Songs of My Life… Just the Beginning

2013-September-2

tags: Blue Beach Song Collection, copyrighting songs, original compositions, original songs, Publishing Songs, Songs by Martie Hevia, Songs of My Life

By Martie Hevia | Blue Beach Song™

CD/MP3 Cover Art for Blue Beach Song Collection: ONE | Songs of My Life by Martie Hevia

Well, I did it. It took a few years, but I did it.

In 2010, looking at the hundreds of songs I had written over my life, I set out a goal to copyright and publish my songs, lest they all die with me unheard. After all, if a tree falls in the forest and there is no one around to hear it… well, you know the rest.

Because of the work and the cost involved, I decided to copyright and publish my songs in batches. The first batch included 70 songs which I submitted to the Library of Congress’ Copyright Office, with filled out forms, typed out lyrics, properly formatted recordings, and a check.

Then I began the process of grouping these 70 songs into albums of 10 songs each. Creating the CD artwork, submitting them to Amazon for sale and to SoundCloud for free listening. I also created a music blog, Blue Beach Song Music, where I could put the entire collection of songs with lyrics, CD artwork, music players, and the occasional blog post about a song’s backstory.

And now, I am proud to say, I have completed the first seven albums of my “Blue Beach Song Collection | Songs of My Life” series. So far, this series is comprised of those first 70 raw recordings of the songs I copyrighted back in 2010, but there are many more songs to copyright and publish.

Blue Beach Song Collection: THREE - CD/MP3 Front Cover Art

The songs are raw, as I note in each of the CD covers, not just because of the emotions, but because the recordings are simple, acoustic, one-takes, occasionally layered with my background vocals. And, as you will hear, there is a lot I have yet to learn about sound recording or sound engineering, or singing, for that matter. (I am a work in progress.)

These one-take recordings of the songs I write is something I usually do to avoid writing out long sheet music. It helps me to remember the melody and some other musical ideas I may have, including background vocals. However, over the years, as I recorded them, it was never with the intention that I would publish them for the world to hear, in fact, sometimes I didn’t even bother to tune my guitar. But as I mentioned, I decided to publish what I had. I didn’t want to die with my songs buried in some drawer. So, they are out there now – the good, the bad, and the ugly ones.

If you would like to listen to my songs, you can listen for free on a website called SoundCloud, an online community of music and sound artists from around the world, where I have been posting all of my songs and albums. Better yet, go to my music blog, where you can also listen for free, using the embedded SoundCloud players, as you read my lyrics, peruse the album CD artwork, or watch the mini-music videos. (But, if you are so moved, the songs and albums are available on Amazon.)

Songs of My Life Albums 1-7 on SoundCloud:

Although I have reached one of my goals, I have written many more songs than the 70 you will find in these seven albums. So, now I begin the process of compiling the next batch of songs that I will need to copyright before I can publish them. That means the next new album you hear from me will be one or two years into the future… and then there are all those songs I will be writing in between!

But in the meantime, if you get a chance to listen, I hope you enjoy this first group of ‘Songs of My Life.’

♫♥ Life journeys inspire lyrics, melody and raw emotion becoming original songs recorded in simple, acoustic, one-takes, written for voice and guitar in an Indie-Pop-Rock-Folk style. -Martie Hevia ♥♫
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