To the Symphony!

 

After two longs years, we made it back to Benaroya Hall to hear the symphony in all its live, right there, glory. There's something about the experience of live music that transcends all other attempts at its replication. 

It just doesn't.

I've been around long enough to have listened to music, of many genres, in any number of delivery systems, from the single ear pieces that came with transistor radios, the kind we'd surreptitiously hide in our pockets—both for the racy music of that time, and because other activities thrust upon us like school and church were boring and having an earpiece, even if it was a cheap one, made us feel like a spy or secret agent—to lots of high-end stereo systems... and everything in between, from boomboxes to Walkmans of every variety (I wore out at least 5 over the years.)

But none of that compares to being right there. Not only hearing the music, but being a part of its creation; its performance. Real people playing real instruments in real time. There's the quiet, the light, the surges, the bombast, the nuance; the great talent and ability to play Rachmaninov, in this instance Garrick Ohlsson, playing the piece from memory. He followed that with an encore, played to perfection, yet with the ease as if he were at the family piano—assuming yours is a concert grand.

The main work was from Sebelius, as well as a new work, commissioned by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, from Ellen Reid, titled, Today and Today and Today and Today and Today and Today and Today and Today and Today and today; her ode to the joys of pandemic living. 

And it was wonderful.

Even the ride down of the lightrail train, brimming with riders and the sounds of life, added to the experience. It was good to be out, masks and all.

©2022 David William Pearce

The End is Only the Beginning...

 

Here we are at the end of our journey!

Well, sorta... almost. There are a few things left to do... assuming you want to.

This is the last I'll harp on the subject, and it's at this point where if you're serious, or just interested, you move into the realm of copyright and representation, so far as your establishment as a composer, writer, owner of salable materials, etc. It's here you encounter entities such as the copyright office, PROs (Performance Rights Organizations) such as ASCAP/BMI, which collect payments when your music is used publicly, and  SoundExchange, which collects digital performance royalties. There are also sync licenses, which are required if you want your music used in movies, TV, commercials, and games

Copyright

This is registering your songs with the government, allowing you the means of seeking redress in the courts if the need should arise. With most people it won't because the only time courts get involved is when big money is involved, otherwise it's not worth the cost of lawyers and the rest. I registered my works because I wanted there to be a permanent record of my songs. That way if someone wanted to hear them down the road, there'd be a place to find them.

ASCAP, BMI, SoundExchange

These organizations are tasked with making sure you get paid for your songs if you put them out into the public market and they are performed. ASCAP and BMI are for songwriters/composers whose works are used, SoundExchange is the collection of royalties from digital works, and who collects is based on who owns the rights to those songs and performances. If it's just you, it's not too complicated. Remember, I said not too...

Metadata

Metadata is all the information about the songs, from who wrote it, who owns it (this comes up when labels are involved), who performed on the recording and played what, who produced the recording, where it was recorded, how long it is, along with obvious things like title, performer name, date recorded, etc. This is incredibly important of you have visions of hearing it as a sync. It's also very important in dealing with PROs and SoundExchange. And don't think that just because whoever you distribute with helps out that everything gets out correctly. I've spent many delightful days cleaning up errors with my accounts. I have spreadsheets for all that which I highly recommend you have as well. That's life.

But wait, There's More!

Last, but not least, is how much time, energy, and most importantly, money you going to spent to let the world know about your great new release. There's a whole wide world out there ready, willing, and able to help you with this... for a small fee. I'll leave that to you. Just be careful about your expectations and ROI (return on investment).

That's some of it—there's always more. Hopefully, this helps a little.

©2022 David William Pearce

Let It Be

 The first Beatles album I bought, was a copy of Let it Be from the cut bin of a long gone record store in the Arvada Plaza in 1972. It was not my start with the Beatles; like most of us present at that time, I heard their music on the radio from I Want to Hold Your Hand on. In the years that followed, I bought most of their albums and listened to them at length. I'm certainly not unique in that aspect. I've watched their movies and TV appearances with one exception: Let it Be, which, by the time I wanted to watch it, had been given the kibosh by McCartney, who hated it.

Now there's Get Back, Peter Jackson's re-edit and enhancement of the Let it Be film.

Like most fans, I found it very interesting, though for reasons that might surprise. 

If you've read the many missives on the show, you'll note how many people were surprised that the Beatles got along. It has been taken as gospel that by then they were at each others throats and it's why they broke up. Mostly, though, other than when George left for a short time, they seem to be on good terms. And it's apparent they had a very good time playing together. But the gloom is there for anyone looking; it's just parsed out by the better time they had working through the songs. For those fans and Beatleheads cheered by the affability shown, it's proof of...

The fact that, reduced to four guys who grew up together playing music, it's a way to see them for how they were when just the music was on the table. Everywhere else, when they were "THE BEATLES," it's obvious how heavy it wore on them. The whole Let it Be project was a way for them to get back to their roots, before they skyrocketed to fame, before everything became bigger and more important and significant.

The irony, for those looking, is how hard that had become, and why they inevitably broke up. They broke up because being "THE BEATLES" was unsustainable. If you pay attention, all the big issues within the group come up: Who should manage? Should they play live, do concerts, or are then just an album band? And if just an album band, should it be like it was when they were fab, something Let it Be tried to recreate, or like the White Album, where everyone works on this and that, playing on their track, but not necessarily together?

It also answers the one big question everyone who harbored a hope they'd get back together had: Just think of all the great music they could have made? Within the show, you hear them playing snippets of songs that later turned up on their solo records, which means that we've heard all the songs that might have been on a Beatles record. Maybe not exactly as we heard them, but then again if you listen closely to Abbey Road, their last actual album, you hear all of the subsequent song stylings that turn up on their solo records. There's nothing we would have missed.

The ugly truth is the music business is hard. Watch any documentary on successful bands, and that always emerges. To project upon them the idea that should always be the 20yo mop-tops from Liverpool is fantasy.  As Lennon himself said: "The Beatles were what the Beatles were... The Beatles gave everything they've got to give and more, and it exists on record. There's no need for the Beatles—for what people think are the Beatles (emphasis mine)—the four guys that used to be that group can never be that group again... "

This isn't to say I didn't enjoy the show; I enjoyed every minute of it. It showed their talent, their work ethic, their knowledge of music, and their legacy as a cover band learning the ropes and using it to inform their music later on. It showed their joy at making music together. 

As a note to that, I highly recommend listening to Let it Be... Naked, Paul's realization of what the album was meant to be. It's the five of them, Billy Preston being the fifth, playing together, straight up. No Phil Spector ornamentation. Like all of their work, it's a very good album. And having watched Get Back, it rings true from first note to the last. 

*Musician Magazine 3

©2022 David William Pearce

Now in the End...Part 1

 The hard work is done, I say with some satisfaction. Only took 3 years. 

As the last 4 posts have covered, I got the songs written, and recorded, and put in an order that I think makes them work well with one another; a nice flow from beginning to end. And isn't that what we all want?

The bigger questions come next, the biggest being: are you going to release the songs for distribution? This is different that passing out thumb drives, or sending out audio files to friends and relatives. This is creating artwork, having physical copies made, if desired, and finding a distributor.

We're now in the business end of things.

Artwork

Gotta have artwork. Just do. It can be a simple photo with a title across it. It can be a full-fledged work of art, something you create or have created by an artist. And it must be large enough, by pixel, to meet the requirements of many of the places you may choose to put it out for you, otherwise it'll look terrible. 

Physical copies

This can be CDs, good ol' vinyl records, labelled thumb drives. The companies that make them will need artwork of commensurate quality, they'll decline it if it doesn't meet their requirements, and hi-res audio files: FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, and DSD. No mp3s. You'll need these for copyright, as well. Vinyl has its own issues with required mastering and wait times given the upswing in interest. You'll also need to make sure your songs will fit. Welcome to the good old days.

Distribution

You'll need this if you want your music on Spotify, Tidal, Deezer, Apple Music Amazon, YouTube, etc. Companies like Distrokid, CD Baby, Tunecore, Ditto, Record Union, and many more. I went with CD Baby basically for simplicity and that they have a one time charge and cover nearly all of the streaming services. But that's just me. Yes, they take a cut.

Head hurt yet?

Don't worry, there's more. We'll look at fun things like ASCAP/BMI and Sound Exchange and copyright and Bandcamp in our next exciting installment.

©2022 David William Pearce