Legendary Music Celebrities Team Up With Record Label Executives To Judge The International Songwriting Competition

September 17, 2007 (PR Leap) — Many of the music industry's top celebrities and record label executives have joined together to judge the International Songwriting Competition (ISC), one of the largest and most prestigious songwriting competitions in the world. Judging ISC provides a unique vehicle for celebrities to give back to their fans and offer encouragement and support to aspiring songwriters all over the world. It also offers the unprecedented opportunity for up-and-coming artists to have their music heard by the music industry's top recording artists and record label executives.

ISC gives away over $150,000 in cash and prizes each year, including an Overall Grand Prize package of $25,000 (US) in cash and over $20,000 in merchandise, unmatched by any other songwriting competition. ISC is open to musicians, artists, and songwriters at every level from amateur to professional and covers all genres of contemporary music. In addition to the regular prizes, the winner of the Teen category receives a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music's Summer Performance Program.

The complete ISC judging panel includes: Nelly Furtado; Jerry Lee Lewis; Loretta Lynn; Ray Davies (The Kinks); Hinder; Julian Casablancas (The Strokes); Tom Waits; Kenny Wayne Shepherd; Ornette Coleman; Youssou N'Dour; Sean Paul; "Weird Al" Yankovic; Frank Black (Pixies); Robert Smith (The Cure); Cassandra Wilson; David Cross (FOX-TV's Arrested Development); Craig Morgan; John Mayall; Joe Satriani; Toby Mac; Michael W. Smith; Chris Hillman (The Byrds); John Scofield; Amy Ray (Indigo Girls); Cheech Marin (Cheech & Chong); Darryl McDaniels (Run DMC); Macy Gray; Peter Hook (New Order); Paulina Rubio; and Tiesto

Also judging will be music industry executives Charlie Walk (President, Epic Records); Monte Lipman (President, Universal Records); Mona Scott-Young (President, Violator Records); Cameron Strang (President, New West Records); Steve Lillywhite (Producer - credits include U2, The Rolling Stones, Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Peter Gabriel, and more); Bruce Iglauer (Founder/President, Alligator Records); Cory Robbins (Founder/President, Robbins Entertainment); Betty Pino (DJ, WAMR Miami); Angel Carrasco (President, 605 Discos and Sr. VP A&R, Sony BMG Latin America); Thomas Brooman (Co-Founder/Artistic Director, WOMAD); Dan Storper (President, Putumayo World Music); Nancy Wolpert (VP Home Entertainment and Nick Records, Nickelodeon/BMG); Leib Ostrow (CEO, Music For Little People); and Paul Majors (CEO/Founder Majors Music)

ISC is sponsored by Electro-Voice, ASCAP, Berklee College Of Music, Cakewalk, Shure, D'Addario, Thayers, Hear Technologies, Disc Makers, Sonicbids, Musician's Atlas, Sibelius, Karian Studios, OnlineGigs, The Music Business Registry, Mediaguide, ArtistMonitor, Platinum Blue Music Intelligence, Alphabet Arm Design, George Stein, Esq., SongU, The Indie Venue Bible, Shari's Berries, and Taxi

More information can be found on the ISC website at www.songwritingcompetition.com.