$75,000 dollars for a song

Is this where the song came from? If so how did $500 become $75,000? Sounds like someone has crossed wires.

http://www.30asongwritersfestival.com/visitsouthwaltonsongcontest


[h=2]Visit South Walton Song Contest[/h]This is the 30A Songwriters Festival first-ever Visit South Walton Song Contest.
Submissions will be accepted through Sonic Bids in the categories of Americana, Folk, Singer/Songwriter, Adult Contemporary and Country. The review panel is made up of 30 A Songwriters Festival staff and Visit South Walton staff. A critique will not be provided. Songs MUST be representative of the South Walton brand. Read below for some South Walton inspiration. For terms and conditions and to submit a song, go to www.sonicbids.com/30asongwritersfestivalsongcontest.
The winner(s) will receive the following:

• Headlining performance at the Festival Kick-off party
• Additional performance opportunities throughout Festival Accommodations in South Walton for up to five nights $500
• Inclusion in the 2012 30A Songwriters Festival compilation CD
• $500.00

Here is some great inspiration for your song! Things Visitors to South Walton are saying...
Picture perfect / Your beach / Sugar white sand / Turquoise waters / Quiet / Unique neighborhoods / Family places and family stories / Laughter / Memorable - a place for lasting memories / Strand of beaches / Windswept dunes / You Only Live Once - the home of YOLO boarding / Precious environment - from wooded uplands to coastal dune lakes / Traditions - annual - places you come back to year after year / Generations / Relaxing vacation at any age / A blast every time we're there / Only in South Walton / Never want to leave / If you can't be happy in South Walton, you can't be happy. / Only place where you can totally relax and let the world go / The only place we ever visit / A little slice of heaven / Relaxed look on my husband's face is worth a million words to me / Charming, family-friendly villages / Beauty on the coast - no other beaches compare / Feels like you've stepped back in time / We already found Heaven. / Our favorite home away from home / It's a place where we live, laugh and love

Visit South Walton's Brand Story
Everyone needs to have their own beach. Sounds simple enough.
Start with the purest white quartz sand filtered down from the Appalachians eons ago and washed westward along the blue-green Gulf of Mexico.
Form it into wave-like dunes topped with sea grasses.
Frame the dunes with pines, spreading broad swathes of green against the perfect blue of the sky.
Scoop out freshwater lakes to reflect all that blue. And back it all with huge inland estuary teeming with all forms of life.
People have been drawn to theis restorative beauty ever since they've been drawn to the South. The culture that has grown up here from residents and visitors alike has ever been peaceful, respectful of the natural uniqueness and well spiced with the flavors of Southern and Gulf Coast character. The result is a necklace of individual beach neighborhoods, each with its distinct emothional hue, its own cultural traditions and feel, its own visual style. All linked not only to each other, but also to the bountiful natural gifts they are committed to preserve and perpetuate. This is our promise: somewhere along this strand, you will find your perfect place, your partner's beach ideal, your family's epitome of what the word beach was meant to be. That's South Walton.
Find your perfect beach.

I owned and operated a talent agency for several years in PCB- booking several thousands of bands up and down the strip and, in my opinion, if these rumors prove to be true- the TDC and Walton County just got ripped off and scammed- BIG TIME, based upon the thread of this post.

First, if the songwriter DID indeed received $75,000 for the song itself (which is quite a record price to recieve for a demo-unless the songwriter is Willie Nelson or someone that has a lifetime of guaranteed hits), it would have been published in the industry papers, as this really is quite an enormous price to risk with JUST a localized song, that barely stands a chance of going national in and of itself.

Second, productuction costs brought the entire bill to how much? $200K? That means someone spent nearly $175 in production and post-production costs? Jeez! Who the hell is producing this- Barry Gordy? Who is singing- Bono? The math does not add up.

Third, and lastly... I've heard the basics of this song and it ain't gonna hit in my opinion unless someone greases a lot a palms...

Some one is definitely pulling the wool over someone's eyes...

A waste of money

Here is the invoice !
And this is the agreement

View attachment MOU Visit South Walton Song _1_.pdf

What is a master license fee and a synch license fee?

The NO Times-Picayune has an article today about some of the crazy stuff TDCs have done with their BP money, and questions whether these "record" crowds will hold up without the promos/advertising:

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2011/12/bp_money_buys_sports_towels_ch.html

Could be worse - PCB spent a million bucks on Christmas decorations.

Lyrics are not always supposed to make sense. It's art - the feel and the tune are what really counts. Although I think South Walton might should have been mentioned a few more times. I like the tune but when I first heard it.

I can't help but think there are a lot of talented local musicians that could have done a fine job.

The expenditure of $75,000 for this is truly amazing by itself but the most amazing part of this is HOW it ever got approved ,who approved it and who had no input into the project.

It appears that neither the TDC advisory board or the BCC approved the project prior to the start but were only "informed" after the fact. If the TDC advisory board was unaware and the BCC was unaware then who's grand idea was it?

The paper trail appears to lead to LKM ( marketing company) as the originator of the concept and the TDC director as the individual that approved the project and approved the song.

Why do we have a TDC advisory board?

Here is the invoice !
And this is the agreement

View attachment 26167


View attachment 26166

I did not think about this too much until this post exposed the large sum of money spent... This is really sad.

Its like the difference between Justin Beiber showing up at your kids birthday party just because he was driving by and you having to pay him $$$ to create the illusion...

I (and I feel most others) were under the impression the Ms. Hoffs (Bangles) did this because she enjoyed the area and it was like any other song about a place, spontaneous and purposeful.

Unfortunately, now we see the truth that once again the TDC has wasted money, just because they can. Since we are in the market to pay singers to write songs about the area, I have an idea.

Who would be the best artist/musician to pay large gobs of money for writing a song about the "Chat Holley Land Deal".:idontno:

"You call me Chat, but my name's really Chad"

"Follow the money honey"

"See paradise, put up a parking lot"

Anyone have some other ideas? Let's get a good title and lyrics and we'll ask TDC to contact some other musicians, I'm thinking Willie Nelson or Guns & Roses.

Let's get Dawn on board right away.

That last bit makes perfect sense to me: middle-aged woman finds her husband in bed with his secretary, gets mad and decides to go hit the beach and spend a whole bunch of money shopping while thinking of what to do next. She meets up with the large local cougar population, goes bar hopping for a while, and decides to open up a small retail shop over by Grayton Beach with her chunk of the divorce settlement ....

Someone tipped me to this little tidbit of information.

It appears that the individual (Russell Carter) that represented the songwriter in this project serves on the Walton County Cultural Arts Association Board of Directors. It appears that Mr. Carter represented the interests of MS. Hoff and is the same individual that received the overnighted $75,000 payment from LKM. The agreement was signed Byron Mr. Carter, and Dawn Moliterno.

What role did LKM play in this project? Was the MOA approved by the TDC attorney? What was the CAA role in the project.

Someone tipped me to this little tidbit of information.

It appears that the individual (Russell Carter) that represented the songwriter in this project serves on the Walton County Cultural Arts Association Board of Directors. It appears that Mr. Carter represented the interests of MS. Huff and is the same individual that received the overnighted $75,000 payment from LKM. The agreement was signed by Mr. Carter, and Dawn Moliterno.

What role did LKM play in this project? Was the MOA approved by the TDC attorney? What was the CAA role in the project.

I think you meant Ms. Hoffs (huff?).

Either way this story and the other issues in this county all point to one simple solution = Election 2012. Vote all those in office out, replace with those with ethics and integrity. Oversight here is simply non-existent.

Who is supposed to serve on the TDC committee referenced in past posts? How does one get on this?

Cost Of Project per LKM.

A cut and paste from document obtained by Public Record Request

I have no words for this one. :banging:

We need to shut down the TDC, repeal the bed tax.

Back when I lived on Okaloosa Island, some folks actually managed to get the repeal of the TDC on the ballot because they were very angry about how the convention center was being shoved down everyone's throat despite some very shaky financial projections about its use. The repeal failed, and it's probably good that it did, but it was close enough that it did seem to make that TDC more responsive to local concerns for a good long time.

Well said!:thanks:

Back when I lived on Okaloosa Island, some folks actually managed to get the repeal of the TDC on the ballot because they were very angry about how the convention center was being shoved down everyone's throat despite some very shaky financial projections about its use. The repeal failed, and it's probably good that it did, but it was close enough that it did seem to make that TDC more responsive to local concerns for a good long time.

Ok, so who knows how to start this process? I'm in to assist, just don't have the political in's...

We need to shut down the TDC, repeal the bed tax.

Indeed!!!