john

It comes down to how you want people to find your post... and that also depends on context, including if it is something you are actively, purposefully promoting (though as an artist there is a case for making almost everything you post in this category. As an artist, your song title is often your main hook, and therefore the element you want listeners to take from hearing it so they can go searching and find you and your music.... so having a tag that would be "Crabs In The Kitchen", with a hashtag of #crabsinthekitchen. However you may have a general tag you use with all your stuff such as "Songs by Ray Fry" or "Ray Fry Sings". You may find it beneficial to have more than one hashtag too, like #songsbyrayfry. On on a general music forum you may also want a tag that tells the listener about genre like "Singer / Songwriter" "Acoustic Pop" "Unplugged". in addition on a forum like Songstuff, on the critique boards, you may also want to indicate the kind of feedback you want on the critique boards "words and music", "recording and production" etc. on Songstuff only the first 3 or 4 key phrases will display unless the reader expands the keywords to see them all. Note that is key phrases not key words. Key phrases being collections of keywords separated by commas... often key phrases are still simply referred to as keywords, so you would have: crabs in the kitchen, Ray fry, pop, acoustic, new release. As say say your key words for an announcement of a release. Within the post body, try and use those phrases too, but it isn't essential. Also in the post body, use your hashtag... #crabsinthekitchen #rayfrymusic and maybe your twitter name @rayfry for example (though on our forums that would link to a forums member called ray fry, so if you want to embed the link to your twitter use the add link button when typing, and add both link and displayed text... to avoid confusion.

A remix counts as an adaptation as an arrangement of the original. The original words and melody are intact (which is in essence the song), though it may have structurally changed, and certainly will have changed in terms of instrumentation, harmony and perhaps additional melodies. As such it is likely to be classed a derivative work, in copyright terms. Permission should be obtained from 2pac's publisher. Often people will only do this for commercial releases, but it should be done for all such works. Licensing it would likely be tied to commercial release terms, however publishers vary differently as to how they view non-commercial releases. They may approve it for release on non-commercial terms but limited to certain platforms... such as YouTube, if they have an agreement with YouTube for advertisement revenue. This means that if you start earning through advertising, the advertising for that song would go to them (in essence) or a portion of it. They may say it cannot be released at all. I should say I am not a copyright expert or lawyer

Tags are like key words, but significantly different.... traditional key key words on the internet were set by the page / site coder, and eventually by content authors where platforms allowed them to do so. In forums, contributors could not set keywords. In such environments keywords tended to be set on a site wide, or at least application wide basis. The same is true for many blog applications, especially if you do not own the blog site, like tumblr or the WordPress site. What Mike says regarding search engines is accurate. Keywords are still used. They are included in search and ranking algorithms but they are subject to abuse and used as part of search engine spamming techniques. This is why sites like Tumblr and WordPress did not open up keywords to blog authors, unless they ran WordPress on their own domain and server (no sense in tainting their own domain and server) The most appreciable difference between tags and key words are that tags are publicly visible, key words are not. For this reason, tags have become part of the navigation sites, often via the concept of a "tag cloud". The concept is simple. When someone arrives at a site, a view of the tag cloud is displayed on the site. This is a randomly spaced collection of tags, where the size, boldness, and sometimes the font are varied according to tag popularity. The bigger and bolder, the more popular the tag. For example if tag1 is used 20 times, and tag2 40 times, in the tag cloud tag2 will be a larger font and bolder font. Tag clouds are also clickable, generally taking you to a list of posts using that tag, often ordered by date or popularity. Tags also allow you to see what a topic is about without going and reading the whole topic. When Songstuff is busier this could be very useful. Tags are also related to, but not the same as hashtags... though for convenience and uniformity it can be wise to include a hashtag as a tag. Hashtags are are publicly displayed within topics. On many platforms they are clickable and will display a recent posts or popular posts list of entries displaying that hashtag. Importantly, hashtags have no spaces, for example #ilovesongwriting Hashtags are popular with microblog platforms like twitter. When writing a forum post it is a good idea to include tags. If you choose a hashtag too, remember to include it within the body of your post, and encourage people to use it if they tweet about your post... it is quite suited to promo purposes. One important aspect of hashtags and tags is their ability to visibly display trends. That can be very useful if you are trying to be on trend, topical and measure the success of your posts, to take part in trending topics and leverage off that popularity. Artists, celebrities and businesses, even politicians use them in this way. To associate what they are talking or singing about with an event (good or bad), and is especially used in cause based promotion. So for example, if you are releasing a song where you are donating money to Help For Heroes, then including the hashtag #helpforheroes in your posts and tweets is a good idea, especially near the beginning. Including the tag "help for heroes" would also be suggested. I don't think tags and hashtags are just for promo. Far from it. They are for improved awareness, and most topic writers, blogger, poster, wants better awareness of their content, so that those interested In a topic will take part. I hope this helps. Cheers John

Hi and welcome to Songstuff!

Hey Ray It's good to ask the difficult questions, especially when there is no absolutely right answer. If popularity is any measure of greatness, there are ball park answers based on sales, radio requests, play list entries etc. at least in terms of what songs or artists are great. When it comes down to tying down why a song is great we can survey opinion, but that tends to be relatively broad strokes. Most listeners find it hard to tie down exactly why they like something. "I love the words" tells you something, but not a hell of a lot. "It has an infectuous beat". "I can't get the melody out of my head". Same issue. There after we have to make educated guesses based upon our experience... and that's where it gets really interesting. At least for me. The notion of not using our knowledge in that way is a falsehood. We can try not to, but that is as false a situation as kidding ourselves and other people on that we do things purely for ourselves as songwriters. Importantly, what makes a song great changes. It is a shifting target. We do know at least two essential components: It has to have words It has to have a melody You may also have a different opinion as a listener depending on situation. Some songs are great to cry to, while others are great to to dance to. Some work for both. The longevity of greatness is also a feature. Some hits can have instant appeal but they are ultimately despised, while others are slow burners, not achieving the accolade of greatness until long after release. A long lasting popularity tends to be more desireable for songwriters, however that balance shifts if you are looking for a breakthrough single. I think what we can do is at least suggest what aspects of a song give it a better chance of achieving greatness, and what aspects would detract from that greatness. What would work in one scenario and not in another.... just as long as we qualify why a song is great (in our opinion). There willl be common answers. Cheers John

I could do with an upgrade at some point, but current licensing isn't cheap.

lol food for thought corners for having a sneaky chew?

Hi Just to highlight some of the Songstuff music memes... Collected together in our Pinterest Music Memes board https://www.pinterest.com/songstuff/music-memes/ Cheers John

I guess you could describe a forum like that at a similar level of abstraction. There are are a number of boards covering a number of topics that may or may not be of interest to Songstuff members. There are loads of normal photos, interesting guitars, awesome recording studios, uncommon photos of stars. There are also info graphics on music theory, singing techniques, recording and production, and there are our own music memes. Pinterest can be used to store images, and to promote sites, products and brands. Each image we upload, such as our memes, link back to Songstuff. The same would be true of a pinned image from one of our articles, the image linking back to the article. So for Songstuff I have tried to make it interesting and informative, perhaps in some cases offering ideas. For people who like visual content it is pretty good as a browser. Some people almost treat them like visual blogs. Others are almost like collectors.

I updated the link to the www account url. If I access it in the uk it automatically changes the url to uk.pinterest instead of www.pinterest. I hope you can find it based on that url... it doesn't give me an option, I am auto routed to the uk site

Hi Gang Any Pinterest users? Follow the Songstuff boards on Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/songstuff/pins/ Cheers John

Hey Lucas, welcome to Songstuff

Hi and welcome to Songstuff Good to meet you. I'm looking forward to hearing your music and finding out how you go about making it, what tools you use etc. Cheers!

Hey Static, welcome to Songstuff

Hey Hamzi, welcome to Songstuff

lol Linda... and thank you very much for answering. Welcome to Songstuff

Hey Jay, welcome to Songstuff

As it happens, I struggle with both anxiety and depression... which is very strange for someone who is naturally optimistic, positive, and upbeat. It comes in waves and tides, occasionally floods, though sometimes it is just a puddle on a sunny day. I am also a carer for someone with bipolar type 2 and anxiety, and have been for 25 years. Music, and specifically song writing has long been my therapy, my vent, my friend. I don't tend to express my depressive side much, in conversation or in song, although I have written about depression a couple of times. I tried at least to make the songs thought provoking rather than a personal gripe. Song writing is therapeutic because it allows me to transport myself, to shift my world perspective, to think about something other than my problems. That is why it is invaluable. I deliberately chose not to exercise my own demons in song because I do not want to be defined by an illness, any more than I want to be defined by problems with my back. They are part of me, but only part. I manage both using mindfulness meditation, something I first encounter 15 years ago as a method to cope with chronic pain. I soon applied it to anxiety and later depression. Songwriters are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety. Yet it need not be their biggest influence. Yes, they do write about sadness a lot, but that is at least partly due to listeners. Listeners use music as therapy. They use it to help them through hard times. While they do use music to enjoy themselves, music their requirement from upbeat music is simpler. The themes if upbeat songs more readily feel cheesy, over used, more one-dimensional... Sad songs allow for the exploration of a wider range of emotions, much more nuance. As such it. Is easier to write a sad song that feels pertinent, poignant and original. Even when the topic is well explored, if the emotion of the song is honest, authentic, unflinching.... it connects. Song writing is largely about connection. Writers and listeners want to connect. They both want to feel understood. They want to feel connected even when isolated. They don't want to be alone. Listeners, particularly, want to find songs that express how they feel, what they want. They want songs to challenge them, and songs that represent them. Even when immersed in great sadness, they want to find hope. Often that hope is the knowledge of connection. I think that is why so many songs are sad or about sadness. To write in a way that connects people, writers need to be insightful, to be thoughtful. Experience teaches us that being thoughtful, you are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety. More likely to dwell on and wrestle with emotion. It serves us well when writing about. I don't see myself as sad. It is part of me, not all of me. Rob mentioned empathetic song writing. Empathy is certainly an important aspect of song writing. Willingly or not, we are the world's therapists, not just our own.

Perhaps a mix between feeling what others feel and how I imagine I would feel if the same thing happened to me, sometimes building on personal similar experiences, othertimes just asking myself what if, as an immersive experience. A depth of emotion rarely comes from passing thought. It is a complex and heady mix of emotional reactions to events and consequences. So it can take a quite a bit of thought as well as reactions.

Hey Theoren/Author, Welcome to Songstuff! Grats on attaining your BOFA. Nice one What school did you go to? What's next for Author?

Hi and welcome to Songstuff

Very quickly on up front analysis... should I write that song or not? Analysis. On delivering bad news. "how should I say it? Just blurt it out?" Calls for analysis. Sometimes blurting just happens. Other time I think most people at least give a passing thought to how or where or when... if they can. "Come through here, sit yourself down...." intones that you gave some thought to the consequences of what you were about to say. It does not mean you are thinking "Hold on I have some lyrics coming through" lol

Some of my songs are just from my imagination, some are inspired by news, some are inspired by friends or acquaintances. Many are about my own experiences or Karen's. Is that unusual? I don't know about you, but I have no problems with being honest in conversation. I can differentiate between writing a song, singing a song and talking. When I had to tell several friends about the death of another I did not do so through song. What do you think I would do with very bad news? Write a song about it? Breach a confidence? Because, on the odd occasions that I write about someone other than myself, I am inspired by events or characters? My job as a writer is not simply to report on the world. I use my imagination. Something happens in my world, or on the news, and it makes me ask what if? Often several what ifs. Including, what if this happened to me? I don't wander around looking for tragedy to write about. Maybe it is different for ballad writers. When you write, are you inspired by events and people? My fiction by omission example is not how I work. That is a thought experiment on how I imagine some others write about real life. I would not be comfortable with that. That was why I said "You could..." If someone wants to tell their story, they can write about it. Nonetheless I can be inspired by others, people and events. Aren't others? It takes me down a line of thought. Nothing new in that. Songs about me I tend to write completely truthfully, but usually at a level of abstraction that makes it easier for others to put themselves in the story. Hardly earth shattering. I have known others who do write about others with loads of details. I just wouldn't do that. Perhaps if they said go for it, but then I am unlikely to say "Oh your dog's dead, I feel a song coming on. Do you mind?" Lol Other than that I don't really see why you seem to be mixing writing a song with giving someone bad news.