Let me tell you a Little Story

[yourockradio]

Once upon a time there was this guy... See?

He had a 5 record deal with major players. $500,000.00 dollars invested in video, albums. production, the works. Had everything you would need to be successful in music right? More than we have, that is my point here.

This was May of 2008. I became part of the team a little too late to milk the cow, she was already out of the barn. But I was there, I saw this with my own eyes. This is for real.

Do you know where this man is now? Homeless... Living in his car. Why?

People made the wrong business moves. They invested unwisely and the power crew became paranoid, dropped the ball at critical mass! They bailed. Half Million invested and they cut the guys throat and let him bleed out! Kosher? Not hardly.

This saddened me and sickened me all at the same time. You see, I did not get cut off, the artist did! I am some kind of honor-bound fool because I told these moron's to suck my Huevos Ranchero's and my 1000 bucks a week went bye-bye. Am I sad? Yes. Am I glad? Yes and no.

If you wonder what makes Indie mad, why I am so angry about this business, then this example is one for the record book. What you folks do not realize is that I am in this FOR REAL! This is not some pastime for me, I make a good living at what I do. However....

The issue is that many of you have the false belief that you are somehow, magically, by osmosis, going to inherit the capacity to create revenue with music. Won't happen. You will make a buck or two, granted. But here is an example of someone who had EVERYTHING that should have made SOMETHING happen, and NOTHING happened! Why?

Was it the music? Nope. Produced by a Major Pop Producer, Paul Lani, check his credits. Rod Stewart, James Brown, Prince, just to name a few. Was it the band and some issue with personalities? Nope. These guys LOVED this artist! Even though they were hired guns, they adored this man.

So what was it?

Lack of focus. That's it. Paying the WRONG people for the WRONG reasons and not having a game plan. Willy-nilly spend money here, there, and everywhere. For nothing... NOTHING!

What is the moral to this story? You figure it out. I have pleaded, preached, begged, blown, and pretty much done everything to get the message across. If you Indie people want to make revenue, not $100.00 a month, that won't buy a tank of gas in my car! You will have to organize.

Enough said. That's my story.

If you really want to know what I am talking about, then watch what I do. Then... You do it too! Simple enough?

Maybe not. For 12 long years I have told stories like this. But you know what? Nobody does a damn thing to change the problem. After 1/2 Million spent they sold 30 albums... 30! I was there to change that, but they cut his balls off before the miracle happened. They did not fire me. Why? Because I was there to make them money. But you see... Money is not the whole equation people. Not for me. I need it, I want it, but I cared too much to see a friend get screwed to keep getting paid. That is who I am, and I am proud of that part of my moral character.

I have only resolved to try even harder to get you all to hear these words! I get depressed, I get down, but I come up swinging! After all, we have only gone 12 rounds! Let's do 15-20, whatever it takes!

Listen. I have a plan. A real plan. Many of you either do, or you don't want to make money in music. Different strikes for different folks. But listen, this plan has more to it than that. If Greg would have listened to me back in 2005, this site would be a multi-million dollar business right now! That did not happen. We fought, but we kissed and made up. But listen, this place still needs an infusion of real players. No leechers, but people who want something more than just flopping around like a fish on the beach!

Ask yourself if that is what you want. Then decide. I'll be around.

[redwine]

something similar happened to a friend of mine and well.. is still happening to her, she got signed to a major label (geffen) and a band was put together of close friends of mine to play with her, basically she was flying to l.a constantly for a while recording her album, since completing it in like '04 (i think) and theyve been sitting on it ever since, obviously with no gigs my friends who were her band had to stop playing and start doing other stuff, it's a really cut throat business and you have to be really careful when signing, i dunno, that was a good read, thanks! sorry for your friend.

[yourockradio]

Yeah... That is what I have been preaching. There is a remedy and there are solutions. However, these lazy ass leeching Indies won't pay the dues. That is what it takes... MONEY! And money properly spent.

I have laid out numerous business plans. Of course, I can't just say everything on a forum like this, that is ridiculous. But I have hinted at the resolve to the issue. It is just a waste of breath with sub-Indie's like the ones that hang out on music sites. I call them "sub" because most of their music is seriously garbage. Couldn't give away most of the recordings I hear on these sites. And having a radio station I hear plenty. People BEGGING me to play their stuff, I won't even touch it anymore. I spend hours just getting it to a point where it is even worth listening to in the first place, in other words... I master it for them. You think they care? Nope. For me, I won't put ANYONE on the show who will not send me a CD. No CD? Sorry... Not serious enough.

And that has no bearing on the genre or the composition most of the time, not really. It is the recording itself. White noise and no mastering, production levels so poor that my 5 year old grandson could do better. How can you compete with professional consumer quality music that anyone can steal for free? You can't. Not with this garbage.

Until people rise to some level of excellence and start taking this thing seriously, they will always make sheckles and rubles, never will they have an income stream of any significance. They won't even get anyone to listen to it except their cronies. That is a proven fact.

Glad you liked the read. I didn't enjoy writing it or living it.

[redwine]

i didn't mean it as in i was happy about your story, sorry that wasn't what i was trying to imply, i just thought it was really well done, i sometimes do a poor job of getting what i want to say across so i'd just like to apologize if you thought me saying i enjoyed the read was in anyway saying that you enjoyed living it or writing that down. so my apologies.

cheers

[yourockradio]

Oh no... I understood you completely. I appreciate the compliment. No issue here.

I was just identifying the fact that I wish that didn't have to write crap like that. I would rather be a kissy faced nice guy like everybody else pretends to be. Unfortunately, I see things the way they are, not the way I wish they were.