From projo.com
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Resources for musicians and songwriters
Don't see a link for what you need? Want to suggest a helpful site?
Send your request to .
calendars
Publicize your upcoming gigs, or find out who might be coming to Rhode Island
and when.
-
Dirty
Linen Gig Guide -- View schedules that have appeared in Dirty Linen Magazine,
a publication that focuses on folk and world music. Musicians can also click
the FAQ
link on the schedule page to see the deadlines for submitting their calendars.
- EventFinder
at PauseRecord -- "Linking local music scenes."
- Gigmania -- Audio, video and more, all tied to a nationwide database of gig information. Information on how to submit listings is here.
- Musi-cal -- Check schedules by venue, artist, festival and more. Musicians may also submit their calendars to thsi nationwide database.
- Pollstar.com -- The Concert Hotwire. A worldwide tour database that is updated weekly. According to the site's FAQ, Pollstar tracks mostly national touring acts. "But you, your manager or agent are always welcome to submit your itineraries to our Route Book department. Please fax them on company letterhead to (559) 271-7979. From there, our Route Book department would research and cross reference the dates.
- Tourdates.com -- "...the Internet's premier live music guide. From garages to stadiums -- we cover it all!"
- WhatsGoingOn.com
-- Events, festivals and destinations, plus the daily "Coolest Place
on Earth Today." They have a submission
form to help them "scour the globe looking for the coolest events,
gatherings and happenings to see and experience."
copyright/trademarks
Protect your material
- U.S. Copyright Office
-- A printable copyright form -- complete with instructions -- is available
directly from the Web site (you will need Adobe's free Acrobat
Reader). Each form submitted to the office must be accompanied by a $30
fee, whether the form represents an individual song or a collection, album
or folio of music
- In addition to protecting their material, bands should protect their name. For more information on trademarks, try this FAQ page.
Online tools/software
Software, composing tools and assistance, and more
- Harmony
Central - "The Internet Resource for Musicians." Sections dedicated to many popular instruments, complete with buyers' guides, discussion groups, FAQs, links to instruction sites, and more.
- Hitsquad.com -- Central location for all musicians to find music software, sheet music, books and mailing lists, plus other industry-related links.
- International Lyrics Server -- Search by artist, album or song.
- OLGA -- The Online Guitar Archive is a vast collection of guitar tabulatures (sheet music that shows finger placement on the fretboard) culled from musicians throughout the world. NOTE: Finding the song you are looking for requires some persistance and patience because you must search through any number of archives (a process resulting from a 1998 copyright dispute, which is explained in some detail on the OLGA site).
- PianoWorld -- A comprehensive resource for piano players. Be sure to check out the site's Virtual Piano Chord display tool.
- Scales
and Chords -- Free program for guitarists and bass players (works only on Windows operating systems). The graphical interface displays scales and chords of all varieties (major, minor, blues, harmonic, etc.).
- Shareware
Music Machine -- Billing itself as the world's largest music software site, it contains more than 2,500 music programs, including everything from metronomes to software synthesizers, and from drums and percussion loop tools
to label printing programs. For those who just want to play along, there is also a link to karaoke programs.
- Songville: Lessons and Tools for Songwriters -- Links to a variety of instruction pages.
publishing
Protect your income
NOTE: Be sure to get professional advice before joining any of these organizations. This step is primarily taken once a band or solo artist has reached the point of actually selling their music.
- ASCAP
-- American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Its primary function is protect its more than 80,000 members -- comprised of composers, songwriters, lyricists and music publishers -- by "licensing and paying royalties for public performance of copyrighted work."
- BMI -- Broadcast Music Inc. Similar to ASCAP. In addition to representing songwriters, BMI advocates on behalf of film, television,
musical theatre and classical music composers and music publishers. The collect money from businesses using copyrighted music through the course of their day, and distribute the money to its members.
- SESAC -- Also a performing rights organization. There is no charge to join SESAC, but it is not open to everyone. Tapes are reviewed by the company, and membership is by invitation only. SESAC prides itself on representing those they think will be successful in the music industry.
publications
Connect with the industry
- CMJ
-- College Media Journal publishes several industry magazines, chief among them the CMJ New Music Report. This weekly trade magazine is relied upon heavily by radio station programmers, record labels and promoters to stay on top of the latest music releases around the country. It also tracks airplay from hundreds of college radio and other stations across the country.
- folkmusic.org
-- "...the comprehensive source for folk and acoustic music resources on
the World Wide Web."
- Northeast Performer -- They do not have a Web site, but this monthly magazine is widely regarded as the best insider source of information on music scenes in all six New England states. A popular feature among performers is the "Free Press" section, which accepts announcements and news snippets from area bands, broken down by region. For more information, contact the magazine: (617)627-9200.
- WBRU-FM 95.5 -- Home BRU'd, airing at midnight on Tuesdays, showcases the best music from southern New England.
- WKPE-FM 104.7 The Rocket -- The Cheap Seats program, hosted by Cat, airs from Cape Cod on Sunday nights from 8 to 10 p.m. The show features bands and solo artists from all over New England.
- WSMU-FM 91.1 -- The radio station at UMass-Dartmouth has a few different programs that feature local music, including Light from a Dead Star
w/ Toni Pennacchia (goth music) on Tuesday nights, and three different folk-related programs hosted by Scott MacKinnon -- "Root 'n Branch" Saturday nights, "The Hay Holler Wakeup" on Wednesday mornings, and "The Celtic Connection" on Friday mornings.
- WHJY-FM 94.1 -- Soundcheck airs Sunday nights from 11 p.m. to midnight.
