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The Westcoast Songwriter's Conference [1] is an annual conference hosted by the Westcoast Songwriter's organization.
The conference is usually held in San Francisco, California.
West Coast Songwriters is a 501(c)3 nonprofit educational organization founded in 1979 in California. It has been headed by executive director Ian Crombie since 1988.
The annual Westcoast Songwriter's Conference offers educational classes on songwriting techniques, live performance skills, navigating contracts and the legal environment of the music and performance industry. Each attendee may schedule song pitching sessions each day with an industry professional.
The conference is staffed by such notables as country writer Steve Seskin, musical director for the Grammy pre-telecast Larry Batiste, record producer and artist development professional Scott Mathews as well as many other industry professionals.
Each night following the day's events, there are concerts where the hits songwriters perform along with the yearly winners of the WCS songwriting contest. The intent of the conference is to enable individual artists and writers to become part of a community which helps to develop, relationships, craft and business skills.
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has amassed one of the world's most extensive musical collections.
A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions and writes lyrics for songs. A songwriter can also be called a composer, although the latter term tends to be used mainly for individuals from the classical music genre and film scoring, but is also associated writing and composing the original musical composition or musical bed. A songwriter who mainly writes the lyrics for a song is referred to as a lyricist. The pressure from the music industry to produce popular hits means that song writing is often an activity for which the tasks are distributed between a number of people. For example, a songwriter who excels at writing lyrics might be paired with a songwriter with the task of creating original melodies. Pop songs may be composed by group members from the band or by staff writers – songwriters directly employed by music publishers. Some songwriters serve as their own music publishers, while others have outside publishers.
Westcoast, as one word, is used by the following:
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National Academy of Songwriters was a music industry association that provided a support network for songwriters, and awarded honors in various categories. Originally founded by Helen King as Songwriters Resources and Services, she saw a need to provide an inexpensive copyright service, as well as educational services for aspiring writers in Los Angeles and around the US.
The Americana Music Association (AMA) is a professional not-for-profit trade organization whose mission is to advocate for American Roots Music around the world. Toward these ends the organization works with Americana artists, radio stations, record labels, publishers, and others to create networking opportunities and to develop an infrastructure that will assure visibility and economic viability. Additionally, the organization works to increase brand recognition of Americana music and its artists. The Association produces events throughout the year including the annual Americana Music Festival and Conference and the Americana Music Honors & Awards typically held together in the fall. The AMA also manages and publishes radio airplay charts. It publishes newsletters, conducts market research, and disseminates information about important events in the Americana community.
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Steve Seskin is an American singer, songwriter, and musician whose songs have been recorded by recording artists Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Waylon Jennings, Tim McGraw, Colin Raye, and Mark Wills among others. The debut single from McGraw's Set This Circus Down, "Grown Men Don't Cry", was nominated for a 2002 Grammy award and also garnered the No. 1 position on the Billboard Country Single Chart in June 2001. Seskin also is known for performing at schools in support of the Operation Respect/Don't Laugh at Me project, named after "Don't Laugh at Me," a song he wrote with Allen Shamblin that was recorded by Mark Wills and Peter, Paul and Mary, among others.
Appel Farm Arts & Music Center, located near Elmer, New Jersey, United States, is a multifaceted nonprofit regional arts center founded by musicians and art educators Albert and Clare Rostan Appel. Appel Farm Arts & Music Center is South Jersey's leading Arts Education organization. The center was founded in 1960 as a summer camp, became incorporated in 1978 and has since expanded its programming to include on-site arts retreats, arts classes, outreach in the schools, professional development for teachers, and the South Jersey Arts Fest.
The Calgary Folk Music Festival is held in late July each year at Prince's Island Park, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. July 2022 is the Festival's 43rd edition. The four-day Calgary Folk Music Festival annually features 70 icons and upstarts from 16 countries on 11 stages in over 100 distinct concert and collaborative programming performances to a 52,000+ audience the 4th weekend of July at Prince's Island Park. A genre-bending affair, it features roots, funk, country, old-time, world and indie icons and upstarts from around the globe. Ever-evolving programming brings on-the-fly collaborations where musical arranged marriages spark one-time works of art.
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