Connecting Songwriters Throughout Northeast Ohio

News & Updates

Volume 2 Issue 3

March 2018

A Note From The Top

More Changes On The Horizon

Don Henson, President

As we progress into our 15th year, new ideas and projects continue to present themselves. We are excited to be meeting at our new venue this month, we have a new and improved YouTube channel, we’re working to update our website to be mobile-friendly and we want to extend the Songwriter Summit experience beyond the confines of our wonderful new meeting location.

Technology is something many of us embrace, though many of us don’t have a full grasp of its uses and capabilities. I don’t mean musical technology but social media technology. We have many friends and followers who are simply too far away to attend our meetings on a regular basis. As it is, several of our members are troopers when it comes to attendance. Chuck Picklesimer drives in from West Virginia as often as the weather and his work schedule allows, Rick Bruening comes in from Pennsylvania when he can, and Bob Sammon along with Ken Moody-Arndt make the trek south from Cleveland every month to share their songs and thoughts.

We will soon be experimenting with the concepts of Facebook Live, YouTube Live, and other concepts that would allow us to share our meetings with a virtual audience. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to share our meeting in real time with former member

Terry Richardson in the U. K.? (If he’s allowed to stay up that late!) What if other songwriter organizations could watch our meetings live and maybe even comment

on our songs? There are so many possibilities with this concept!

One of our aims in the coming year is to increase our footprint on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and the rest. If you can add some expertise in this area - or just a general familiarity and some time to help out - we sure could use some help. My goal is to grow our local membership and pack the house on the first Monday of every month. I also want to share the talent of our members with the virtual world and invite them to experience Songwriter Summit.

Your Executive Committee At Work In February

The executives spent the better part of the last meeting working on details of concern to Songwriter Summit and our members. We worked out the details of changing the location of our bank account to save unnecessary bank fees and finalized changes to our bylaws that we’ve been working on for a while. Those should be online shortly.

A good portion of the meeting was focused on the upcoming elections and the need to have members step up to take a more active role in running the organization. With three members stepping down for a much needed rest we are asking current and new members to be part of the management of what we believe will be a growing, vibrant organization in the coming year.

There was some discussion of the new meeting procedures we instituted last month of returning lyric sheets to writers and making the monthly video an opt-in rather than opt-out process. None of the

executives had received any feedback from members but the general consensus was that we’d continue in that manner for now.

We discussed membership dues and reminded the general membership that we collect annual dues at the March meeting and that songwriters who join during the year will have their dues prorated.

The Acme cash back program was closed out for the year with $55 added to our treasury as a result of members saving recipes and turning them in.

Other topics included the work we’re doing to clean up the email lists and move email distribution to Mail Chimp, plans for the new meeting location starting in March and research we’re doing into providing ways for folks who can’t make it to meetings to at least see what the meeting is like with the ultimate goal of establishing two-way conference capability. You’ll be hearing more on that later.

March 5th Meeting Moves To New Location

Don’t forget that starting in March we’re moving our monthly meeting to a new venue. 2 Girls Cafe and Bakery will be staying open late to accommodate us. Check out their menu here and help support the folks that have welcomed us to new digs for our get-togethers. The cafe is located at 3707 Darrow Road in Stow. We’ll still start at 7 and plan to wrap up close to 9. Join us for the start of our next adventure.

Meet The Designer Behind Our New Logo

I you take the time to navigate to Will Cheshier’s music website - and you really should - and click on the link for his bio, this is what you’d discover about this very talented, popular local musician and fugitive from the open mic circuit.

But that’s just part of the story. Beyond his amazing guitar work and distinct vocals, Will is a talented graphic designer who’s work can be seen on projects as diverse as special event posters to corporate logos. When we enlisted his help in rebranding our organization from Summit County Songwriter Circle to Songwriter Summit he was quick to offer a number of suggestions and gave us a variety of looks to choose from. After some discussion on the part of the board we decided on the one that now graces the Bridge and our Facebook page and will soon be incorporated into the rest of the materials we use to put out best face forward.

We have Will to thank for that. If you’re looking for someone who bridges the fields of art and music for your next project please consider talking to this guy. He’s one of the good ones.

We Need You To Step Up

So here’s the deal. Short and sweet. We need you to give some serious thought to how important Songwriter Summit is to you and your creative process and then, having done that, we need you to give some serious thought to becoming a member of the Board of Directors. Now.

The Board is responsible for the long term strategic planning of the organization. We meet from time to time to talk about where we’re headed and how we can get there. It’s really that simple. Our bylaws call for a seven member Board. We have three members stepping down after years of service and need three members to run for those positions. Right now. Elections were planned for March. It’s March.

We need you. with questions or indicating your willingness to be part of the future of the organization.

Do it now. Please.

Are Your Songs Earning Their Keep?

Bob Sammon

It was early January of this year when I got a strange text from my bank. It indicated that they had processed an electronic deposit for just under $50.00. I wasn’t expecting any deposits in that amount and I was, as you’d expect, a bit intrigued. I logged into my on-line bank account and found the item in question with the indication it had come from BROADCAST MUSI. I still didn’t have a clue.

It was early, I lacked sufficient coffee at the time and it took me a while to realize that BROADCAST MUSI was bank-speak for Broadcast Music, Inc. I had received my first royalty payment from BMI. It was exciting. It was more than the $1.37 I had anticipated.

Six or seven months earlier I had been at an open mic and the host, Gary Hall, mentioned that he had just started to look into BMI Live on their website. My original music is registered with BMI and I was interested in what he had to say. He had been posting his sets to the website for a while and thought it was something I needed to know about. I suspect that ASCAP and SESAC have similar services but I’m just going to talk about my experience with BMI.

The morning after Gary told me about BMI Live I logged into my account to see what it was all about. The process seemed pretty straight forward. All that was needed was registering my original songs, waiting a while for them to be recognized by the system and then entering the details of the performances I’d played.

Because of the way the system works I was able to go back about six months and - since I keep good records of what I perform at everything from open mics to showcases - added a list of appearances in venues all over the area. Once I saw how easy it was to add a new show I got in the habit of posting entries the morning after I’d played out. It became routine.

I should note that I had no idea what any of this effort was worth. I couldn’t find anything on the BMI site that explained how royalties were paid. They noted that payment came months after the posting and covered large blocks of time. The payment I received in January, for example, covered the first half of last year. But I kept at it figuring that eventually I’d discover if the effort was worth it. That deposit covered just seven shows and most of these were three song open mic sets.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

Over the course of the last six months or so I’ve only come across one venue where BMI refused to pay royalties and that was because that particular operation has refused to pay the licensing fee after repeated requests from the organization. BMI can’t pay the performers if they are not being paid by the venues. I should note that this particular place proudly sports a BMI sticker on their front door. Clearly, that’s not a guarantee that the club is covered.

So what does this all mean to you? If you’re not affiliated with a PRO (Performing Rights Organization) maybe you should be. For all the flak they take about hassling club owners and shutting down open mics there is an upside to what they do to promote, protect and pay songwriters and performers. If you’re new to this you need to know that you can only list your works with one of the PROs. Choose wisely. I picked BMI because many of the writers I know are associated with them. Check around. See what your peers like and trust.

Finally, I realize I’m not about to retire on what I make in royalties and I lament the fact that I found out about this way late in my career. But for many of you this could be an opportunity to make an extra buck here and there. If the royalties pay for a set of strings, a new notebook for your creative work, a cup of coffee at the next gig or gas to get to a Songwriter Summit meeting then you’re a little ahead of the game and the work you put into creating your music is at least doing a little something to pay you back for the effort.

An Interesting Take On Copyright

"Even if you’re not a singer, managing your copyrighted material is vital and anyone who creates and/or sells creative works should be educated about their rights and how to protect them and enforce them."

As creators of lyrics and music we should be concerned about our work product, how it is protected, how a collaborative work is viewed in terms of copyright and the best ways to protect our creative efforts. Clearly, we’re not lawyers here at Songwriter Summit but on occasion we stumble on interesting takes on the legal questions surrounding our work. Here’s one such example that might be of particular interest to those who work with others in the process of creation. Check out this article we found on the web. It might be helpful.

Rick Bruening’s “Sifting Stones” from 2011

We’ve been at this songwriting thing for a while now. Back in 2011 we had one of our annual showcases featuring many of the folks who have made Songwriter Summit (then Summit County Songwriter Circle) the go-to organization for inspiration, ideas, support and collaboration in northeast Ohio. Here’s just one example of the fine music that has been created by our members over the years. Join us every month and see for yourself.

A Song For The Season

David Francey is a Juno Award winning Canadian songwriter. His music is well worth exploring. This isn’t one of his songs but it's one written by Terra Spencer, a friend of David’s. He posted the link on Facebook after he posted pictures of himself shoveling snow at his home. Terra had this song written before the day was out. It works just as well for Ohio winters as it does for Canadian storms. Inspiration can be found anywhere

The Sounds Of February

You never know what you’re going to experience at one of our monthly meetings. Sometimes lots of folks show up to share a song they’ve crafted. Other times just a few are inspired to present something they’re working on. Either way it’s always a treat to hear what other songwriters in the area are creating for themselves or for local audiences. Here’s what our February meeting sounded like.

Grace Notes

Our Next Meeting...

We meet next on March 5th at OUR NEW LOCATION, Two Girls Cafe and Bakery, 3707 Darrow Road in Stow at 7:00 PM. If you are presenting a song please bring 20 copies for distribution to the other attendees. Copies will be returned to you at the end of the meeting. You do not need to be a member to attend a meeting or bring us a song.

Visit Our Website

While you’re browsing the web drop in on our site for member lists, open mic suggestions, and so much more. You can find it right here.

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