20th Annual NSAI Song Contest Presented By Martin Guitars And Strings And CMT To Launch September 1, 2019
Prizes awarded include up to $5,000 Cash, Mentoring Sessions with Elle King, Ross Golan and Joe London, or Tom Douglas, Single Song Contract with Anthem Entertainment,
1 of 12 Martin Guitars and More!
Nashville, Tennessee (August 22, 2019) – Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) along with presenting sponsors Martin Guitars and Strings (Martin) and Country Music Television (CMT) are proud to announce details for the 20th Annual NSAI Song Contest. Kicking off September 1, 2019 and ending October 31, 2019, this year’s competition is bigger than ever boasting two cash prizes, $5,000 to the Grand Prize Winner and $2,000 to the Lyric-Only Winner, four mentors, multi-Platinum singer/songwriter ELLE KING, hit songwriters ROSS GOLAN and JOE LONDON of AND THE WRITER IS..., and TOM DOUGLAS, as well as several Martin guitar and strings prizes totaling over $21,000 in value, and much more!
With two entry categories, Song and Lyric-Only, the contest provides an opportunity for songwriters of all genres to have their song(s) heard and judged by industry professionals. All entries will receive scorecard results, and a final total of 22 entries will place.
The Grand Prize Winner will take home $5,000 CASH, receive mentoring sessions with CMA Award-winning songwriter-artist ELLE KING, and hit songwriters ROSS GOLAN and JOE LONDON of AND THE WRITER IS..., and will be awarded a one-year SINGLE SONG CONTRACT WITH ANTHEM ENTERTAINMENT. In addition, the Grand Prize Winner will receive: a Martin D-28 Modern Deluxe and 10 packs of Martin Authentic Acoustic Strings, two tickets to the 2020 CMT Music Awards, a three day trip to Nashville, live performance opportunities at The Bluebird Café and the 2020 Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival, an NSAI residency package including a one year membership, access to one NSAI premium event, winning song inclusion in one of the quarterly Pitch to Publisher meetings, and more! The nine runners-up in the Song Category will also receive an incredible prize, a Martin 000 Junior and five packs of Martin Authentic Acoustic Strings.
The Lyric-Only Winner will receive $2,000 CASH, a mentoring session with hit songwriter, TOM DOUGLAS, a Martin OME Cherry (FSC® certified) and 10 packs of Martin Authentic Acoustic Strings, access to one (1) NSAI premium event, a pass to the 2020 Music Biz Conference in Nashville, TN, along with additional prizes. The Lyric-Only runner-up will also receive a Martin 000 Junior and five packs of Martin Authentic Acoustic Strings.
For judging, all eligible submissions received by NSAI will be judged in their respective categories by music industry professionals and NSAI staff. In the third round of judging, the top ten (10) finalists and ten (10) honorable mentions will be determined for the Song Category, and the Lyric-Only winner and runner-up will be selected. In February of 2020, the top ten finalists for the Song Category will be scored during a live-streamed event where a music industry-based celebrity panel of five or more elite music industry professionals will score each submission, with the highest score receiving the Grand Prize!
Beginning September 1, 2019 at 12:00pm CDT, entries can be submitted online at nsai.cmt.com or they can be mailed to the NSAI office (NSAI--ATTN: Song Contest, 1710 Roy Acuff Place, Nashville, TN 37203). All entries mailed in must include the submission form, entry fee, printed lyric sheet, and one audio CD (unless a Lyric-Only entry). Entry fees are $35 per song for current NSAI members and $45 per song for non-NSAI members. There is no limit to the number of songs that songwriters can submit, and all submissions must be post-marked by October 31, 2019.
For further details, including additional information on submitting songs, an official full list of prizes, the Terms and Conditions and contest updates, visit nsai.cmt.com. Updates will also be posted at nashvillesongwriters.com and shared on NSAI socials, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages (@NSAIOfficial).
Sponsors: And The Writer Is..., Anthem Entertainment, ASCAP, BMI, CMT, Martin Guitars and Strings, SESAC, Southwest Airlines®, and We Make Tapes & Discs.
Elle King
About Elle King
Multi-Platinum artist Elle King released her critically-acclaimed second album, Shake The Spirit in October 2018, featuring the lead single and King’s fourth radio No. 1 hit “Shame,” which made her the only act in history to have scored number 1 singles on the Adult Pop Songs, Adult Alternative Songs, Alternative Songs and Country Airplay charts. It precedes her current single “Baby Outlaw” as "the blues-rock track alternates between a howl and a whisper over dust-blown electric guitars,” (Rolling Stone). Shake the Spirit follows the singer/songwriter's debut record Love Stuff which featured her double Platinum breakthrough single and two-time Grammy-nominated hit “Ex’s & Oh’s.” As track hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs Chart, and topped the AAA, Hot AC and Alternative Radio charts, King became the second female artist in 18 years to reach No. 1 at the latter format. The “musical game-changer” (Chicago Sun Times) also collaborated with Dierks Bentley on the No. 1 Grammy-nominated hit “Different For Girls” which led to the award for CMA “Vocal Event of the Year.” As she has propelled to the mainstream spotlight, King has been known to draw genre-blending crowds throughout her headlining Shake The Spirit Tour and continues to do so on HEART’s Live Alive Tour. Additionally, King will also serve as direct support for Miranda Lambert’s The Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars Tour that will launch this fall.
For more information visit www.elleking.com.
Ross Golan
About Ross Golan
Over the last half-decade, Ross Golan has emerged as one of the most compelling songwriters in music today. Along with penning tracks for artists as eclectic as Nicki Minaj, Lady Antebellum, and Michael Bublé, he’s lent his lyrical prowess and melodic finesse to multi-platinum smashes like Selena Gomez’s “Same Old Love” and Ariana Grande’s “Dangerous Woman.” But in the midst of sending dozens of songs to the top of the charts, Golan also brought his limitless artistry to the making of The Wrong Man: a concept album that began as a soul-stirring folk song about a man falsely accused of murder, and soon took on a spectacular life of its own.
For Golan, The Wrong Man follows a lifetime of obsession with the transcendent power of songwriting. “When you’re a writer, you can go anywhere you want,” he says. “I can be in Los Angeles, but if I’m writing ‘The Wrong Man,’ all of a sudden I’m in Reno. How many people get to play-pretend like that?” Golan first discovered his affinity for lyrical storytelling at age 14, mining inspiration from boundary-warping artists like Tom Waits (“I love how his songs feel like you’re listening to a movie,” he says). While studying music at the University of Southern California, he launched his own record company and ventured into writing for other singers, and later co-founded the acclaimed alt-rock band Glacier Hiking. As he built up his songwriting repertoire, Golan began scoring placements with major artists like Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato, and Maroon 5, quickly expanding his output to include #1 hits on both the pop and country charts.
Joe London
About Joe London
Joe London is a Grammy nominated songwriter and producer who co-wrote Thomas Rhett’s Grammy nominated/BMI Country Song of the Year, “Die a Happy Man” and co-produced Rhett’s hit singles “Star of the Show” and “Craving You (feat. Maren Morris).'' He also co-wrote and co-produced on Rhett’s Grammy nominated album Life Changes, including the #1 single “Sixteen.” Joe co-wrote and produced Jason Derulo's single "Wiggle (feat. Snoop Dogg),” Pitbull's single “Fireball,” Fifth Harmony's "BO$$," Sage the Gemini’s single “Now and Later,” Tim McGraw & Faith Hill’s single “Speak to a Girl,” Ally Brooke’s debut single “Low Key,” Charlotte Lawrence’s single “Everybody Loves You,” and Lizzo’s single “Fitness” and “Worship.” Additionally, Joe co-wrote and co-produced Bomba Estéreo’s Grammy nominated albums Amanecer and Ayo.
About AND THE WRITER IS…
And The Writer Is... is a weekly podcast that celebrates the people who compose the hits. Each episode, Ross Golan sits down with an acclaimed and venerable songwriter to intimately discuss what happens behind closed doors in the music industry. He explores the songwriting process, inspirations, pitfalls and history of some of today's hottest songwriters.
Tom Douglas
About Tom Douglas
Tom Douglas is an accomplished country music songwriter. He describes, “I view myself as a ‘songwriter/singer’ rather than a ‘singer/songwriter’ because I fell in love with the song first... So out of my love for the song comes the singing.” After enjoying a 13-year career in commercial real estate, Douglas emerged in the country music world at the age of 41 following the success of his first co-written single. “Little Rock,” recorded by Collin Raye, reached #1, earned a nomination for CMA Song of the Year and won the Million-Air award from BMI for receiving one million spins on country radio. Since then, Douglas has written numerous number one hits, including: “I Run to You” (Lady Antebellum), “Southern Voice” (Tim McGraw) and “The House That Built Me” (Miranda Lambert). The Grammy Award-winning song “The House That Built Me” remained at number one on the Billboard charts for four weeks.
Douglas has written countless well-received songs for a wide range of country artists, including: John Michael Montgomery, Martina McBride, Kenny Chesney, LOCASH, Carrie Underwood, Parmalee, Kane Brown, Keith Urban, Lee Ann Womack, Drake White, George Strait, Luke Bryan and Brett Eldredge among others. In 2014, Douglas was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall Of Fame, subsequently receiving a Grammy Nomination for his song “Meanwhile Back at Mamma’s” recorded by Tim McGraw. Douglas’ recent work includes the debut single “Make Him Wait” recorded by Abby Anderson and “Drunk Girl” recorded by Chris Janson, the latter of which received the 2018 MusicRow Award for Song Of The Year. He also penned the song “Dear Hate” recorded by Maren Morris and Vince Gill, earning the Grammy nomination for the 2019 Country Song of the Year. Douglas is currently signed to Sony/ATV Music Publishing, and lives in Nashville with his wife, Katie.
About CMT
CMT is the leading authority on country music and lifestyle, offering a mix of original series, music events and specials. CMT is everywhere its fans are including two cable channels (CMT and the 24-hour music channel, CMT Music), radio (CMT Radio), digital (CMT App, CMT.com) and social (CMT on Facebook, CMT on Instagram and CMT on Twitter). CMT is a unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB). For more information, please visit CMT Press at cmtpress.com.
About Martin Guitars and Strings
C. F. Martin & Co.® has been Inspiring Musicians Worldwide® for nearly two centuries with their superior guitar and string products. Martin guitars and strings remain the choice for musicians around the world for their unrivaled quality, craftsmanship, and tone. Throughout the company’s long history, Martin products can be seen and heard across all genres of music and in all segments of pop culture, from concert and theater stages to television and movies.
Martin maintains an unwavering commitment to environmental sustainability and responsible manufacturing practices and is the first in the Musical Instrument Industry to receive B Corp Status. Martin continually drives the acoustic guitar market forward, introducing innovative features that have become standards across the industry. These groundbreaking innovations include the introduction of X-bracing, the 14-fret guitar, and the “Dreadnought” size guitar.
Martin has also led innovations in strings, such as introducing the first high-tensile strength steel-string core wire; the first nickel acoustic strings (Martin Retro®); the proprietary Titanium Core strings; and now the groundbreaking, new Authentic Acoustic line, which offers unmatched stability, tone, comfort, and longevity. Learn more here: www.martinguitar.com/aa.
Connect with Martin Guitars and Martin Strings on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and YouTube, and viawww.martinguitar.com
About NSAI
The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) is the world’s largest not-for-profit songwriters trade organization. Established in 1967, the membership of more than 5,000 spans the United States and eight (8) foreign countries. For 47 years, NSAI has been dedicated to protecting the rights of and serving aspiring and professional songwriters in all genres of music.
For more information, visit nashvillesongwriters.com.
Contact:
Kate Richardson
kate@richlynngroup.com
(615) 970-7474