With temperatures here in England in the mid-30s Centigrade - that's close to 100 in the old Fahrenheit system! I am trying hard to stay cool long enough to write a few words. For some strange reason, the dancers seem to be moving a little slower and tiring a little faster ; maybe this is a good time to keep things "nice-'n'-easy"? So as I sip on an ice-cold cup of lemonade and contemplate a short afternoon nap - i.e. a "siesta", I will plan for the warm weather (while it lasts). Summer is here - with a vengeance!

This month I want to take a moment to talk on a subject that is close to my heart - more so as a result of recent events - a very real concern, which all producers face. This is the problems that arise when more than one company releases a Square Dance version of the same tune. Let me tell you a story…

In May we released our version of "Hot Stuff", a Donna Summers' hit from the 1970s that had never been recorded before for SD use. The idea of releasing this record was first "conceived" in Summer 2004, we devised a musical arrangement, went to the studio (in September 2004) and recorded the music. We then returned to the studio, in February this year, to record the vocal and set the release, in our schedule, for May 2005. All of this cost us a considerable amount of money and required a lot of time and endeavour.

In April 2005, another company, released their version of the same tune. The first that we heard about it was when the release Tape was being prepared and Tom Dillander - very kindly - advised me of the "conflict" of interests. What could we do? Having spent the money, we had to release the tune - there was no possibility to cancel the release and no advantage to delaying it. We "released" and hoped for the best…

Since I took control of Sting and Snow Records, in 2001, this has happened on three other occasions - you can check back through the releases on Hanhursts's Tape And Record Service if you want to know when this occurred. The fact is that NO COMPANY can afford to endure this problem; record sales are far too low. In the 70s and 80s many producers deliberately competed for sales on the same title, at that stage you could find 2, 3, 4 or more versions of a tune on the same Tape. Don Hanhurst (the founder of Hanhurst's Tape And Record Service) used to group and play different versions of the same tune together so you could choose the one that you preferred! In those days (possibly) this was a valid area for competition; it is not anymore!

Even in the halcyon days of record production, during the 70s and 80s, this was seen as a problem. An attempt was made to establish a "Clearing House" for new releases, so as to avoid multiple-versions of the same song being put out. Unfortunately, the "Clearing House" idea failed. The precise reason for this failure is "lost in time" now but essentially (so I am told) this is what happened. Producers started to pre-reserve lists of songs that they genuinely intended to record but other producers then found that they had "lost" the bulk of their ideas from their own release schedules. Eventually, producers began to "mis-trust" the "Clearing House", assuming that some people were just listing titles "on spec" and this led to the point where most producers ignored it or ceased to be involved. It collapsed mainly as a result of "poor design" - and - as the producers "designed" it, they had to accept responsibility for it's demise.

Notwithstanding the lessons of history, we do need a "Clearing House" - now more than ever. I have been giving the subject a lot of thought and have been in discussions with a few people. My hope is that there will be another attempt at this initiative, very soon. Rather than an arbitrary list, we need to know actual titles that have been selected where money has been spent. This is actually easier than it might sound. In truth, the first thing that any producer should do, when they decide to record a tune, is to purchase the licence. Hopefully, if we were to look for lists from producers - where licences had been purchased - we could "invent" a "Clearing House" system that works.

The sad truth is that - when a producer experiences poor sales, this will cut into the profit (or in most cases add to the loss), which will eventually make it harder for the company to continue to produce and could lead to higher prices. The fact is that WE ALL HAVE A VESTED INTEREST in seeing progress with the "Clearing House" initiative!

If you have any thoughts on this, please feel free to contact me. One way to open up a discussion would be to join our forum and tell everyone what you think.

I will let you know, through this newsletter, how things develop.

BEST SELLER LISTING:
One of our May releases - "Nobody", came in at No.3 on the combined Hanhurst's/Palomino listing on the dosado.com web-site. Unfortunately, our second release - "Hot Stuff", fell victim to the - "unregulated releases" that I have discussed above, consequently - with a really good version already released on the April tape, it became the first release to NOT make the top-ten! If you haven't heard OUR version, please give it a listen…

INDIVIDUAL RECORD HISTORIES including ALL THE ADDITIONAL LYRICS:
The histories contain details about each original song, including it's production and provide the extra lyrics - as featured on the called side. You can access these by "clicking on the open-book picture, on the Catalogue, Latest Releases and Future Releases pages.

The Eighth batch - featured this month - are:

• Girl From Yesterday
• Cheatin' Heart
• You Have The Right To Remain Silent
• Mighty Quinn
• The Rose
• Little Rock
• Without You
• Cowboys And Angels
• Ruby Mountain
• Walkin' In Memphis

For details of the titles featured in the previous three months, check out the News-Letter and - if there are any that you would particularly like to see added just let us know.

NEW RELEASES:
Our new vinyl releases for July are: - "Without You" (vocal by François Lamoureux). François is a Special Guest Caller on Snow and we welcome him to that role; if anyone of you would be interested in a "Special Guest Caller" spot, please visit the Snow Page of the web-site. Also featured is "Bright / Breezy" (a double instrumental hoedown/patter record); this tune has a Traditional (although slightly "New Country") sound on side A, with a modern "Electro-Techno" sound on side B.

Our re-release for July will be "Truck Drivin' Man" (vocal by Anders Blom). Our MP3 releases will be "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" (vocal by Kenny Reese) and "I'm Checkin' Out" (vocal by Paul Bristow).

FUTURE RELEASES:
Please check out the Future Releases link for full details)

Okay, my lemonade is now getting "warm" so I will have to freshen it up with some more of the ice-cold version. I now need to think very carefully about the best tunes to use for dancers who have turned out to dance in conditions to which they are not usually acclimatised. Something that feels "fast" but also feels "cool". Now about that "siesta" … "Speak" with you again on the August News-Letter.

Go Squareful! - Paul Bristow (Owner and Producer Sting and Snow Records)