The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Help me get this straight:

For RPM you have to record 10 songs, but not necessarily write them.

For FAWM you have to write 14 songs, but not necessarily record them.

Am I correct here?

From the RPM website:
• Recording can only be done in the month of February – no prerecorded songs.

• All material must be previously unreleased, and we encourage you to write the material during February too.

RPM stands for, "Record Production Month."

I only bring this up because I think everyone gets overwhelmed with writing AND recording 24 songs each year, and it is good to know that you don't have to do that!

Ken

ken wrote:For FAWM you have to write 14 songs, but not necessarily record them.

I don't think you're right about FAWM (though you are about RPM; of course you still have to write the songs but you can do it in advance). After all, how is it an album if you don't record it?

I only bring this up because I think everyone gets overwhelmed with writing AND recording 24 songs each year, and it is good to know that you don't have to do that!

You could cheat and have your FAWM album be your RPM album, too.

jast wrote: You could cheat and have your FAWM album be your RPM album, too.

I don't see how this is cheating. It's what I did last year, and I plan to do it again.

Agreed. You actually exceed the requirements of either project by doing so.

jast wrote:

ken wrote:For FAWM you have to write 14 songs, but not necessarily record them.

I don't think you're right about FAWM (though you are about RPM; of course you still have to write the songs but you can do it in advance). After all, how is it an album if you don't record it?

I think FAWM at least wants a demo, but no more. Production isn't required, as far as I can tell.

Reïst wrote:

jast wrote:

ken wrote:For FAWM you have to write 14 songs, but not necessarily record them.

I don't think you're right about FAWM (though you are about RPM; of course you still have to write the songs but you can do it in advance). After all, how is it an album if you don't record it?

I think FAWM at least wants a demo, but no more. Production isn't required, as far as I can tell.

They encourage demos - but it seems to me that you could post titles only and complete the challenge - assuming you actually wrote the songs. But the demos/recordings makes it a lot more interesting, especially for feedback.

i don't think it's cheating. last fawm, i wrote 23 songs, recorded 16 of them, and put 10 on a cd and sent it in for the rpm challenge. the way i see it, i independently met or exceeded the goal of each project. six of these songs were also entered into the songfights for february, so they counted for songfight, fawm, and rpm. i think cheating would be the guy that writes the lyrics to two hundred generic country songs a month, and has no interest in ever recording them. check him out here: http://5090.fawm.org/writers.php?id=635. he is very Henry Darger-esque. he publishes these sets of lyrics in books of 250 songs at a time and tries to get people to record them. if you've done fawm in the past, you know who i'm talking about.

jast wrote:I don't think you're right about FAWM. After all, how is it an album if you don't record it?

Its not February Album Making Month, its February Album Writing Month, so you're just writing the material for the album not making the album, is how I see it.

Exactly. We are used to recording our songs but in fact millions of songs are written by songwriters who never record them, and usually don't even make demos. Lyric and sheet music is published and sold and then recorded by other artists. That's the amazing thing about a written language...you don't need to record yourself for someone else to understand what you've written! Some use a piano to compose, some use a guitar, but many write in their head and capture it in written notation of various sorts.

FAWM does not require demos or produced recordings of any kind.

There is no cheating when there is no prize.

But there is a prize.

You see, my only problem with FAWM (and having done it for five years I obviously like it enough not to let it bother me) is one of purpose.

I completely appreciate that people should be able to realise their inspiration in whatever form.

however I use the online component (uploading songs, the jukebox etc) in the (vainglorious) hope that I will reach one potential audience that doesn't neccessarily come to songfight.

So come about halfway through the month it is very frustrating to have my song uploaded and within two or three hours having it pushed down the chronoligical list onto page 734 of 1004 (or whatever.) bad enough to be bumped by songs of superior quality and performance, let alone someone uploading just a song title, or a demo that's locked, or an unspiring lyric that asks you to imagine it sung along to a mutant blues.

Even putting aside the selfish 'hear my music' attitude, i still want to hear songs! Every FAWM I stumbble across great tunes / musicians. That's the prize I don't want to see fall between the two stools of thought and deed.

Doesn't exposing the same material to different audiences further your stated goals rather than obstructing them?

It's also not cheating because it's not against the rules.

j$ wrote:That's the prize I don't want to see fall between the two stools of thought and deed.

Dude, save it for February. Oh, another lost line...

So here it is, February 25th. I've written and recorded 13 songs, hoping to get the last one out tonight. I'll probably tryt ot re-record a few before send a CD to RPM on Saturday (or monday if I slack).

Anyway - Ken's original distinction was, of course, correct, and J$'s complaint is valid. You can sometimes get pushed down the list fast and sometimes they are locked, or lyrics only, or the product of a so-called "Feast" (recording 14 songs very quickly, often in one sitting). And one guy has posted 100 songs (haven't hear all of them, but I've heard a few that, while not great, or not terrible either)

I think one of the big differences, if you are writing in February is the way the sites are set up in terms of interaction with other writers. For that I totally favor FAWM. I find myself going back over there much more often that to RPM. FAWM is centered around keeping a list of all posted songs that can be filtered, sorted, and randomized in a player, and then you get the opportunity to "Comment" on the songs you'd like to comment on. EVery song is given a page with liner notes and Lyrics (if you supply them). In general I find it to be a very supportive, all-in-the-same boat community. At RPM, it's more behind the scenes, you need to do more seeking out to choose forum posts and blog entries to read and such. I'm sure if that's all I was doing i'd be in there a lot - and if production was a bigger deal to me I probably would be scouring the production forums there. But for me, focussed on writing and doing simple recording - I find FAWM much more immersive.

Just some thoughts.