From Ken Finton on Fb: I have major problems trying to decide what to do with my poems, songs, and stories. Surely. I am not alone, as I have many artist friends on Facebook and personal life that have this problem as well. Fact is, life is short and gets damned short when you get to be 80. My family has little to nothing to do with the vast accumulations I have created, nor would I expect them to have any attachment like I do. Generally, art is made for the time and disappears with the passing of the eras in which they were created. The poems are an easy fix, just make books. However, the songs are problematic. One must pay monthly to even store them on the Internet. YouTube is an exception, but they have to be videos that take a lot of work to produce. The songs need to be adequately recorded to make videos. I am working on that, but it is quite time-consuming. I would love to hear from others about these problems. In the meantime, I sit hard at work in Colorado.
Linda Arnold-Wolfard: Donate to a music club.. Got to be some up and coming talented players that could use it.
KF: I am contemplating a mass release into the public domain so there is no confusion about who owns what. Easier said than done.
Katherine Davidson: Just keep creating.
KF: I have to do that. Even when glutted with music, I have the urge to create more. Perhaps it is a disease. | KD: It’s not a disease, it’s called art, and art is a creative process. Carry on!
Jackie Pitzer: If the music is in print form it can also be bound into a journal along with maybe a short story of how you came to compose each one. Anyway , not original but just a suggestion
KF: I have done some of that as well. It is a very good idea. Not every song qualifies for such treatment though. One example is: https://kennethharperfinton.me/2020/08/11/words-2/
KF: Albums seem to be the preferred way to store music, even though the public at this time just likes single songs. I already have four published albums, but they are not in one place. The most complete place is a site called SOUNDCLICK where I have at least three albums for the Fintons. Apple Music has two. Soundcloud is just singles and playlists for the musical.
JC Mosquito: I deleted most of my stuff on sclick and some on scloud as well. I figure if anyone is interested in it, they can always contact me somehow. I’m sometimes of the opinion my writing days are over anyway. The internet is such a visual medium – straight audio doesn’t get much attention.
KF: Yes, that is why I am developing an easy way to use YouTube. Writing for performance and pop is a young person’s game. The more permanent venues are classic, blues, bluegrass, folk, opera, and musicals.
KF: The reason I say songwriting is a young people’s medium is that the popular subjects are topical and timely. Few songwriters are highly productive after age 40 unless they are in a specialty field.
Gene Burnett: I’ve been making really simple videos and posting all my recorded stuff on youtube for a long time…but youtube isn’t forever either. Eventually, if there is no activity on your channel, I assume they delete it at some point…unless you leave your channel to someone in your will. Same with CD Baby accounts. I agonized about this for some time…well, maybe agonized is a strong word…maybe…but then finally, I just fuck it and let it go. I think of my songs like sand castles…I put some shape to some piles of random sand and maybe they helped a few people out but there’s nothing I can do about the tide…So I stopped trying to preserve anything and just started focusing on the stuff I love: writing, singing, recording, and sharing what I come up with…you know…making sand castles. And I tell ya, making sand castles is a lot more fun that trying to save them from the tide. ;~)
KF: making sand castles is a lot more fun that trying to save them from the tide.
KF: So far, the channel has been pretty active. You are right though. Nothing is forever. However, Google owns youtube and wants to archive everything. Apple also wants to host all music ever written.
Larry Hufford: Ken, check with university libraries in Colorado. Public History is a growing field and there are libraries that will archive family histories for future historical research. Yours would be a treasure.
Barb Dye: When you find the answer, let all of us know.
https://www.facebook.com/ken.finton.1
COMBO Member Ken Finton Has a Problem That a Lot of Us Have …
