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jeffstunes's Homepage http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:51 EDT Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:51 EDT Zorpia.com My quest for musicians http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1823263 I made a decision to seek out some local musicians to help me out with my album project.The biggest issue I have with my songwriting is on the music side. I think that I pen good songs, and that has been confirmed by many musicians and industry pro's.I'm very happy with my lyric writing, and the general melodies. The problem comes when I try to get the song out of my head into musical form. Because I only play basic guitar, I cannot seem to add the expression I want from the musical instruments. Like I do with the vocals. I'm sure that I will in time, but I really want to get this album out before the end of this year.I was talking to a mate of mine who goes to occasional karaoke, and I found out that he was in a band. He asked me several times to come with him to an open mic night. So I did on wednesday.I ended up getting up and doing 2 numbers, with the help of a guitarist.I have to say that it was a very enjoyable evening. The venue had shades of the cavern club (of beatles fame). It was underground, and all arches. The acoustics were fantastic because the long arches acted like funnels for the sound.Before I left, A few of the musicians came up to me and asked me to come back and perform again. So I said I would learn one of their songs if they would learn one for me. We were all in agreement. So it looks like I'll be doing it again soon.This experience sparked an idea. I could visit a number of open mic nights and get chatting with some of the musicians. Then find out if they are interested in helping me develop my album. I will run up CD of a number of my original songs for them to check out. If they like what they hear, then we will talk :)I'll keep my blog updated about this. I came across 2 potentials on wednesday, though nothing is for certain until they are recording with me.What's been going on with the Youtube figures. Youtoube are constantly overhauling their interface, and I've just discovered that they have taken away the total video views. So I had to add up all the individual video viewing figures myself. Here's the lowdown:My subscribers are up to 746.The channel viewings have climbed to 17,049.After a long counting process. I can tell you that my total viewing figures are 262,877.You can visit my Youtube channel at the following link:<a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/jeffstunes">Jeffstunes Youtube channel</a>Right. I've got to go and learn "Afternoons and coffee spoons" for the next open mic night :) Music http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1823263 Fri, 25 Jul 2008 11:39 EDT I do Viva la vida http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1821266 I chose to do a different song, but remain with the same band. Coldplay. After I had put up "Violet hill", I got a large number of requests to try "Viva la vida". There were too many to to pass it off. So I deided to record that one next. It's the second song of theirs that I've done from their latest album, which goes by the same name.some consider that it's not very professional to cover songs with backing tracks, but I always find a use in everything I attempt in music. One of the things I want to get really good at is production. It's great to record all the musical parts perfectly, but if the mix doesn't sound right, then all your efforts are for very little.One of the aspects I've been concentrating on is vocal production, and I've been trying to match that of the original song. I think it's made a big difference in the result, and it's teaching me how to produce my own voice in relation to the different types of music.I've used a vocal boost on this one. Plus I'v added a measure of moderate plate reverb in the verses. Chorus and a heavier plate reverb in the chorus.This is the result. Viva la vida.<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/E4nJ3xd3F-M&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed allowNetWorking="internal" AllowScriptAccess="sameDomain" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/E4nJ3xd3F-M&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Now for some up to date figures from my Youtube account.Subs have come and gone, but yesterday I awoke to the pleasant sight of 6 new subscribers. That puts the figure at 727.Channel viewings are currently 16,529.The overall video viewings have made it! They've gone past the quarter million views. All of this within a year of putting up my first Youtube video. At the last check, the number stood at 254,512.Hopefully I can now go back and do that old Coldplay album track :) Music http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1821266 Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:00 EDT My attempt at Violet hill http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1820362 Now for some cover versions. This one is quite a recent tune, and is called "Violet hill". It's taken from the latest Coldplay album entitled "Viva la vida".I've got a number of Coldplay songs lined up to do, and this is the first out of that selection. It was extremely hard to get the falsetto on this song, so I dropped the music by a semitone. I still struggled to reach the highest note, but did get there in the end.It's been quite noisy in the skies above my village over the past weekend. I live quite near to a place called Goodwood. They hold a number of annual events and one of them is called "The festival of speed". So whilst it was in progress, I took a few pictures of the aircraft from my rear garden. I have added those to the vid. All I will say is that one aircraft in particular got extremely close, and it wasn't the smallest flying object in the world!!!Check out my cover of this brilliant song, and see my snaps:<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/F3DSL3xSbu8&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed allowNetWorking="internal" AllowScriptAccess="sameDomain" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/F3DSL3xSbu8&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>The Youtube stats are still moving well.I now have 721 subscribers in total.My channel viewings are now up to 16,254.The overall video views are so close now. 249,532. Barring disasters, it will pass the quarter of a million tomorrow :)My next one will probably be another Coldplay song. There's a track on one of their albums that I've always wanted to sing :) Music http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1820362 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:19 EDT This one is Winner http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1819681 This is the 3rd of my old original songs choices. This is a song called "Winner". The words can be interpreted in different ways, but the meaning I attach to it is for mistaken friends who need support.This song was also co-written with Mick Paul. I finish off with details about what mick is up to now in his music career.If you saw the video in my last post, you will no doubt have discovered that Mick played bass on a hit single for David Hasselhoff in the UK. I don't think there's many individuals who don't know who the Hoff is. He's been in smash hit shows such as "Knight rider", "Baywatch" and "America's got talent".Here is "Winner":<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/D7OiIXojcKE&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed allowNetWorking="internal" AllowScriptAccess="sameDomain" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/D7OiIXojcKE&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Mick is quite busy doing the touring thing at the moment, with an outfit named "The David Cross band". David Cross was once part of a band called "King Crimson". They had quite a big following. If you come from Italy, you might have heard of David Cross. He's quite popular there, and hence the reason why Mick does most of his touring there.Now for some youtube statistics news.My subscribers have seen a really good jump in the last few days. Racing past the 700 barrier to 717.The channel views have rolled along to 16,017. Another barrier broken.Last but by no means least. The total video views. They are 246,003. I hoped that they might possibly get to the quarter of a million by the 17th July. Which is the 1st year anniversary of my the first vid I uploaded on Youtube. It's looking like it's going to get there on the 15th!!I'd like to get a few Coldplay covers done for my next videos, and I'll hopefully be bringing some more news on the progress of my upcoming album release.I've set up a mailing list for first hand news about progress on the album. I will only be using the email addresses for that purpose. It's so I can inform interested parties about events regarding the album, before I post the info anywhere else.If anyone is interested in signing up for it then you can do just that if you go to the homepage on my website. Here's the URL:<a href="http://www.jeffsmusic.co.uk">Jeffs music</a>Until the next post :) Music http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1819681 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:38 EDT I've seen it all before http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1818098 This is the second of three songs written by Mick Paul and I several years ago, that I have selected to upload. Ths one shows off Mick's Bass skills a bit. I just wanted acoustic guitar and Bass in this, and I think it worked quite well. The vocals drift off key in a couple of places. This song, and most of the others were only written hours before they were recorded, so I'm not really surprised at the mistakes.The song is about a very dark subject, though I'm not going to tell you here. You'll have to watch the vid to find out. I reveal the meaning at the end. It puts a whole new angle on the lyrics.Getting back to Mick. Here's some information on this very talented guy:Played on 2 singles in 1970.He joined "The Hotshots" in 1973. They got to number 4 in the british chart with one of their releases.Joined "Union express" in 1974 and toured Europe for 2 years.From 1978, did session work for the BBC and various publishers.Did a stint as an in-house bass player at Abbeydale studios in West London.He co-wrote the Labour Party campaign song in 1987.Joined "More tea vicar in 1990.Wrote and played on a single called "Aquarius" for Yello records, which was produced by Tyrrell.He played bass on the "David Hasselhoff" single "If we could only say goodbye" (Yes. It's The Hoff).and there is more..I'll give a web link to his recording studio in West Worthing, southern England:<a href="http://www.froosound.com">Froosound Recording Studio</a>This is the guy doing all the music in this song. The previous song, and the next song.The title of this song is "Losing my mind". I hope you like it, and the Bass playing :)<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1DH650dhKfY&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed allowNetWorking="internal" AllowScriptAccess="sameDomain" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1DH650dhKfY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Now here is the latest youtube account stats.A rise in my subs to 692.The Channel views are 15,540.The total video views are now at 237,970. Still on schedule to reach a quarter of a million by the 17th. Rising at roughly a thousand views a day.Next up is the third and final upload of my three old original songs.I'm still beavering away on my album. I had a song in my head, as I was waking up yesterday. A strange way to discover a song, but I thought it was very good. I'm going to put the track together to see what it sounds like in real life, and if it's good enough, it can go on the album. Music http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1818098 Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:05 EDT Me and Mick Paul http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1817606 I'm going to go back in time a little with three selected songs I wrote when I first started to record music seriously.A few years ago I wrote and recorded 9 songs in about a teo week period with a very talented guy called "Mick Paul".Mick is a fantastic bass player and has done a lot in his career to date. He owns his own recording studio, and that is where all of those 9 songs were recorded.I've picked 3 of those songs to upload to youtube, and this is the first of them.This one is called "Amber falls". It's a pretty dark song. I wonder if you can work out what the song is about, before the video tells you near the end.Check out the video here:<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6wMdf9cUVAo&hl=en"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed allowNetWorking="internal" AllowScriptAccess="sameDomain" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6wMdf9cUVAo&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>I have put some snippets of info about Mick in this first video, and I will be adding more to the following 2 videos. There may be a name or two that some music lovers might recognise.I put a warning in the video description of this song, because the song contains what is known as "Speaker busters". Extremely deep high volume bass notes, that can cause damage to a bass speaker when it's turned up full. I just thought I'd let you know that. :)Now for some youtube food.I only need another 10 subs to get to 700. So the current figure is 690.The channel viewings have increased to 15,424.The overall video views are up to 235,621. The way things are going, I might hit the quarter million by the first year anniversary of my first video upload.Coming next is the second of these three old original songs. Music http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1817606 Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:00 EDT On an internet TV channel http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1816175 It's been a really hectic week. I've done a little work on my own website, so that I can prepare it for the album release. I've updated some of the info. Added some links. I've also put an email registration on my home page, so that people can register for updates on the progress of my album.I pointed out that the email address will only be used for album updates, and will not be given to anyone else. I've also put that same registration on another website.So now I can confidently share my web address. I've been running it for a few years already, but I haven't done much with it up to now :)So here it is. My own website:<a href="http://www.jeffsmusic.co.uk">Jeffs music</a>You will find a player on there that has a number of songs that I've written over the past 4 years. I could have removed them, because the recording quality is not very good on some, and the vocals are less than perfect on a number of them. However, I want them to stay there for a while to show how everything started. Including all the mistakes and flaws.Now this next bit is very interesting. I was contacted by a friend on Youtube, who had started up a live internet TV channel, and he asked if he could feature my tracks on his shows. I agreed, of course. He informed that when the first show aired, it received over 1,000 viewers in the first 3 hours!!!Here is a link to his live channel:<a href="http://www.mogulus.com/musicforyou">Music for you - Live channel</a>This guy needs some more original music videos for his channel, so if you write your own stuff, and would like it broadcast on a live internet television channel, then visit the link I've provided above and contact him via the email address that is shown on the channel. It could provide you with some essential exposure, just like it has for me :)Finally I'll finish up with the Youtube figures.I gained 2 subscribers, but then I lost 2 :( So it's still 681.The channel viewings have increased though. They are 15,146.Another increase of a few thousand on my total video views. The are now 229,501. Music http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1816175 Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:52 EDT A cover version of my song http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1815634 There has been another cover version done of one of my own songs. This time it's "Broadcast fantasy".It was performed by "PetesBehr" on Youtube. His recording of this song is a bit like an unplugged version.He has done a cover version of one of my songs before.I think that this differs quite a bit from the original song, but I quite like what he's done with it. It's interpreted in a completely different way, and that is something I really like hear people having a go at with music. Especially when it comes to my music. Engraving their own signature on it.First of all, here is the original version:<a href="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tiqQAr3Vk8A">Broadcast Fantasy - Jeffstunes</a>So now you know how the original goes. This is his cover of my song:<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/v3wxeI2IZjc&hl=en"></param><embed allowNetWorking="internal" AllowScriptAccess="sameDomain" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/v3wxeI2IZjc&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>It feels good when other people like your songs enough to want to record their own versions. It makes me feel like I'm doing something right :)Now, it's the Youtube update:I have now got 681 subscribers. Only another 19 to go to get to 700.The channel views are moving along very nicely, and have now reached 15,037.The total viewings for all of my videos are 227,028. Only another 23k to the quarter of a million, and it's moving at about a thousand a day at the moment.I have been doing a bit of work on my personal website over the last week. I thought that if I'm going to release an album, I might as well bring my site up to date. So I'm changing the info on there. I'll be giving out the URL when It's done, for anyone interested :) Music http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1815634 Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:06 EDT Me singing No surprises http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1815083 I decided to take a few days out from making my album, and I got around to recording one of the songs that was requested quite a while ago. It's one I've always wanted to do because on the surface it seems such a simple song, but it has so much room for expression. That song is "No surprises" by "Radiohead".The video I made for it was pretty simple. I'm just sitting in and out of a shadow, through the entire song. The video to the original is just the singers head, nit what looks like a space helmet to me, filling up with some water. There's no water in my video though :)Instead, I decided to think about different events in my life while singing, so that there would be subtle changes in expression.This is the final outcome:<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/U0-W5Z3xC5w&hl=en"></param><embed allowNetWorking="internal" AllowScriptAccess="sameDomain" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/U0-W5Z3xC5w&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>As per normal. Here is the latest news on my Youtube account statistics.677 subscribers.14,891 channel viewings.224,885 overall video views.I suppose I'd better get back to album making :) Music http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1815083 Sun, 22 Jun 2008 11:48 EDT Album progress update and a tip http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1814211 Right. This is the first of my updates on the progress of my album, and also a nice little tip for musicians on Youtube :)I've decided to select 4 tracks from my Youtube uploads. I've chosen 3 already, and those songs are as follows:<a href="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tiqQAr3Vk8A">Broadcast fantasy - Jeffstunes</a><a href="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vLTLKmYer2Q">Don't wish it away - Jeffstunes</a><a href="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT-UUfqNcz8">Sight Or Sound - Jeffstunes</a>I'm going to make a short list of three other songs and put them to a vote. So effectively, the fourth will be chosen by voters.I have finished two of the other songs up to now. The titles are "You think it's all over". Which is a different version of a song I wrote 2 years ago. The original version of this song was played on Spirit FM several times, which covers West Sussex in the UK. The 2nd of the new songs songs is called "Soaked to the bone". I completed that one yesterday.So just 4+ songs to go. I've got some tracks in mind. Some of them have been half developed so hopefully they wont take too long. I would like to have them ready by the end of next week, but it will probably take longer.OK. Here's my Youtube tip.If you upload your songs in stereo to Youtube, and get frustrated when the sound comes out in mono, and reduced quality. You might find it interesting to know that Youtube do have a higher quality version of your video.When you make links to your videos, you will normally use the video URL. To get the higher quality version, all you have to do is add "&fmt=18" to the end of the URL. I suppose it's possible to do that with the embedding as well, but I haven't attempted that yet.Here's an example for you. This is a link to one of my original songs:<a href="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vLTLKmYer2Q">Don't wish it away - Jeffstunes</a>Now the same song, but I've added "&fmt=18" to the end of the URL<a href="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vLTLKmYer2Q&fmt=18">Don't wish it away - Jeffstunes</a>Notice the difference?Now for my regular statistics update.My subscribers are now at 670.My channel views are moving faster now, and are currently at 14,702.My total video viewings are increasing by over 1,000 views a day now and are now at 221,328.More album news coming soon :) Music http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1814211 Thu, 19 Jun 2008 07:37 EDT Publishing my music http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1812955 I was trying to find ways to bump up my daily Youtube viewing figures, when I happened upon a tool that they have in Beta at the moment. It's called "Annotations".It lets you to put link text and/or hotspots on your videos. When I watch videos on youtube, I don't normally pay much attention to what else is on that web page. As a maker of videos myself, that is not very encouraging. With this little toy, I can put a link on my video, and there's a good chance that it's going to be noticed.So I went through most of my videos and added annotations that link back to my channel. It took me ages. They've only been on for a day, but I've already seen a hike in traffic. Especially to my channel viewings. So it appears that it is working so far. Here's a link to my Youtube channel:<a href="http://uk.youtube.com/user/jeffstunes">Jeffstunes Youtube Channel</a>Now for the latest on my Youtube numbers, followed by a snippet of news :)I now have a total of 662 Subscribers.The channel viewings are moving now and currently stand at 14,509.The total video views are now at 216,799. It's looking like the quarter of a million figure will be passed before the end of July.Now for a bit of news. I'm releasing an album!It will be release for digital sales only to begin with. If it provides enough revenue, then It's likely that the money will be invested in a CD release, and some promotion.The album will contain some songs I've uploaded to Youtube, and a good number of new songs that haven't seen the light of day yet. I'm quite excited about it. I'm going to be updating my blog with the album progress, as I lead up to the release date. Naming tracks etc :) Music http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1812955 Sun, 15 Jun 2008 07:30 EDT Broadcast fantasy did well http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1811127 This is an update to my previous post. The last song I uploaded to Youtube did much better than I expected. The name of the song was "Broadcast fantasy". It was a bit of an amusing poke at addiction to television.My honours for this video were more than I thought they would be, and there were a couple of firsts too. Literally.Basically, Youtube has an honours system. Which works on a daily, weekly, monthly and all time basis. They have top 100's for Most viewed, Top rated, Most discussed, Top favourites, Most responded, and a few more on top of that. There is a collective set of top 100's that are global, and then there are those that are broken down into countries. These are also broken down into categories. So you could be in the top 100 Most discussed of all videos in the world, or you could be in the top 100 most discussed Music video in the UK.Getting into the top 100's in som countries is easier because there are less Yuotube users in those countries. The U.S. has to be the most difficult, and the U.K. is pretty difficult too. Which makes my achievement sweeter :)I regularly get honours for each video I upload, and this is because I have a decent amount of subscribers and friends to my Youtube channel, but what I got with this latest video topped it all. I got my first number 1. Not just one, but two!#1 - Top Rated (Today) - Music (United Kingdom)#1 - Most Discussed (Today) - Music (United Kingdom)That was on the 4th June. I was so pleased with them, that I put them in the video description.Here's an update on my Youtube statistics.Subscribers - 651Channel viewings - 14,196Overall video views - 211,513I've got some interesting things going on at the moment, and I'm going to be talking about them in my next few posts. It's all exciting stuff :) Music http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1811127 Mon, 09 Jun 2008 07:54 EDT It's a Broadcast fantasy. http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1809522 I was busy writing another song when this one popped into my head. So I halted progress on the initial song to develop it. It's a song called "Broadcast fantasy".I've finally racked up a year on Youtube, and I thought this would be a really fitting song to upload in celebration of my first year. It's a tongue-in-cheek look at TV addiction. As Youtube is all about videos, it seemed the perfect choice.This is different in style again, to my previous songs. This one is a bit more pop than I'm used to writing.Check it out here:<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tiqQAr3Vk8A&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed allowNetWorking="internal" AllowScriptAccess="sameDomain" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tiqQAr3Vk8A&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>This video was uploaded less that 24 hours ago, and the reaction so far is excellent. The daily honours have been building nicely :)So back to the numbers. Here's the Youtube latest.There are now 639 subscribers to my Channel.My channel has now been seen 13,842 times, and all of my videos have received a total of 205,218 viewings.I'm hoping my next upload will be the song I was originally working on. Though I have been known to change my mind at the last moment :) Music http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1809522 Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:35 EDT It's that song contest again http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1806983 I'm going off line here to discuss a certain European song contest. Music being my focus.I watched the Eurovision song contest last night. The only reason I watched it was to be entertained by the commentary of Terry Wogan.Those not in Europe may not be aware of this competition, but in Europe, it's normally a big event.I have to say that the general outcome was really no surprise at all. With neighbouring countries patting each other on the back with their votes. None more that what I like to term as Eastern Bloc Europe. So Russia were the victors this time around. How surprising!I laughed when one judge quoted "The best song in Europe", and one of the judges unwittingly got close to the truth when they said it was a "Great concert", because a concert is all it was. It certainly isn't a fair competition any more. Terry Wogan said something like that. He is even considering not commenting on the competition next year, I mean concert :)Am I sore that the British entry came joint last with votes from ony 2 countries? No, I'm shocked though, because it was in my top 5, and I know a bit about cutting edge music.It's even more amazing if you look in all the European charts. There's always British and American music there. And why is that? Well, because it's cutting edge.I thought it was between Turkey and Norway for the title. Turkey's song was a modern sound, that was not too far removed from a band called Muse, and for pure songwriting craft, you have to give it to Norway. It's some consolation that they got into the top 10. The British song was a pretty good song, and also deserved to be in the top 10. My sympathy to Poland and Germany too (The Polish entry was pretty good) who were holding up the table with us. I wonder when Europe started seeing them as politically close to the UK? Political, you hear me say?That's what I said. I've come up with a new name for the competition. The Eurovision Political Popularity Contest. Well, it's certainly not about the merits of the compositions. I think that was made blindingly obvious last night.So what are my thoughts on Europe?I adore it, and would love to travel to all the European nations in my life, and enjoy time with indigenous population. I'm just a regular guy who enjoys meeting people and doesn't colour them for the actions of their fellow citizens.You can accept or refute my views. I wouldn't say I am qualified to pass judgement on that show. After all, I'm only a Songwriter :) Music http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1806983 Sun, 25 May 2008 08:29 EDT Still working at it http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1806765 Well, it's almost a year on Youtube now, and I've been thinking about what I've achieved so far. In my opinion, not very much. In relation to lots of others, the Youtube progress is probably quite good, but not as far as my aspirations are concerned. I'm only about 250 subscribers outside the top 100 UK musicians of all time. That sounds pretty good, but it's not made me any money yet.Basically, I'm a singer/songwriter. I write what I consider to be good songs, and that's been backed up by good friends and industry professionals. I consider that at the age of 42, I'm not a teenager anymore. So It's not my priority to become a performer. The logical route is for me to write songs, and then push them out to signed bands. In the hope that they would like them enough to want to record and release them. It doesn't matter what age you are. As long as you write good songs that people will want to sing.This reflection came about from watching the Jonathan ross show last night. The featured guest was Mr Neil Diamond. He started his career as a songwriter. Writing great songs, such as "I'm a believer", which was a hit for "The Monkees". I'd be more than happy with 1 percent of Neil's success. Neil is someone that my vocals have been strongly compared to.So I'm not giving up. It's true to say that the longer you make that effort. The more credibility you have in the industry. The more tunes you compose, the greater the chance of someone important wanting to use them. I've recorded over 100 songs now, but I've only put out about 20 of them. I'm even in the middle of writing a new song at the moment!Some advice to songwriters. Never, ever give up. You might achieve nothing, but at least if you make an effort. You'll know whether you could have had success. That's better than not knowing at all, and looking back and thinking what if?If money is an issue, then it can be an enormous sacrifice. You can get to a point where you have almost nothing at all. If you are determined, then you will not let that affect your efforts.I'm going to finish this post with a link to my Youtube channel, and the current Youtube stats.Here is my channel. You can listen to some of my original songs there.<a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/jeffstunes">Jeffstunes Youtube Channel</a>Current Subscribers = 621Current Channel views are 13,352My Total video views are 195,657I'm going to be recording some of my new song today, so I'll be enjoying that.Until next time :) Music http://www.zorpia.com/jeffstunes/journal/1806765 Sat, 24 May 2008 10:43 EDT