First of all, 2008 fawmers were 29.7% female and 70.3% male. By comparison, we were around 25% female in 2007, and roughly 20% during 2005-06, which means FAWM is gradually becoming less of a sausage fest each year. Also, the average age was 31 years (median was 29), up from about 28 last year, so we’re getting a little older. In spite of this, however, teenagers (fawmers aged 15-18) were actually one of the fastest growing demographics, increasing 393.8% since last year!

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This year, I thought some of you might be interested in the numbers, too. So for the next few weeks, I plan to blog about some of the interesting findings. This week’s focus is on general trends regarding website traffic…

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Will Strangle Disco continue to be of interest in FAWM 2008? Who knows, but we thought we’d post a primer here for any new and confused fawmers by way of explanation. (The whole thing can seem a bit strange and inaccessible… and we try to avoid being too insular.)

First, the time line above summarizes how things unfolded last year. Second, the hallmark of Strangle Disco music is the fusion of classical samples (Beethoven preferred) with disco/dance/hip-hop beats. And finally, wordplay often features prominently in any lyrics (particularly anagrams and palindromes). Thematically, songs hover around sinister lyrics and references to Beethoven, bass guitars, and (naturally) discotheques.

To learn more, visit myspace.com/strangledisco to listen to a few of last year’s compositions, or strangledisco.com/history for an archive of the collaborative “mythology” (i.e., tongue-in-cheek history) that was begun. In addition, fawmer Jenna wrote an article that details three sub-genres: Experimental Strangle Disco, Post Strangle Disco, and Post-Apocalyptic Strangle Disco. (A work of true scholarship.)

To download individual tracks or complete albums, follow the album-cover links below or launch iTunes and search for “FAWM.”

Happy downloading, and we’ll see you soon over at FAWM.ORG!!

I did the NaNo thing back in 2003, and don’t regret it at all. (You might, if you actually read my “novel” from the event, but I don’t!) It was a great experience and, after all, it inspired me to start the FAWM challenge. Be well, my creative ones…

During this challenge, songwriters attempt to write 50 songs between July 4th and October 1st of the year. According the 50 Songs in 90 Days MySpace page, the original version of the challenge “was inspired by the experience of professional label songwriters functioning under time pressures. Standard Nashville traditions of the American song formed the basis of rules about song structures for the challenge.”

The challenge transformed into its current incarnation in June of 2005, by broadening its definition of a song entry, adopting its current name and moving to its current home on the Yahoo Groups website.

Throughout the 90 days of the challenge participants post messages to the central message boards including lyrics, notes, comments, and links to finished recordings as well as providing feedback on completed songs and encouragement to the other participants. There are currently 70 registered members of the group.

Three FAWMERS made it to the finish line with 50+ songs each: Larry W. Jones, Tim Wille-Jørgensen, and Scott Martin, with many other FAWMERS also cranking out a respectable number of tunes.

We asked a few of the participants a few questions to give us an idea of how this uber-challenge compares to FAWM and how the entire experience played out.

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“14 SONGS IN 28 DAYS” (VOL. 3) TRACK LIST:
01. Isaac Quatorze - (Super) Super Horrocious
02. Andy Dwyer - Aquamarine
03. Roger, Roll - Into the Pavement with Light
04. Phil Norman - Your Love is On My Mind
05. Nancy Rost - Golden Gate
06. Charlie Cheney & Sean Michael Dargan - Crystal Clear Channel
07. Clear Blue Betty - Through the Walls
08. Axl - Ha Ha Happy Birthday
09. Pine Box Orchestra - Answers Come
10. Hoopshank - Westbourne Avenue
11. Mary Choate - Black Oolong
12. Fireball - Bring On The Spring
13. Kerry Goulder & Becca Palm - The Moon Escapes Tonight
14. Resonance - I’m Going Home

CD BONUS TRACK:
15. Beethoven’s Howlingly Melodious New Bass Guitar ‘N Strangle Disco (Megamix)

ONLINE BONUS TRACKS:
15. Eric Agner - Falling
16. Old Lost John - On My Side of the River
17. Dave Schindele - Nicole
18. Nigel Norman O’Shea - King Finian
19. Margaret Bonnell - Little White Lies
20. Robert Myers - Emerald Drone
21. Scott McBride - Hotel Room

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Now that we have this blog, it seems like an appropriate (and manageable) outlet for such info. So we’ll kick off this series of posts with a couple of cartograms (maps distorted to reflect a property other than landmass) from FAWM 2007:

First, we have a world map with each country scaled relative to the number of songs posted by its residents. The thin gray countries had no recorded activity, and the larger active countries are color-coded by continent. We also included a list of the top web-browser language settings for the traffic we got during February this year (scaled logarithmically, so “English” should really be even bigger, but you get the idea).

Since we had more detailed location data for American fawmers, we made up another cartogram showing where in the USA our songs came from. States are color-coded by region (Pacific, Midwest, Northeast, etc.), and we also listed the top 10 US cities by total song output. What’s particularly amazing is that the prolific areas aren’t all clustered together. In fact, the major “FAWM hubs” appear to be fairly evenly spread out, which is neat, considering most people learn about FAWM by word-of-mouth.

It will be interesting to see if/how these maps change for FAWM 2008 and beyond. In the meantime, keep your eyes on the blog for more fun stuff and statistics!