Greywolf's Howling Blogs

(These Blogs were firstly posted at Music-blogs.com with no income offered to me with an average of over 7,000 hits per Blog with no advertising monies extended either ).

More 'webstores' for Indie songwriters go belly up!

Saturday, 17 February 2007

Another 'webstore' bit the dust last month, making it a total of four (4) within the past several years where our Folk/Americana album was stocked and sold to the public.

All Indie songwriters and Bands have to pay a 'posting,' or, a 'registration fee' to place your albums at these webstores.

Two of them were kind enough to send us an email informing us that they were 'going out of business.' None of them offered to return our registration fees, of course, which are usually about $30.00 to $45.00, and then we must send them anywhere from 4 to 12 CD copies of the album for their stocking to sale to the public.

I wrote to all of them, pleading with them to send our CDs back to us C.O.D., but none of them replied. One guy told me that he needed the money so badly to pay his medical bills, that he sold ALL of the CDs he had in stock over seas at like $1.00 each, as he said that Germans, Brits and the French will pay about $2.00 for ANY American CD, which they then turn around and sell to pawn shops, hawking the bands as being 'famous American bands.' Who wouldn't want a 'famous band's' CD for a couple of bucks?

You must bear in mind the expense: 1. There is the studio time in recording the album (if you use a professional studio, which can cost about $65.00 to $185.00 per hour for low rent studios [some use their home computers nowadays]. 2. Then comes the designing of the label and or cover and inserts, should you have to pay someone, if you are an Indie and trying to do all of this on your own or on a smaller scale than the major labels. 3. Now comes paying to have 'x' amount of copies made from a Master CD, which the cost is determined by how many copies you order, or, if you and your band members have CD burners at home, then you can burn as many as you all can stand, and it's a time sweating job. 4. Then comes buying the materials of special paper for the inserts and labels. This can be costly, certainly if you use parchment paper as we did. 5. Now you have to take the time to insert the labels and inserts into the Jewel cases using a jeweler's screw driver and nimble fingers if you did as we did (some bands offer the thinner types of CD cases). 6. This should be at the very top of the list, but copyright fees to the Federal government. 7. And then consider that just about everything mentioned above requires 'Postage fees,' to and from here and there. This can be costly, certainly if these webstores go belly up. You've lost the money it cost you to send the CDs that you will never get back (the unsold ones), and then there are the Postage fees if you sell some CDs from your own website. Postage fees aplenty.

There is no law to protect us from these Internet webstores going out of business, just like any other type of business, although public businesses are supposed to return unsold items to the makers. There is a law for them in the 'public world,' but not in Cyberville.

So, in closing, check out even radio stations that request a copy of your CD for 'possible' air play. We got 12 requests in one day and found out that not a one was an 'actual' radio station, but rather high school stations that broadcast about two blocks from the school, and 5 were not even radio stations at all: just some creeps who were trying to get free CDs from suckers out there, and there are plenty who will not take the time to check them out, and they know it.

The whole idea of recording, packaging and marketing your album is to make money. Right? We may not become 'famous' along the way, but why throw your money away? Do some research and save some of that money for other things, like guitar strings.

Be well. Be strong. Be original. Be you.

Jason Greywolf Leigh  

How can Indie songwriters/artists make money on the WWW?

Someone created a monster called the World Wide Web.

This monster feeds off of foods called ‘free downloads,’ ‘file sharing’ and ‘CD burning/sharing.’

When people from all backgrounds in life can either obtain a song and or a full album complete from a friend, although illegally done; why don’t these same people understand that the songwriters/artists/bands are not being paid at all for those illegal downloads?

Better yet, why doesn’t the public in general understand that songwriting, recording and promoting of their music, is a form of actual work?

How would these same people feel if at the end of their workweek, they were told that they would not be paid because some ‘hackers’ drained the company’s bank account?

Or, what if you made your own version of, say, a three-legged rocking chair that you worked very hard at, you had to build a working proto-type of in order to obtain a patient (that you had to also pay a registration fee on) for YOUR idea, and then you had 100 made ready to sale, only to discover one cold, damp morning, that someone had broken into your garage and stole each and every chair that you worked so hard at building?

You’d call the police now, wouldn’t you?

Well, at this time, 11/30/2006, there are no WWW police that songwriters/artists/bands can call when people illegally download and then ‘share’ with others their hard WORK.

The fact remains that Indie artists are hit the hardest, because established, or, well-known artists, have the protection of their giant label companies, lawyers, promoters, managers, agents, and all of the other people who WORK at the promoting and the sales of the star’s music.

But even the established artists are suffering greatly from losses of royalties due to the very same conditions mentioned above, as are the unknown Indie artists.

Why do some people allow—and to a certain extent—encourage their children to download and file-share music? And these are the same ‘Baby Boomers’ and ‘Now Generation’ parents who HAD to buy LPs, 8-track and cassette tapes of music from not so very long ago?

There was a time in which we first had to buy an LP (33 1/3 RPM vinyl) copy of an album, and for those who were fortunate enough to have an 8-track player in their 55 Chevy (or other such classic cars) had to then buy the same album on 8-track tape in order to play that album in their car.

Then, along came cassette player/recorders in which it was possible to record the LPs onto tape and only pay for the blank tapes, so then they had two copies of the one album.

Ah, but then a friend asked that friend who had the LP and a spare blank tape to record them a copy of that same LP so that they, the other friend, did not have to buy a copy of the LP. All they needed was a blank cassette tape, a player deck in their car and a willing friend who would then record them a copy of that LP, and so on and so on, and scoobie-doobie-do.

The record labels and stars suddenly started seeing drops in record sales when finally, someone informed them of this ‘record sharing’ industry, and an ‘industry’ it had truly become.

We heard of ‘bootlegged’ LPs, which were illegal recordings of artists’ live concerts that were then released on goofy, little known labels, such as ‘Pig Records’ that released a Bob Dylan album from a live concert that ole Bob knew nothing about, nor did his many other employees and his record label, Columbia.

Therefore, are we to blame the World Wide Web for this ‘stealing’ (yes, let’s call a spade a spade) of music by a generation taught that ‘file sharing’ is perfectly all right, since their parents used to do sort of the same thing in recording LPs to tape, not so very long ago?

It is the Indie artists who suffer the most from this Wide World Web of deception that refuses to accept the fact that ‘file sharing’ and or ‘free downloads’ by some con artist/website/MP3 player company’s offer as ‘come-ons’ to help make their sales, all the while, these companies are doing this in some cases, illegally. Those who may do this ‘legally’ made deals calling them, ‘promotional’ on behalf of the labels, but not necessarily agreed upon by the songwriters!!!

As the adage that I created in Nashville back in 1980 that became a popular saying plastered almost every where in Music City and on key chains, Billboards and bumper stickers, although I wasn’t paid a thin dime for, as it was a ‘theme contest’ in which entrants had to pay a fee to enter, but then I was told that I did not win, although the adage mysteriously became the ‘main stay’ term: “It all begins with a song.” And that adage has never been truer than today, some 26 years later.

Think of it: without the song or, the songwriter (s), there would be no music—no song—no album—no illegal downloads.

Is this all my fault for reminding the world that without the ‘work’ it takes to first write a song, that there would be no song, which has caused this ‘stealing’ of our music by people who likely go to church, believe in God, truth, justice, and the American way, etc., etc., etc., to become law-breakers without truly believing that they are doing exactly what the ‘chair stealers’ were doing: stealing (not paying for) something that someone else worked very hard to create.

I hang my head in sorrow, not in shame, for that’s one thing that I refuse to be related to: the illegal downloading, file sharing and free music that is otherwise the most preeminent form of distrust the world has yet known . . .

I’ll end this Blog by sharing what a stranger actually wrote to me in an email after a radio interview in which I tried to relate most of the above: “If you don’t want your music stolen from you, then you shouldn’t put it on the World Wide Web!”

BTW: my album, “DIRECTIONS,” by ‘GREYWOLF’ still sales for only $12.00 and can be found at the link (s) below, for those interested.

Be well. Be strong. Be original. Be you.

Jason Greywolf Leigh

The Media’s Moral Decay

This evening (8/2/06), I was changing TV channels when I happened upon “Entertainment Tonight (ET).” They were just mentioning something about the late, great George Harrison’s ‘Concert for Bangladesh’ re-release album, so I had to sweat it out through all of the ‘media moral decay’ stories, such as, Courtney Cox being asked by ET’s 'Cojo' how she felt about playing a woman who was, “Knocked up.” Ms. Cox laughingly repeated that term as easily as saying hello. The correct term is "pregnant."

This was during ‘prime time,’ around 6:40 pm CDT when little children and young teens of impressible ages were no doubt tuning in, since one of America’s National diseases is found in ‘hero worshipping’ of these decadent, immoral ‘stars.’ One does not have to be outwardly critical of this subculture of the rich and famous to be judgmental and easily comprehend these atrocities being played out daily, nor is it below understanding where this short, yet winding road is leading our country down into a deep dark abyss of debauchery not seen since the Middle Ages.

In addition, before you ask who am I to be critical of this blight of American society: I am an otherwise, unknown actor/singer-songwriter/novelist/poet and registered voter, which is to imply that although not as famous as Courtney Cox or Kid Rock; I don’t have to assume the role of a cohort or to condone their behavior out of concerns over reprisals in the form of being ostracized in this self-same business of entertainment. I would rather strive to set a more positive example to smaller groups of the public at present, given to the knowledge that I would not have corrupted the envious, brought to us by such programs as ET, or the seemingly endless ‘reality shows’ that exude the same premise: “You, too, can be a ‘star’ of 24 karat solid gold and thereby be given your ticket to corrupt the have-nots who live in zombie-like daydreams of being just like you: a major player in this game of Moral Decay.

But you must remember one awesome, shattering fact, should you fall victim to that parade: since you can’t take it with you when you go, you might as well take some others down with you, for misery does truly love company.

Although, you could listen closely for the sound of honor marching by or the act of decency coming true in your life and then you might possibly hear the righteous sound of just one hand clapping.

Sincerely—in truth,

Jason Greywolf Leigh

Musical 'webstores' go belly up!

Tuesday, 9 May 2006

Greetings everyone.

If you had your album (s) (CDs) sold at 'IndieZon.com,' you don't have them there anymore.
GONE! This makes two (2) a.k.a. 'web stores' that have gone bust recently.

The last one, owned by a guy name Rikk Matheson (Music-Utopia.com), went
belly up some 6 months back. He wrote to tell me that he was ill and
had to shut down the website, and that he had spent all of the membership
fees *and* profits on doctor bills (although he said that he was
going to keep his 'Reviews' and commercial links-website open, which
is loaded with paid ads and pop ups), but he would be willing to send
our remaining CDs back to us, OR, he offered to send them to
a 'friend' of his over in the U.K. who would sell the CDs with no
fee. After a web-search, there was no such webstore to be found, so I wrote him
back and asked him to just send the CDs back to me and I would pay
the postage. He never wrote me back.

We are (was) placed at one webstore (IndieZon.com) that 'sold out' of our album after a
recent radio interview (see: http://www.21stcenturyradio.com/audioarchives/ ), and they emailed me to request 500 more copies. I wrote back to inform them that my PayPal did not reflect a deposit from them on my share of the sales. I haven't heard back from them either, despite only one other reply (I don't want to be pushy, just don't freakin' rip me off!).

Has this happened to any other singer/songwriters/bands?
Today, I got a request from yet another 'new' INDIE webstore to place
our album with them, promising that: "We are determined to be among the top 10
sellers of Indie CDs in the United States, and think your music will
help us achieve that goal!"
Hum.
Gads.
I really dislike being stolen from, or, ROBBED.

Before I moved up to Nashville in 1980, I was told by Dr. John 'the
night tripper' himself and the late great John Hartford, that the music
Biz was a, "cut throat business." I moved up there anyway only to
discover they were right when I lost a song to a Grammy Award by a
rich & famous, although a thief singer/songwriter. That one really hit me hard.

And, to add injury to insult, he won Best Songwriter of the Year with MY SONG! But I was homeless, sleeping in my 62 Chevy by then, and he
knew it. He did stop touring when he heard that I was once at one of his 
concerts. I was, but couldn't make it backstage. ;-)

Please help us rid the Internet of these pirates and thieves by reporting them to: http://www.ic3.gov/

B-Kool.
Jason Greywolf Leigh

Songwriting, and why we do it
Thursday, 29 December 2005

~ So, you are a songwriter? If you 'are' rich already, then you are writing for fun.

~ If you are writing songs with the hopes of getting rich: I have beach-front land in Montana for sale where you can write your heart out.

~ If you are poor, don't expect more than you are willing to lose.

That last one makes more sense than the others. You can lose friends, husbands, wives, producers, publishers and even your dog, if they don't like your work: "What do they know?"

So then, why do we write songs? It's the same as why a poet writes a poem, or why a cook has to cook: it's only second to sex, but you can do it alone and not feel self-abused.

Are we smiling?

I write as a vent, I suppose, given to the hopes that someone, or, many, many others, will like, love, or enjoy my song. But first: I have to like and love the song before anyone else can.

'Keep in tune, and watch your top knot!

  Jason 'Greywolf' Leigh

What price glory in the music Biz?

Friday, 30 September 2005

Dear Friends: (And fellow members of 'musicthoughts' Yahoo Group)

I have seen all of the posts (on 'musicthoughts' Yahoo groups) regarding 'Royalty Free Music' and the like, as well as some of your shared advice, which I always try to make note of, for I do learn from others, which is what this Group is supposedly all about. 'Right? Well, we can always hope.

I sent in 3 emails to BMI (where I am a Songwriter member and a Publisher): one to my 'assigned
contact,' a 'general inquiry,' then the 3rd email being sent back to my contact. To date (4 to 5 months later--maybe more), I have not heard a single word from BMI. And I am paid up in my dues, I might add. A telephone call reaped no information, as I was switched to my contact, who didn't answer the phone call.

I personally mentioned in a Post to this Group, one 'web store,' such as a CDBaby.com, which went 'belly up' (out of business) after being on-line for a bit under1 year. The owner made claims to being 'deathly ill' and could not continue with the venture. He offered to forward our CDs left in stock from all 'former members,' to his 'partner' over in England, or, he offered to send the CDs back to us. We opted to get the CDs back, as we had never heard of the 'web store' over in England he mentioned, and a Google search proved the same: unknown. And of course, he did not offer to refund our $35.00 registration fee, not that we expected it, but he did mention having stacks of medical bills. To date, we have NOT gotten those CDs back, and likely never will. Oh yes; and he offered to pay the postage. But after all, when these scum buckets that advantage of us, they aren't likely to invest portions of the monies they stole from us to help make things seem right, or, to make 'them seem,' dare I say it; 'honorable?'

One such 'web store' informed me that our album had 'sold out' and would I please send more copies?
But when I wrote him back that we had not gotten one red penny from the sale of those 'sold out' CDs; I never heard back from him again. My emails to him are bounced back, now. Bong! Bong! Bong! Tick! Tick! Tick! Boom!

So, the long and short of this post is, who are we to trust?

CDBaby.com alone? My father always told me to, "never put all of my eggs in one basket," or maybe it was my Grandmother, so that's what we have been trying to do with our album. I must state that
CDBaby.com has the best website/webstore going with many innovations that the others are only following their lead on, but CDBaby IS the most popular, among us. But where does the public go to buy their CDs? I've asked a few friends who have told me that they don't 'buy' CDs, certainly NOT from Indie artists. They just download the songs for like $0.002 a song. I seem to recall that the
songwriter/bands cut was much higher than that, or am I mistaken?

My old friend, John Prine, sent out an email last month stating that $1.00 from each album sold would go to the Relief Fund, and of course, he likely sells more albums than all of us Indies put together, or, maybe not.

Now, some of us (I declined as I don't want the dignity of my work slanted by a damn cell phone ring) have 'distribution rights,' and 'ring tones,' which are designed to bring us in some funds, like down to the leading fee of $0.002 or even $0.006 per play. I was told it would be more than that. ($0.002 equals 2 hundreds of 1 cent, or, you have to get 200 downloads before you receive 1 cent in pay).

In closing, please don't take what I have said incorrectly. I am not looking to get rich from being an
Indie, and likely never will. It takes money to make money, as the old adage goes, and that holds true to Indie CD sells.

We must pay fees right and left, fees that those who get signed by major labels never heard of, or, have never had to pay, unless they were Indies to begin with.

Take '50 Cents.' A former heroin/crack/cocaine dealer, who states publicly, that he sells 1 million CDs per week. It doesn't seem to bother his buyers of his CDs, that he caused the misery and deaths of a host of people who bought his illegal drugs, and now the music Biz is going to honor him with a Gold Record? 'Wonder how many 'fees' he had to pay to get his, ah, music heard and published on a major label? I heard his best 'crack customer' was an Agent. Well, the world goes round and round, doesn’t it?

The *ONLY* chance it seems we Indies really have, is in playing gigs, hoping to get paid for that
gig, and praying that we sell 'x' amount of CDs at those gigs. But who is in this for the money? Who is in this for the fame? Who is in this for the Gold/Plat Record?

Consider that CDBaby.com states they have over 8,000, or is it 12,000 artists, all selling CDs? How many CDs have YOU bought today?

The new 'Taxi Road Rally.'
"With over 40 music industry pros," and 200 attendees, as they state in their ad, with only 'selected people' who will be 'helped' in some way at a FEE, or, admission price of $299.95 a year, with our own Derek Sivers (Creator of CDBaby.com) offering advice there, who of us can't help but to make it? All 200? Nope. Some, will lose out. What do you think the % is in that, out of 200? And I lost count at the over dozens of genres and dozens of 'Pros' who will be there at the Taxi Road Rally to 'give out' (they are paid) their expert advice. I have nothing against anyone making money, it's the Capitalist way, but if I leave anything behind, if not, God willing, my music; then let me leave you Songwriters/Bands with the radiant truth, that no one is making money in Indie Music except those people who are putting on these 'song contests' and 'rallies' like 'seminars' and 'Contests,' call them what you may.

We are in a 'no win' situation, unless you are in that less than 10% who makes it in the Biz.

Paul McCartney wrote in a song titled, "Too many people," that related, "Too many people, wearing parking signs! Too many people looking for that 'lucky break!'" Chorus: "That was you're first mistake. You took you're 'lucky break' and broke it in two. Now, what can be done for you? You broke it, in two."

'Heavy stuff of 1970s, huh? 'Heavy stuff, even now.

I recall that line from the Ritchie Vallin's story, when his red haired girlfriend asked him why he carried
that guitar strapped around his back, everywhere he went? "Because, it's my future," he replied.

Best wishes for all who at least--try,

Jason Greywolf Leigh

Do CD Registering websites work, and are the fees worth it?
Monday, 29 August 2005 (Posted on a Yahoo musical Group I belong to)

Greetings to all.
Has anyone tried the CDRegister.com?
The fee is $38.00 for a standard listing, or $40.00 for a 'priority' listing that lasts 90 days.
Here's the deal, quickly: you pay the fee, they offer your CD 'FREE' to radio station DJs, overseas radio, e-zines, webstores, music writers (whomever they are, or can be), etc., etc., etc., then if 'they' like your 2 min. samples, they email you and request a copy that you then send to them at your cost of postage. The 'reading in-between-the-lines' catch that I see, is that anyone can claim to be such a person so as to receive your CD for FREE! Since I went to their section for DJ's and the others there listed to subscribe, for FREE.
I could be a 'writer' to them, as well as a publisher:
songwriter/novelist/researcher/blogger/poet/web Master. Yata, yata, yata: you get the drift. But I could then get FREE CDs!
There is even an offer from our 'free hit counter' to submit bogus 'hit stats' to search engines from $9.00 a month to $40.00 a month, depending upon how many 'bogus hits' you want them to submit.
Okay. Am I leading up to a mind-screw? Yep, I reckon so. It seems that for a 'fee,' anyone can get even bogus advantages, which could rule out any advancement on your project that it could otherwise, had success on merit alone. . .

So, merit alone means very little when up against the all mighty buck. Right?

Old adage: "He who speaks loudest--really has the most money."

However, do these services really work? Has anyone tried these, or am I just seeing beyond the trees to where the music really is heading nowadays: 'fees' mark the path on the yellow brick road to Indie musical fame.
When I lived in Nashville 1980--1982, the common theme of the time was: "Music is a cut throat business," and I saved a newspaper clipping about a publisher I had actually once met who was murdered by a songwriter who felt he got ripped off by the murdered publisher, and from the facts of the case, it seems that he did get ripped off, but still: 'cut throat business' becomes reality, since this killer/songwriter, BTW, cut the publisher's throat! Gads. There was even a killing by a gun from
another crazy in the music Biz the next day!
A 'Cowboy' singer/songwriter friend of mine told me tonight at a Pow-Wow concert, that the past Friday, he sent out 150 copies of his CD to 150 DJs he had 'bought' the addresses for. I asked him, "Billy, how much did it cost you, per CD, to send them out?" (His mailing included his Bio page, photo, press kit, etc, as well as lyric sheets for each song). "Well, yeah, I guess I can tell ya. It cost us (he and his wife) about $10.00 per CD mailing."
That's $1,500.00 in a day, to DJs he doesn't know (and who don't know him), but only had their contact info. He could obviously afford to do this, and you might figure that 25 or 15 out of the 150 might contact him (more or less), because Billy can sing really well in his musical genre, at any rate.
Anyone want to expound on this topic--please?
I'd much rather trust y'all's opinions then anyone else’s, as I have found most members herein to be forthright and honest, and certainly more in the know than I.
Thanks to all . . .
Jason Greywolf Leigh

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