Gregory Kollins

Ah, Lord Almighty, just forget it.

Enlightening.

That's absolutely fantastic. I should have thought of that a long time ago.

I find that most musicians are good at honestly assessing their own work .

Yep, I try real hard to be a modest fellow.

I think you may have missed the current nature of independent music. If anyone cares enough about your music to steal it than you've already done something awesome. Some people work for years making great stuff and can't even get anyone to steal it, let alone listen all the way through on myspace. If someone stole your song that would be sweet, that is an achievement.

 

Also I think Jeff Tweedy might tell you that it doesn't matter what JT says about your songs. You shouldn't worry about what he would say, think of what Gregory Kollins has to say about your songs. That is how JT got good at being him. This is the fundamental task presented to every artist: figure out what you do well, and what interests you, then try and do it better.

Ha well, it would be an achievement... I suppose...

And it's not that I need to know what Jeff Tweedy thinks about my music... I just kinda want him to listen to it.

And as for automatic copyright, it wouldn't quite be an open-shut case for me to prove ownership. I have not registered the song with the U.S. Copyright Office. I self recorded and produced it (I promise it wasn't on a dictaphone though), so there would be no record of recording it in a studio, no engineer-witness. I guess I could call witnesses from our shows... and I suppose it could be proved that it is our voices on the recording. But that's a hairy mess that I don't feel like getting into, the whole court case thing.

Well, the only way for your song to get heard is for it to, you know... be heard!

 

Don't worry so much about it being stolen(although I hear it is quite spectacular), just put it out there and see what happens.

 

After all, if the whole world's singing your song, what was yours is everyone's from now on.

Haha, true, true. Good advice. And to be clear - what I mean by STOLEN is, someone else taking the song and claiming it as something they wrote, NOT people downloading it and burning it on CD's for their friends and putting it on their Ipods and listening to it on the way to work. I would kiss people's feet for doing that. I (really me plus a collaborator, so I'm going to start saying "us") don't have a name yet, no other work to back up our claim to ownership, so... We're cautious until we get things copyrighted.

I think you're simultaneously stepping on the toes of a few dozen very accomplished musicians on this board and overstating the draw of your music. No harm meant by that statement, but consider yourself in a room full of people with the lights off - don't go talking up your outfit until you know what everyone else is wearing. Again, no offense meant, but the board is filled with a number of professional musicians.

I meant to emphasize that I am not... a crazed fan who wants to send their latest diddly to their idol. I have SOME personal investment in it. I apologize sincerely if I offended anybody with that statement.

But in any case, thanks for all of your help, and I may be back to post the music once it's a bit more protected.

I'm actually not quite sure whether or not to take that last post ("Why don't you just call him...") seriously, based on the thread thus far...

I don't really want to post my song for anyone to stream or download, because this isn't just some two-bit crap recorded on a a dictaphone, it isn't copyrighted, and it could be stolen. I appreciate the suggestion though, and I'm sure there are plenty of people on here who could give me good production tips. This is just one of those things though. I thought, "Hey, I want Jeff Tweedy to hear this..." and decided to try and follow through with it.

I think I may have a way, now. I know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody... approximately, and I don't think any of them would have a problem just passing on a CD. Or, maybe I'll just send a disc once it's all produced and nicely packaged.

It would be humorous if Jeff Tweedy stalked this forum though. I would, if people talked this way about me...

...

... Jeff? Is that you?

I want Jeff Tweedy to listen to this song of mine. He's been in the game for forever and two-thirds, and my stuff could probably use some work (though it is pretty spectacular). So partially I want him to spend 2 minutes and 15 seconds listening because I want his advice as I'm sure he has a very acute feel for what should go where. I also just want him to listen to it. Can any of you point me in the right direction for contacting him?