen. There are scenarios where certain teams have to lose today and certain teams need to win. The sports commentators have been burning up the tv screens outlining the possible ways the Titans can make the playoffs.
But Titans Coach, Mike Munchak, gave what I believe is the most important advice: The thing needed to make the playoffs – the Titans HAVE to win today – period. If they don’t, none of the other scenarios matter! So they need to just FOCUS on winning today’s game.
That’s the advice newer singer songwriters need to take to heart!
Focus only on today – this song, this performance, this recording session. So often I see songwriters/artists so intent on getting the big record deal or song cut or staff songwriting deal they lose sight of the NOW!
So what happens is the quality of their creative output suffers which will lead to a publisher turning the song off after 15 seconds, or an audience tuning out listening after a less than rehearsed performance.
It all is so exciting – the money, fame, hearing YOUR creations played on the radio or in a film or tv show. Then there are those who place their family’s financial security in jeopardy because they just HAVE to get that several thousand dollar CD recorded and distributed. When what they should be doing is taking a deep breath, stand back and ask themselves, “Do I need this yet or Am I ready for this yet?”. Most times the answer is “no” which by human nature we don’t want to admit to.
I have been at this songwriting game a long time (since the mid-1970’s) and have made many of these mistakes. Some mistakes need to be learned the hard way, but so much can be avoided by taking Coach Munchak’s advice to just focus on this day and to win this game first! Then thoughts of the next steps can be entertained!
Dave

Dave Colvin | Christmas Memory | CD Baby.

My holiday CD “CHRISTMAS MEMORY” is now available for download at CD Baby!

Contact me at arnybarnmusic@comcast.net to Pre-Order the physical CD!
Available soon on all digital distribution stores such as iTunes, Amazon, Napster, etc…..

I have a song that is getting some attention here in Nashville called “That’s When I Love Her So” an uptempo country song that I recorded in the Fall of 2010.

http://soundcloud.com/davecolvinsongs/thats-when-i-love-her-so

I have a hand held voice recorder that I keep by my side to record moments of inspiration. It has been valuable in my songwriting process. Every now and then I download the tracks to my laptop to make room for more newer creations on the VR. Well, a few weeks ago I was listening to what I’d recorded and ran across a very early version of the sogn above – but at that time it was titled “That’s All I Need To Know”

http://soundcloud.com/davecolvinsongs/thats-all-need-to-know

In stark contrast to the finished uptempo guitar driven song, this was slower and based on the piano. Besides the title change, at that time (6/10/10) I had not yet written a bridge.

Anyway, I thought my songwriting friends might find the growth process of this particular song interesting.

Please leave some feedback or tales of your own writing experiences.
Peace!
Dave

From time to time I plan to use this forum to pass on songwriter resources that can be helpful in getting our songs heard!

One resource is the Nashville Demo Studio Newsletter and Free Pitch Sheet.  I am not certain where I first saw the link for this (Facebook maybe?) but I figured all I had to give was my email address so…
The Newsletter I have found to be very informative but what has helped me the most is the Pitch Sheet. Now, they do make it clear you need to have your own contacts – or make your own contacts. In my case, I am working with Songplugger and industry veteran, Chris Keaton, who pitches several of my songs to the Major artists who are looking for songs. I try to pursue the small labels and up and coming artists who are looking. So while the sheet may tell you Tim McGraw is looking – I leave that up to Chris – but for someone like Nic Bishop, I pitch myself.
First I research using Google and YouTube. It is important to HEAR what the artist sounds like and what type of songs they sing. Then I use whatever source I can to get an email or phone number to use to contact. I “ALWAYS” contact first for permission to submit!! Very important!

Yes, you do have to do some work, but this resource helps focus your efforts in the right direction!

Roam around their website – it has a lot of interesting information for every level of songwriter talent. No, I’ve not been paid for this recommendation – LOL! I just believe if you find something helpful it should be shared!
Musically,
Dave
p.s. Remember to check out the Video Series companion to this blog at “A Songwriter’s Journey“!
Peace!

I’ve been working all weekend trying to finish a song I wrote for a placement opportunity listed at MusicDealers.com! They have an opportunity to get a song in an Ad for a new pickup truck – the campaign to be run in 5 Gulf Coast states! Major upfront fee available so the chosen song will be very lucrative for the writer!
I pretty much had the lyric finished within an hour – but coming up with a killer melody and hook on short notice is difficult!
Oh, I forgot to mention the deadline is tomorrow at Noon!

This is really challenging and a lot of fun for me!
I understand the odds of getting selected are low – there are some AMAZING songwriters and composers that contribute their music to the music library. But like I said it is fun for me to set a deadline, come up with a lyric and tune and get it submitted by Noon on Nov. 1st!

I will try to post the song when I get a chance but right now…..
It’s TIME TO GET BACK TO WORK WRITING THAT SONG!

I am really getting excited about finishing up my unplanned Christmas CD! I had been making some Christmas tracks to submit for TV Film opportunities and one day realized I was about 3 songs short of putting them on a CD!! So I am down to one more song needed.

To give you a flavor of what you will hear – this is a 58 second clip of my version of the classic “Joy To The World“!!
Please comment and let me know what you think!! Thank you! Dave