Brad Dunse: Songwriting Links

Craig Bickhardt's A Songwriter's Journal: Take a summarized trip with Craig from his move from PA to Nashville and back to PA after 23 years writing songs and getting them cut. It is a very inspirational read.

Friends of Brad's

Cartoons By Sketch/Small Town Values: Sketch is a syndicated artist with years of experience in one of the largest animation companies in the country as well his own designs. If you are in need of any graphical design/artwork for customized logos, web design, CD jacket artwork, customized greeting cards; thank you's; invitations or any graphical art needs Sketch is the one to see!! Check out his animated portfolio on Sketch's Web Site...you'll agree he's plenty qualified. He has designed a few projects for me. Call Sketch at 715-778-4886 with any questions or quote needs.
Kinni Coffee and Lounge LLC: Kinni Coffee is a unique and refreshing place with folks relaxing, playing cards, drinking wines, coffees and just being themselves... appreciating the music... a pleasure to play.
Wild Fruit Folk/Sue West: Home site of NW WI folk performing songwriter Sue West. Sue has a wonderful collection of self written tunes dealing with rural life, nature, sustainability and innocent days of life. We tend to say home cookin' and traditions of old are what makes a "house a home" then listening to Sue's wonderful flinty voice and her folk songs is what makes a "singer an artist". Be sure to catch a show and hear some of her ever growing list of new tunes with musical sincerity. She also posts music and other eclectic events in the NW WI area.
Natural Sound Studio: Steve at Natural Sound is more than a professional sound engineer, he genuinely cares about his clients and is a generous member of the Twin City community. I recommend seeing Steve for your recording needs... he'll treat you right!

National Organizations

Nashville Songwriter's Association International (NSAI): The Twin Cities has a regional workshop twice a month, 1st Tuesday and 3rd Wednesday. . A great resource offering its members free professional song critiques, web casts of professional writers and teachers, access to what is happening in music city, legislative information as well host of various song camps, Songposiums, and other special events. A great songwriter resource. For more information Email the volunteer coordinator
International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA): IBMA strives for high standards of professionalism, a greater appreciation for our music, and the success of the worldwide bluegrass community. Their values are • Positive Working Relationships • Professionalism • Integrity • Honoring Tradition • Diversity & Inclusiveness • Forward Thinking • Education. Priorities & goals are • Marketing initiatives that create greater awareness and connections between bluegrass and consumers • Create and host successful events which foster our music's opportunities for success • Strengthen the organization's ability to achieve its mission • Promote professionalism within the industry • Involve young people in bluegrass through positive and educational experiences
North American Folk Music and Dance Association: Since 1989, Folk Alliance has served as the headquarters for Folk Music and Dance. With over 2000 members worldwide and an annual conference that is one of the five largest music conferences in North America, Folk Alliance continues to grow and mature while providing a unique range of member services to its community. It consists of record companies, publishers, presenters, agents, managers, music support services, manufacturers and artists that work in the folk world. Folk Alliance has six regional affiliates that provide the grass roots efforts in their respective markets.
Songwriter's Guild of America: For more than 70 years, it has served the creative and business needs of the professional and amateur songwriter. For the yet-to-be published writer, the Guild offers education, critiques, pitch opportunities, competitions, performance nights and more.
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP): Performing Rights Organization with many benefits besides monitoring your music rights there are workshops, discounted services, insurance, ASCAP credit card, and many other resources.
Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI): Performing Rights Organization with music monitoring as well as educational workshops, music events and many professional resources for the music industry.
Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC): Performing Rights Organization monitoring music rights for its members, educational opportunities and access to many helps and resources for its members.
TAXI: Independent Artist & Repertoire Company. Since 1992, TAXI has specialized in giving artists, bands, and songwriters real access to the people in the music business who have the power to sign deals. Record companies, publishers, and music supervisors call us directly to find new artists and bands to sign. They also call to find hit songs, instrumentals and tracks for TV and film placements.
National Music Publishers Association/Harry Fox Agency: Currently representing more than 600 American music publishers, NMPA has worked to interpret copyright law, educate the public about licensing, and safeguard the interests of its members.
Independent Singer-Songwriter Association ISSA: An organization dedicated to the independent singer-songwriter. ISSA promotes and supports the disciplines of songwriting, musicianship and performance in several ways. Among them are songwriting contests, battle of the bands contests, annual singer-songwriter expo, creitiques service and more...
Gospel Music Association: Founded in 1964, the Gospel Music Association serves as the face and voice for the Christian/Gospel music community and is dedicated to exposing, promoting and celebrating the gospel through music of all styles including pop, rock, praise & worship, black gospel, R&B, hip hop, southern gospel, country, and more.
Christian Songwriter's Organization: An on-line community and discussion list of Christian songwriters for group critiques, general help, articles, on-line showcases and more.
US Copyright Office: The home page of the US Copyright Office for information and downloadable copyright registration submission forms.

Wisconsin/Minnesota Resources

Minnesota Association of Songwriters: The Minnesota Association of Songwriters (MAS) focuses on exploring elements of songwriting and the music industry. MAS is a nonprofit, member-supported community of songwriters and composers from the Midwest. The MAS mission is to inspire, educate and strengthen the songwriting and performance skills of its members by providing workshops, song critiques, showcases and networking opportunities, while encouraging collaboration and exploration of the creative process.
Diverse Emerging Music Organization (DEMO): An organization educating and promoting the ever changing independent artist environment in all genres, guest speakers, music events, newletter,
Springboard for the Arts: Located in St. Paul, Springboard for the Arts’ mission is to cultivate a vibrant arts community by connecting artists with the skills, contacts, information and services they need to make a living and a life.
Women In Music Minnesota Networking: A Not For Profit organization designed to help promote and support Minnesotan women in the music business, through networking, education, gig opportunities
Minnesota Association of Christian Songwriters: "The purpose of the Minnesota Association of Christian Songwriters is to encourage, educate, and equip songwriters who are called to use their gifts of music and lyrics to glorify God, edify the body of Christ, and point the way to Jesus Christ."
Minnesota Bluegrass & Old Time Music Association: The Minnesota Bluegrass & Old Time Music Association is a NFP organization existing to support and promote bluegrass music in Minnesota by hosting festivals, concert sereies, jams and education.
The Minnesota Music Academy: The Minnesota Music Academy is a local organization spanning a wide area surrounding the Twin Cites providing education, showcases, competitions, awards, seminars and workshops on publishing, promoting, accounting and host of the Minnesota Music Awards. MMA also has merchant discounts in area businesses.
Folk Alliance Regional Midwest (FARM): This is the local/regional chapter of the North American Alliance for Folk Music and Dance. Contains local events and information
Madison Folk Society: A non-profit society dedicated to fostering folk music in the Madison area! They put on a series of concerts, a bi-annual festival, and run education programs in conjunction with the University of Wisconsin. They also publish a monthly newsletter full of information about relevant music and dance events.

Publications

Nashville Muse: Editor and songwriter Doak Turner is well known for his networking effort Nashville Muse. Sign up or check out the site when you plan your next trip to Nashville and find out where the writers are playing. There's lots of interesting links on Doak's site so check it out
American Songwriter Magazine: Providing in-depth interviews with up-and-coming, established and legendary songwriters; discussions with performance rights organizations and copyright law; and interviews with publishers, producers, A&R executives and other industry representatives who have something of interest to say to its readers. Covers all genres and is very informative.
Performing Songwriter Magazine: Each issue contains exclusive content that helps the music makers create and perform, and the music lovers find out about the music, processes and artists that they are so passionate about. Presented in gorgeous design filled with intricate details, Performing Songwriter is divided intovarious sections: interviews, special features, community musings, tools of the trade, reviews of new CD releases, and more.
The Inside Connection Magazine: The Inside Connection magazine provides information designed to help you gain music business success. This music industry magazine provides helpful information and resources for unsigned musicians and unsigned music artists. If you are a performing songwriter this may be of use to you.
The Indie Guide to Music, Marketing and Money: Geared more towards the performing/marketing end of performing songwriters, the Indie Guide to Music, Marketing and Money is a book designed to help the indie artist navigate through the shark infested waters of the music business. While most artists concentrate solely on the creative aspects of their career, they typically are unaware and/or unprepared for the business and marketing side of show business. Here you'll find names, email, addresses, phone numbers of music industry contacts to equip you to better market your music/performances.
Performing Biz: How To Be Your Own Booking Agent tackles such topics as: The Art of Negotiating; How to Make Cold Calls; Setting Long Term Goals; Effective Telephone Techniques; Creating An Effective Promotional Package; Contracts; The Art of Touring; Managing the Road; Conferences; Trade Shows and Industry Events; Funding Sources; Crossing Borders--U.S./Canada Touring; Marketing Your Act; Accessing the Media: Print, Radio, Television and The Internet; Working with Your Record Company; Working with Managers and Agents; When to Quit Your Day Job; Hiring Help and Ethics and Attitudes.
Music Row Directory: The Music Row Directory is Nashville’s online resource for finding anything and anybody industry related in a flash! Has latest news on personnel changes, labels signings and a section with pitch listings as well. This is a paid subscription resource but recommended by music professionals.
Muses News: A highly aclaimed songwriter newsletter with CD reviews, articleson all areas of music business, raffle, links to other resources... very informative.
Indie Music: A twice-monthly newsletter for the independent musician, with educational, promotional, and general information to help in your quest for musical success.
The Indy Bible: The Indie Bible is over 330 pages and contains: 4000 publications from around the world that will REVIEW your CD, 3200 radio stations from around the world that will PLAY your songs, 500 vendors and services that will help you to SELL your music, 200 sites where you can UPLOAD your band's music files, 500 useful resources to help PROMOTE your band, Over 50 articles that will help your career to MOVE forward rapidly.
Your First Cut: Home page for the workbook of same name as well as on-line forum of other writer's following the outline of the book.
Independent Songwriter On-line Magazine: On-line magazine for independent songwriters.

Education

SongU: An on-line songwriting educational site with on-line classes from industry professionals. Also has critique service, pitch opportunities, songwriting challenges, co-write opportunities, discussion forums, and lots of support and encouragement.
McNally-Smith College of Music: At McNally Smith College of Music, you'll explore your passion for music at a top music college with a unique hands-on curriculum that immerses you in today's technology, nurtures your vision, and develops your talents. Imagine a music college where you can study music business, music composition & songwriting, audio recording, production and live sound, or popular music performance with your instrument of choice--guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, voice, or brass & woodwinds.

Nashville Services

Marc-Alan Barnette Coaching: An unusual resource for you to consider either traveling to Nashville for, or getting a group together and having Marc-Alan do a workshop. Read over the summaries, reviews, and info on his web page. He offers a personal or group tor of meet and greets, sit down evaluation of your songs, performance abilities, networking and other tools to be a career songwriter in one of this countries premier major music locations.
Joyce Medlock Rooms: If you are traveling to Nashville and need a room to bunk, you'd do well to check out Joyce's rooms. Reasonable rates, wireless connection, and clean. Joyce is a songwriter herself and has the rooms set up as such. For more information contact her for more info.

Software

VSS Lyricist: VSS Lyricist is "the songwriter's best friend". Keep all your lyriccs, sound bytes, charts, notes and etc. in one place as well organize them by albums. Supports Nashville Number system, has chord finder/wizard, rhyming dictionary, theasaurus, and other tools such as text formating with hot kyes to make your sheets more professional.

General On-Line Resources

Just Plain Folks: A community of over 42,000 Songwriters, Recording Artists, Music Publishers, Record Labels, Performing Arts Societies, Educational Institutions, Recording Studios and Engineers, Producers, Legal Professionals, Publicists and Journalists, Publications, Music Manufacturers and Retailers and about every other type of member of the Music Industry. Their Motto is.... "We're all in this together!"
SongWellspring: • Free list of music libraries in touch with media producers around the world. Providing names, contact information and song submission tips. • Free list of music supervisors responsible for locating quality music for media projects every day. • A glossary to help you understand licensing terminology. • If you're a performing songwriter, you'll find a list of performance venues. • A list of local, state, regional and national songwriting organizations. • A Forum, where you can communicate with other songwriters about any topic that's important to you.
Measure for Measure - Opinion - New York Times Blog: Measure For Measure is a quick insider view at some of the writers shaping the music of today. They talk candidly about their writing motivations, goals, and values. This is a quick but interesting read
Peter Berryman's Folk Column: A monthly column written by Peter Berryman for Mad Folk News, the newsletter of Wisconsin's Madison Folk Music Society.
Dave Isaacs Blog: Dave is a seasoned touring musician, teacher and writer who settled in music city (Nashville) and has a phenomenal simplistic insight to various things from how to improve and broaden your musicianship, to lyric writing to live performance enhancements and playing well with others. He has a very helpful blog which is recommended reading for any songwriter.
Artist House Music: A musicians’ Website where all musicians can receive informational support, guidance, and expert resources to help them navigate the challenges and maximize the opportunities available to them within the music industry.
Creative Cafe: This site was founded by Teddy Gentry of the country band Alabama and has a growing catalog of music by writers and artists available to A&R folks, publishers and record lables. There is a streaming radio clip, critique service and other resources as well.
I Write The Songs: A site with various songwriter helps based off the syndicated radio show of same name and which various show archives and interviews with known writers are on the site. A great resource.
Irene Jackson Songwriter Tips: Performing Songwriter and educator Irene Jackson's web site with helpful tips and articles on songwriting and performing.
The Songwriting Education Resource: Another product of Danny Arena and Sara Light with articles, chats, and helpful information to help you grow as a song writer.
Songwriting With Jason Blume: Jason Blumes web site with tips, articles and resources for helping the songwriter's tools.
Craig Bickhardt BLOG- Ninety Mile Wind: Craig Bickhardt has had his songs recorded by Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, B. B. King, Alison Krauss, Vince Gill, David Wilcox, Poco and others. Besides his music areer he is a SongU instructor and has a blog worth reading here. Check it out.
Songwriter's Connection: They are publishers, songwriters, performers and producers striving to make your journey a little easier and lots more successful. They offer a very helpful E tip. Sign up for the FREE Weekly songwriting e-tip, delivered right to your mailbox. Send an email to sign up.
MacJams: MacJams is an online studio where musicians and songwriters congregate, collaborate and critique each other for the betterment of their music, betterment of their skills as musicians and writers. You can join for free
Music Gorilla: An on-line resource for getting your music heard by industry professionals for TV, film, publishers, music supervisors, independent artists. It also has its own chart ranking for you to submit your songs and watch them climb among your fellow members. Some submissions to industry professionals are free when a member of Music Gorilla.

Writing References

On-Line Idiom Search

Keyword searchable idiom finder on-line.

Urband Slang Dictionary

Urban Dictionary is an on-line searchable slang dictionary with your definitions.

Roget's On-line Thesaurus Text Version

This is an interface onto the Project Gutenberg Etext of Roget's Thesaurus No. Two, which is derived from the version of Roget's Thesaurus published in 1911. Exscellent quick resource.

Rhyme Zone Dictionary

On-line searchable Rhyming Dictionary

WikiRhymer

WikiRhymer is a user-editable wiki-style free on-line rhyming dictionary. Check it out! Install a rhyming dictionary directly in your FireFox or Internet Explorer Version 7 browser toolbar. Have instant and always available access to rhymes. It's free and no strings attached.

Your Dictionary and Thesaurus

The most comprehensive online resource for your dictionary needs. YourDictionary is a free online English dictionary and much more. The free dictionary search gives you definitions, thesaurus entries, spelling, pronunciation, and etymology results for your word. Alternatively, you can browse the dictionary alphabetically or by related terms to find meanings and synonyms.

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition. 1995. Bartleby.com

A contemporary searchable online version of Roget's thesaurus.

Web Slang and Acronyms

Listing of web acronyms and slang.

Slang Dictionary On-line

SlangSite.com is an on-line dictionary of slang, webspeak, made up words, and colloquialisms.

Commonly-Used American Slang

More than 280 common American slang expressions sorted alphabetically.

PEAK English™—Slang

A slang dictionary that’s easy to use, but many of the definitions provided are for common slang terms that should already be familiar to most native English speakers. Has a searchable database of slang and idioms. As well slang and idiom "a day" mailings.

Ref Seek

RefSeek (rĕf-sēk) is a web search engine useful in researching all sort of topics. RefSeek aims to make academic information easily accessible to everyone. RefSeek searches more than one billion documents, including web pages, books, encyclopedias, journals, and newspapers.

Idiom Dictionary Plus

The idiom dictionary is compiled from the Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms and the Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms. The Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms explains over 7,000 idioms current in British, American and Australian English, helping learners to understand them and use them with confidence. The Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms, based on the 200 million words of American English text in the Cambridge International Corpus, unlocks the meaning of more than 5,000 idiomatic phrases used in contemporary American English. Full-sentence examples show how idioms are really used.

Dictionary-Thesaurus

The main source of TheFreeDictionary's general English dictionary is Houghton Mifflin's premier dictionary, the American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. This authoritative work is the largest of the American Heritage® dictionaries and contains over 200,000 boldface terms and more than 33,000 written examples. The Fourth Edition also incorporates more than 10,000 new words. Containing 260,000 entries, the general dictionary is augmented with Collins Essential English Dictionary, Second Edition, and is enhanced by 30,000 illustrations, an audio pronunciation feature, etymologies, abbreviations, biographical entries, and more. Definitions are accompanied by usage examples from classic works of literature, courtesy of TheFreeLibrary.com. Additionally, translations to Spanish, French, German, and Italian are provided by HarperCollins and feature contemporary vocabulary and expressions—including everyday terms relating to business, computing, current events, tourism and many other topics.

Acronym Dictionary

The Acronyms section of this website is powered by the Acronym Finder, the web's most comprehensive dictionary of acronyms, abbreviations and initialisms. The Acronym Finder allows users to decipher acronyms from a database of over 600,000 entries covering computers, technology, telecommunications, and the military. Unlike online glossaries, search engines, encyclopedias, or thesauruses, Acronym Finder exists purely to unravel the bewildering range of acronyms that impact daily life.

Crazy Fads

This is a very quick one line/phrase reference to various fads and things going on in the different eras. This might be helpful in bringing or expanding ideas to a song in any particular era. Check it out... brings back memories

Streaming Audio Resources

Jim Parker's Songwriter Showcase: Hit songwriter Jim Parker hosts the Jim Parker' Songwriter Showcase and makes this awesome resource available to you via the net... highly recommended! Best known for his John Anderson hit "Chicken Truck" Jim jams his other awesome tunes with the likes of such writers as Tony Lang, Walt Aldridge, Casey Kelly, Kasey Jones, , Jimbeau Hinson, and other's you haven't heard of yet. You may not know the names but you'll recognize the songs. Nonetheless the performance and songs are awesome! If you find the server down just E Mail Nason and he'll fire it back up again. You can put the following link in your player for streaming or listen on the site above: http://devineonline.com:8000
Audio Nashville: Interviews with industry pros, like publishers, hit writers, rising and established artist and those "way off music" row making a living in this great business. Click on and listen in.
Jim Parker Music: A link directly to hit songwriter Jim Parker's Songwriter Showcase where you can see who is in the queue for the showcase, find Jim's bio, links to pics taken and other links… plus links to the wonderful writers who have graced the stage at the showcase... its a whose who of songwriters. Check it out.
Story Behind The Songs: Hear the story behind some of the popular songs on radio.
The Music Row Podcasts: Hear the top writers in Nashville talk about the songs, how and why they write and etc.