Marc-Alan Ba... Posts: 3 WELCOME TO MAB/SONGRAMP 2.96 to the forteenth power of PI Hello everyone. Marc-Alan Barnette, ("MAB", Rhymes with "CAB") here. Welcome to our new "reboot of Songramp and our forum. I am going to re-open this as if we are starting all over (because we are), if you are new here, a veteran, or interested by stander,we are all welcome and involved here. Thanks for coming over. Songramp has been around much longer than I have and has been a great platform for gaining information and understanding a very difficult to understand foray. The creation of music and the practical application of the business of music. I was invited over by Donna Valentine, who thought I might have something to add to the discussion people were having about the ever changing and always confusing world of music. The Internet has put most everyone into the game. And for many of writers who would like to get their music "out there", suddenly there was a way to do that. Most people are just interested about learning to write, interacting with other writers and finding some like-minded individuals, who could share what can be a very rewarding hobby. But there are some who have that inner thought of "Hey maybe, I could get a hit song too? Doesn't sound that hard!!!" Riiigghhhttt!!! So this thread was started to inject some reality into the often confused, misunderstood and often frustrating world of the music industry. WHO, OR WHAT, IS A MAB? I am a singer/songwriter/teacher, based out of Nashville Tn. I grew up in Birmingham alabama where I grew up in the late 60's and early 70's. in 1974, I began performing with rock bands, and built one, BITTERSWEET, that would morph into 24 KARAT, one of the top rock bands in the town of Birmingham. From high school buddies, we included an older musician,JESSE LEWIS, who took the band over, and taught me what it took to be an actual musician. Rehearsing 6 nights a week, we wrote music, recorded, it and after about a year of that, started performing. That led to us winning THE 1984 MILLER HIGH LIFE ROCK TO RICHES NATIONAL TALENT SEARCH. Out of 30,000 bands Nationwide, we won,and proceeded to have almost a whole week of fame. It taught me about the fleeting nature of the music business. Once a contest is over, it's over. In 1986, our band broke up, and in 1987, I met a gentleman, Ron Muir, who had lived in Nashville for ten years with some chart success. He taught me the finer points of songwriting and prepared me by taking me to Nashville, producing a project on me and basically building who I was for the next step of my journey. Moving to town on April fools day 1988,I made the initial contact that led to my first song being recorded by Grammy Award Winner Shelby Lynne. This song, THAT'S WHERE IT HURTS" was used in a WILLIE NELSON/KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, "ANOTHER PAIR OF ACES." So I learned about songs in film and television,the money, and the realities on getting those done. My next 26 years were amazing, up and down and in and out of every situation you can imagine. From being an artist myself, to helping other artists and writers, interacting with the industry, experiencing major cuts, performing in thousands of shows, being an opening act, to being the headliner, writing with dozens of number one and hall of fame writers, releasing my own CD's, to establishing and maintaining my own business of teaching the craft of songwriting, and the practical application of the business of music, I sometimes am just the "last one standing" of a proud tradition of writers and artists, and can pretty much tell anything from any particular side of a situation when it comes to dealing with music. So that brings me here and what we do. WHO WE ARE We are a group of like minded people from all walks of life, all ages, races, genders, styles of music. We are from various levels of experiences and abilities. But we are a really good group of close friends. Since my experiences in Nashville taught that the RELATIONSHIP was EVERYTHING in Nashville, and songs secondary, that is what we sought to develop here. It is part chat room, part teaching platform. When a discussion gets started, usually by someone asking a question, I can give teaching lessons based upon my experiences. That is usually commented and added to by others of us here. At any one time we have a dozen or so commenting and dozens more reading along. No one has to participate, but we very much enjoy when they do. There is no reason to be shy, we are all the same here. The idea is to give multiple sides of any equation, to provide insights and support to people wherever they are needed. Then to demonstrate that we are all just people, we often will deviate to other subjects, sometime totally unrelated, and sometimes just plain silly. Members of this forum often travel to each other's homes, meet families, participate in life. We write songs, post work, ask questions and build a "second family" where everyone is supportive, everyone enjoys and hopefully everyone gets what they are looking for out of it. We only ask that for the most part, we keep it to the subject of music, be civil, and even if dissagreements pop up, try to keep them moving along and with as little hurt feelings as possible. We avoid the usual "taboo subjects" politics, religion, etc. That is really not our purpose here and there are a LOT of other places on the Internet and even on the Ramp to do that. I tend to moderate and mediate here, but I am not a "official" moderator. That is done by the Ramp staff and if there are any problems, people can contact them. But for almost all confrontations or questions, sending me a private email here or at MBarne4908@aol.com, can usually smooth over any hurt feelings or misunderstandings. You can be assured of one thing NO ONE IS WANTING TO BE CONFRONTATIONAL OR DISSAGREEABLE HERE. We are all friends and all seek to help as much as possible. STYLES OF MUSIC OR ABILITY LEVELS We welcome all styles of music, writing, poetry, etc. here. I tend to focus on the contemporary country market and how it relates to Nashville, Tn. as that is where I am based. But I relate and interact with literally hundreds and thousands of people from other parts of the world, the United states, and beyond, to other planets, LOL! with almost every style, level, imaginable. From the very very new beginner to the experienced professional, performers, non performers, significant others, family members, etc. and everything in between. There are no stupid questions or directions. Just things that can create difficulties that don't need to be there, more direct results or avenues for complete failure. The more educated you are, the better. That's what we do. So try us out, invite people over, get to know each other. We are all glad you are here and hope you enjoy your stay. Take here, and like Frasier Crane, "Go ahead Rampers, I'm listening." Marc-Alan Barnette
