DAY - 138+139+140

Went from doubling up to tripling up on posts.  That's how busy this week has been.  I know I've said TGIF before but today I really mean it.  I can't even believe it's Friday.  I swear Monday was yesterday!!  I'm absolutely exhausted.  It's a good type of exhausted feeling though because I know this week has been productive.  I wrote 4 songs, finished a demo, met a handful of amazing new people, added 6 new students to my private teaching schedule, and performed in a showcase for Pro Music Academy last night.  Not to mention, substitute taught 3 days.  

I just want to make it clear that in no way am I posting this to say "Hey!  Look how busy I am!"  The reason I'm talking about it is 1) I need to vent and I'm wearing out my wife's ears. 2) As part of this blog, I feel like it's necessary to show what someone actually goes through in pursuit of a career in music.  I wish I could say it's all glamorous.  Writing and recording sessions every day, shows at night, parties, networking, etc.  Yeah sure, that's part of it, but what most people don't see/know is how most of us musicians, songwriters, and artists survive.  Before the BIG bucks start rolling in, you gotta learn to wear many hats.  Today, I wore the hat of "Library Assistant" while subbing at local High School.  Sound glamorous?  Totally rock and roll right!?

Here's a brief laundry list of the last few days...

1) Wednesday:  Finished a demo at Jason Garner Productions and started a killer song with Jon D'Agostino and new co-writer, Abigail Nyman.

2) Thursday: Wrote with British artist/songwriter Jen Armstrong for the first time.  Awesome session!  We finished a kick ass new pop song in about 3 hours.  Just spilled out on the page.  Played at Hard Rock Cafe Downtown for the Pro Music Academy Showcase

3) Friday:  Sent some emails out following up with co-writers.  Just heard from Bill Gue that "IM4U" is getting some serious attention from a few labels.  Fingers crossed!!

Have a great weekend!

DAY - 137

Last night's writing session with Molly and Cheyenne was great!  I'm so glad we brought the talents of Cheyenne on board. (refer to yesterday) Great guy and super talented.   The past few months have been a whirlwind.  I'm so thankful for all the amazing people I'm meeting and all the inspired music that is a resulting.

Today is non-stop.  I found a little window of down time to write this post after subbing and before teaching private lessons.  Gotta make it quick.


Today, I decided to take another crack at reaching out to Ole Music Publishing.  Ole is an awesome publishing company but more than that, I feel as though it could be a great place for my music to thrive.  They have outlets all over and handle multiple genres of music.  Being the ADD songwriter that I am, my music needs multiple outlets!  Hoping to make the connection happen.  We shall see.  Cheers!

DAY 134+135

So sorry to keep doubling up on posts.  At the moment, I'm being pulled in so many different directions daily that my downtime is very minimal.   It's ok though...we'll git r done!

The weeks are flying by!  I can't believe it's almost March.  We had a taste of that warm spring sunshine this weekend, and it was totally energizing.  I'm really looking forward to Spring in Nashville. I hear it's the most beautiful season.

Enough about the weather.  Last week was productive.  I had a schedule full of writing sessions that have led to meeting cool new people and great networking opportunities.  My writing session with Molly Hunt on Friday was fantastic.  We decided to bring the very talented, Cheyenne Medders into the mix. Cheyenne is a songwriter and producer here in Nashville and I'm super pumped to work with him.  Molly, Cheyenne and I have a session this afternoon and we're hoping to finish up a great song!

On Friday, I touched base with ASCAP about upcoming events.  There is one scheduled at the Basement this Wednesday night.  ASCAP will be featuring some of their hottest new writers/artists.  I spoke with LeAnne Phelan and she said it is a must see!

Gearing up for another packed week.  Stay tuned!

DAY - 132 + 133

Ahhhh crazy frustrating morning!  I ran around to three different DMV's attempting to get my TN Driver's license, registration and order new plates.  What a fiasco!  At the first location, the line was out the door and around the corner.  Before arriving at the second location, I drove around for 30min trying to find parking.  When I finally parked, walkd 5 blocks, and found the entrance,  there was hardly anyone there...wooo hooo!  I filled out my application and strolled up to the counter.  Oh wait, they don't do change of state driver's licenses.  Grrrr!  I googled a 3rd location, drove there, signed in and found out the wait would be another hour and a half.  No thank you.  I have a writing session today at 12:30pm and there's no way I'd make it in time.  After a waste of 4 hours,  I realize I'm going to have to battle with the DMV another day.

Apologies for the venting.

Down to business...

Yesterday, I reached out to Travis Carter at Tom Leis Music Publishing/Love Monkey Music.  Travis is the creative director.  I emailed him a few months back but I decided to reach out again to follow up. I also had a writing session with J Fred Knobloch.  We finished a KILLER new song!   I might be bias, but it's a pop/country smash waiting to happen.  ;)  Can't wait to demo it and start pitching!

Today, I have a writing session with the very talented, Scot Sax.  Scot is a super creative and inspiring hit songwriter.   (If you haven't heard his music check him out here!) We wrote a few songs together last year.  I'm looking forward to getting together and starting something new!

To close out the week, tomorrow, I have a follow up session with Molly Hunt. (refer to last week)  Molly and I started an infectious pop song last Thursday.  Gonna knock it out of the park tomorrow!

DAY - 131

This morning, I spent a couple hours updating and submitting music to two different TV/Film licensing companies.  I've been working with these companies over the past couple years and haven't updated my music in a while.  I'm excited to submit some new recordings and see what kind of traction I get!

Like I said a few months ago, I'm putting more effort in the TV/Film market this year.  After getting word that one of my songs (co-written with Kirk Penney) is being used in a Canadian movie, I got fired up to keep the ball rolling!  Over the weekend, I did some reading/research and watched a great workshop on TAXI TV.  (If you've never watched TAXI TV, google it and watch.  It's an amazing free resource.) As I said in an earlier post, my ultimate goal is the elusive hit song. However,  I'm now feeling better informed and motivated to pursue more placements and write more songs for the TV/Film market as well.  Cheers!

DAY 129+130

Apologies for the delay... this post covers the events on Thursday, Feb 13th and Friday, Feb 14th.

Thursday, was what I like to call a true Music City experience.  9:30am meeting, 12pm writing session, 6pm recording session.  Bada bing, bada bang, bada boom.

Kicked off the morning by meeting with Senior Creative Director at ASCAP Nashville, LeAnn Phelan.  LeAnn is a very respected industry vet and super talented at what she does.  In our meeting, I played LeAnn snippets of about 7-10 songs.  She really dug what she heard and had some great advice for me. Better yet, she offered to personally put me in an exclusive writer's workshop that ASCAP is holding in March!  The workshop is held every Tuesday night in March and will be hosted by hit songwriter, Odie Blackmon. Needless to say, I accepted the invite and will be joining the workshop.  Sweeett!

At 12 noon, I had a brand new co-write with rising star, Molly Hunt.  Molly is a fantastic, young singer and songwriter with a strikingly powerful voice and great pop sensibilities. (We met a few weeks ago when she sang the demo for IM4U)   The session was killer!  We began work on an infectious pop song/idea that I still cannot get out of my head!   Can't wait to finish and see where it goes.  If you've never heard Molly Hunt, check her out!  www.mollyhuntmusic.com ***also check out her youtube for some amazing covers and originals.

At 6pm, it was off to the recording studio at Jason Garner Productions.  At Jason's studio, we laid down  vocals for the brand new song I wrote with Jon D'Agostino and Jim Huff.  Beau Fuller was the country demo singer and he nailed it.  Jason did a stellar job with the demo.  Can't wait to mix it and post for your listening pleasure!

Friday was more low key.  Sue was off of school and her mom is in town so we just hung around the city, ate some great food and watched a movie.  I managed to send out some emails to schedule writes for next week and also reached out to some new writers.  More to come on that!

Hope you have a great rest of the weekend! Cheers!


PS:  Happy belated Valentine's Day.  :)

DAY - 128

Great session today with J Fred Knobloch!  We're in deep on a killer new idea.  It's a heartfelt pop/country song, for a powerful female voice.  Can't wait to finish up and start demoing.  

Today, I reached out to Cyndi Foreman at Universal Music Publishing.  Cyndi was responsible for signing Hunter Hayes back in 2010.  From what I see, she's forward thinking and really knows the market.  I sent her an email to introduce myself.

My apologies for the short post but I gotta get some sleep!  Gearing up for a big day of networking/writing/and recording tomorrow.  Stay tuned!

DAY - 127

The sun is FINALLY out!  Over the past week or so, the winter gray invaded the city and stayed around way past its welcome.  It might still be cold, but just seeing that blue sky gets me going!   Looking forward to a writing session tonight with my Canadian friend and co-writer, Mr. Kirk Penney. As they say here in song town, I'm feeling a big ole hit! :)

Summertime isn't for another 4-5 months, but now is the time to start pitching those summer songs!! Today, I pitched Cole Swindell's A&R rep at Sony Music Nashville, Cris Lacy.  I pitched "Here We Go Again".  Recently basking in the glow of his first hit, "Chillin' It", Cole is a new artist/writer with a lot of promise!  He has that laid back, country boy swagger thing going on.  I know, "HWGA" is a strong pitch for him, but we'll see what his A&R thinks.  

That's all for today. Have a great night!

DAY - 126

Monday is here much too quickly and it's back to the grind.  Today, I gave it another shot and reached out to Joey Moi.  Joey is producing Florida-Georgia Line's follow up record.  I've been making an effort to get "Here We Go Again" into the mix for the project.  Well,  today I got through!  However, it wasn't what I wanted to hear.  It was a "pass".  Ahhh...the familiar sting of rejection.  I have to say, it hurts a lot less than it used to.  I can't remember where I heard it, but this pretty common expression comes to mind,  "You're going to hear at least 100 'NO's' for every 'YES'.   That's what this blog is helping me do daily...plow through the "No's" and get to those "Yes's"!  Here's another blog post you might enjoy that talks about this same concept AND offers some cool advice.

http://www.lifeasanartistpreneur.com/2011/12/coffee-cup-chats-100-nos.html

And here's a little snippet:

Here's what you do...

You take a piece of paper and a pen (or multi colored markers if you're feeling snazzy), and you write the word NO one hundred times all over the paper. Then you take the paper and you hang it up by your desk. Each time you get a "NO" from someone you excitedly cross one of the 100 no's off your sheet. The idea is, that if you can put yourself out there enough to get 100 people to say NO to you, you'll get some pretty incredible YES-es as well. So as you start to cross of the  NO's, you get closer and closer to your big YES moment. I didn't have to cross out all 100 before I started getting some great YES moments myself. Just the act of turning a rejection into an exciting milestone makes you more prone to trying. 

DAY - 125

Loooonnng week!  I don't know about you, but everyone I've been talking to has been saying the same thing.  Hopefully the weekend feels as long.  I'm staring at the calendar and next week is already jam-packed!  Besides the usual teaching, I have a meeting scheduled at ASCAP, a recording session at Jason Garner Productions and some great co-writes.

In between teaching today, I had some time to reach out to Taylor Lindsey, head of A&R at Sony Music Nashville.  I emailed Taylor to introduce myself.  I sent her a sample of my work as well as the Makingit365 mini-documentary that Olive Branch Productions made last year.  Thought maybe it might spark some interest.  As always, we shall see. :)

Have a great weekend!

DAY - 123+124

It's shaping up to be another productive week!   I had a great session with new co-writer, Vince Constantino on Tuesday night and last night I put the finishing touches on the new song I'm writing with Jon D'Agostino and Jim Huff.  It's looking like we're set to demo on Feb. 13th.  I'm excited about this one!  Can't wait for you to hear it.  This weekend my Philadelphia friend and co-writer, Matt Santry will be in town.  He's passing through on an east coast tour and we'll be writing and possibly performing together on Saturday night.

Down to biz...

Yesterday, I reached out to Seth England from Big Loud Shirt and today I emailed the production team of Rich Redmond, Kurt Allison, Tully Kennedy and David Fanning, aka "New Voice Entertainment".  Both teams are doing fantastic things here in Music City.  Big Loud Shirt is home to some of the most successful songwriters/artists in the business. i.e. Craig Wiseman, Rodney Clawson, Chris Tompkins, not to mention Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley from FGL.  And that's just to name a few!  New Voice is an a-list team of pro musicians/producers that work with Jason Aldean and Thompson Square among others.

In a city where talent is running rampant, it's both energizing and daunting. This blogging adventure helps remind me that, besides working hard at my own craft,  the goal is building meaningful relationships.  Music IS a team sport.   To amend the old cliche, "It's not what you know, it's who you know."  I believe it is "what you know" and it is "who you know" but more importantly, it is how you use that knowledge to grow, build and blossom.  

Ok, I'm getting off the soapbox.  Time to practice what I preach.  Cheers!

DAY - 122

Looking forward to a brand new co-write this afternoon.  I'm working with songwriter and producer, Vince Constantino.   Vince is a very talented, multi-genre writer who travels the world writing music.  We met about a month ago in Nashville and hit it off.  He's going to be back in town for a short stint and it worked out perfect for both our schedules to do some writing.  Looking forward to it!

Today,  I reached out Jimmy Metts, senior VP at Cauley Music Group.  Jimmy is a music industry/publishing veteran.  After reading an article about Cauley Music, I decided to reach out and introduce myself.   I'm on a bit of a time crunch, so that's all for today.  Until tomorrow.... Cheers!

DAY - 121

Today, I emailed Patrick Clifford, VP of Music Publishing and A&R at Disney Music Publishing in Nashville.  Over the past 6 months, I have reached out to Patrick twice trying to garner some Disney interest in a song I wrote with J Fred Knobloch called, "Heart On A String".   Needless to say, I haven't heard back.

Today, I reached out for a different reason.  I re-introduced myself and sent a link to my latest song demo, "IM4U".  After speaking with co-writer, Bill Gue we both agreed it would be a great pitch for a younger, Disney artist in the vein of Demi Lovato.  Not expecting anything, but I figured it's was worth another shot.

This afternoon, I also scouted out some new TV/Film licensing opportunities.  For the past 2 years, I've been swinging for the fences, trying to hit that hit song home run.  I've neglected the TV/Film market for too long.  That's not to say I'm done with swinging big.  I'm just saying, it's time to get some more players on the bases.

Cheers!