Alicia's wedding

My friend Alicia is getting remarried - on my anniversary!  I've been lined up to sing at that gig before she even met the guy.  No kidding!  Really she is such a sweet person and a dear friend, and it's my honor to sing for her wedding.  I offered to write a song for the occasion, so she and Greg are excited about that.  As it happens I found a song idea I started eons ago: "You're all that I want or ever will need; I dreamed you're my eternity."  I can't wait till they visit and I get to know Greg, and to see Alicia so totally in love!

A small victory

I just learned that I'll get a 100% refund for the software debacle.  I was shipped an academic/institutional version of Finale 2009 which I'm unable to use because the academic affiliation must be proven before the program can even be installed and set up!  The seller wouldn't help me, so after 3 weeks I took it to amazon.com, and they had me ship it to them.  I was worried about not getting a full refund because Evan had ripped the box open, but to my relief I did get the whole amount.  Now I wonder if the seller purposely shipped the academic version to pocket the extra $200?  No way to tell for sure, I guess.  Anyway, I ordered the software again on amazon.com, this time through another seller.  I like the amazon.com A to Z guarantee.  I don't feel like I'm taking a chance ordering this expensive software through them, because they came through on the guarantee the first time and protected me.  My only issue now *sigh* is that expedited shipping isn't available, so the software is scheduled to arrive no later than March 16.  I originally set out to get this on January 2!  Yeah, not only is my 2-month deadline blown to hades, late Spring is now probably out of the question.  I haven't had luck with any of the music software on Shane's computer or on my laptop, to my chagrin.  I guess Windows Vista is not backwards compatible?  I don't know.  All I know is that none of the software I bought would install to either computer.

The good news is that now I have purchased 2 licenses for Noteworthy Composer.  As it turns out Erin didn't have good music notation software to use, so I told her she could use one of my licenses.  I'm only one person, after all, and at the moment I'm unable to use either license.  Maybe I will be hand-scoring my music after all (for a while) and sending it to Deven in the snail mail.  SAD!  This is 2009!  Isn't it?  ISN'T IT?

Setting up my music space

Well I've purchased a Yamaha DGX-500 Digital Grand - I thought it would be a digital piano, but when I went to see it, it turned out to be a very nice keyboard that screws onto a sturdy stand and has its own bench.  It doesn't have weighted keys, which is what would make it a digital piano in my mind; however, it has a display screen that shows the notes I'm playing on a music staff which I find helpful, so that was the deciding factor for me in getting this.  I parked it in Jill's room and the kids spent an hour playing it before I kicked them out.

It feels really good to have a space to create music.  I know that with a guitar, practically any place can be space to create music, but I grew up having a piano room to create in, and even if I have to share this one with Jill's bed (which she doesn't use anyway) and a few toys, that's alright with me.

The web site is official!

I registered melodiuusrecords.com and melodiuus.com for 5 years each.  I'll probably use melodiuusrecords.com as the main one and just have melodiuus.com point to the other.

Oh how cute - my baby just showed up at the top of the steps and talked to me.  She's on her way over.  LATER!  :-)

Making Melodiuus Legal

On February 11, 2009 I made Melodiuus Records legal.  First I went down to a local store that does mailing and rents out mail boxes (not the post office kind, but they look similar).  I rented a "personal mail box" that is the physical address of my company.  The owner of that establishment informed me that I could not use this address to register the business because the state would need to know where I am, and that the box is just to receive mail.  This seemed to be a wrinkle in the plan, so I thought perhaps I might have to get permission from our front office at the town homes where we live to register the business using our personal address.  Ah well, on to the next stop.  I can play within the rules, as long as I know what they are.

Contrary to the instructions I found online, the Secretary of State's office told me that they were not the place to go.  They directed me to the County Clerk's office, where I filled out two short forms and soon had DBAs for Melodiuus Records and Melodiuus Publishing Company.  It is interesting to note here that the clerk asked me for both addresses - the one that will be the address of the company (the PMB) and my home address, and didn't require a letter from the apartment community.  The process was really fast because there was one line for legal and criminal matters and a second line for records matters, and the latter was a very short line.  Registering the DBAs was simple and fast and the clerk was helpful.  She told me that to get a business license I should go to the State of Michigan website and sign up for one.  She also said that I could apply for the retail license there, since Melodiuus will be selling some CDs directly to the public.  At the end of my visit to the county clerk's office, the clerk announced that I could advertise and do business in Oakland County, State of Michigan.  I think that it took me fifteen minutes or so for the entire trip - time well spent!

I headed to Chase bank to take care of another transaction, and while I was there, I asked what forms are needed in order to begin a business banking account.  I showed the forms I had with me and apparently that was all I needed in order to get started.  While I was speaking with bankers Tina and Amy, I told them of my business plan to simultaneously release my CD and various forms of sheet music for all the songs.  They were also fascinated to hear about the research I had done about the financials of CD sales and why I chose to start my own record label.  They were so impressed with my business plan that they got special approval to open the accounts and gave me some kind of upgraded account or something.  I have to look at the papers to remember exactly what they did.  The business online banking is so much cooler than I could have imagined!  It can even do payroll and takes care of all the taxes!

So now I have business banking and I put the $5000.00 I budgeted for this project into it.  Some of that will obviously have to go toward the startup costs for the record label, so my project budget will actually be less unless I make an additional investment.  Now I'm going to start filing expense reports and reimbursing myself for expenses I've already paid for that I have receipts for.  Here's another cool thing that the bankers let me know about: their system keeps track of all the expenses by category and can total them at the end of the year.  I know from past experience how many dozens of hours of work that will save me!

Now I have to consider what things to expense.  I don't think that I should count the musical instruments in the cost of this project, because I'll be using them for years and hopefully through many projects.  The instruments are a personal expense, right?  The trip to Olivet should probably count toward this project, and part of the trip to Utah (the last half of the trip).  Luckily Utah was a pretty low-budget trip.

I know that having the CDs pressed through DiscMakers will cost in the neighborhood of $2300.00, so I'm hoping there's some budget left for studio time, or else I'm going to have to become a Garage Band expert or figure out how to expand the budget.

A name, at last!

OK, there is a lot to update.  I packed up my baby daughter and took her to Utah for a 9-day trip that turned into a 10-day trip.  During that time, lots happened.

Notably, I finally named my record label!  I sat straight upright in the night and said aloud, "Melodiuus Records!"  And from that moment, that was the name - odd spelling and all.  It's an Old English spelling of the word "melodious" - more trademarkable, I would think.  As long as all goes well at the Secretary of State's office tomorrow (crossing fingers that I will be able to go!) then Melodiuus Records it shall be.  I love it and I think it fits me well, since I'm best known for my beautiful melodies.  I once thought of maybe naming a daughter Melody, but ultimately decided that I didn't want to name my kid any name that could be shortened to "Mel" or "Kat."

The trip didn't turn out quite as planned; Jill came down with the flu right away and so did I.  I was sick for a few days, but she was sick for a whopping 9 days!  I had to lengthen our trip by a day because of it.  Jilly was miserable for the whole trip but Nana & crew still got lots of good baby love.  She had a short visit with each of her great-grandmothers but screamed through both, and neither great-grandma got a hug.  We're planning on going back as a family in July and have hopes of a healthier, and huggier, time then!

Although the trip got out to a yucky start, I spent 2 nights at my friend Erin's parents' home (at her insistence) writing and resting.  I also took a drive up Ogden Canyon and in some other scenic areas I remembered from years past.  I'd just had a conversation with a close friend about a situation she's dealing with, which inspired me to write "All the King's Horses" during the drive.  The title to that one may change.

Erin and her daughter returned from California near the end of my trip.  We spent a few hours Wednesday writing at her grandmother's home and then at her apartment in Salt Lake City.  I was supposed to fly out the next day so the schedule wasn't going to leave us much time to finish our project, so the extra day that we needed for Jill's health kind of provided a little relief there too.  I got to have dinner with Erin, her husband, Adam, and their daughter Quinn. 

I was very pleased that of all the song ideas I brought with me, the one Erin connected with and chose to work on was "Evening Song."  The Song.  I've been trying to finish that one for over 10 years!  It's also one of the most beautiful songs I've written and everyone who's heard it loves it.  Erin and I crafted a second verse together, chose to repeat a section as a chorus and agreed to add a climactic bridge later to finish it off.  She's going to be opening for Fictionist next month and may include the song in her set.  We each connect with the song in our own way, and even at this early stage I can tell that both of us will have lovely recordings of it.  Erin also changed the chord progressions to something so... interesting, so pretty, and it seems to make the meaning of the words even deeper.  She performs with a friend who plays the viola and played a bit of an idea for a viola part that will be awesome.

Now we've been back in Michigan for several days and I've been serving as barfmaid for all of our guys!  Apparently we brought the flu home with us after all.  Evan is the last one puking.  I'm hoping that later today I'll be able to go out and make Melodiuus official.  I'm also in search of a digital piano and plan to make Jill's room into a combined music room and bedroom for her.  She doesn't even fill half of it with her little bed and dresser so there's plenty of room for me to share.  We also both love butterflies and fairies, so we'll be good "roommates!"