Weeklong ole pop+urban songcamp Boosts Hit Catalogue

Third-annual ole pop+urban songcamp, co-presented by Foxx King Entertainment and Musicians Institute on Sept. 21-27, gave many ole writers a chance to challenge their songwriting chops and expand their writing network during an intensive gathering of 24 of today's hottest songwriters from the U.S., U.K. and Europe.

The workshop, held at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood, Calif., had one goal in mind: creating hit songs and getting them placed. More specifically, at least one song a day was expected to be produced by each writer across five days of writing. Two days were devoted to creating demos and rough mixes. The final target of the camp was to produce as many hit copyrights as possible.

Participating ole writers included David Kopatz (Corbin Bleu, Jordin Sparks), Steven Lee Olsen (Steven Lee, Craig Morgan, Kevin Borg), Tebey (The Dolly Rockers, Teairra Mari, featuring Flo Rida and Ricky Lee Coulter), Alex G. (N'Sync, South Rakkas Crew), Dru (In Essence, Tohoshinki), Alonzo (Melissa O'Neil, Rex Goudie, Eva Avila), and ole's latest signing Justin Forsley (Shiloh).

Writers availed themselves of studio gear, demo vocalists and studio staff - all provided as part of the camp. Each day of the camp kicked off with A&R briefings by representatives from Def Jam, Emblem, Atlantic, Capitol, Warner Bros. and others, after which, the "songcampers" would then break off into teams of top-line writers and producers targeting the next hits for the labels' signed artists.

Qiana Conley, ole's West Coast Creative Director, and Tony Crago, Creative Coordinator, organized songcamp efforts. ole's Creative team will pitch the songs worldwide. A special visit from Jordin Sparks topped off the event.

Generous sponsorship donations were received from Foxx King Entertainment, the Canadian Music Fund (MEC Grant), SOCAN, ASCAP, BMI, PUMA, Major Bob Music, Red Bull, and SESAC.