Tuesday-Day one of tour overload. We rented some fancy vans and were carted around to different “field trips” as part of our “Inside The Music Industry” class. On our first stop, we met with songwriter, Regie Hamm, at his house, to learn about his experiences in songwriting. One of his accomplishments is “Time of My Life” which was featured on American Idol, as David Cook’s final performance. We learned about the ups and downs of being a songwriter and trying to “make it” in Nashville. If you want to learn more about Regie Hamm and his accomplishments, check out http://www.regiehamm.com/
Next, we went to the home of songwriter, Nathan Lee. He lives in an amazingly decorated warehouse.
Check his music out at http://nathanleemusic.com/
There we learned about his experiences as a writer. He is very talented, but having a rough time in his musical career. He credited his struggles the fact that his music is, “to real for Christian music, and too spiritual for mainstream.” He brought up a great point that many of us in this program are likely to deal with; being a Christian and an Artist, but not a “ChristianArtist.” How does one write about what’s real and faith, but keeping it mainstream? As the TootsiePop commercial voice always said, “The world may never know.
Our final “field trip” of the day was SESAC. SESAC is a Performing Rights Organization (PRO). A PRO is the company that collects royalties for artists and keeps tabs on when and their songs are played on the radio, TV show, or other public place. They are one of 3 main PROs in the US; SESAC ASCAP and BMI. I currently work with BMI.