From: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org (support-system-digest) To: support-system-digest@smoe.org Subject: support-system-digest V6 #73 Reply-To: support-system@smoe.org Sender: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-support-system-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk support-system-digest Friday, March 28 2003 Volume 06 : Number 073 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Liz review, etc. ["Velocityboy3" ] continued.... ["Velocityboy3" ] Re: HWC [Amber ] let Liz put it in perspective for you [LilRussianGirl@aol.com] I am extraordinary ["Mark J. Foxx" ] promo items [LilRussianGirl@aol.com] MTV2 assistance [Kenneth Lee ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2003 10:17:03 -0800 From: "Velocityboy3" Subject: Liz review, etc. 1st off thanks for the review Michael. It's nice to hear 1 from someone who has actually heard it several times. Also thanks for the track listing. My only problem with critics is they think their opinions are universal. Most of the music I like(and they) is not very popular. So what. Music is different to everyone. There is no such thing as godd/bad as far as I'm concerned. There is music I like and music I don't. Period. About promo CD's and ripping off artists. 1 thing that burns me is the amount of criticism always thrown at the consumer. Whoever said it, YES it is illegal to sell these promo's. But the purpose of a promo is to get people to actually listen to it(and hopefully buy it.) And Jeff Gray says they "willingly sign a contract." Please. Any new artist ,unless they are a band of exceptional hype that everyone is chasing gets basically the same contract. Like it or lump it. Your only other choice is to go to an Indy label or release it yourself. No way can you compete w/the distribution networks of the majors. It's more like a gun to your head than signing willingly. If artists want to know why they are ripped off they should look at their labels, radio, tour promoters, etc. Sure some people are going to rip artists off. A bunch of those wouldn't buy most anyway because they don't have the cash. (ie my teenage daughter). Then there are those idiots that just don't want to pay no matter what. It also can be argued intelligently that this actually helps an artists. Anybody read Janis Ian's article in Performing Songwriter(Aimee Mann on cover). Very eloquent and pervasive argument that it actually helps the artist. My view is it probably hurts the Eminem's of the world since they are already so well known. For most others it's welcome exposure. Frankly I don't give a damn when a major artist is losing a few bucks. Boo hoo. Taking their livelyhood out of their mouth. Give me a break. I guess Em is going to have to sell 1 of those 20 cars and a little bling-bling. I'll break this up as I'm long winded as usual. Bill in CT P.S - Head On is actually by The Jesus and Mary Chain. Pixies version was a cover. (Black was a big JMC fan.) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2003 10:49:59 -0800 From: "Velocityboy3" Subject: continued.... I just wanted to make a couple points with my personal expierence involving some of these issues. I frequently go to out of state concerts and as such must buy thru ticketmaster a lot of times. Frankly I hate Ticketmaster but there is no other choice for me. I order online so it limits the human involvement. What happened when Pearl Jam tried to buck the system? Major artists were shockingly quiet on this matter. How come? Because they don't want to bite the hands that feed tham. I paid $8 in fees for a $10 SK ticket once. That's highway robbery. I routinely pay at least 20-25 % of my cash to ticketmaster. For doing very little IMO. When Pearl Jam tried to buck the system it was almost impossible as ticketmaster controls a great deal of the venue's. How can you tour when you don't have a place to play? And regarding promos I have a personal story. #1 Promo's mostly go to critics(you know the 1's that accuse the artists of selling out), radio stations and music mags. Artists hope they like it and get the word out. Radio stations backmail artists to do radio shows for free or they don't play their music. A year or 2 ago I was browsing thru used CD's at Cutler's in New Haven where alot of Yale students go. It was mid Feb and I found Krisin Hersh's new release Sunny Border Blue. It wasn't going to be released for a month and yet here it was for $7.50. Clearly marked a promo too. No way I wanted to wait a month so I bought it. And loved it. At this point I went right to the Throwing Music site and told Billy O(Kristin's hubby and manager) about what happened. Told him where I bought it too. He just seemed resigned to this practice. This is a legimate record store selling something clearly illegal. Where's the outrage? Wouldn't a store want to sell it for 2wice the price? Not when they got it much cheaper. I'm sure they look at it from a business prospective.(ie $) I did buy it months later BTW. I have spent long hours talking with my cousin about all these issues at great length. He is in the band Big Head Todd and the Monsters. Record sales are probably slightly above Liz's. He just got dropped from a major last year. They are now releasing it on their own as they did in the beginning. Much like Wilco the record company refused to release their last album. Took almost 2 years of legal wrangling and then they were allowed to buy back their masters. He thinks record companies as we know it are on their way out. I agree. He loves the internet as a way to release music. He doesn't see the majors as being on their side that's for sure. How many artists think their label is ripping them off. I'd bet over 80 % easy. And BTW how many of you put in for your rebate from the major labels? Class action lawsuit by the consumer's(not the artists) having to do w/price fixing. Seems record companies would not sell product to stores who sold them too cheap. Correct me if I'm wrong, but what difference does it make to them if they pay the same as any other store. It's their business if they want to use it as a loss leader. Why do CD's cost twice that of tapes? When they cost less than 1/2 to produce. Frankly when they answer these questions I'll worry about some frat boy ripping them off. The labels are running scared because they see there diminished role in the future of music. (And profits). Just wanted to say there is more than 1 side to this story. Thanks for reading if you got this far. Bill in CT ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2003 08:34:29 -0800 (PST) From: Amber Subject: Re: HWC I thought the exact same thing after hearing about the song. I've read about that study or another one like it. It was in a different magazine or a newspaper or something, though. It mentioned that women "who had a regular dose" were (I can't remember the number but,) so many times less likely to be depressed. Some chemical contained in it, is what they said because sex with out the "dose" didn't work. Crazy > It was > about this honest-to-God medical study on women who > had unprotected sex vs. women who had no sex or > protected sex.... and these doctors concluded that > women who had a regular dose of "HWC" were happier > and > in a better mood than those that didn't. I kid you > not. They said it was something about the horomones > in > semen that made women happy..... I don't think I > have > to explain the reaction it got in the magazine. I > think the study may have been disproven later. > Anyway, > it just makes me wonder if Liz keeps up on her > Medical > Journal reading. Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop! http://platinum.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2003 19:46:17 EST From: LilRussianGirl@aol.com Subject: let Liz put it in perspective for you With all of the negative reviews, I stumbled across this on Ken's site and re-reading it now after hearing everyone dog the new record gives this email new perspective. Note what she says about moving "closer to center" and not taking everything so seriously. Remember, she had already heard the album when she wrote this and must have been aware of what folks would say. (Duh) It was refreshing to read...hope you don't mind this reposting Ken....I am just hoping ti will positively pick things up around here.... ******************************************************************************* ************** Oh, I'm just having the best time checking this site out. I love what you've done with it. There seems to be a small furor going on about release dates and evil production couplings, and all I can say is, really, no REALLY, don't worry. The Matrix songs are great, mainstreamy, but really exceptional as such. I needed to get on the radio, and they and I have had an unusually fruitful four song pairing. It's obviously different than my own quirky stuff, but we've amazed the label with a four for four hit-type factor, and no one who's heard it ( myself included) can stop playing it because it rocks and is fun and slick and smart. So that's that. Inside the game of the music business, I've turned my fate around with these tracks and am poised for a nice ride. Which is important to me. A huge part of my motivation in any creative endeavor is ignoring, if not down-right spitting in the face of, the words "No, you can't." I'm just rebelious. I hate that they say you can't get on the radio. I hate that those suited executives look at me (Or looked, thanks to some fabulously generous and outstanding work by Michael Penn, Gary Clark, and The Matrix) and think, "Art Piece. Hang it on the wall. Can't do anything else with it." You might understand that Music Industry is just another Guyville and I want to take it down. Or sit on top of it. It's just my nature. And it wouldn't be satisfying if I didn't love the music I make. I absolutely love some of those Matrix songs. I finally made music, like 'Extraordinary' and 'Rock Me', that I want to blast out of the windows of my car, waiting to park at Universal Studios for KCRW Christmas show. The Matrix stuff is the kind of stuff you take to rural America and play at top volume for your cousins because they get it, and they like it, but when they hear the words, it shocks them. I live for that reaction. As for my own art, there are many, many songs recorded over these last four years that we're deciding what to do with. Many are just me and my guitar, maybe not as good as at twenty-five, when all I had to do in the world was sit around, get stoned and play guitar, but alot are pretty special. I even thought of starting a subscription service to do like a song-a-month club on-line, because, why wait? I write songs all the time, and in their nascent form, are quite possibly more brilliant, especially to all my brainiac fans out there who don't need their art pre-digested. Release date for the proffesional album is very firmly May 22, 2003, because any longer than that and I run out of money. Expect to see me playing shows very soon, as per that money thing. No title as of yet, but I'm hovering around a 'night' image. I don't know what else to tell you, but if you can stand to move a few feet closer to the center, I promise the album rocks. And if you can't, then have a laugh and wait for the demo material to trickle out. It's only music. You don't have cancer. I write it for me. It fulfills my need to speak, to be understood. And if I change, and you don't like it, I can't help you. Because only when I'm traveling in my life, when I feel like I'm transforming, or having some adventure, will music come flooding out of me. Friction, baby! P.S. I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't give out my email xxxxoooo Liz ********************************* Remember? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2003 19:16:36 -0600 From: "Mark J. Foxx" Subject: I am extraordinary A long clip is up at Supernova of "Extraordinary", and...it's excellent. I feel bad for judging it based on that one clip. Daaaaaaan or whoever said pretty much...exactly what I was going to say about it. That review completely changed the way I'm looking at this album. I'm *so* pumped now. _________________________________________________________________ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2003 20:35:14 EST From: LilRussianGirl@aol.com Subject: promo items OK, I am confused now. Someone knowledgeable please correct me. I want to understand the legalities, not debate the ethics. It IS illegal to SELL promo copies. It IS NOT illegal to BUY promo copies. True or False? I'm not trying to keep this up - I just want to understand correctly. Thank you. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2003 21:26:15 -0800 From: Kenneth Lee Subject: MTV2 assistance Hi all, Could some kind person tape the MTV2 segment for me on Friday? I currently don't have MTV2 (don't ask). Any help would be much appreciated. - -Ken kenmlee@ix.netcom.com MeSmErIzInG - AnOtHeR LiZ PhAiR WeBsItE http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/2471/ ------------------------------ End of support-system-digest V6 #73 ***********************************