Well, it’s time to get your songwriting chops lubed and prepare for the 5th Annual 6-Pack Songwriting Competition.
As I mentioned, this is the fifth year of the 6-Pack. Liz Miller won the first two and Margaret McClure won the past two. I’m sure many of the veterans will be returning as I have been receiving steady inquiries about the starting date, challenges, etc. The first four categories are the annual primer (any song you have), a love song, an instrumental and a spiritual song. The last two will be announced later and I’m sure you’re going to love them!
I can’t wait to see what the veteran 6-Packers come up with and personally invite the newcomers to bring their “A” game. There’s not a songwriting competition out their quite like the Broadjam 6-Pack and you will be stretched way beyond your current capacity.
You will see lots of new technical changes coming to the 6-Pack as well. Many of these were a result of direct feedback and we threw in a few of our own. As always, I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions regarding the 6-Pack or anything else we do for that matter. You can use this blog or send me a note directly. For some reason, I suspect you will have much to talk about.
As always, our sponsors have provided the contest with great prizes – take a look. They Include Sony, IK Multimedia, Line 6, Casio, Yamaha, ASCAP, and more!
So Get Lubed (Anything), Brew Some Luv (Love Songs), Shut Yer Yap (Instrumental) and get on that Rarified High (Spiritual) as we’re getting started.
The 2009 6-Pack is rockin’ and we’re off and running. Best of luck to everyone.
Sincerely,
Roy Elkins, Broadjam Founder and CEO
Posted by Broadjam on Jun 1, 2009 in The 7th Can
Hey Troy,
in the rules laid out for each can, do any of them say “no instrumentals”?? probably not. I know that several people always try to confirm this at the beginning of each six pack so that us instrumentalist don’t waste our money on a can that we shouldn’t enter into. So, if there are instrumentals in there, then its probably okay for them to be in there. If you have any questions about the rules in this area, please, send Roy or Jesse an email to clarify. Or better yet… who’s monitoring from Broadjam out here right now. Can we put this to rest right now please and tell us what can’s instrumentals are not allowed in, so that we are ALL aware of it.
Dave
Nov 24, 2009/6:00 pmI like that IAN!
TOMORROW•SAURUS: THE ULTIMATE hybrid MUSICIAN
WHEN YOU BLEND THE NEW WITH THE OLD
YOU GET SOMETHING
BOLDER
(but, still balding) LOL!
Nov 24, 2009/4:24 pmHank,
To clarify my suggestion, those that are flagged as “inappropriate” 3 times but judged to be “appropriate” by Broadjam should have the inappropriate button greyed out.
In this year’s 2-timer can, some of the more highly skilled musicians may be able to recognize the change from a 2/4 to 4/4 or a 3/4 to 6/8. But a foot tapper like me without the score in front of him may not be able to tell the difference. (This may spark a debate as to whether there really is a difference.)
Nov 24, 2009/4:05 pmYeah Pete…..I’ll …erm…have a cup of tea to that…lol
Nov 24, 2009/4:01 pmthat means instead of being a Dinosaur….I’ll be a Tomorrasaw’r'us……sorry…best I could do with 3 cups of tea in me already…and its only 9pm.
LOL Nils Mate…..ha ha….sorry…I mixed it up…doh
Nov 24, 2009/3:54 pmT•REX here (hahahahahahaha) or is that Blogo•Saurus. Ian I catch your drift and happily agree but disagree. I think the younger music generations also need to adapt to the fact that we ain’t going away cuz them thar new fangled toys ain’t difficult to learn and sound even better when you know what a melody is.
It’s just we ain’t as pretty as we used to be. Heck, some of us is losing our hair or gettin’ grayer than a snowstorm cloud skimmin’ the peaks of the Rockie Mountains on a cold December morning.
Truth•Be•Told, Ian what we don’t fit is the dying remnants of the music industry money making machine cuz they’s a chasin’ the ‘TWEENS’. And, the tweens gots a heckuvalot more diversions to choose from than a porky•pine’s got quills.
Music retail chains is a closing right and left. LA, NYC and Nashville is a laying off hundreds of record company employees every year.
The leisure pie is gettin’ smaller and gettin’ cut into more pieces at the same time. What’s a dinosaur to do?
Keep makin’ good music and seek out those niche markets and distribution networks. Us dinosaurs just happen to be the largest consumer group in the United States.
It’s up to us to get a hold of our fellow antiquarians and get them back into the habit of buying music that suits them, with or without words.
Nov 24, 2009/3:29 pmLol Ian, I wasn’t announcing a new showdown…rofl.
Since you categorized yourself as a dinosaur I was trying to fit myself into one of the categories. Since I refuse to be a dinosaur (yet) I chose the purist for myself. I tried to say that both dinosaurs and purists might still prevail in 50 years…or not…or just one of them…only time will tell.
Hope that clears it up.
I’m confused now…lmao
Nils
Nov 24, 2009/3:14 pmerm….I think maybe lines got crossed there Nils….I mean a misinterpreted post of mine…..dont think I was saying the Dinosaur against the Purist…..I dont know what that means.lol
I do embrace the Diversity…..I think I said something like that……was just saying in a round about way that most Players get upset when they see their song that took days to play, record and Mix/Master….beaten into a pulp by a piece
that was put together in a couple of hours with samples….
But if the player wants to compete in competions….then they have to get used to it….cause thats the way it is….I said I already crossed over last year……and that I would try to keep-up.
All The Best……
Nov 24, 2009/3:05 pmthat’s any “song” flagged
Nov 24, 2009/2:47 pmLars,
According to Roy, any son flagged 3 times is reviewed by Broadjam. If it does not meet the criteria, it gets no more reviews. I’ve been hearing the same thing in can 6. A stop, a little slow down, or a strum and rest (silently counting out the same beat) does not a signature change make.
Hank
Nov 24, 2009/2:28 pmOk,I know I’m beating a dead horse here and I mean no offense to anyone who does instrumentals. There are some great pieces in this contest, but this is what is getting to me, I just did 5 sets of reviews in the Rarefied can (15 songs). All of them were instrumentals. Not one lyric! I was really expecting to hear songs with words in these other cans. Especially the Rarefied can!
I have not doubt that I’ll hear some great songs with words as I review on…but lately I’ve been hearing more instrumentals than anything else. Personally, I’m finding it kind of disheartening in a songwriting contest to hear so much music with out words. Come on song smiths say something to me in your songs!
Nov 24, 2009/2:16 pmYes Bruce…That too!!!….writing songs you didn’t think you would….yeah Mate….Well Worthwhile!
Nov 24, 2009/2:04 pmRoy and Jesse,
I have a couple of improvement ideas for next year:
1. I’ve been reviewing the 2-timer can and I have marked several songs “inappropriate” because to me they didn’t sound like there was a key signature change; maybe a tempo change; maybe some folks don’t know the difference. I don’t know if inappropriate songs are removed during the contest or if they remain but my suggestion is to “grey out” the inappropriate key for songs that have been reviewed by Broadjam and deemed “appropriate”. This would also help to get the song a higher score if its appropriateness is not in question.
2. I appreciate the individual song scores. Could you add the # of reviews the song has had? It might help answer the questions as to why a song dropped from #1 to #200.
Thanks,
Nov 24, 2009/2:04 pmLarz
Sorry my posts were upside down……lol…Hey Pen xxx…got a question for Ya….I’ll email ….(ooooo….whats that all about…..lol)
Hey Nils….yeah….that too!!!…..didn’t have enough space in my post to say everything I meant…..lol
Nov 24, 2009/2:02 pmAmen on connecting with friends Nils. I have made a lot of virtual friends here in the last five years. I know I have mentioned this before, but another cool thing about this contest is that I have written songs I didn’t think I could or would write. That to me is NOT a waste of time. I think it is very constructive. We do indeed have a great group of folks here in “Broadville”!
Peter: You are welcome. I will be posting the list on Facebook this Friday.
Bruce
Nov 24, 2009/1:54 pm