National Academy of Songwriters was a

music industry The music industry are individuals and organizations that earn money by Songwriter, writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music and sheet music, presenting live music, concerts, ...

association that provided a support network for songwriters, and awarded honors in various categories. Originally founded by Helen King as Songwriters Resources and Services, she saw a need to provide an inexpensive copyright service, as well as educational services for aspiring writers in Los Angeles and around the US. After King died, her staff kept the organization going for almost two decades. Key staff members included Gelsa Paladino, Doug Thiele, Billy James, Bruce Kaplan, Pat and Pete Luboff, Kevin Odegard, Mark Spier, Gordon Pagoda, Paul Zollo, Steve Schalchlin, Dan Kirkpatrick, Madeleine Smith, Sunny Hilden, Dan Kimple, Rik Lawrence and Kevin McCarley. Hundreds of songwriters came through to learn the craft and business of songwriting and get advice on how to market their songs. The organization also lobbied for better copyright protection, and published the magazine ''SongTalk'', a newsprint publication with original interviews of hit songwriters. In December 1985, the National Academy of Songwriters began their annual "Salute To The American Songwriter" concerts which over the years featured performances by artists such as

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Willie Dixon William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he ...

, Atlantic Starr,

Stephen Stills Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Crosby, Stills & Nash; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and Manassas (band ...

Michael Bolton Michael Bolotin (born February 26, 1953), known professionally as Michael Bolton, is an American singer and songwriter. Bolton performed in the hard rock and heavy metal music genres from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, both on his early solo a ...

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, Stephen Bishop,

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Kim Carnes Kim Carnes (; born July 20, 1945) is an American singer and songwriter born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles. A veteran writer of many of her own hits, as well as those for numerous other artists, she began her career in 1966 as ...

, Michael McDonald, and many others. Also performing over the years at the "Salute To The American Songwriter" concerts were songwriting legends such as

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller Leiber and Stoller were an American songwriting and record production duo, consisting of lyricist Jerome Leiber (; April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933). As well as many R&B and pop hits, they wr ...

Barry Mann Barry Mann (born Barry Imberman; February 9, 1939) is an American songwriter and musician, and was part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil. He has written or co-written 53 hits in the UK and 98 in the US. Early ...

Jimmy Webb Jimmy Layne Webb (born August 15, 1946) is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He achieved success at an early age, winning the Grammy Award for Song of the Year at the age of 21. During his career, he established himself as one of Am ...

Jay Livingston Jay Livingston (born Jacob Harold Levison; March 28, 1915 – October 17, 2001) was an American composer best known as half of a composing-songwriting duo with Ray Evans, with whom he specialized in composing film scores and original soundtrack ...

and

Ray Evans Raymond Bernard Evans (February 4, 1915 – February 15, 2007) was an American songwriter best known for being a half of a composing-songwriting duo with Jay Livingston, specializing himself in writing lyrics for film songs. On music Livingston ...

, Robert B. Sherman, Richard Sherman, John Bettis,

Diane Warren Diane Eve Warren (born September 7, 1956) is an American songwriter. She has won an Academy Honorary Award, Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards and three consecutive ''Billboard'' Music Awards for Songwriter of the Year from 19 ...

, and many others. In 1988, the National Academy of Songwriters teamed with VH-1 for the "Fourth Annual Salute To The American Songwriter" which was televised on VH-1 and Showtime in 1989. In 1996, the Los Angeles Songwriters Showcase (LASS) joined the NAS, and later, the NAS merged into the Songwriters Guild of America.The National Academy of Songwriters and the Songwriters Guild of America Join Forces!
Songwriters.org archived article. Another organization that was inspired by the goals of the LASS and came into existence in late 1998 in the vacuum that was created when LASS disappeared was the Los Angeles Songwriters Network (SongNet).

References

Music organizations based in the United States {{music-org-stub