SERIES TEN / PSV BOOTCAMPs 2024-2025:

SONGWRITING, SYNC & MUSIC BUSINESS

STAGE TWO

early fEedback

I am grateful for the opportunity to work with talented people who share my love for music. The instructors were always happy to help and gave feedback on our work. They offered advice on how to make the songs better. Working in a team turned out to be an exciting adventure: I was able to meet other musicians and learn something new.

***

In the camp––literally in the first session––I was captivated by the creative process and musical know-how I hadn’t used for ages came back. The way the teams were selected is beyond praise. For Pam and Richard, as well as the speakers––this is ❤️ The experience of working in different teams was extremely interesting, because it allowed us to write completely different music. You are doing a very important and cool thing ☺️

***

Thanks very much for organizing camps for Russian-speaking musicians and helping us stay closer to the global industry. It was really interesting for me to learn how everything actually happens in the West, to hear  about writing rooms, about the mechanisms of collaboration and joint effort. This is very different from what happens in Russia. 

***

The experience of writing together was interesting, but difficult. Yet overall, we were able to find consensus and produce a track. There was very useful feedback and the whole process was inspiring. Thank you for organizing it and, of course, especially for the killer chat channel :)

SCHEDULE

All classes will be offered over Zoom.

Broadcasts are scheduled for 9AM, Pacific Standard Time, corresponding to mid-evening, Moscow time.

CAMP ONE: SONGWRITING (Fall/Winter 2024)

October 29, 2024

November 5, 2024

November 12, 2024

November 29, 2024 (playback)

— AND COMING SOON! —

CAMP TWO: SYNCHRONIZATION (Spring 2025)

February 4, 2025

February 11, 2025

18 February, 2025

4 March, 2023

CAMP THREE: MUSIC BUSINESS (Fall 2025)

12 August, 2025

19 August, 2025

26 August, 2025

2 September, 2025

BENEFITS, LANGUAGES, LOCATION, AND COST

For three bootcamps in 2024-25, songwriters, musicians, and artists from the US and Russia will come together, thanks to a collaborative program between UCLA, PSV and SongwriterCamps in Los Angeles. Each of the three camps consists of 24 Russian participants. Together with award-winning mentors, participants will learn the fundamentals of songwriting for the LA market, working to real-world briefs from television, cinema, advertising, and the synch industries.

BENEFITS

• learn vital skills from industry experts and award-winning mentors

• apply proven songwriting techniques from career professionals in California to real-world projects

• build new songwriting networks with successful music industry professionals

• get real-time feedback on the composition process.

LANGUAGES / LOCATION

Although a simultaneous translation will be offered throughout, it is expected that participants have a working knowledge of English. The geographic location of participants is unimportant.

COST

The PSV bootcamps are always free. This initiative was created by a US citizen in 2007 and has always been humanitarian and educational in nature. It has no political agenda.

ORGANIZERS

DAVID MACFADYEN

Professor of Musicology, Music Business, and Comparative Literature at UCLA. Author of multiple books on the history – and future – of Russian popular music. For more information, see here.

PAM SHEYNE

Multi-platinum selling songwriter, producer, singer and mentor. Over fifty million records sold; Ivor Novello Award.

Pam is best known for co-writing the #1 Billboard hit "Genie In a Bottle" for Christina Aguilera. Her songs have been covered by a number of international artists including; Camila Cabello, Demi Lovato, Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Simpson, Corrine Bailey Rae, Seal, Sinead O’Connor, The Backstreet Boys, Cece Winans and The Saturdays.

As for film and television, Pam has written end titles for The Princess Diaries, Confessions of A Teenage Drama Queen and the Golden Globe nominated film, Young Victoria. Her songs have featured in TV films Camp Rock 1 & 2, Jump In and numerous shows on the small screen. Pam appeared as songwriting mentor in the first series of Fame Academy (BBC). 

RICHARD HARRIS

Richard is a #1 Billboard songwriter, producer, artist and mentor for Meghan Trainor, among other performers. Multiple number one, top ten and platinum records.

Hundreds of film, television, and advertising song placements . His hit shows on TV include Empire, Nashville, Vanderpump Rules, The Bold Type, High Fidelity. Big-screen credits include This Means War and Single Moms Club, simultaneous with commercials for HBO, AT&T, eBay and Vivo. Multiple advertisements/trailers for Fox TV and NFL.

INITIAL SPEAKERS

new names added each week

WALLY GAGEL

Wally Gagel is an award-winning record producer, audio engineer, mixer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. He, together with Xandy Barry, also constitutes the production team WAX LTD. In 2019 that project embarked on a joint venture with Universal Music to form Audio Wax, releasing hundreds of songs for film, television and advertising.

His credits include Family of the Year, Zella Day, Elliphant, Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish, New Order, Muse, Rolling Stones, Jessica Simpson, Best Coast, Nick Lachey, Blondfire, Redlight King, Rihanna, Eels, Meiko, Lenka, Folk Implosion, Juliana Hatfield, Belly, Buffalo Tom, Superchunk, Larkin Poe, Robert DeLong, Old 97’s, Jukebox the Ghost, and Joshua Radin. Within the context of the iTunes Sessions he has also collaborated with Bon Iver, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Gorillaz, The Gaslight Anthem, Lykke Li, Vampire Weekend, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, PJ Harvey, Metric, The Decemberists, Norah Jones and more.

SHELLY PEIKEN

Grammy-nominated songwriter Shelly Peiken has been a prolific force in the music business for more than two decades. She is best known for co-authoring female empowerment anthems such as Christina Aguilera’s No. 1 hit, “What a Girl Wants” and Meredith Brooks’ “Bitch.” Over and above such success, Shelly has written for and with The Pretenders, Miley Cyrus, Keith Urban, Britney Spears, Brandy, Cher, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Mandy Moore, Plain White Ts, Smash Mouth, Jesse J, Natasha Bedingfield, Bebe Rexha, Reba, NSYNC, Backstreet Boys. 

Her songs have been featured in films and television shows such as Big Little Lies, Dave, Orange Is the New Black, Orphan Black, High Potential, The Blind Side, Madam Webb, Music of the Heart, Center Stage, What Women Want, Dear God, Blue Streak, Bring It On, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, The Princess Diaries, A Walk to Remember, What a Girl Wants, Lizzie McGuire, Bourne Identity, and Disney’s Descendants.

Her memoir Confessions of a Serial Songwriter earned a second Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word Album. Shelly was voted Best Singer Songwriter by Hollywood Music and Media in 2021, honored at the 2023 She Rocks Awards, and featured at London’s Other Songs Concert. As a founding member of SONA (Songwriters of North America) she has long been an advocate for creators.

Amy Kuney (aka AMES)

Ames was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but spent her most formative years in San Pedro Sula, Honduras living as a ‘missionary kid’ with her siblings and parents. While being raised in a fundamentalist Christian home, she came to the early realization that she was queer. “…The ‘dissonance’ between my identity and my environment has strongly influenced my music throughout my career.”

Ames began performing at four years old, competing in classical piano competitions around the state of Oklahoma. She also began singing in church, taking part in various praise and worship groups while accompanying herself on guitar. In 2004 Ames moved to Los Angeles and began her solo career as a singer-songwriter, performing shows around the country and opening for such artists as The Veronicas, Andy Grammar, and Gavin Rossdale.

After signing with Kobalt Music Publishing in 2015, Ames began co-writing with other artists like Kelly Clarkson, Rita Ora, Kali Uchis, AKON, Jason Mraz, and Chappell Roan. She’s worked alongside Grammy-Award-winning producers such as FINNEAS, Dan Nigro, and Patrick Carney of the Black Keys. Along with Molly Kate Kestner and Nick Ruth, Ames had cuts on Kelly Clarkson’s “Meaning of Life”, which was nominated for a Grammy in 2018.

Ames’ performances and songs can be heard in a multitude of TV/film placements including The Blacklist, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, One Tree Hill, Gilmore Girls, The Equalizer, and Warrior Nun. She has also secured commercial campaigns with Samsung, Kleenex, Macy’s, ESPN, and Pringles.

As well as lecturing at the Herb Alpert School of Music, Ames also teaches songwriting at the Berklee Summer Sessions at the Colburn School of Music DTLA.

JONATHAN BEARD

Jonathan Beard is an Emmy-award-winning composer, orchestrator, and arranger who creates music for media and the concert stage. Composition works include his electroacoustic opera Cesare, Child of Night; the electroacoustic Ritual suite; the video-sound installation De tu puño y letra in collaboration with artist Suzanne Lacy; and numerous film and TV projects. He has served on the composing teams for video games such as Star Wars Battlefront I and II, and guest-composed for ABC’s Once Upon a Time.

For the stage, Jonathan co-composed the oratorio The Passion of Anne Frank for the Los Angeles Master Chorale as part of their Voices Within residency, and his original theatre-score for Driving Miss Daisy received an NAACP Theatre Award nomination.

One of the most sought-after orchestrators in Los Angeles, Jonathan has collaborated with other composers on more than 100 film, TV, and game titles, including Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, NOPE, Us, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Mandalorian, and God of War.  He is the co-founder of Tutti Music Partners, a boutique orchestration firm that specializes in providing the highest-quality support to other composers throughout the industry.