I’m going to start a new series on collecting and managing data.  Ultimately this is going to be geared specifically toward those who have copyright data (music publishers, catalogs, libraries, etc.) but I’m going to start out with general information that will be applicable to anybody who is starting out managing data or has a data set that needs to be brought under control.

I’m not going to give a complete outline here as I haven’t started writing it and I’m not even sure of the path that I’ll ultimately take as I pull this out of my head and write it down.  I will cover general data collection and maintenance, using spreadsheets, using a desktop database like Filemaker or Access, and then specifically handling copyright data and other data associated with a collection of music or songs.

When I’m finished (if I ever finish – this may end up being a lifetime of work) there should be enough information here to write a short book.  I will number each part sequentially so you’ll want to read them in order.