From: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org (jinglejangle-digest) To: jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Subject: jinglejangle-digest V5 #20 Reply-To: jinglejangle@smoe.org Sender: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk jinglejangle-digest Wednesday, January 30 2002 Volume 05 : Number 020 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [MLL] More Sticky Caramellos [Recordings@aol.com] Re: [MLL] More Sticky Caramellos ["Jonathan Gillespie" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 13:42:20 EST From: Recordings@aol.com Subject: [MLL] More Sticky Caramellos >I think I make a pretty fantastic mixtape, but the last thing I would want is to have some lowly record label (the dropoff from Sony to Rubric is pretty astounding) manufacture and distribute them for me. < (from Caramello's review) This line REALLY pisses me off, the implication being that any huge conglomerate record label is better than a small independent. Major labels are only preferable because they rule in distribution; but how important is that now, with the growth of the internet? All you need to find any album now is access to a computer with an internet portal (worse-case scenario: go to the library.) Mary Lou got a sizeable advance from Sony, but you can be sure they charged most publicity & video costs back to her. The amount of "real" money MLL gets from Rubric per CD has got to be higher (and we're not even counting busking returns or CDs sold on the street.) The other implication is that MLL's work for Sony, GOT NO SHADOW and THE PACE OF CHANGE, somehow sucked, causing her "dropoff" to Rubric. The truth is, GNS was very well-received critically, with an average 3 out of 4 stars. Okay, it didn't sell millions; neither have Mariah Carey or R.E.M. lately. The record biz is absolutely brutal, and artistic quality translates into monster record sales only rarely. And how many artists have left the majors for the minors WILLINGLY, happily catering to a niche audience instead of trying to please the entire freakin' world? (The same world that loves Brittany Spears?) And just as an aside: I'd love it if Rubric wanted to put out my mix tapes - wouldn't you? Dino ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 14:29:19 -0600 From: "Jonathan Gillespie" Subject: Re: [MLL] More Sticky Caramellos Dude, chill out. That reviewer's opinions really don't matter. Sometimes, a writer finds him or her self required to write about a subject on which they have no knowledge or interest, and what usually results is a string of not very well thought through remarks. Whoever Carmello is, he/she just needs to put on a Fugazi tape, fade away into nothing, and be ignored. Just my opinion, Jonathan who isn't going to start flaming on this list cause Rachel will kick me off _________________________________________________________________ Join the worlds largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 18:25:28 EST From: BillyCorganGrrrl@cs.com Subject: [MLL] Re: jinglejangle-digest V5 #19 Don't stress over reviews... those people only seem to judge on what's "trendy", and not what's good. MLL has loads of talent and passion, and anyone who doesn't appreciate her music for what it is has no business critiquing music in the first place. - -Kel ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2002 04:45:27 +0000 From: "Journey Bear" Subject: Re: [MLL] More Sticky Caramellos You make some good points. Here's what I think - > >I think I make a pretty fantastic mixtape, but the last thing I would >want is to have some lowly record label (the dropoff from Sony to Rubric is >pretty astounding) manufacture and distribute them for me. < > >(from Caramello's review) > >This line REALLY pisses me off, the implication being that any huge >conglomerate record label is better than a small independent. Major labels >are only preferable because they rule in distribution; but how important is >that now, with the growth of the internet? All you need to find any album >now is access to a computer with an internet portal (worse-case scenario: >go to the library.) Mary Lou got a sizeable advance from Sony, but you can >be sure they charged most publicity & video costs back to her. The amount >of "real" money MLL gets from Rubric per CD has got to be higher I believe you mean the percentage of the amount of the sale that actually goes to the artist, after production costs and distribution costs and whatever percentage goes to the CD's producers etc. This is typically larger for smaller, independent labels, with lower overheads. Ani DiFranco has every major artist beat, a few times over. >(and we're not even counting busking returns or CDs sold on the street.) Exactly. This revenue stream, multiplied by the number of musicians working this way, drives the majors batty, because they can't get their hands on it. And it's not that big a piece of the pie anyway. You'd think they wouldn't care so much. > >The other implication is that MLL's work for Sony, GOT NO SHADOW and THE >PACE OF CHANGE, somehow sucked, causing her "dropoff" to Rubric. The truth >is, GNS was very well-received critically, with an average 3 out of 4 >stars. Okay, it didn't sell millions; neither have Mariah Carey or R.E.M. >lately. Mariah proved herself a savvy negotiator. First she wangled an obscene deal with her label, then produced a dud (by their standards), which caused them to offer to buy out her contract. She is crying all the way to the bank. > >And how many artists have left the majors for the minors WILLINGLY, happily >catering to a niche audience instead of trying to please the entire >freakin' world? Independence is becoming a viable option, with the rise of the internet and decrease of production costs. A lot of people in the industry are very concerned about this. I think the two methods can coexist. Some people will always want the big splashy success the majors provide. Some will be happy to work at their own pace and still be able to make a comfortable living. There's no reason it has to be one way or the other. My 2", anyway JourneyBear who almost always has 2" close at hand _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2002 03:36:45 -0500 From: Lee Kilpatrick Subject: [MLL] In defense of original songwriting In regards to the bad review of City Sounds: It doesn't surprise me that the guy had a negative reaction to the City Sounds album. Based on his comments, it seems that he only has a passing familiarity with Mary Lou's work. (He referred to her making "all-covers records". Besides the recent live album, the only other all-covers record was probably the Aim Low split-EP. Certainly she does a lot of covers, but not usually all covers.) Not being that familiar with her music, it is not surprising that he would have a negative reaction, just from seeing that almost all the songs were covers. I mean, basically since Bob Dylan came on the scene, not writing your own stuff has been pretty much "out". Look at today's most prominent practitioners of performance-only -- Britney Spears, those teenage-oriented boy bands -- they don't exactly have the highest artistic reputations. It's easy to have a knee-jerk reaction to someone else who seems to do the same thing. And yes, we here like Mary Lou's versions of the songs, but not *all* of them are improvements over the originals (and probably Mary Lou would be modest/self-critical and say none of them are). (Granted, even if they guy felt that way, his writing style was pretty jerky.) On a related note, I'm not so concerned about Mary Lou doing all original songs, but I wouldn't mind her adding some new ones to her repertoire. I mean, City Sounds was recorded in November 2000, and I'm not sure she has permanently added any new songs to her concerts since. I think there was a flirtation with "Love at First Feel" last year, and I always like to hear "Keep Your Distance", but performances of those are few & far between (at least in concerts -- I haven't seen her in the subway recently). Lee ------------------------------ End of jinglejangle-digest V5 #20 *********************************