A very talented quartet of young accapella singers, known as Windborn, have recorded a song in which they sing about the money they earn if a listener plays one of their songs on Spotify. The amount is .4 cents per play. Wow. What happened to value for value? These folks are trying to make a living through their art. And they are excellent. They have also recorded CDs and sell them, but they really have no choice but to comply with the realities of the current music industry. And I have no choice but to realize that I never can spell the word “accapalla”. Whatever iteration I try, I always get a red “EH, YOU DID THIS WRONG” underline, so I’ve given up. Lack of stamina and particularity, I suppose. But I digress.
Luckily for me, I have never tried to make a living from music. It’s a lifelong passion and delight, which I have always approached in an erratic manner. My profession has been psychotherapy. But the joy of writing songs, singing mine and other folks musical creations has never waned. I’m working currently on my 6th CD, even though hardly anyone plays CDs any more. Yet there is something satisfying about holding a tangible finished product in one’s hand. It feels real. Different from clicking a key and having music emerge from the ether through a mechanical device. After waiting a very long time to get old, I have earned my right to be old fashioned.
It’s been a very long time since I have opened this blog, and later on I will take a look at it and see what I do and don’t like about it. In the meantime, I’ll see if I can figure out how to post a song on it. It’s springtime here in Boulder, Colorado, right next to the Rocky Mountains. Gorgeous! Changeable. One day warm and summery, another day a throwback to winter. We have had snow in June before. Maybe this year we will get lucky, and the ride will be a smooth entrance to more flowers, greenery and lightweight clothing. Last year I got sick of the cold outside, and wrote a song called “Springtime”. I even made a video to go with it. Here it is!
Susan Rose: Singing Grandma 