Thursday Links and "It's Odds and Ends" And Something Completely Different!
A Huge "Thank You" To Mr. Marc Carrasco For Including My Song In His Newsletter "Reflect And Relax Cafe" - Go Follow Him For Great Music!!
Shameless Self Promotion Section:
My song “Long Road Back” (click on link for streaming options) is out.
Looking Ahead: I’ll be writing more about the song, it’s inception, writing it, the pretty simple chord progressions, the recording process with the guitarist and drummer, and finally mastering it in a studio and releasing it in my Regular Friday Posts over the next few weeks. Last week’s “What It Is, What It Was, Part 1”, is the first in the series:
(Ed. Also for new subscribers: Mika The Cat welcomes and thanks you all in tomorrow’s post!)
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Michael Acoustic
Today’s John Prine quote:
“I’m fascinated by America…it’s so odd.”
Some Links for today:
I like this premise, but I’m not sure an entire album of previously released titles, redone as unplugged, acoustic versions is the right approach. I think the idea is based on the concept that drove the MTV Unplugged series, and I get that. My approach would be to take one (maybe two…) song on an album that is going to highlight the difference in an interesting manner and include it as an “unplugged” track, FWIW.
Can you copyright a “traditional” song (think “99 Bottles Of Beer” or “Auld Land Syne”)? Yes and no. Lyrics to “traditional” songs can’t be copyrighted because they have passed into the “Public Domain” - sort of a cultural “commons”, usually because an existing copyright expired, or never really existed in the first place. However, a unique “arrangement” of the song can be copyrighted - either by actually arranging the song in a new and unique manner, or, as some have done, adding lyrics of their own, in which case that “arrangement” can be copyrighted.
"Traditional" Songs And Copyright
I am hesitant to include links to “forums” or “question/answer” types of websites, mostly because I find the declarations of self described “experts” to be little more than thinly veiled attempts to start argumentative debates rather than actually backing up claims with reference material. Your mileage may vary. There was some interesting stuff in this, FWIW.
While I may take some issue with the first “thing” (of course I’m cool enough, these guys just don’t seem to know it yet…), this really is good advice:
A couple from Disc Makers:
Promote Your Songs After Release - All good stuff. Can you do all of it? Probably some, but I think the best approach is to pick the few that seem immediately doable or most effectively doable, and add more incrementally until you reach your perceived “point of diminishing returns” depending on genre, goals, future plans, etc that may come sooner or later. My advice: Promote until you reach the point where it’s more stressful than interesting, fun or helpful - your mileage will definitely vary. I get others may say do it past the point of being annoying to others, and money can smooth over a lot, but that may not be an effective long term strategy…just sayin’.
How To Make An Album Cover - Pretty good stuff. One thing to keep in mind is the rules for copyright and trademark are vastly different. Trademarking a logo requires much more original material, though that may not as strictly apply to fonts.
Trademarks - Have fun!
Ed. Yes, you seriously need to read this next article whether you’re a musician, singer/songwriter, or otherwise creative person of any type or genre:
Some memes and stuff:
You can open each image in the gallery separately in a new window by shift-clicking on it, though it may work differently on different devices - they may appear as a gallery or top to bottom.
It’s Odds And Ends!
Today’s underrated or obscure artist:
Kayleigh Goldsworthy
“By early 2020, Kayleigh Goldsworthy had finally figured out who she was. The long-time hired-gun musician from Syracuse and based in south Philadelphia, who had spent a decade backing up the likes of Dave Hause, Bayside, Frank Iero, and others, was ready to commit fully to a solo career of her own work. The day after New Year's Day 2020, Goldsworthy started recording her second solo LP, seven years after her debut Burrower, with Will Yip at Studio 4 outside Philly.
Then everything changed. The job and life Goldsworthy had pursued since her teen years was ripped away: tours, shows, studio time, even band practices and writing sessions, all gone. Along with those went away a hard-won sense of self. All those things that had given Goldsworthy the confidence and push to believe in herself and her work disappeared.
"I had figured out who I was," says Goldsworthy, "then this whole thing happened, and I had to figure out who I was again."
These are the conditions that created Learning To Be Happy, a story of undoing and becoming that begins at what Goldsworthy thought was the end: that assuredness and strength of January 2020. This story unspools over a thrilling, winding saga of scrappy, arena-ready pop rock, charged pop punk, and acoustics-and-piano balladry. The LP's 10 tracks are often heavy and sometimes dark, but always relentlessly confident and hopeful, threaded through with the sort of bruised optimism that rewards all those who do the difficult work of wrestling with what it means to be happy.
"Learning to be happy is a process of learning how to be yourself," says Goldsworthy.”
Credit: IMDb Link: Kayleigh Goldsworthy
(Ed. This is such a fun song to play! 3 chords, key of Bb, but capo on 3 just as Ms. Goldsworthy is above and you’re playing the G,C,D cowboy chords and having a blast singing it! Or leave the capo off and just play/sing it in GMaj….)
Cheers, and keep playing!
Michael Acoustic
“It’s never really final - you just run out of things you can bear to change…”