American Songwriter is proud to announce the new judges for our bi-monthly Amateur Lyric Contest. With industry veterans like Scott Billington, VP of A&R/Producer at Rounder  Records and Lee Dannay, VP of A&R at Warner-Chappell Music, the judging pool is stacked. One Grand Prize winner will earn a co-writing session with Lee Brice, the [...]

American Songwriter is excited to announce that the Grand Prize “Dream Co-Write” for our 2013 Amateur Lyric Contest will be with songwriter and Curb Records recording artist Lee Brice. Brice’s smash single “Woman Like You” reached #1 and has sold over 1.2 million digital downloads. “It’s an honor to be featured in a magazine that celebrates [...]

a “I don’t think Ronnie Milsap’s ever gonna record this song,” but there’s a very good chance he will because the country music legend, along with American Songwriter, have announced Ronnie Milsap’s “Country Cut” Contest, starting June 18. The quote is John Hiatt’s lyric from his 1987 song “Memphis in the Meantime” and it sets [...]

TuneCore, the online music distributor for artists like Beck, Bjork, Aretha Franklin and Jay-Z is launching its Songwriter Publishing Administrative Service today. The new service will be an opportunity for writers to issue licenses, protect copyrights and songs, collect money and register their copyrights around the globe. CEO Jeff Price proudly remarks that “no longer [...]

Australian singer-songwriter Kasey Chambers has earned the Grand Prize for this year’s International Songwriting Contest, an annual event open to both aspiring and established songwriters. Chambers wrote the winning song, “Beautiful Mess,” about parenthood. Says Chambers: “I honestly can’t believe it. When I entered the International Songwriting Competition, I didn’t think I even had a [...]

Only a few days remain to enter the March/April 2011 Lyric Contest. Enter by Jan 25th for your chance at a dream co-writing session in Nashville! Other prizes include a Martin DCX1E acoustic-electric cutaway guitar, a legendary Shure SM58 Microphone, four (4) sets of Elixir® Strings (you choose flavor and gauge) and one Elixir®Guitar Cable. The top four finalists and their [...]

Playing to packed houses at City Winery, SongCircle (formerly the New York Songwriters’ Circle), wrapped up their fifth annual songwriting contest this past Friday night. The two evening gala event featured 12 finalists each performing their qualifying song as well as a lineup of special guests. It was quite fitting that SongCircle, celebrating what will [...]

From the press release: New York, NY – August 11, 2010 – Newly launched independent music development and A&R community SongCircle Music (formerly The New York Songwriters’ Circle) today announced it is accepting entries for its fifth annual songwriting contest. The SongCircle’s contest has quickly become a hotbed for discovering aspiring artists and has helped [...]

Good news, songwriters. The deadline for the September/October Amateur Lyric Contest has just been extended to July 22nd. Turn that inspiration into perspiration and send us your songs. You’re work may be featured in the September/October issue, and the First Prize winner will take home a brand new Martin DCX1E acoustic guitar, a Shure SM58 [...]

from the press release: New York — July 14, 2010 – The New York Songwriters’ Circle (NYSC) founder/artistic director Tina Shafer, and business partner Billy Gaus, today announced plans to dramatically grow the 20 year old company and expand services beyond its New York City roots. Immediate changes include a new company name, SongCircle, a [...]

Hey, landlubber: if you want to open for The Zac Brown Band on their Sailing Southern Ground Cruise, which runs from September 2-6, leaving from Tampa for the Cayman Islands, today is the last day to submit your material. Don’t miss your chance to be part of this one of a kind experience! Zac Brown [...]

ZAC BROWN BAND SONGWRITING CONTEST Update: The contest deadline has been extended to Thursday, July 8, 2010. Don’t miss your chance to be part of this one of a kind experience! Zac Brown Band first performed on a Sixthman cruise when they were chosen as the winner of the 2004 Battle of the Band contest [...]