Category Archives: General Business

June 11, 2011

June 14th Meeting

By zero360

Tools for Indie Songwriters & Musicians

At this month’s meeting, local indie artist and self-professed computer geek Brian Hartzog (http://www.brianhartzog.com) will discuss his favorite tools for indie songwriters and artists. Brian has recorded and released two of his own CDs, applying his Technical Analyst mind to the indie promotion of his own music. In this session, Brian will walk through each stage of the songwriting and indie promotion process, describing what tools he personally uses to help him complete each stage. The discussion will include a description of what needs to be done, and a recommendation for the best free and paid tools/resources to complete the job.

Tools will be grouped into the following categories:

  • Songwriting
  • Recording
  • Social Networking
  • Promotion
  • Graphic arts
  • Web development, blogging and Hosting
  • Market and keyword research
  • Internet marketing
  • Tracking and Analytics
  • Productivity

Please bring your questions and be prepared to chime in with your favorite tools and tips as well!

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April 21, 2011

SKYPE from Nashville for May 10th Meeting

By Fiona

Our Nashville Pro Rick Beresford will be visiting us via Skype for our May 10th meeting. Our entertaining and educational friend and mentor will be talking to us about melody. He will share current styles and trends, basic melodic components, and how to grab the listener with melodic hooks and surprises. Rick teaches songwriting at Belmont in Nashville. His has been working on the Nashville scene for years and teaches at the NSAI songcamps. He is also an royal fruitcake! And he captivates his audiences with his entertaining style. Don’t miss this meeting…it will be great fun and your next songs will magically be better. See you there May 10th, 7:00, ‘The Well’ in Pineville, NC.

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January 26, 2011

February Meeting: Skype with Barbara Cloyd

By zero360

We are going to start out 2011 with a Skype visitor from Nashville. Barbara Cloyd will be visiting with us and sharing her top ten list of things song writers do that help them, and top ten list of things songwriters do that hurt them.

Barbara books the shows, and runs the open Mic and Nashville’s famous BlueBird Cafe. She has been a Nashville songwriter since the 80′s and wrote Lori Morgans “I Guess You Had To Be There”. She also runs a demo service, critique service, and pitch to the publisher workshops. She has seen scores of songwriters go through Nashville and has a unique perspective on songs and songwriters to share with us.

We will start our meeting at 7:00 and start our Skype session with Barbara at 7:30 (6:30 TN time) on Tuesday February 8, 2011. Remember to bring your latest song and 25 copies of lyrics for member critique after the Skype session.

Looking forward to seeing you all there! Happy writing,

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January 9, 2011

2011 Kick-Off Meeting: CANCELLED

By zero360

Freezing rain is predicted for tonight and with the cold temperatures the road will still be very dangerous for our meeting tomorrow. We are going to cancel it now instead of struggling and ending up with low attendance and dangerous drives home.

However, 2011 still needs to start with a big bang and a commitment to our wonderful writers and song writing. Since we have already set aside Tuesday at 7:00 for our meeting, we are moving it to your house! So at 7:00 tell your families you have a meeting. Retreat to a private room. Brainstorm titles, pick one, brainstorm a plot with the problem and a chorus with the resolution… and by 10:30 you will have written your best song of 2011… or at least you will have gotten a good start. We will be looking forward to sharing them at our February meeting!

See you then!
Stay warm and drive safely,

Fiona McAllister

p.s. Don’t forget with your membership comes many great webcasts… watch and extra one since we missed this meeting. Also remember Song Finishers will be meeting on the 4th Tuesday — and put March 29th on the calendar for a group trip to Nashville for the worlds largest all songwriter festival Tin Pan South, March 29 to April 2.
http://www.tinpansouth.com/

Plus for NSAI for Spring Training April 1-2!
http://members.nashvillesongwriters.com/news.php?viewStory=1033

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December 14, 2010

Charlotte Music Awards and Christmas Social

By zero360

Tonight (December 14th) is our annual Christmas and holiday social at The Well. We’ll have lots of good eats, networking, plus a time of fellowship and open mic, please bring your guitar (piano available at The Well) and a song! If at all possible, please bring a side dish, appetizer or dessert to share.

Also want to inform those that didn’t see the article in the Charlotte Observer, our very own Fiona McAllister accepted a special recognition award for the Charlotte chapter at last week’s Charlotte Music Awards ceremony. Congrats to NSAI and all the award recipients.

Hope you can make it… see you tonight!

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July 18, 2010

Share and share alike…

By zero360

Next month is our member Show and Tell!

Think about your songwriting and things that have helped you. We would love you to share ideas on equipment, tool, technique or software etc that you find useful in your songwriting. Your presentation can be as short as a few lines or up to 15 minutes.

Please send Fiona McAllister a note with:
1. Your topic
2. Brief description
3. Projected time required.

Fiona will sort through the ideas and try to put them into some order and contact you if there are duplicates on topics.

Thanks so much for sharing. This is always a great meeting and a great way of learning while we get to know each other better.

Fiona, Angelo & Carl

P.S. Please respect our membership by not presenting sales pitches for personal gain please.

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July 12, 2010

July Meeting Tomorrow Night!

By zero360

Just a reminder that we have our July meeting tomorrow night (see Meetings page for details).

This month’s main topic is a digest of Odie Blackmon’s recent webcast topic “What the Artist Needs Out of Your Song.” While not all of us endeavor to be commercial writers, Odie brings to light several great perspectives many writers might find useful additions to the toolkit.”

We will also be evaluating the latest #1 Hit “Water” by Brad Paisley. Great and fun song! Come and dissect it with us to identify how to construct your own summertime hit!

Bring your latest song project to share… it doesn’t have to be finished.

Looking forward to some learning, some friendship, some fellowship, and some good music!

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June 7, 2010

June Meeting Topic: Nashville Number System

By zero360

Come and join us for an interesting lesson. Learn why so many songwriters find it really helpful to understand the Nashville numbering system. It helps with writing and communicating with co-writers and demo studios. We’ll review what it is and how it is used and how bands use it daily.

We have several announcements and ideas to run by the group and you’re invited to bring your new songs or an old one that you are ready to improve. We’ll have a great evening — so please join us!

4 comments   |  tags: , | posted in General Business

January 15, 2010

Right Rhyme for the Time!

By zero360

We had the privilege of honoring Steve Simpson at our first meeting of 2010. Aside from being a world class writer, Steve is a wonderful person who so effectively served as coordinator for the Charlotte chapter for over 5-years. During the meeting, the group brainstormed on what Steve means to us, using snips from his songs, and personal perspective. While some had prepared short poems or limericks prior to the meeting, others crafted on the fly, and we shared these words of appreciation and admiration with Steve.

Then, Steve, who [ahem] knew nothing of our plan to honor him individually, closed the ceremony with his own poignant stanza:

We’re not hitting golf balls and talking ‘bout the weather,
We’re sharing secret pieces of our souls when we’re together,
We take a fear, a joy, a love and pass it ‘round the room,
And trust each other not to laugh or pass it on too soon,
We know each other very well, the deepest, darkest parts,
That’s how I know this room is filled with very special hearts,
You can have your bosom buddies, confidants and next of kin,
But they can’t hold a candle to my songwriter friends.

May these words carry us into 2010 and inspire our journeys as writers and artists, and may we say again, “thank you Steve Simpson!”

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July 10, 2009

Join us for July’s Meeting!

By zero360

At this month’s Charlotte NSAI meeting this coming Tuesday night (July 14th), our main topic will be “Indie Music Success Stories,” presented by our good friend Brian Hartzog, a local indie artist with two solo CDs under his belt, and who has had great success in getting his music played worldwide. Brian’s presentation will include real-world case studies from traditional, Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 music publicity models. His interactive session will challenge your understanding of how the music business works and what you may be doing day-to-day that in fact could be holding you back — as well as inspire and inform you on how to use the new social media to create a vibrant online community of fans. Those of you who have heard Brian speak before know that he always covers a ton of useful information, and leaves you with lots to think about and do. Don’t miss it!

And of course, we’ll be critiquing each other’s songs, as usual, during the second half of our meeting.

See you Tuesday!

Steve, Fiona, and Angelo

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