These days, it seems the length of music releases is getting shorter. Or is it getting longer? When is a song considered “rough” and when is it meant to represent a moment in history for your band? You might be able to give your project a creative name, or keep it self-titled, but that doesn’t tell us what the project IS. Is it a single, demo, an EP, a full-lenth album, or is it something else? Here’s a breakdown of the common names for music releases. This should help you figure out which format best fits your style and current situation.

This week I came across quite a few strikingly similar success stories about independent songwriters. Each is so incredibly inspiring that I believe this trend is actually the blueprint for the new music industry. We are now at a unique crossroads where the momentum of the blogging revolution meets the evolution of the new music industry. It’s time to get up on this new and exciting development as we enter 2009. The downfall of the traditional record industry as we know it is not breaking news. But what about the small guys? The unknowns? How should they go about spreading their music and advancing their careers in the new wilderness that is the online music industry? The answer is blogging, and blogging for real.

’tis the year for publishing “best of the year” lists and I thought I’d take this opportunity to put together a list of the lists that are floating around the music world.

I separated the list into two sections: The first is a roundup of the common best albums and best songs list (from both mainstream media, and others). The second is a list of lists with a twist, which put a healthy spin on their recap of 2008.

Whether you’re looking for new music to fill your shiny new ipod, or you’re in the mood to criticize the critcs (a favorite pastime for most songwriters), this list of lists should help you pass the time between the family roundups and the drunken holiday parties. Enjoy…

So you put the finishing touches on a new tune but it’s missing one key component- the title.

The most popular method of giving your song a name is to use the lyric of the chorus. This is the standard in pop music, which makes for good marketing. Radio listeners who know the hook of a song can find it in iTunes quite easily. But this is not just for the mainstream and there’s nothing wrong with this route.

Sometimes the chorus of the song is an extended phrase of many words. In this case it’s common to use the one or two words that grab the listener the most, or the ones that complete a metaphor.

Many times you might choose not to use any of the song’s lyrics in it’s title. Maybe the song is so mysterious that you want to the title to hint at what it’s about. Or the opposite- use the title to add a curious twist to the story of the song.

Read on to take a closer look at these ideas with lyric samples.