Happy World Music Day 2023

 

'Coming out' in the world of music - or maybe not

This post is about Sarit Hadad, a famous Israeli female singer who has only recently come out as a lesbian in 2021. 🏳️‍🌈 Most of her fans already thought she was gay and were wondering how long it would take for her to tell us something we all knew. When Sarit came out a couple of years ago some were thrilled others were annoyed. Pleased she had finally said it, less pleased she waited so long. Those in the latter group felt that by not coming out earlier she was somehow giving the impression that being gay was a negative thing to be and had overtones of shame. 

I feel this is all rather harsh. Better late than never, they say. She has two young daughters Noya (2017) and Shira (2020) and has revealed who her partner is: Tamar Yahalomi. 

So was Sarit strategically not saying because she was afraid it would hurt her career? Possibly. And is she wrong to think that? Possibly not! Now she's an established star of course no-one cares but if she was starting out, would she reach the same level of success or even get her career off the ground if she was 'out'? At only 44 she's still very young but has been on the scene for a long time. I can appreciate just what a difficult decision it is. 

Just because you're gay you don't feel any different from anyone else. You're a human being with the same feelings, concerns, problems and dreams as everyone else. The only difference is you fall in love with the same sex. Well, women have been doing that since the beginning of time, so what's the big deal? The problem is other people won't let you just be you. They pry into your personal life and try to find out personal details they have no right to know. 

There is no right time to come out but nevertheless it's the wrong time when someone forces it out of you. That's happened to me twice already. Once at university and, shortly afterwards, at a progressive synagogue. Both times it was a person who was head of something directly relevant to me. Both times I was annoyed that I was put into that position especially since both were men. And one who was apparently Jewish and gay and married to a man. He asked me who my "ideal man" is, there was a pause, then my mother looked at me and exclaimed - but you're gay, darling! To which I added, you, ie the man asking. He was confused and replied: but I'm gay and married! I said, exactly, a very gay-only man who isn't interested in women/me romantically or sexually because I'm a lesbian who isn't interested in any men. He didn't make any attempt to matchmake me with any gay women, he just lost interest in the conversation, which is odd given that he's supposed to be gay and in a leadership role for young adult socials and networking. Besides, matchmaking is something progressives claim they disapprove of orthodox Jews doing! And it clearly was a heterosexual matchmaking attempt because he only asked right after I saw him leave a social for several minutes to talk privately outside the event room to a guy who was trying to chat me up but was struggling badly. I had originally assumed he was gay because he said he had a boyfriend but then he apparently broke up with him and then claimed he didn't identify as gay because he doesn't like labels. Then he apparently suddenly had to move so needed a temporary place to stay, and was angling to move himself in with me and my mother. Not only was that generally out of the question, we barely knew him! 

I was already 'out' so didn't see why I had to keep coming out time and time again, especially since I'd already told a female rabbi (and a gay guy who wanted to start an LGBT+ group at the synagogue but was unsuccessful) so why would a gay man assume I'm straight? Besides there were no gay women at this synagogue despite advertising themselves as gay friendly. That's statistically impossible over a couple of years or so. If there were gay men they tended to hold positions rather than be part of the congregation. Certainly my time was worse there once it became public knowledge I was a lesbian, including harassing me over my singing talent, despite it being hugely popular with the congregation who were beginning to ask questions as to why the synagogue wasn't making use of my musical ability and training and had just started to pressure the synagogue to employ me, for example, in their choir. 

In the end you think to hell with it. I'm tired of judgemental heterosexuals who hold a superior than thou attitude towards homosexuals and gender non-conforming people (especially if genderfluid). The female rabbi that knew I'm a lesbian also knew I'm genderfluid/non-binary eg I wore a male tallit and kippah, enjoyed a special lesson given by a female rabbi on how to put on tefillin. This class was for anyone. I wasn't the only woman by a long way! I asked one of the female rabbis if I could wear a tallit katan (with the tzitzit out) to synagogue but she didn't like the thought of that and once she knew my mother and I were wearing male tallits (they're also the ones on sale in shops because the shops cater for orthodox Jews) and kippot she, and a few others, who worked at the synagogue became against it. The rabbi didn't mind feminine flimsy tallits as much but was hugely against the Women of the Wall tallit despite it obviously being a women's one, albeit a feminist one about religious gender equality. How ironic for a female rabbi working in progressive branches! Gender equality is supposed to be part of their approach.

So I do understand why Sarit might be reluctant to come out. She may have come across various problems and pressures she hasn't told us about which meant she didn't want to come out earlier fearing it would make things worse. 

Then there's not just the fans to consider but also her agent, manager, record label and so on. And that's assuming her family are supportive. Families can be dreadful. Ian McKellen also stayed in the closet as long as possible. Although the theatre world knew he was gay. 

In that sense Sarit is not unusual. And times are not that different. Universities in the 21st century should be relaxed about gay students but I was constantly harassed during my time attending one. It even affected my studies to the extent that I couldn't undertake a dissertation with a woman lecturer who had expertise on a 17th century lesbian philosopher, Margaret Cavendish. If that's not homophobia, what is? Cavendish is widely researched by other disciplines such as English Literature, so she's hardly risqué. And why am I stuck with yet another male lecturer. My personal tutor was a man who couldn't possibly understand the experiences of a lesbian so was totally unsuitable and then I had a male supervisor for my dissertation in a field he's not an expert in.

However, the music world is also still lacking LGBT inclusivity. In the pop world it's marginally better than the classical world which still hasn't heard of gay people. Yet, gay people are often very creative and tend to go towards creative careers. So if, like in classical ballet, you keep weeding out gays you are losing a pool of talent and causing a great deal of unhappiness and harm through discrimination. Not that the academic world is any better!

It's high time we reached zero discrimination and allowed people to be who they are and be given opportunities to do what they love doing and are good at. We talk about levelling up but we never talk about levelling up between gay and straight people. 

So good on Sarit for coming out, even if tentatively. I empathize and urge people to be supportive of her otherwise you are causing her suffering and it may also have the knock-on effect of discouraging others from coming out especially if they've waited a long time to do so and are already celebrities. Celebrities are human beings too. They're not immune to fears and concerns that we non-celebrities assume are normal. 

I would also like to see an opening up of the musical world so that there's greater diversity, including gender diversity, lesbians, and gay men. The more diversity the more talent and general interest it generates. A gay cellist or singer doesn't play or sing differently from a straight cellist or singer. They play or sing differently only because every individual is different and brings a dimension to their playing or singing that gives them an unique voice.

World Singing Day 2022

Happy #worldsingingday ! 🎉🎊🎉👄🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵👄🎤💜♥️♥️♥️♥️ 

"I don't sing because I'm happy, I'm happy because I sing" — William James

This quote is from the philosopher (and early psychologist) William James. I like this quote because it's so true. People have been singing since the beginning of time, especially together when doing an activity, celebrating something, socializing generally and including liturgy at places of worship and school assemblies. Indeed, people sing together whenever, wherever, as we saw in Spain and Italy during lockdown when they sang folk songs together from their balconies - I found that very emotional, very touching. Here they clearly were not singing about being happy in lockdown (who would be!) but singing raised their spirits and made them happier, despite the situation. Long live song! 🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵

For World Singing Day 2022 I've dropped a new track in my World Music playlist on SoundCloud. You can listen to it here.

It's the traditional Czech Folk song 'Cerne Oci, Jdete Spat' that my mother sang to me as a baby, from a few days old (I have a Czech background on my mother's side). I've sung it unaccompanied because, although it's a standard folk song, I've sung it in the style of a lullaby - mothers can't hold the baby and play an instrument at the same time! I chose it for today because mothers singing lullabies to their babies is probably the most fundamental form of singing which then evolved into folk songs and is common throughout the world irrespective of whether you think of western cultures or indigenous peoples and so on. 

🧑‍🍼👩🏻‍🍼🧑🏾‍🍼👩🏿‍🍼 🎵🎶🎵🎶

Although I'm a British singer, I'm also Canadian (through my mother, and her family) so I have a special interest in Native American culture on that continent, in Canada, the USA and South America. I love Native American music (singing and instrumental) which I find very soulful, intuitive and emotional to listen to, whether it's on a CD or on YouTube. However, it's a genre of world music and singing that is mostly neglected and underappreciated, and the clips of music I've seen/heard for World Music Day 2022 have not included their voices. So I'm sharing a link so you can hear the ancestral singing and chanting of Native Americans here. Elsewhere on this YouTube channel, 'Ancestral Way Music', which is dedicated to providing us with indigenous ancestral music, you can hear many more examples, both singing and instrumental, of Native American music, as well as Indigenous music from other places around the world. 

🌎🤗🎶🎵🎶🎵

 

Rusulka's 120th Premiere Anniversary this week

The opera Rusalka, written by Antonin Dvorak, is celebrating the 120th year anniversary of its world premiere, which took place on the 31st March 1901. So I thought I'd discuss the famous and most beautiful aria in it, namely, Song to the Moon, which is unusually written in 3/8 time. (Most arias are written in 3/4 or 2/4 time.) I wanted to record it because it was my Czech grandmother's favourite aria, so it has personal significance for me. 

Learning Song to the Moon:

I have been learning this aria for a few years now, refining my approach to it. At first, I was using the sheet music I bought in Prague. Later I found an original copy of the opera, including this aria for voice and orchestra, and compared the two in case any later editing had taken place in my modern copy. So, before even beginning to thoroughly learn an aria or song, I have to go back and find the original score. This can take time and is laborious. The changes can be small e.g. glissandos or major such as a key signature change. And, of course, the composer and lyricist/librettist must have died 70 years ago and, hopefully, the family or publisher has not extended the time limit beyond 70 years, as is the case with Puccini.

Libretto:

The lyrics are especially important in Song to the Moon because the whole opera began in 1899 with only the libretto that Kvapil wrote which, in his memoirs he states, he based on the fairy tales of the famous Czech woman writer, Bozena Nemcova and the Czech poet, Erben. He was generally very inspired by Erben. Kvapil had trouble finding a composer for his libretto until Dvorak agreed to set Kvapil's liberetto to music in 1900. Dvorak shared Kvapil's interest in Erben and Slavic folklore and was so passionate about the concept for the opera, he wrote the music in a few months. When checking if an aria or song fits the 70 year rule it's important to check the librettist too. In this case, Kvapil didn't die until 1950, so this meant I had to wait until January last year to record it.

The Drama Behind the Aria and Character:

Rusalka is a water sprite based on Slavic mythology. This character informed my interpretation of the aria, as well as the structure of the score. I wanted to create the atmosphere of an unearthly sprite by bringing out the lighter phrases which require a narrow vibrato and vocal agility (not a slow, heavy operatic style using a wide vibrato and sliding between notes). This lighter operatic style, I think, becomes essential for staying in tempo and bringing out the folk music style, decorative notes and passages in the score, e.g. the quick triplets, octave jumps, tempo shifts and accidental notes. For me, this is especially important because I don't have an orchestra accompanying me. To sing in a typical operatic voice would ruin the atmosphere and distort the sound quality of my recording. So both my arrangements of the aria (a Cappella; wind instrument on keyboard) build on the simplicity of the folk legend and folk music setting/inspiration for the opera. 

I always start by studying the character and role behind the arias. Hence, my first stage is to look at the role and character as an actress, before marking out the score e.g. key signature, breaths, noting semitones/octaves, phrasing, colouring, expression, sound, speed, notation, diction, and learning the aria as a singer. 

Language of the Opera:

I sing the aria in its original language, Czech. Czech words have many consonants compared with Italian which tends to have more vowels. This impacts on singers and their technique. Singers usually prefer vowel-based languages when singing because it assists their mouth in making shapes that are conducive to projection and resonance. Hence, the tendency for operas to be sung in Italian. 

Thus, it is important to know how to physically adjust to different languages to maintain good singing technique and protect your voice from injury. I have always sung in many languages since childhood, including languages I don't speak fluently eg  Japanese. I was a small child when I would enjoy singing along to the Japanese section of John Denver's 'Flower that Shattered the Stone'. I learnt it off by heart phonetically and I have always been good at learning accents and pronunciation in foreign languages. So it was an easy step for me to become a multilingual singer. Nevertheless, having Czech roots and heritage means I've heard Czech all my life and I'm used to speaking it. So, luckily, I don't have the same linguistic hurdles with this aria as non-Czech singers. This is not surprising because Czech is a very difficult language. However, it comes naturally to me and I don't have pronunciation problems. Nevertheless, I went over the lyrics with my mother to get her opinion on whether I was expressing the Czech language authentically enough, complete with the right emphases and intonation.

Singing on One Note: Approaching the Climax of an Aria:

This occurs on the last page before the climax of the song and the glorious top B flat which you hold as long as possible but still ensuring you don't tail off at the end. You need enough puff to drive through the next 4 notes. The first 2 go down in tones to A flat followed by G flat. Then jumping down an octave for the final two notes. That's a very demanding finish to an aria!

The one note you sing on for 4 bars is D flat (or middle C sharp). Although usually sung, I decided to go for a semi-spoken, actress-style of singing these bars. My aim was to create a spooky/slightly sinister atmosphere. We are after all in the land of folk legend. Rusalka isn't a human being. It's easier for the listener to hear the words if they are articulated clearly in this way. It is  also a way of signalling the climax to follow where Rusalka begs the moon not to stop shining otherwise her lover won't find his way back to her.

In my second version of this aria, which is on SoundCloud, I use the keyboard (ie my physical instrument, not a computerized digital imitation) at this point to create an eerie quality to the overall ambience. The keyboard stays in the background as the music reaches its climax symbolised by the top B flat. 

My first version is on my YouTube channel and is recorded a Capella in a recital style because I can be both heard and seen:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MxITgvwOrGE

Therefore, it's slightly more formal than the SoundCloud version which is only for listeners which is why I felt the need for a more atmospheric ambience hence, the keyboard:

https://m.soundcloud.com/libakaucky/song-to-the-moon?in=%2Flibakaucky%2Fsets%2Farias-and-classical-songs 

Recording Song to the Moon:

Both recordings were done as a completely live performance: in one take, without any technical mastering to polish it up. I wanted to give the listener the same experience, as far as possible, of a raw, intimate, stripped-back style. This quiet, innovative, mininal accompaniment style of arranging songs is more common in pop/rock/indie music than it is in classical music but I've cross-applied it to arias and like the musical effect it creates. It produces the atmosphere of an intimate concert or small, private gig, where the listener is meant to feel like I am singing just to them, as though I'm standing in their lounge. This style is particularly suited to this aria where Rusalka is the only one on stage, the moon is shining, and she misses her true love. It's poignant, sad, haunting yet lyrical. 

Producing:

As the producer of my album, this is a recording style I consciously adopted and sought to create throughout the album. It influenced everything from arrangements, vocal performance, instrument choices to the technical side of the recording approach which leaves everything in a simplistic style. I want the listener to believe I am Rusalka and hear my innermost thoughts, feelings and fears.

I did not do any mastering of the tracks in the making of this aria, or the other tracks, which can be heard on both my pop and classical albums. I took the production side of my music and recordings somewhat for granted, seeing it as mostly just a necessity. It was only last month when attending an online music event held by SoundCloud that I learnt how so few women (and non-binary people) produce music. And out of those who do, even less see themselves as, or call themselves, music producers. It was then that I suddenly realised I am one of these women who is wearing the hat of a music producer but without perceiving myself as one or acknowledging that side of my musical journey, process and practice. 

The women and non-binary speakers were inspiring and encouraging. They wanted to empower us to own and appreciate what we do! It was an eye opener, and has really helped me to analyse the process I undertake and be more aware of all the different, distinctive hats I'm wearing when I record my music! No wonder it can be quite an exhausting process! 

Starting out

This blog is a sister music blog to my cello blog, avaliable at: 

https://mycelloandi.blogspot.com/?m=1

Between them, I journal about myself as a singer/musician as well as the stories behind my music, with an emphasis on my solo instruments: singing and the cello. I also play a few other instruments which I may incorporate and refer to here and there in these blogs.

As you can see above, I belong to Encore and they require me to showcase my singing, as does my other profile with StarNow: 🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵

https://encoremusicians.com/Liba-Kaucky  

https://www.starnow.co.uk/libakaucky

This sounds easy but all the songs I learned were from musical theatre shows and pop. I was lucky that my singing teachers at theatre school were specialists in musical theatre, writing the music and lyrics for their own West End shows. They were energetic and keen to put on shows with us starring in them and we received sweets as a reward🍬🙂👍. Some of us were given solos and I was one of them. This was excellent experience because they taught us various stage and performance skills which meant I always felt at home on stage. Here's a photo from one of the shows. I'm singing solo, aged 7, on stage in front of an audience, accompanied by a pianist. The rest of the children in the photo I've blurred over to make them anonymous to protect their privacy:

I'm obviously the one in focus with a microphone 🎤. I'm singing 'Puff the Magic Dragon', as sung by the American 60's group Peter, Paul and Mary. They were part of the pop movement which took traditional folk songs and adapted them into a new genre, folk rock. I've furthered this 60's movement in my album 'Handmade Art' where I've arranged traditional folk songs into a rock/pop genre. 

However, all the songs we learnt were modern ie written by composers and lyricists who died less than 70 years ago. The 70 year copyright rule unfortunately applies to me because I am in the UK. Elsewhere (other than in the EU) copyright expires after 50 years instead, giving people living or working in those places (eg USA and Canada) a 20 year head start and advantage over the EU and UK. This means I cannot freely record certain songs or music myself in the UK, for copyright reasons. I'm surprised the UK has not updated their copyright regulations after Brexit to be in line with the international norm of a 50 year copyright rule, rather than be held back two decades by the EU-based 70 year rule which was thought up in France after WWII and is frankly unworkable for the music/entertainment industry in this day and age. Despite living in the 21st century, I find myself having to throw out recording ideas for fabulous songs and music, purely because the composer or lyricist/librettist was born in the second half of the 19th century and didn't die prematurely. So you are stuck with nothing more modern than early 19th century composers, songwriters and lyricists and eras prior to this (unless they sadly met with an extremely premature death). This even becomes quite messy with  opera. For instance, you find that you can and cannot sing arias by a given composer, depending on the one or more lyricists or librettists they collaborated with on it! Hence, I couldn't record myself singing Song to the Moon by Dvorak, even though he died ages ago in 1904, because his librettist for the opera Rusulka was a poet who was much younger than him and died 10th January 1950. So he was born around 32 years before the turn of the 20th century (1868) yet, until last year, he was deemed too recent to use! So I could only record it last year. 

Fritz Kreisler's (1875-1962) Liebesleid is another example. I can play it on the violin or cello in a licenced music venue but I have to wait another 11 years before I can record it! This is utter nonsense. Why don't streaming sites also have their own all encompassing licences for artists to make use of?

Arrangements are another problem to contend with. Rachmaninov's Vocalise is not taught in the original. Tutors teach the arrangement of it by Rose. When you are a child you don't realize the implications of this. Vocalise has been rearranged/transcribed/edited by Leonard Rose who has changed the key from the original C sharp minor to G major. So playing (or singing) the original entails relearning the piece with different notes, sharps, and cello fingering. That means learning the same piece twice and the two versions create very different moods. The original is in a minor key which makes it sound melancholy. Once, you change this minor key to a major key, as Rose has, it gives it a brighter, western atmosphere more like Saint-Saens. It now no longer has a particular type of folk song tone quality. That's a huge difference! So much for speeches in masterclasses about a composer's intention and staying true to the original score! If Rachmaninoff wanted Vocalise to sound so perky, he would have written it like that! So why is an arranger rewriting it and then asking us to buy it as if it is in keeping with Rachmaninoff?! In my opinion, if you want to adapt an out of copyright piece or song that's fine, as long as it's a creative process and results in original or derivative work and labelled accordingly. Going from minor to major is a large, significant difference. There's also so many various arrangements of this piece giving rise to many different looking and sounding scores, Rachmaninoff's intentions are fast becoming obscured. He only gave singers the option to adjust the key to suit their vocal range, since the piece is really intended for singers. Instrumentalists are not limited by vocal range so can stay with the original key it was written in and merely keep it within their instrumental range. For instance, cellists often transcribe violin pieces down an octave, otherwise they are playing too high in their register. Although cellists play high up past 4th position, they don't tend to sit up there for a whole piece so it makes sense to transcribe it down an octave. 

Speaking of Saint-Saens, an arranger doesn't even have to have much input at all before being written down as an arranger. The only real difference in Jacqueline du Pre's arrangement of The Swan is that she's added glissandos that Saints-Saens didn't write in or intend. Nevertheless, it meant I still had to spend time digging out an original, old publication of The Swan partly to check for differences between the scores and partly to avoid falling into her arranger copyright, even though the score is almost identical to Saint-Saens. Why the emphasis on playing the original if classical musicians don't seem to like the original? Otherwise, why would they feel moved to change anything? If during performance du Pre decided to put in glissandos then that's part of her interpretation as a musician. There's no need to write it down officially, especially since she has recorded it, which copyrights her interpretation. However, it's a minute point - a glissando is merely a common, stylistic preference that anyone could choose to do. And might do it because that's how they tend to play the cello and express themselves, it does not have to have anything to do with her arrangement. I do like to indulge in the odd glissando or three! It may not be fashionable at the moment and I'm sure Isserlis would tut-tut over it, but too bad! We can't all play the same way and neither should we! 🙂

Whereas I did need to arrange the folk songs on my album myself  because it showcases my pop singing style which I cannot otherwise put out there unless I also become a songwriter, which is a distinct job in itself.  Why do relatives receive rights and money after a composer / lyricist dies? The spirit of the notion of copyright and royalties is, surely, that creative people are paid for their ideas e.g. music scores, lyrics, research, books. So why are relatives of the deceased getting paid for ideas they themselves didn't have? 

Printers/publishers also have to be out of copyright! You need to check the edition and whether that hasn't been extended as well by someone or other. This happens to authors as well. Someone edits a book but the publisher owns copyright on the editing. 😡 

Puccini should be out of copyright because he died over 70 years ago (1858-1924). This not only means you should be able to sing his operas freely, it also should mean that you can make, what's known as, derivative works from it ie. adapt Puccini's music as a way of writing your own original piece/song. So it shouldn't matter whether Andrew Lloyd Webber based his original music on Puccini or not. However, the Puccini estate complained that ALW had ripped off Puccini. Not only is this excessive when the composer is deceased so the creative person's life and financial situation is in no way disadvantaged, but also, ALW should, strictly speaking, be free to make derivative works from Puccini because the composer should be out of copyright. Why is it deemed more ethical for a group of living people who have not had any ideas or creative input, to still make money out of a dead composer by owning his rights. This could go on indefinitely if every generation of children did the same. ALW didn't have to think up a totally original song, he should have been free to draw inspiration from Puccini's music. So the realm of the ridiculous is extended when people renew and extend deceased people's copyright. So you even have to check that! 😱 (I believe I'm right in saying this. If not, ALW will hopefully let me know in the comments below and I'll amend accordingly.) 

The above example also shows the hazards of writing your own songs or any type of musical score. You can have people running after you claiming 'It sounds like'..........even down to a riff. Riffs are fairly restrictive. How many ways can you change the sequence of notes? There was a case brought against a riff played on a guitar, for goodness sake! 

You can't even use audition backing tracks and record yourself singing to them because they write on these disks that they want to retain their rights. Why? They are not the height of creativity. Surely, they are there to be used! Isn't that self-defeating? How do I use it for auditions it I can't use it in public? They could have added extra words to make it clear auditions are exempt, but they don't. They could have easily written e.g. as long as it is for non-profit use. 

There is a designated organisation in the UK through which UK artists can buy song licences, if you can understand all their complicated information. So I could pay to do cover versions of a few songs, but how many times do I have to keep paying while not receiving anything myself? It also restricts my repertoire to do so. And I'm expected to pay more than once for each song in order to use it in more than one way. Fine if you are with a major recording company they will do everything for you and buy the licences themselves. But that's not something everyone achieves and certainly not straightaway. And I'm not even trying to be that clever. It should be made easier for musicians and singers to get off the ground in the first place without having to stress out and double check everything in case someone later tries to catch them out on some small technicality that was unclear and illogical in the first place. 

Even when you do pay for song licenses there are restrictions  and the rules are complex and inconsistent, making it all rather impractical to record. This is especially true when recording videos (as opposed to audio tracks), because there is no set price for buying a video recording licence. It's up to the performer to start bargaining the price individually with the owner of the copyright, despite sample music videos being a compulsory profile requirement for all performers. Performing cover songs at music venues is more straightforward because simpler rules apply, although outside of licensed venues, a few extra rules can apply. But then I can't perform them until I have a video out of me singing something relevant. So it's a catch22.  

Nevertheless, I still continually build my repertoire of modern songs because they are performable and recordable under certain conditions so always relevant!  

There are far too many different licences for different usages so I would have to buy the same song several times over just to sing it on different platforms - one for a video, I or somebody else, records; one for a digitally released album e.g. Itunes; another if I want my single or album as a physical CD format; yet another if I want to perform it at a venue that doesn't have a licence themselves. 

The whole pop scene and musical theatre are a relatively recent genre so you have no free access to these songs unless you pay before receiving a penny yourself. Why isn't it proportional to how much money the performer receives for recording or performing the song? Otherwise, they are paying before even knowing whether they will be paid themselves. However, the royalties system only advantages songwriters who are already highly successful and wealthy because their songs are recorded and performed numerous times in various ways e.g. TV, radio, tours. Whereas a young, unknown songwriter can be very talented but if performers aren't aware of them and constantly using their songs, they can't earn enough money from it. They literally get only a few pence in royalties from each usage so how many times these few pennies are multiplied makes a huge difference! Quite apart from the fact that songwriters themselves receive very little since admin is paid out of the licence fee. So why are songwriters making such a fuss over a system that doesn't work for the majority but only for the wealthy minority? 

In the US, there are systems which you can pay to clear all copyright for you and you release songs through them and they distribute them for you worldwide. Hence, artists in the US receive a full package. An all-in-one. This gives American singers and performers a head start on the UK and EU . UK artists can use the system but it's not as simple. The EU wanted to complicate the system even further by insisting everything put out on the internet/streaming sites including youtube, websites etc, has to be not only wildly original but also completely performed and produced by you, no collaboration, not even an accompanist. Which is why I decided to pre-empt this possibility and have done the entire process myself on my youtube channel and emerging albums, just in case the UK takes on this preposterous EU proposal. 

Hence, I've focused on out of copyright folk and classical songs/opera arias. I have also done all the accompaniments, arrangements, recordings and any backing tracks/instruments myself. So I own the copyright and performance rights to all of this. 

Nevertheless, I enjoy the creative process and it simplifies the uploading regulations with respect to performance rights and copyright. I'm gradually releasing two albums, a folk one called 'Handmade Art' and a classical album 'Arias and Classical Songs'.

You can follow me on SoundCloud where I showcase extracts from these albums which are available for everyone to listen to for free: 

https://m.soundcloud.com/libakaucky/sets

I have started to post my music videos and others on Youtube, including samples of my dancing and acting:

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCgkeILjfRe0FI-u67Z4fI8Q