Free Potatoes Today!
Imagine
when driving by a field of potatoes, you’re greeted
by a sign saying ‘these potatoes are free
today’. When questioned about this, the man sitting
by the sign says ‘Well, I didn’t grow them but
I decided that anyone who wants can come in and take them
for free. The farmer’s away growing something else in
another field, but if he comes by I’ll tell him that
I’m helping people to like potatoes, and that this
will encourage them to buy their next bag legally.’
I have some doubts
as to whether this approach works in terms of music - or
potatoes - especially when one sees so many offers of
‘unlimited downloads for free’. Recently I
added a comment to some others, all very favourable to my
music, on a website that was offering the complete Down
Another Road album as a free download. I said I was
flattered that people liked it, but asked, politely, who
had given the blogger permission to offer the album on his
site. Within hours all the comments about that posting, and
the download link, had been taken down!
Water under the bridge, and certainly an example of a
growing problem for all artists which we can’t police
and prevent, individually or even together. I do realise
that some musicians are happy to give their music away for
free, but I feel that I deserve as much respect as the
supermarket where you have to pay before you take anything
away. Like the supermarket I have to pay the bills incurred
in making the product, and also save some seed money
towards my next project.
However,
making samples of my music available as a showcase and
guide to what I’m doing as a musician is of course
necessary, and has been an integral part of this site for
some time. This new page lists all the free stuff that is
available and which can be downloaded without permission.
Pass it on to friends if you wish but before using it in
any published form - on the web or elsewhere - please ask
for permission. Public performance of any of the MSS
included here is welcomed and is covered by PRS and MCPS
licenses. Please fill in the correct forms at the time.
Legal Free Stuff from Graham Collier
NB:
Blogs and Podcasts can obtain legal access to many full
length tracks of mine by joining the download consolidation
service
IODA
A
list of Writings by Graham Collier, useable under the same
terms as above, is available on the jazzcontinuum site.
(The Free Potatoes analogy was originally a Comment from
that site.)
Videos
on You Tube
Interview cut with sections of
From Acorns
featuring
Harry Beckett and the East Midlands Jazz Orchestra, Derby
Jazz Festival 2007.
More
to come soon.
These four very basic videos
were posted without my permission, presumably by fans
wanting to spread the word. Under a new PRS deal with
YouTube I do get royalties from the plays they gather so
I’m happy to leave them up, at least for now. But I
wish they had asked!
Aberdeen Angus
Song Three (9/8)
Hirayoshi Suite
Lullaby for a Lonely Child
(written by Karl
Jenkins but played by my band).
Aberdeen Angus was also used, in a remixed version and
without permission, for a promotion for Bamboo Bikes. When I complained they
offered to withdraw the video, but I suggested that they
add ‘used by permission’ and credit my
website as well.
Available on the BBC
Jazz Library with Alyn
Shipton
An edited version of the
programme recorded in 2009. Included are excerpts from
Aberdeen Angus, Mosaics, The Alternate Mosaics, New
Conditions, Hoarded Dreams, Hackney Five and Out
Blues.
Audio examples available from this site
Click
on the CD title in the Recordings and More page to gain
access to the file.
To
download the audio examples: Control + Click on Macs; Right
Click > Save As on Windows.
* signifies that the MSS of the music used is available
on the same page as a downloadable
PDF.
montage
13
minutes
selected from various CDs. Go to home page to
access.
full
length tracks
The
Alternate Aberdeen Angus*
from
directing 14 Jackson Polllocks
The
Third Colour, Out Blues*
from
The Third Colour
lengthy
extracts
Aberdeen
Angus*
from the first BGO compilation
Blue
Spring*
from
Winter Oranges
Bread
& Circuses, Clapping*
from
Bread & Circuses
Bright as Silver (for Don & John)
from
Adam's Marble
Cathedra
from the third BGO compilation
Conversations
from the second BGO compilation
Darius
Part One
from the third BGO compilation
The
Day of the Dead, three extracts
from
Day of the Dead
The
Hackney Five*
from
Charles River Fragments
Hoarded
Dreams, Opening
from
Hoarded Dreams
Mist
on Water
from
Something British Made in Hong
Kong
Mosaics
Theme 6*
from the first BGO compilation
The
Alternate Mosaics, Theme 6*
from the second BGO compilation
New
Conditions Part 4
from in third BGO compilation
Oxford
Palms, Open Blues
from
Bread & Circuses
Portraits
from the second BGO compilation
Shapes,
Colours, Energy*
from
The Third Colour
Songs for My Father, Song Three*
from the first BGO compilation
Symphony
of Scorpions
from
Symphony of Scorpions
Three
Simple Pieces Part Three*
from
The Third Colour
Winter Oranges*
from
Winter Oranges
Workpoints,
Part Two
from
Workpoints
Other material
all audio examples used in jazz composer are available
from the
jazz composer
site.
mp3s
memories
arrested in space
available from the dedicated page at the
Quadrosax
website
Four
Pieces for Paul Klee
available from the dedicated page at the
Quadrosax
website