2017 has been an eventful year already for songwriters.
Here are a few of the top news stories of this week viewed from the Songpreneurs perspective.
Upcoming CRS week
Grammy Performers See Sales Spikes
Khan Academy adds free Storytelling classes
HQ – Recent Songpreneurs Event Recaps
UPCOMING CRS WEEK
For Country Music, CRS (Country Radio Seminar) is homecoming. Radio DJs from all over the country get together and talk about all things Country Radio.
This is the time when new acts are introduced to the media and industry insiders, stoking the fires of innovation, inspiration and early support.
The annual event provides an opportunity for continuing education, relationship building, and get down partying in Music City, USA.
Notable events at CRS include the airplane hangar decibel noise filling the room where DJ voices from around the world co-mingle to a friendly, all-encompassing sonic hug.
CRS isn’t for everyone. Fans have their chance to meet the up and coming and established stars at the annual CMA Music Fest. To attend CRS, you may have present industry credentials when registering.
This year’s event will feature a keynote presentation by Garth Brooks called “Inside Studio G” where he will give “an intimate, behind-the-scenes look into the business and life of the reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year.”
Many of the panels and workshops present a blend of education, current events, philanthropy and cocktail mixers.
It will no doubt be an incredible event for radio programmers and industry, and we’ll start hearing the results soon through the radio airwaves and new media off shoots, including Eric Church’s latest Virtual Reality Tour Experience he will be unveiling at CRS this year.
GRAMMY PERFORMERS SEE SALES SPIKES
Love it, hate it, whatever your take on the Grammy awards and performance shows, this year saw a measurable effect on the sales of recorded music.
According to Music Row, Marin Morris’s “My Church” climbed 28 spots on the iTunes chart, while her album rose to # 8.
Singer-songwriter Lori McKenna earned a Best Country Song Grammy for penning Tim McGraw’s “Humble & Kind”, and her own album The Bird & The Rifle went up to number 22 on the iTunes Albums charts after the awards.
Adele’s 25 went up to #5.
Other artists saw a spike in sales and chart position including Ed Sheeran, whose one-man band performance was incredible by anyone’s standards. Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry with Skip Marley, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban and others benefited from sales spikes thanks to the television exposure at the Grammy’s.
The Grammy’s this year in many ways represented musical mastery over showmanship, while both are important.
This is bound to sit well with musical traditionalists and purists, along with the edgy undertone of musical politics evidenced in some of the speeches.
One speech was even delivered sans pants early in the ceremonies – “over the edgy” perhaps, but explained in a way that made a loving, inclusive gesture to struggling independent musicians everywhere “watching the Grammy’s at home in their underwear, dreaming of winning one day” as the winning 21 Pilots band members once did.
KHAN ACADEMY ADDS FREE STORYTELLING CLASS
We love Khan Academy, don’t you? If you haven’t heard of it, you’re going to thank us big time for this one.
Khan Academy was created by an educator, and provides extensive free tutorials online through bite sized video and text lessons in all kinds of subjects including math, economics, and now storytelling.
The sessions are presented along with Pixar, the cartoon animator company that came out with Monster’s Inc. and other popular movies.
Since songwriting is a form of storytelling, and since one of the best ways to increase one’s creativity is to do new and interesting things, this free course can’t help but to be a good thing.
Check it out here.
HQ – RECENT SONGPRENEURS EVENT RECAPS
We recently had one of our busiest weeks of the year with the inaugural Brand You Camp event Feb 5-8th in Nashville followed by the 7th Annual Songwriter Retreat in Monteagle Feb 9-12th.
Both events were fantastic with attendees all stating they met and far exceeded their goals and expectations. You can view the Brand You Camp recap here, and the Retreat recap here.
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