Songwriting Articles - The Entertainment Cyberscope

Film, TV and radio continue to dwarf theater's popularity. Rock and roll--a loose term signifying pop music in general--produces stage shows unequaled even by the lavish productions of musical theater's golden era. It's pretty hard to rival a Pink Floyd light show or a Michael Jackson multi-screen stadium-size stage setup. And it would take weeks for a good-sized Broadway house to reach the same level of ticket sales that one single stadium gig can produce in one night.

Broadway has been on a revival trend for a number of years now and new songwriting blood is rare. Musicals and cabaret-style shows are still produced at the local level and touring companies are formed. Casinos are increasingly becoming new outlets for a wide variety of theatrical presentations and Las Vegas is as well-known for its stage shows as it is a "city of sin."

Music is meant to be seen...so music video channels would have us believe. Very few artists release commercial CDs without making a video for at least one of the cuts. But most TV programming has music. Cartoons, made-for-TV-movies, news theme songs (or instrumental slices), sitcom theme songs, documentaries and of course, advertising all call for hefty amounts of music creation. When music is made for hire or negotiated for a flat rate, this means a loss of income generated through syndication and replay.

Digital TV will continue to morph along with computer monitors and WebTV and Digital TV will continue to converge. Internet websites for TV programming serve as an adjunct to shows much in the same way as movie websites.

Cable access to the Internet already provides the necessary connection for the convergence of TV and computers. So supplemental content may very well become content that stands on its own. The Internet is not limited to scheduled programming (On-Demand). This means an increase in available content and greater opportunities for songwriting and music production outlets.

Although any sensible individual would exclaim it is completely impractical, good logic still doesn't stop us from trying to imagine all the stars in the sky. It's possible that childlike curiosity knows no boundaries. And when imagining all the music there is on a global scale, suddenly a Beethoven symphony or an Eric Clapton guitar solo is but a sparrow's chirp in a concert of a million crows and parrots. (Author's note: that is the strangest analogy I have ever come up with!)

The Internet is John Lennon's song "Imagine" come true (sorry, another one). If you have access to the Internet, you have access to the world. There are no barriers. Listening to streaming Irish folk song channels broadcast from Ireland is as easy as listening to your favorite local Top 40 radio station. The richness of World Music comes alive on the Internet and where national boundaries are war zones in the physical world, the digital world offers a unity as simple as swapping a couple of mp3's.

Language is a barrier. It has nothing to do with prejudice or racism. It's simply a matter of translation. You will not understand Spanish Love songs if you don't speak Spanish (or Latin or Hispanic, whichever is politically correct). The fusion and influence of World Music on Pop/Rock depends on language far more than any unusual tuning methods or micro-tonal scales.

Pop/Rock is, in fact, already a fusion of World Music, something many genre fanatics often fail to acknowledge. In pop music, there is virtually no influence from Native American Indian music. Ironically, Asian countries are homes to many of entertainment technology companies and the birthplace of karaoke, but the music of Asia remains a mystery to most Western ears. Hopefully an open exchange of world cultures will prevail over dominance and destruction of one culture by another. It would be a balance of preserving native languages while finding a common language at the same time.

The distribution of music is no longer limited by trucks, trains airplanes and ships. If there is a barrier, the barrier is choice, not access. Music is often referred to as a universal language but the prevalence of music in most cultures is not indicative of an immediate sharing of those cultures. The very nature of a "hit song" means competition and in the scramble for the top slot a lot of World Music is ignored.

NOTE: In the Ethnomusicology realm, almost all major universities have excellent musicology-based resources online.

Jerry Flattum is a songwriter (BMI), screenwriter, freelance writer, book writer and singer/keyboardist/arranger. Jerry has written Bridge On Fire: A Holistic Journey in Song Creation. Bridge On Fire is a comprehensive manual on songwriting from the technical, social, cultural and entertainment industry perspectives. The book will be published by Publish America in 2005 and available through major and other retail outlets. In 2002, Jerry wrote a full-length feature comedy, 7/11 Pair-O-Dice Road for Lear Entertainment (Las Vegas). Several screenplays are in-progress: The Acrobat; Watertown, South Dakota; Lars; Out of Context; Amazon Moon and others. He has written the story, music and lyrics for Time Travelers in the Celestial Age, a screen/stage musical loosely based on H.G. Well’s, The Time Machine. As a freelance writer, he has covered live shows for e-Vegas.net, the Las Vegas film scene for Callback, and written several articles for Musesmuse.com, Script Magazine and others. Jerry has worked as a singer/keyboardist in several bands throughout New York, the Twin Cities, and on the road. Prior business experience includes CBS, Harry Fox Agency, Samuel French Play Publishers and other indie ventures. He has a self-designed BS in Songwriting (graduating Phi Kappa Phi) and a Masters in Liberal Studies (U of MN). Jerry is a member of the Songwriters Guild of America, the Nashville Songwriters Association, and the International Songwriters Association. He is soon to become a member of the National Writers Union and plans are to join the Authors Guild and the Writers Guild of America. He is also launching JerryFlattum.com in October 2004, featuring original songs and other works. This site will interface with SongCatalog.com, an online service designed to connect songwriters with song buyers. is a songwriter (BMI), screenwriter, freelance writer, book writer and singer/keyboardist/arranger. Jerry has written . is a comprehensive manual on songwriting from the technical, social, cultural and entertainment industry perspectives. The book will be published by Publish America in 2005 and available through major and other retail outlets. In 2002, Jerry wrote a full-length feature comedy, for Lear Entertainment (Las Vegas). Several screenplays are in-progress: ; , ; ; ; and others. He has written the story, music and lyrics for , a screen/stage musical loosely based on H.G. Well’s, . As a freelance writer, he has covered live shows for e-Vegas.net, the Las Vegas film scene for , and written several articles for Musesmuse.com, and others. Jerry has worked as a singer/keyboardist in several bands throughout New York, the Twin Cities, and on the road. Prior business experience includes CBS, Harry Fox Agency, Samuel French Play Publishers and other indie ventures. He has a self-designed BS in Songwriting (graduating Phi Kappa Phi) and a Masters in Liberal Studies (U of MN). Jerry is a member of the Songwriters Guild of America, the Nashville Songwriters Association, and the International Songwriters Association. He is soon to become a member of the National Writers Union and plans are to join the Authors Guild and the Writers Guild of America. He is also launching JerryFlattum.com in October 2004, featuring original songs and other works. This site will interface with SongCatalog.com, an online service designed to connect songwriters with song buyers.

Entertainment Cyberscopeby Jerry Flattum, CyberAstronomer

Entertainment Cyberscope
by Jerry Flattum, CyberAstronomer