Friday 22 April 2016

OVER BUT MAYBE NOT

A complete list of the tracks (sung and spoken word) which have been released over the past 7 years is being prepared Its main usefulness may be as an example of how not to do it

The first tracks were released on CDBaby That site has continued to be used but only sparingly Its usefulness was overtaken by Bandcamp followed by Reverbnation - and of those two Bandcamp has been the easiest to use

In checking over of what is out there the tracks on CDBaby at http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/SheilaKCameron look particularly messy Those on Bandcamp at https://sheilakcameron.bandcamp.com/ are marginally better presented 

The platform provided by Reverbnation at https://www.reverbnation.com/sheilakcameron is of a different kind And although I have rarely used it solely as a means of releasing a track it does carry 33 items and a few links to lyric videos 

Another early alternative platform for trying out material was Jango, now called Radio Airplay, and at the present time my so called fan base on there stands at over 1700 But whilst it has been useful, as with many such sites, there is a sense that the owner's interest is more about earning money than assisting the song writer

The above mentioned sites have now all been searched for everything and anything that might be out there 

The main observation so far is that I was remiss in not keeping a record as the 'releasing' process was unfolding Also numerous tracks were put out as singles when I should have waited (sometimes for only a few days) until they were ready to be part of an EP or a full album  As usual there is an explanation for this rather haphazard approach And it is simply that I chose to do what I felt enthused to do at the time I felt enthused 


The image chosen for this post belongs with my first ever attempt to put together a selection of songs with the intention of making it available to 'others' It was on a cassette tape and below is a section of the cover My memory does not serve me well and I have no idea what songs were included but I think the title is as apt today as it was then


A main purpose then in compiling the lists is (again) a desire to draw some sort of line under the sorting process. But it is a line that could perhaps best be described as smudged Because, as the title of this post suggests, there never seems to be a complete over and done with

It reminds me of one of those walks up the fells in the Lake District as a child, with parents insisting that the climb ahead is the last one - to discover, on reaching the top of that hill, that another has appeared

As to what else the lists might achieve: my hope is that having a detailed record of what tracks are out there will also provide a clearer idea of what is still around that might be worthy of further attention And included would be some of the tracks which have been tossed into view as possible candidates for re recording

Once the lists are completed the remaining issue will be whether or not to make them available - and if so where - and in what format 


NB Had it not been for the assistance of Isabel Whyte, who had in her possession a detailed record of most of the tracks, it is unlikely that compiling a comprehensive list would ever have been achieved