As the Great Lakes Songwriting Contest celebrates its fifth year of operations, the entry fee has been lowered and the Grand Prize increased.

This year, the Grand Prize will be $2,000 cash, plus tuition, room and board at a music retreat, plus a chance to headline the Winners' Concert in February 2009. And entrants can choose to enter by mail or on-line, thanks to a partnership with indie music promoter Sonic Bids.

Songwriters of every genre converge on Music Row for The Nashville SongWriters Festival on the third week of June, each year. It's part festival, part music conference, part business networking opportunity and part gathering of old friends. Tune smiths share their original music on multiple outdoor stages and Open Sing Rings located directly on Music Row. Writers can also attend classes, workshops, and Q & A sessions about the craft and business of songwriting between jam sessions.

by Scott G - The G-Man, Proving once more that bigger does not mean better, the 50th Grammy Awards event was bombastic, bumbling and bloated. Scott G watched and would have been appalled if he wasn't so bored. I'm a member of NARAS (National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences), the producers of the Grammy Awards, so let me apologize right away for that horrible conglomeration of bad music, stupid introductions, and self congratulatory behavior that would put members of the Senate to shame.

The Black Crowes' manager issues statement: In my thirty years in the music business, I have never once written a letter to any publication to discuss or oppose a "review" of my artist's work. Any artist or manager who has survived a dramatically changing musical landscape, and experienced some longevity throughout, has a clear understanding that both good and bad reviews are part of the scenery.

The Distributed Computing Industry Association, a trade organization with more than one-hundred Member companies representing peer-to-peer (P2P) and social networking software providers, content rights holders, and service-and-support companies, today announced the agenda, speakers, and sponsors for its upcoming P2P MARKET CONFERENCE.