Jay C. Batzner (b. 1974) is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida where he teaches music composition and technology courses as well as coordinates the composition program. In his first year, Jay received two prestigious grants: one to create collaborative works with visual artist Carla Poindexter and the second to initiate electroacoustic music concerts in Orlando. Prior to this position, Jay was an active adjunct professor at several colleges in the Kansas City area while he completed his D.M.A. in Composition at the University of Missouri – Kansas City Conservatory. While at UMKC, Jay received honors including a Distinguished Dissertation Fellowship and a Dean's Doctoral Scholar Fellowship.
Jay's music ranges from instrumental chamber works to electroacoustic compositions. He has participated in numerous national and international festivals including the Wellesley Composers Conference and the International Young Composers' Meeting in the Netherlands. His music is published by Unsafe Bull Music and has been recorded on the Capstone and Vox Novus labels. Jay is a frequent contributor to the new music website Sequenza21.com and a founding member of the composers organization The Collected.
Jay is a sci-fi geek, an amateur banjoist, a home brewer, and juggler.
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1/27/2007
Out there
I remember sitting in an audience at a new music festival where I struck up conversation with one of the other guest composers. We were talking about self-publishing and I mentioned that I just needed to sit down and finalize the pdfs of my scores so I could get them up on the website. The other composer was a bit shocked that I would put entire scores up on the web for free.
"You don't want your music just 'out there,' do you?" he asked.
"Why not?" I responded.
"You have to have some kind of control over your stuff," was his reply.
That was about 4 years ago. I'm still not sure what that guy meant. Why wouldn't I want my music 'out there?' What is the benefit to keeping my music "in here?" Granted, Unsafe Bull Music does not have the best distribution network in the world. And, as 50% of their clientele, I get a lot of personal attention. And since I make all of the decisions I have no objections to their practices. I recently changed the copyright statement to read: Unauthorized Photocopying and Distribution is Highly Encouraged.
So sure, if someone wants to download my score for free, print it themselves, and (gasp) perform it, I am not going to charge them. If they want printed materials, I will charge an amount for time, materials and handling. That seems fair. Otherwise, royalties are enough for me. It was more than I was making otherwise...
posted by Jay C. Batzner
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