Introduction
The ISA - The International Songwriters Association started life in Limerick City, Ireland, in October 1967, with members in just one country - Ireland. In October 2007, it had members in more than sixty countries worldwide.
The first publication, NSM or New Songwriters Monthly (soon after re-named The Songwriter) was published in October 1967 and continued to be published in printed format until 2007, when all ISA publicarions went online only.
The International Songwriters Association's website went online for the first time in 1998, and at 3.54pm on the 18th October 2016 (our 49th birthday), while totally sober, we used StatCounter to take a snapshot of those songwriters viewing the site at that very moment. Then we went back to devouring the cake. It has been alleged that one or two people may have even had a second glass of wine, but given our abstemiousness, that is quite clearly fiction.
The People
Pictured below are Jim Liddane, who founded both the International Songwriters Association and Songwriter Magazine as well as co-founding one of Ireland's first commercial radio stations, and Anna Sinden, the ISA's original Director of Membership.
The Writers
Contributing Editors have included such award-winning writers as Harvey Rachlin (USA), author of such books as 'The Songwriter's Handbook' and 'The Encyclopedia of the Music Business', Larry Wayne Clark (Canada) whose songs have been recorded by such country stars as Chris Young, Lee Greenwood and The Statler Brothers, Patricia Knapton (UK), author of 'From My Heart To Yours' and 'Promise' as well as the musical 'Bella', and Sheridan Morley (UK), whose many books include the best-sellers 'A Talent To Amuse: A Biography of Noël Coward', 'Other Side Of The Moon: The Life Of David Niven' and 'Odd Man Out: The Life of James Mason' as well as a biography of his father, actor Robert Morley, titled 'Robert My Father'.
The Nostalgia!
From left: Jim Liddane (Controller Of Programs, Company Secretary and Co-Founder of Radio Limerick One Ltd and Chairman & CEO of the International Songwriters Association); His Honour Judge Seamus Henchy of the Supreme Court (Chairman Independent Radio & Televison Commission): Jim Wallace (Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Radio Limerick One Ltd): and Paul Appleby (Secretary-General of IRTC The Independent Radio & Televison Commission). Pictured at the awarding of the first Commercial Radio Licence for the Limerick area.
The Publications
The ISA flagship The Songwriter (originally called New Songwriters Monthly) was founded in 1967 with Jim Liddane as its first editor. Early contributors included John Cosgrove, Gerald Mahlowe, Jim Birmingham and Bill Miller. Since 1967, it has interviewed more than 300 professional songwriters, and published hundreds of articles on such subjects as copyright, royalties, promotion, song structures, contracts, music publishing, song contests, recording techniques, online presence etc. Songwriter Update (monthly) and Songwriter Newsflash (occasional), along with Songwriter Yearbook complete the International Songwriters Association catalogue, while the book Selling Your Songs by Jim Liddane, and Directory Of Recording Stars are also ISA publications.
The Interviews
Jim Liddane, who founded both the International Songwriters Association and Songwriter Magazine.writes....
"When the International Songwriters Association was founded, one of our ambitions was to locate and interview as many of the world's legendary songwriters as we could, and in particular those non-performing writers who had penned some of world's best loved tunes, but whose own lives and indeed songwriting careers, remained a total mystery to the general public.
Since then, we have managed to meet with and interview quite literally hundreds of tunesmiths, many of whom had never been spoken to before by any other publication or any other organisation.
In doing so, we have been privileged to talk with some of the wonderful people whom we have admired for so long and to keep their stories and achievements alive, and in their own words".
Since 1967, "Songwriter Magazine" has published hundreds of interviews with numerous multi-million selling songwriters and composers, many of whom had never been previously approached for an interview, including Andrew Lloyd Webber, Marty Wilde, George Michael, P J Proby, Larry Weiss, Gordon Lightfoot, Leonard Cohen, Norman Petty, Kate Bush, Lionel Bart, Bill Martin, Barry Mason, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weill, Carole Bayer Sager, Billy Joel, Don McLean, Dallas Frazier, George Harrison, Hal David, Johnny Marks, Julie Gold, Gene Pitney, Kris Kristofferson, Mike Read, Mike Batt, Neil Diamond, Tom T Hall, Roger Hodgson, Mitch Murray, Graham Lyle, Simon May, Herbert Kretzmer, Jona Lewie, John D Loudermilk, Chris Rea, Mike Chapman, Eric Woolfson, Guy Clark, Ron Miller, Nik Kershaw. Peter Sarstedt, Les Reed, Tony Hatch, Dickey Lee, Don Wayne, Don Black, Dan Hill, Steve Harley, Bill Anderson, Larry Henley, Roger Cook, Mel Tillis. Buck Ram, Nik Kershaw, Sonny Curtis, Allan Rich, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Stephen Schwartz, Gary Osborne, Marijohn Wilkin, Guy Chambers, Bobby Braddock, Guy Clark, Chas Hodges, Merle Kilgore, Roger Murrah, Norro Wilson, Janis Ian, Red Lane, Hank Cochran, Gerard Kenny, Sandy Linzer, Susan Gold, Shawn Camp, Ralph Murphy, Andrew Gold, Wayland Holyfield, Bruce Welch, Richard Addrisi, Charlie Strouse, Keith Stegall, Julie Gold, Rufus Yhomas, Chip Taylor, Tommy Boyce, Dan Hill, Allen Reynolds, Dennis Locorriere, Larry Uttal, Tony Macaulay, Chris DeBurgh, Mick Hanley, Irving Caesar, Boudleaux Bryant, Paul Williams, Kris Kristofferson,Jimmy Davis, and many many more.
In addition to the hundreds of songwriters profiled, "Songwriter Magazine" also interviewed many major industry figures such as the impressario Cameron Mackintosh, George Martin of EMI Records, Terry Noon of Noon Music, Fred Foster of Monument Records, John Spalding of Bocu Music, Hal Shaper of Sparta Florida Music, Peter Cornish of ATV Music, Mike Roberts of ATV Music, Jack Clement of Sun Records, Stephen James of Dick James Music, Tony Peters of Acuff Rose Music, Ralph Peer of Peer Music, Eddie Levy of Heath-Levy Music, Roy Tempest of Peer-Southern Music, Tom Vickers of Capitol Records, Mike Fletcher of Shapiro Bernstein Music, Don Kirshner of Aldon Music, Ellis Rich of Supreme Music, Stuart Ongley of Peer Music, Billy Sherrill of Columbia Records, Rick Cardinali of Campbell Connelly Music, David Knight of Southern Music, Mark Rowles of Chappell Music (London), Irwin Schuster of Chappell Music (Nashville), Fraser Mackintosh of Music Deals, John Beecher of Rollercoaster Records, Jonathan Simon of the Really Useful Group, Peter Reichardt of Warner Brothers Music, Peter Dadswell of the Music Publishers Association, Paddy Grafton-Green of the Music Business Lawyers Association, Robert Montgomery of the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society, Howard Balsam of the Harry Fox Agency, and quite literally hundreds more.
The Ending
Having opened its doors to songwriters on 16th October 1967, the International Songwriters Association stopped accepting members on its 50th birthday in 2017, and began a process which finally ended on 10th January 2022, when International Songwriters Association Limited was dissolved as a limited company.
ISA • International Songwriters Association (1967) internationalsongwriters@gmail.com
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