Community

Join Us!

Are you a songwriter? You are invited to join our project!

Your assignment

  1. Learn more about racism in folk and popular music.
    Our Resources page has several articles that may help.

  2. Identify a song for which to write an alternative.
    Choose a song from our Song Lists or one from your own research or personal experience.

  3. Analyze the song and write a new inclusive alternative.
    Our Songwriting Process describes how to create new music that is in the spirit of this project. Please make sure that your new song is appropriate for all audiences.

  4. Make a video of you performing your song.
    Simple, low-production, home-made videos are encouraged. No need to make this a big, expensive project; but it is important that your audio and video are as good as possible within the constraints you are working with. Please use horizontal/landscape mode.

  5. Make a short, simple “interview style” video of the background info of your song.
    The videos on our home page are good examples of what we are asking you to do. You can use prompts like these:

    • Why did you choose the song that inspired your song? Personal reflections of your relationship with the song are encouraged.

    • What characteristics of the old song did you use for your new song (e.g., meter, tempo, structure, lyrical themes, function, etc)?

    • Is your new song personal in any way?

    • How do you hope your new song will be used?

  6. Post your videos on Youtube and send us your video URLs.
    If you can’t post your song, please contact us to arrange for us to post on our Youtube channel. If your song is in the spirit of this project, we may add it to our New Songs page.

  7. Thank you for participating!

POC Outreach Grant

Thanks to the generosity of Nine Athens Music, we are very pleased to announce the availability of four $250 grants to artists who are People of Color to write a new song for the Know Better Do Better Project. If you would like to apply for one of these grants, then please thoroughly familiarize yourself with the assignment on this page. Then contact us to discuss. We have already awarded 3 grants. There is one left.