Creator Spotlight with Musician Hawc Griffin
This week we’d like to introduce you to musician Hawc Griffin. With over 30 years of experience within the music and entertainment industry, Hawc has been a music director, songwriter, and producer. Along with his solo career, he’s also part of the band Fewxion (pronounced Fusion). Be sure to follow Hawc on Instagram and also visit his official website to stay up-to-date with his music.
What was the inspiration behind becoming a creator? What do you enjoy most about the creative process?
I believe being sensitive to “the vibe” of my surroundings and wanting to find the tools to express, beyond words, what I experience is what launched me onto the path of being a creator. That means my arts & crafts efforts as well with sketches, paintings, creating articles of clothing and evolving into a graphic artist which then connected me to creating video clips and so on. The biggest enjoyment for me is witnessing the final product actually take shape in a tangible or shareable way for others to enjoy it with me and it triggers growth or exposure to something not yet considered or experienced on a larger scale. Sometimes it just reinforces something that maybe we have already experienced, but not from another interpretation.
Can you talk through your creative process? How long does it take? Does everything you produce make money?
Unfortunately, not everything I make turns into income, I still have CD’s sitting around that I genuinely believed could be my BIG BREAK and, well, CD Baby recently emailed me to say “Hey we have CD’s of yours sitting in our warehouse and we’d like to clean house, so please reply to claim them.” That was a project I put out about 20 years ago, which started roughly around 1994 and I finally finished it in 2006, and got it pressed into a marketable CD in 2007. It doesn’t typically take me that long, but personal matters really took a lot of my time back then (being a then new father of four and a husband). Now that my time is more open, I can move more quickly to churn out material.
When did you first become aware of copyright, and why?
I learned about the importance of copyright when I was about 13yrs old being molded by my uncle who was also a musician at our church. He saw something in me after several tunes I had made up and recorded on cassette tape and he suggested I mail them sealed in an envelope to myself to keep locked away for my own protection, Calling it the Poor-Man’s Copyright. He then explained how to properly do it with paying fees and registering it properly as well as patent ideas.
What do you do when you encounter someone stealing something you’ve invested your intellect, time and money into?
I certainly address the matter to receive proper compensation and or acknowledgment, because no one should steal someone else’s work.
What is the best piece of advice that you would give other creators in your field about copyright and how to protect themselves?
If receiving compensation and acknowledgement are a priority for you, then definitely make copyright a top tier part of your creative process. Also, remain fair especially if someone else participated in the process and respect others’ works the same as you expect your own to be respected.
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