From: owner-harbinger-digest@smoe.org (harbinger-digest) To: harbinger-digest@smoe.org Subject: harbinger-digest V4 #17 Reply-To: harbinger@smoe.org Sender: owner-harbinger-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-harbinger-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk harbinger-digest Sunday, February 14 1999 Volume 04 : Number 017 HARBINGER DIGEST To post, mail harbinger@smoe.org To unsubscribe, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: unsubscribe harbinger-digest To get list info file, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: info harbinger-digest Today's Subjects: ---------------- Re: (harbinger) paula's upcoming album/ joan osborne ["Steve Bornstein" <] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 13 Feb 1999 10:07:28 PST From: "Steve Bornstein" Subject: Re: (harbinger) paula's upcoming album/ joan osborne Hi hol You wrote: > >didn't paula say in an interview, or one of the experts on this list point >out, that according to her, she's going to be putting an album out in 1999, >which thankfully would be this year. let's keep our fingers crossed > Last I heard (months ago) there was some talk about this being a jazz album. Hope everyone's ready for that, especially her label! >also, this has been of topic on the joan osborne list, and i figure some of >you guys might know about this sort of thing. according to some article or >another (i can't remember which) the reason that joan's album isn't coming >out is because of creative differences with mercury. anybody know what >mercury's problem is? > Mercury, like any major label/big corporation, makes a lot of decisions based on the bottom line. I noticed some things they did last year with other artists. For instance, though they went out of their way to sign Lucinda Williams, they didn't seem to know what to do with her at first. It wasn't until critics started going crazy about her new album that they started to promote it seriously. It's really supposed to be the other way around - you believe in your artist, you promote her/him/them, then the critics and public take notice. As far as Joan's situation, I've always thought she was disappointed by losing at the Grammys. I think every category she was nominated in was won by Alanis Morissette. I know *I* was disappointed as I think she is better in every way than Alanis (although "You Oughta Know" is a great, great song). So she may have spent a lot of time regrouping. Still, if you have an artist under contract, you should either go with what got you interested in the first place or let them go. Artists often are left twisting in the wind while the term of their contract plays out. Baffling. Finally, this may have been a fluke, but last fall I happened upon a used CD store in the East Village (NYC) that had scads of milk crates of bargain basement CD's on the sidewalk for $2. As I went through them I found a lot of promo copies of new releases from the Mercury group - The Nields' "Play," Juliana Hatfield's "Bed," Laura Love's "Shum Ticky," Emm Gryner's "Public," Mary Cutrufello's album - I mean, it looked like someone at Mercury had raided the promo closet and made a quick buck. I bought them all, thinking the company might want them back, and if not they'd make good gifts. Seemed like a good idea at the time, a rescue mission. After several phone calls, it became apparent that noone really cared and if there was some pilferage or other wrong-doing, there was no way to control it. The only non-indifferent response I got was from The Nields' manager, bless her heart, who told me that selling promos is illegal because they are the property of the record company (there are stickers stating this on most promos) and wanted to know the name of the store. So I was out nearly $100 but I didn't do much more Christmas shopping! Well that's my Mercury experience. There was a point, but I forget what it was. Oh yeah - corporate mind set. When you work for a large corporation it's all too easy to get sucked into thinking that it's all somebody else's money, why should I care? Major labels have the bucks to hire more people, and if you don't do your job the way they want you get fired and there are hundreds ready to take your place. This is why I like indies. They are staffed by people who are drawn to the artists on that label, they believe in the music, and they really care about what they are doing, because if they don't do what has to be done, there's noone else behind them who'll do it. Majors seem to forget that they started out as indies, and that it's supposed to be music of the people, by the people, for the people, and it shall not perish from the earth!! Well, it must be Lincoln's birthday or something. That's my 2¢ worth anyway. Peace JourneyBear ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com - ------------------------------ To unsubscribe, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: unsubscribe harbinger That's the way to unsub even for poor, benighted AOL users. Digest, further unsub and problems FAQ at: http://www.netaxs.com/~jgreshes/lists/harbinger.html For This Fire kinda-lyrics write Riphug@aol.com ------------------------------ End of harbinger-digest V4 #17 ******************************