From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V13 #216 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Saturday, August 18 2007 Volume 13 : Number 216 To unsubscribe: e-mail ecto-digest-request@smoe.org and put the word unsubscribe in the message body. Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Hmmm is this legal? [birdie ] Why is Myspace free? [birdie ] Re: Myspace needs an investigative reporter on its tail [Kjetil Torgrim H] More stuff about internet charts [birdie ] Re: Myspace needs an investigative reporter on its tail [andrew fries Subject: Re: Hmmm is this legal? Hi Dave We have the same friend, the fabulously talented Lelia Broussard. This is a copy of a bulletin she sent out tonight on myspace from her account. Lelia is an AMAZING new talent - as much a joy as finding a little Stevie Wonder or a young Laura Nyro...and now her new batch of songs are Prince influenced. She is totally unique, so, it isnt fair to compare her - but she did just turn 17 and not only writes her songs - she has co-produced them and is totally indie. And Myspace Records, indeed made her a record offer as she was climbing up the charts....and, she is fabulously talented in a SERIOUS major way....and has many other offers on the table and she can stay Indie...I mean, if she can't get a decent deal with decent people.....it's her life. She knows what is best for her. She is an extremely intelligent fiercely independent young lady. Anyway, she turned them down and they zero'd her counters and yanked her off the charts. Get this...she was at #1 Soul #2 Acoustic and #4 Pop SUPER popular catergories. One night, her counter for # of plays got up to 70,000 for that day, before I stopped looking and went to bed. She was getting around 500 new friend requests a day. It was Crazzzzeee all of a sudden...but it was a sure even natural climb, and the higher you get - the more people hear you. What kind of company does this to a fabulously talented independent young lady? Myspace does not and I mean does not care about musicians. End of story. Here's a copy of her bulletin, I hope some of you in NYC can get down and see her at the Bitter End on August 28th 7:30PM Sharp! Aug 16, 2007 6:49 PM Subject: Where in the world is???? Body: No, not Carmen san Diego.!!! Me, you ask! Thanks for asking, thanks for caring, thanks for writing, thanks for the love! I almost can't figure out where to start. I guess most of you noticed, my profile views and plays went to zero, and I was obliterated from the myspace charts. Yes, this is the shennigans of Myspace. (and at the moment it seems I can't email either, or comment, we'll see if this bulletin goes through) There is a lot to the story that I cannot say, but let's just say, I didn't accept an offer they (Myspace Records) made to me, and right after that, I am Persona non grati over here. But from what I hear, its a story that could easily get leaked to the media before its all over with ;) Oh!! AND I heard that this has happened to other artists as well, they make gestures and when the artist isn't buying, POOF, gone, up in smoke. So, what am I to do? Right now, I am not sure yet. Perhaps a new account where everyone follows me? :) Perhaps I'll take my music down, perhaps I'll become a nun and lead a very sheltered life. . . I really don't know. lol, no I won't do that. Many many of you have offered to help and when we decide what it is we will do, we'll let those that offered to help know how they can help out. We're debating what to exactly do, and we will try to let everyone know as soon as possible whether we stay here on this profile or start over on a new one, which hey, I have done before. But there is SERIOUSLY good news coming. yep yep yep. . . AND I am coming out to LA, and before you know it, I will be all over to play for ya'll, even Japan! I love sushi!!! And I am told they LOVE blonde's in Japan, so I will need to stay this hair color I guess. The showcase this week in NYC was awesome!! Even though there weren't a lot of you there, the ones who were made a huge impact. I am doing another label showcase at The Bitter End August 28th at 7:30 this time. . . please come out and tell all your friends if you can. . . my lack of being able to email is f***ed up but it is what it is. So please tell anyone you know in NYC, I could use some loud rowdy fans there! Sorry to Florida fans, I had to cancel the show next week, because of all the great things happening here in NYC, but its all good, cause it just means I will be coming everywhere soon! Ok, well, as I said, I can't write back, so I'll write more later, letting you know what's happening. Thanks for all the love!! LB Dave wrote: > It gets better.. I heard from a musician on there that after they > turned down an offer from Myspace Records their page views and plays > suddenly went to zero and they were taken off the charts (where they > had been pretty close to the top), not to mention they can't send > messages or comments now. Supposedly this has happened to others too. > >> ------------------------------ >> >> Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2007 18:21:00 -0700 >> From: >> Subject: Re: Hmmm is this legal? >> >> Hi >> >> Were the 2 songs by Happy highlighted as downloadable on myspace? >> >> Since myspace installed LOADS of advertising and at the same time >> installled Capcha software...so, you basically have to enter a code >> to send comments and messages...and that is very time consuming...it >> has made it essentially impossible to leave lots of comments to >> friends to alert them to shows or new CD's... >> >> Which means its usefulness to artists has taken a serious nosedive >> while advertisements of non music companies have risen dramatically. >> >> So, let's see....its a place where music is given away free by >> musicians and commerical advertisers are everywhere to appeal to the >> crowds coming in for the free music... >> >> The commerical adverisers pay myspace. >> >> The time has come for myspace to start paying musicians... >> >> It basically functions like a webring. >> >> We need a groovy code wizard to make a music space that we can all >> move in to without Murdoch using everyone for free to get paid by >> advertisers. >> >> Meanwhile.....is anyone using Facebook or other places? >> >> Birdie (meth I am not drunk...I'm on the treo :-) ) >> >> >> www.myspace.com/birdiebreeze ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2007 07:06:34 -0700 From: birdie Subject: Why is Myspace free? This is by Jim Putnam of Nashville Bound. WHY IS MYSPACE FREE? Let's face it, nothing in life is free and especially something like the internet. Corporate giants like MySpace can afford to give away the service to you because they have sold your records over and over again. Let me give you an example. Today I logged on for 15 minutes and I checked the internet downloads for the time I was on MySpace and there were 1,323 files downloaded to my computer. That is over 1,000 people who bought access to my records and received it from MySpace in just 15 minutes. Yesterday I was on the computer 4 times on MySpace and a total of 9,325 files were downloaded, all companies I did not authorize to have access to my computer and all secretly hidden on my system. I'm certain there were more but these were the obvious ones. What rights do you have? None! I have excellent security and Microsoft Internet Explorer has a firewall and I block all third party cookies and still there were 9,325 companies monitoring my every movement. So I guess free has a price tag as well. Often I mention the bizzare tactics of the MySpace music experts and their lack of interest in being fair or anything except greedy which defies explanation. Things haven't changed in the past three months so I just thought I would let you know what a band has to experience if they are not paying MySpace for some service. After 3 months in the top 5 in Swing, top 10 in Western Swing and at least top 50 in Rockabilly we are 23 in Swing, 33 in Western Swing and unranked in Rockabilly or Country. At one point over 600 of our plays were "lost" by MySpace, then showed up all at once. Right now we are missing about 80 plays with no explanation from MySpace. Many times the email stopped working, the "online" icons vanished, our logon stopped working, we were not able to respond to emails, and on and on. Over 30 emails have been sent to MySpace and they have never responded to any of our questions. According to MySpace the charts are determined by plays today, the number of friends, and the number of profile views. We have more friends than any band in Swing, the highest average of profile views to plays, and are in the top 3 in profile views daily yet never come close to where we should be ranked. Probably the only way to get fair treatment on this free web site would be to hire MySpace to sell our records, hire MySpace to sell our merchandise and advertise on MySpace and each action means things aren't really free at all on MySpace. The internet is a great tool, but it is also the greatest invasion of privacy in history. It unlocks doors to international communication but it also open the doors to every crook and pedophile in the world. Use it since it is using you. Jim Putnam - Nashville Bound You can email me at ivyonoak@yahoo.com. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2007 16:34:46 +0200 From: Kjetil Torgrim Homme Subject: Re: Myspace needs an investigative reporter on its tail [birdie]: > > and...everybody else.....lets get busy on alternatives as I can see > things are gonna just implode over there - eventually. yeah, it's not like there aren't alternatives -- I guess that is part of the problem. lots of interesting action on SellABand.com and amie.st for instance, but those are too indie for broad appeal. we still have good old cdbaby.com of course, although it's social networking aspect is a little undeveloped. overall, the best alternative to MySpace is last.fm, I think. it has all the features needed (and more), it has a nice uncluttered interface, and a thriving community. there is a little problem that last.fm's pages are slow to display, though. [Nashville Bound]: > > Let me give you an example. Today I logged on for 15 minutes and I > checked the internet downloads for the time I was on MySpace and > there were 1,323 files downloaded to my computer. That is over > 1,000 people who bought access to my records and received it from > MySpace in just 15 minutes. > > Yesterday I was on the computer 4 times on MySpace and a total of > 9,325 files were downloaded, all companies I did not authorize to > have access to my computer and all secretly hidden on my > system. I'm certain there were more but these were the obvious > ones. What rights do you have? None! > > I have excellent security and Microsoft Internet Explorer has a > firewall and I block all third party cookies and still there were > 9,325 companies monitoring my every movement. So I guess free has > a price tag as well. what on Earth is he(?) talking about? is he complaining about external links added to profile pages? there is so much *crap* people add in comments, and it's for the most part externally linked. so yeah, I guess if you visit a couple of dozen pages infested with glittering "thankz 4 the add" images and animated puppies, you might connect to thousands of different servers. I don't think it is fair to put the blame fully on Myspace, though, although competitors like last.fm and Facebook avoid this problem by requiring members to upload the content to their servers before using it. - -- Kjetil T. np: iDolphin (on Myspace -- I like "friend" requests out of the blue :-) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2007 10:54:47 -0700 From: birdie Subject: More stuff about internet charts NASHVILLE BOUND #2 COUNTRY BAND ON INDIECHARTS Today, Friday, Nashville Bound passed 24,000 plays on MySpace and has over 9,000 friends highlighting a great summer performance just as they started. They have finished in the top 3 in daily plays on MySpace Swing, top 5 on Western Swing, top 50 on Rockabilly and top 50 in Country. Yet the highest chart ratings on MySpace have been #9 in Swing and #19 in Western Swing, having not been rated in Country or Rockabilly. Why? Insiders say because the band has criticized the MySpace rating system and has refused to let MySpace be their record label or merchandiser, and they refuse to advertise on MySpace so they have been penalized. The facts seem to support this. Nashville Bound has had 4 songs in the top ten of various Soundclick charts (Margarita reached #1), and 22 songs in the top 30. Three songs have been on the Mp3 top 50 at one time in the country category, including Margarita reaching #4. The IndieCharts which feature the consolidated results from all of these internet charts including Billboard shows Nashville Bound the #2 country band in the nation, consistent with the performance by the band across the board. Only MySpace and the IndieChart artist ratings distort the actual plays and fan response to the band. MySpace can be blamed on the greed of the Murdock owned corporation and the refusal of the band to hire them. The Indie artists seem more interested in voting good groups lower to protect their own ratings as the Nashville Bound professional reviews have consistently talked of the exceptional work by the band. It is a shame the personal issues of the artists have distorted the artist ratings on IndieCharts. If people would stop playing games the world would be a much better place. We thank the friends on IndieCharts and the comments you have given us. We also want to congratulate IndieCharts for having a system that can overcome efforts to distort results. We are proud to be the #2 counttry band on IndieCharts overall ratings and the #25 band of all types of music and wish MySpace would just play fair as well. Our Friends and fans on MySpace have also been a breath of fresh air in a sea of corporate confusion and we are indebted to them as well. It is their encouragement to us to forget the music experts at MySpace and listen to the comments of the people that has kept us encouraged and committed to our brand of music. Oh yes, for those artists on various internet charts who have offered to review us if we give them good reviews, forget it. There is no place for such manipulation in the music industry. You want corruption go to the labels. We work too hard to please our friends and fans to trade votes. In the end the vote of the people is the only one that counts. Thank you, Nashville Bound ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2007 07:00:32 +1000 From: andrew fries Subject: Re: Myspace needs an investigative reporter on its tail Kjetil Torgrim Homme wrote: > yeah, it's not like there aren't alternatives -- I guess that is part > of the problem. I must admit I'm feeling this kind of warm fuzzy glow right now, that wonderful sensation of 'I TOLD YOU SO!' because I hated Myspace right from the beginning and managed to pretty much avoid it so far. Yet I still managed to live more or less as well as always so believe me, it is entirely possible to live without Myspace. The net existed before it came along and will exist after it's gone. As for the artists, they used to have their own websites before Myspace came along - the smarter ones, or should I say, the more dedicated ones still do. > we still have good old cdbaby.com of course, although it's social > networking aspect is a little undeveloped. yeah we still have cdbaby and for one I hope it remains a store selling cds, rather than trying to be a social networking portal like Myspace. When I go to cdbaby I want to order a CD, not wade through millions of pages of crap. >> I have excellent security and Microsoft Internet Explorer has a >> firewall and I block all third party cookies and still there were >> 9,325 companies monitoring my every movement. So I guess free has >> a price tag as well. > > what on Earth is he(?) talking about? is he complaining about > external links added to profile pages? I have no idea what he's on about either. Maybe he was talking about cookies? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2007 18:34:04 -0400 From: "robert bristow-johnson" Subject: we're closing the advanced registration to Ectofest. it's pretty full now. not completely officially full, but within a dozen. the Lily Pad has quoted me an absolute max capacity, counting everyone, artists, audience and i have a little trouble believing it. so with a dozen people less, i'm thinking that we're probably safe, no one will have to watch the gig from out in the street, and if there is a little more room, we can admit more that are walk-ins. if you were just about to email me with a res, do it now, we'll see how many more we can pack in. - -- r b-j rbj@audioimagination.com "Imagination is more important than knowledge." ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2007 19:57:14 -0500 From: CollectedSounds Subject: Re: Myspace needs an investigative reporter on its tail On 8/17/07, Kjetil Torgrim Homme wrote: > yeah, it's not like there aren't alternatives -- I guess that is part > of the problem. There's NextCat. I've been there for awhile though and it's not very active. There are others popping up all the time. I generally ignore them because I've spent so much time establishing my MySpace that I don't want to take time to do it all over again for eleventy hundred other ones. I guess that's what they (MySpace) count on. Yuck. Andrew said: >As for the artists, they used >to have their own websites before Myspace came along - the smarter ones, >or should I say, the more dedicated ones still do. Yes! That bothers me a lot. That is, I mean, it bothers me that Artists get lazy and just have a MySpace page and nothing else. Sure makes me not take them seriously. I like MySpace and have gotten some clients out of it (paying and non-paying) but it takes a lot of work and if they're doing to start being awful to artists I am ready to move on. ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V13 #216 ***************************