Excerpt from Gilli Moon’s book, JUST GET OUT THERE (see end for details) If you caught this in April's Music Connection, then I hope your creative juices are all flowing :) If you didn't, or even if you did, here's my full article I wrote, and some additions that didn't make the magazine cut. Enjoy!

1. It takes Passion – if you’re not passionate about it, you’ll be left behind by those who really are truly passionate about it, and love it.

2. It’s all about how you balance your time: time management – be organized with your business affairs and with how you use your time. Create a schedule that includes your music biz stuff and time to be creative.

3. It’s a life long journey – being an Artist Entrepreneur is about being in it for life. It’s all about enjoying the process and understanding it’s lifelong. So take the time and enjoy the journey.

4. You need to see yourself as a business – Use left and right brain thinking. Diversify your talents. Be creative with a business mind.

5. Learn my 3 Os: Optimism + Organized = Opportunity - If you don’t have optimism, it will undermine your Art and every step you have taken towards your path. Allow opportunities to manifest in your life by learning to create JOY in your life! Being organized means being business minded, disciplined and getting your ducks in a row. All this provides opportunities… and they come when you least expect them!

6. Know thyself and represent yourself appropriately - Whether you want to be a rock star, or a consummate Artist, or both, you need to be clear and focused with what path you take and how you are going to promote yourself. If you can’t describe Who You Are well, you could be sabotaging every future step. Getting to know your competitive advantage and unique selling point (marketing of you) is the next step.

7. I AM versus I WANT -  If you only proclaim that you "want" something, then all you will ever get is "wanting" without any actualization. Use your words carefully. Introduce yourself to the world as someone who already is. That way you are empowering yourself to be the person you've always dreamed of being.

8. Get started – just get out there - Take small tangible steps. Write your dreams down, and be as ambitious as you want. Create a plan, starting with some goals that you want to achieve within the next couple of years, and strategies on how you think you can achieve them. Remember, you don’t have to know exactly how to get there, but just write what you know, for now. The doors will begin to open.

9. Age doesn’t matter - It doesn't matter how old you are in the world of Artistry. Ignore what you hear from hearsay: you can be any age you want to be as an Artist in the Arts business. It all depends on the market you are targeting (so know your market). You have all the time you need. We are Artists for LIFE.

10.Learn but also be all knowing - Be the student of life, but know you have what you need to be who you want to be. By taking that first step, the other foot will follow, and the seemingly foggy path will clear up and illuminate the way.

11. Seek no one else’s approval but your own -  I'm not suggesting that we don't seek advice, or that we have to do things alone, but at the end of the day, you must make the decision as to what’s best for you. Also, work with others, just don’t rely on others to make it happen for you.

12. Community and Relationships - Bringing people together, and networking within your community or communities you participate in, is the key to success. Relationships are THE most important aspect of developing your business. Remember to ask “what can I do for you” first before you expect something in return. Also, capitalize on your current contacts. Go through your rolodex (Outlook, contact list, Facebook). You’ll be surprised who you know that might be just the person you need.

13. Enjoy it. It is a game - How can one possibly proceed into the world of the Arts without seeing it as a bit of fun? My gosh, we are so lucky as Artists to pursue a life in music!  The world has gotten so serious! Think of it like a 'game' and know that this game is made up of people playing the game. The 'game' of the music business can be played with tenacity, joy and passion, if you put your mind to it.

14.  Know your uniqueness - Many Artists all wanting those top 10 slots on the Billboard charts right? Wrong. There is room for everyone at the ‘top’. It all depends on what you want, and what you bring to the table. You all have something very unique about you that can tap into a market all to itself. You CAN find your niche for your music if you know what makes you unique. I’ve always called this “finding your competitive advantage = Your talent + your uniqueness.”

15. It’s a choice – you “choose” to do it - Yes, that’s right. You’re not a victim here. You want it? Then do it, but don’t complain about it. Remember, you’re a business person, in the business of music.

16. Dare to be different - Are you afraid to be different? Artists are innately interesting, so just being yourself goes a long way. Stand up to your own individualism. Sometimes you just have to be adventurous and daring, and be WHO YOU ARE. Go for it!

This month J.Walker and I went to Denmark. Now, this country is not an ordinary hop skip and a jump for an Aussie girl who lives in Los Angeles, especially if one goes only for five days. That’s right, I ended up going for five incredible days, and the most fascinating part is I’d do it again 10 times over!
I was invited to come speak to the Songwriter Clubs of Denmark by Koda (the Ascap, BMI, Apra there), preceding the famous national Spot Festival that happened also on the weekend. The Songwriter Clubs, or Danske Sangskriverklubber, are a series of small but focused songwriter organizations around Denmark that support songwriters in their quest for exposure and learning. They are all independent, but the leaders all come together and meet, network and vote on various needs that Danish songwriters may need. I couldn’t understand their actual meeting component… it was all in Danish! But I spoke to the leaders (about 35) about an interesting topic to all of us artists really… how to network and tour… and specifically, how to network and tour overseas. My perspective was unique, yet very worthwhile for the Danish songwriters, as being Australian and going to the US to chase the bright lights of stardom, I knew I had kindred spirits in the room who see crossing shores as the way to “make it”.
Naturally, I break the illusion on all that fame and fortune stuff, and define success on my own terms, which creates a whole different slant to speaking to artists that I think is way more grounded and real. If you want to know more about my fascination with music biz realism, check out my book I Am A Professional Artist and this blog DIT: Defining the Music Industry In This New Era.
Needless to say, I had a wonderful time not only speaking to the Danish songwriters and answering questions, but also interacting and hanging out the whole weekend, during the Spot Festival. It was a memorable time and I’ll never forget the experience.
But it does lead me to a cool topic that I covered in Denmark and also in some Songsalive! Workshops recently: Tips and Tools on how Songwriters can Network.
It’s all pretty point form, but it might get your juices flowing.
Tips and Tools on how Songwriters can Network

By gilli moon
The importance of education, training and feedback
· Improve your songwriting craft. Listen to what’s out there, learn from the best, gain feedback, and don’t put songs out until they are ready.
· Come to songwriting workshops, such as Songsalive!; listen to panels with top songwriters and music conferences; buy great books on the craft of songwriting (John Braheny’s Craft And Business of Songwriting at www.songsalive.org/store)
· Work and re-work your songs until you really feel that they are ready. Don’t put them out till they are ready. A great script writer edits their script up to 20 times.
· It’s important to define what you are good at, your strengths as a songwriter, composer, lyricist or a combination of all. Know what you are good at and hone in on those talents.


What do we need to get over?
o Hurdles to climb – yep there are. But don’t be a victim of them
o The music industry is tough. It’s the hardest business there is.
o You need money, lots of it. You’ll spend a lot!
o People can zap your energy. There are some real vampire energy zappers out there. Pick your friends carefully.
o Friends and family can be your worst critics
o Some say there’s limited opportunity. You could see it that way. I see it differently though.
o Our worst negative thoughts: our own Torments of the Mind
o Commence-aphobia, my favorite term. Why this is a problem? Because our biggest fear is starting something. We procastinate as artists. We wait for others to tell us when it’s ready. We wait, we wait. We fear.


How to overcome all that: become a self-empowered artist
· Do it because you love it.
· It’s a choice. You chose to be a professional artist, so… don’t play the victim (“oh I’m so broke, but that’s cos I’m a musician”). Nah! That’s just cos you lean on your artistry like a crutch.
· know the difference between art and “craft”. Art comes from the divine. When it comes, it’s bliss. Craft is what’s going to get you through the tough days… the ability to fall back on your talent,but the skilled and rehearsed talent.
· It takes passion. A LOT of passion. Without it you won’t be in it for the long run.
· It’s a LIFE LONG journey being an artist. So, enjoy the journey along the way.
· You need balance and time. Make sure you find time for everything that makes up who you are. And learn to time manage your day, because….
· You have to be a business person as well as an artist. Gone are the days when you could just let someone else manage your career. Take hold of the ship and be the captain. Learn the ropes of business and marketing. Left and right brain thinking combining. That’s what the indie movement is all about!
· Learn to diversify your talenst, “spin the plates” so to speak. That brings more opportunity.
· I have a term: the 3 Os. Optimism + Organized = Opportunity. Think about it: a positive attitude and an organized mind goes a LONG way.
· Have a ‘go for it’ mentality. Be self-empowered. It’s all about you and your attitude.
· Endowing success. Walk into the room looking a million bucks.
· Knowing everything is in “abundance”. Even at the 11th hour, something always comes through doesn’t it? Believe that everything you want will happen.
· Take on the I AM THEORY. I am a successful, international recording and touring artist, songwriter and entrepreneur. Yes, I am.



Career building - how to get the most out of your career as a songwriter
· Seek out websites for songwriters
· Read Articles and Resources (see our Resource center at www.songsalive.org/resources)
· Get involved in Local and global organizations and services (like Songsalive!). We are a non profit organization run by volunteers so giving of yourself, and getting involved in your local community is the best way to receive and give back. That’s the universal flow.
· Attend Music conferences. They are always cutting edge in this ever changing music industry.
· Subscribe or access Pitch sheets (Songsalive! Songshop, Bandit A&R, Songlink, Music Business Registry, Film Music Network) and actively pursue pitching your songs to projects, film and television. It’s the new market to get exposure AND make money. REAL money.
· Finding your niche and capitalizing on that – is it
- As a songwriter and artist? Will you be singing your own songs?
- As a songwriter for other artists
- As a film or television music composer? (often hired to write)
- Or a songwriter placing songs in films and tv? (often pitching your already recorded catalog)
- What style/genre of music?
· Who is in your network? Other co-writers, artists, producers, music industry people, tv people etc. Capitalize on current contacts


Seeing you the songwriter as a brand and commodity like Artists do. (building fans, promoting yourself and developing your unique image)
· Songwriters often don’t think of themselves like artists, with the whole marketing / promotiong thing
· uniqueness+ talent=competitive edge - Develop your unique image
· Even songwriters need a professional name: not just artists.
· Brand yourself like a product - “When someone hears the name “gilli moon” they know who she is.” Think of yourself like a fabulous 3 dimensional living, breathing product.
· Website, business cards, flyers, promotion general – great ideas to get yourself out there
· Create a Marketing/business plan – Keep your goals, and strategies how to reach them, in focus.
Tools on how to use Songsalive! to your advantage as a songwriter
· Come to our Critique workshops (meeting people, getting feedback)
· Explore Songshop and Cd sampler (pitching your songs)
· Check out the Get promoted program (to music conferences and industry)
· Join as an Elite membership and get involved in the Connect Network, bridging the gap between songwriters and the music industry.
· Collaborate with our members worldwide: be part of our world nation.
· Get opportunities in our Songnotes monthly newsletter and the daily blog.
· Find resources, read articles and just plain get connected
Songsalive! supporting and promoting songwriters and composers worldwide www.songsalive.org
About gilli moon’s role in Songsalive! www.songsalive.org/team
www.gillimoon.com

Video blog Tips and Tools on how Songwriters can Network - by gilli moon
Watch it Click on pic and you will be re-directed to our blog page on Youtube

(Note the links listed below in the article were live at the time of writing but we don't take responsibility if any are defunct as we don't own them)

The world has gone crazy over podcasting, and I have too. It has been said recently that Podcasting is growing faster than anything in history.

To think that each and every one of us can become a radio programmer and people can subscribe to our taste in music is just simply amazing. One night, at about 2am when I should have been asleep, I was updating my MySpace.com page (www.myspace.com/gillimoon) with some new photos and adding friends. You know, the typical business transactions of the new music paradym shift called "artist empowerment". Getting Friends on MySpace has just become my new answer for worldwide domination!

Anyway... there I was adding friends when suddenly I saw Madonna was asking me to be her friend. I thought, heck this is probably just some fan site of Madonna, but okay I'll accept the invitation. Click. Madonna is now one of my 800 MySpace.com friends. But I was curious. I decided to go to her page. There she was, the real deal, with lots and lots of info on her new album which I'm very excited to hear. I was more excited when I saw, center page, a little icon saying "Podcast Madonna's new album". "Podcast", what does that mean? I immediately wanted a podcast just like Madonna, so I went directly to the company hosting her podcast, gcast.com. From there I began setting up my own podcast, not even knowing what it was, but ever so curious. gcast.com then forwarded me to garageband.com, which is their current host for indie artists. I had an account with garageband.com and so it was time to get my hands dirty. It was now 2.40am

I spent the next hour dabbling in uploading mp3s, and creating 3 podcasts under my profile. One about my own music which is at www.gillimoon.com/download. One for my warrior girl music and females on fire artists at www.warriorgirlmusic.com and one for Songsalive! elite members at www.songsalive.org. You can subscribe to all three podcasts at www.gillimoon.com/download.

So what is podcasting? A Podcast is recorded audio distributed via RSS. Podcasting allows anyone who wants to broadcast to reach a huge potential audience online. More info: Wikipedia's podcasting entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast. You need an application, commonly called a "podcatcher" to download and organize podcasts.

Garageband.com, which allows artists to create their own podcasts free of charge, has a very easy step-by-step guide on setting up your own podcast. It's like "podcasts for dummies" and that fits right in with me because I hate reading manuals and guides when getting into new technology. I am too impatient. They sock it to ya in one minute. Here's what they say about podcasting:

"If you don't know what "podcasting" is, don't worry! You're not the first to ask. Podcasting is a new trend, and there are a lot of people who haven't heard of it or don't know exactly what it is. Basically, podcasting is like blogging, but with audio. ("Blogging," which stands for "web logging," means maintaining a web-based journal). Podcasting is a combination of: a new capability for listeners not only to download an audio file (MP3) from the internet, but to subscribe to receive future audio files from the same source or "channel," and a growing trend of amateur DJs creating their own "radio shows" as giant MP3 files published on the internet, including both music and talk. Podcasting is very significant for independent music for several reasons. First, it has fueled the rise of amateur DJs who are helping ordinary consumers discover music that they might never otherwise hear on the radio, These amateur DJs help level the playing field for all musicians. Second, podcasting also allows consumers to "subscribe to a band" and receive future material (or messages) from that band -- just as if the band had their own radio station. Third, podcasting addresses a new generation of youth - "Generation i" - who don't own radios or CD players, but who own computers and iPods. For this new generation, podcasting is what FM radio has been to past generations."

So,... with this small but power-packed piece of knowledge, I began to investigate podcasting further, and I have found that it truly is an amazing phenomenon.

Garageband seems to be the way to go for the startup podcaster. Bob Baker, fellow warrior-boy and trusty friend who continues to think the same thing when I do (way to go Bob!) wrote about Podcasting in his e-newsletter: "I went ahead and tested the service by setting up a page there for my Artist Empowerment Podcast. I posted one of my earlier shows plus a newer one with more spoken word marketing tips and some killer songs by Chris Gallagher, Heidi McCurdy and Denny Blake. The GarageBand podcast deal is pretty quick and easy to use. In addition to basic podcasting, you can also record podcasts by phone, encourage other sites to embed your podcast onto their pages, and have fans sign up for email alerts. I think I'll combine this new Gcast page with my own hosted Artist Empowerment Radio podcast page (which I also publish at no cost using a combination of Blogger, FeedBurner and OurMedia), in addition to a lengthier streaming version at Live365. You should probably do the same with your original music: publish podcasts via two or three various targeted, high-traffic sites. The more places people can access your songs, the better your chances of connecting with fans. However, be aware of the pros and cons of making your songs available to others who produce podcasts. Check out this GarageBand BBS Forum post by Domenic Scarcella. It does a good job of explaining the difference between Direct Plays vs. Playlists vs. Podcasts." http://www.garageband.com/bbs/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=radio&Number=248775&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&vc=1#Post248775

Check out Bob Baker's Podcast at http://www.garageband.com/user/TheBuzzFactor/podcast/main, and his website is TheBuzzFactor.com and http://MusicPromotionBlog.com/

Samantha Murphy, independent artist and podcast pioneer, (who I mention below), creates her Podcast with any recording software (her preference is Protools). Read below on how she does that. The cool things about having your own Podcast is

a) You can have it embedded in your own artist website, your MySpace.com page, anywhere you can manipulate the html code of a webpage you host on the Internet.

b) Fans can listen to your podcast

either through the Internet, there and then from your webpage, or download the mp3s to their computers through a podcatcher download the podcast to their ipods through a podcatcher subscribe to the RSS feed so that every time you as the podcast host change your show, it automatically updates on their computer or ipod (this is the coolest part!)

c) Fans can also take the html code of your podcast and put it on their sites, thereby adding to the ultimate goal of spreading your music far and wide. Talk about viral marketing at it's best!

But what are the pros and cons of that? What are the ramifications of spreading music, what with the new digital download rights arena, the RIAA's feelings on this, and well just how do artists get paid? Isn't that what we want in this new music revolution? For artists to finally be in control of being paid? I mean, Napster was certainly a great catalyst for change, where the consumer became in control of what they wanted to listen to, but it opened up a can of worms on how to allocate royalties for the artist. It has been suggested that Napster created a phenomenon where consumers thought music should just be free. We all understand the concept of sharing music in order to get the word out there, but at a certain point shouldn't the artist be paid for their hard work and creativity? So how can podcasting help the artist? I attended and spoke at the Rockrgrl Music Conference (www.rockrgrl.com) last weekend in Seattle WA, which was a very inspiring weekend for me. I went to a few workshops. I happened to sit in on a really great Panel discussion about Podcasting. Oh.my.god i'm so inspired to embrace this new technology. I have already developed 3 podcasts in the last week. I took notes. I was writing like crazy, because I was eating up every word they said. Actually the panel was also about blogging, which included discussion groups like Myspace.com and where Napster was going, so I'll entrance you with a little update on the world wide web phenomenon for music herewith:

On the panel were Panos Panay from Sonicbids (another trusty friend who picked up my Newsweek interview while lying on a Cyprus beach and loved that i mentioned Sonicbids! What a small world!). Also on the panel were Jeff Heiman from Play Network, Michelle Santosuosso from Napster, Elise Nordling from Soma FM and Samantha Murphy, artist/podcasting pioneer. Samantha seemed to know exactly what podcasting was about and as an info junkie like me, she just sort of took the ball and ran with it at the beginning of the year, so she's leaps and bounds ahead of the pack and seems to be very cluey about what it is, where it's going and what the benefits are.

Samantha said that Podcasting is an mp3 download. It's not a broadcast. Apparantly it will be legislated as an mp3 download. You can create a podcast with talk before a song and after, just like a radio show. You can make that in any recording software, like Protools. (I use Cool Edit because it's simple and you can insert mp3s/wavs and record your voice, but you don't need a Mac or a huge studio set up). It can be from 3 mb to over 40 mb.... but better to keep it light as people have to download it. Fans can listen to the podcast at their leisure through their ipod or computer. Panos Panay says it's like "Tevo for Radio".

Once created it gets fed to other different sources and RSS feeds. Itunes picks it up also, and it can get a lot of attention if it's officially listed. KCRW, the ecclectic public broadcast radio station in Santa Monica CA, was one of the first to create a free podcast (for members) of their weekly show on their website KCRW.org. When itunes first picked it up they had 100 subscribers. In one day it went to 100,000 subscribers. They now have over 1 million subscribers. Not bad for a left of center non-profit radio station.

There are copyright issues that are going to happen... Elise Nordling, radio host in San Francisco who also has her own podcast, mentioned that there are two copyright laws involved when it comes to podcasting. The first is the Song composition - owned by the songwriter and publisher. The second is the sound recording - owned by the master owner/Artist and/or Record Label. So basically, at this stage, anyone hosting their own podcast needs to get permission from both these two entities, which could be the same person. An independent artist who has produced and funded their own album most probably owns their songs and their masters. But not always the case. It can be a real hassle hunting down the copyright owners to get their permission to podcast essentially their song.

At this point in time there is no way to pay/track royalties for the use of songs in podcasts. Podcast hosts have been able to find lucrative ways to make money though. Jeff Heiman from Play Network runs a podcast and he collects money through advertising. In turn, he has begun a nice payment model where he allocates a percentage of advertising revenue to the artists (and/or copyright owners as per above) for playing their songs. But he is always very careful to play songs that are easy to get a release. He admitted that since there is no revenue stream in place yet, that the best thing to do is split the advertising revenue on a favored nations basis. (Each artist played gets the same amount of money).

Elise Nordling and Samantha Murphy only play songs of artists that can give permission for both parts of the copyright there and then. Elise says she simply asks the artist to sign a form and then she can play them. They don't want to go chasing labels and 5 different people just to play their music.

Panos talked a little about Adam Curry, who started podcasting. He mentioned that the best podcasts are where you get to hear snippets of songs in a show of about an hour. Some songs are only 30 seconds long because copyright legislation allows "fair use for demonstration" which is 30 seconds long. This kind of overrides the need to always get permission. (I thought this was kind of spooky to hear this. It reminded me of the early days of Napster when they claimed they were just sharing songs with their friends... yeah 100,000 of them which spread to millions!)

So then the Napster representative began to speak herself. Michelle Santosuosso was particularly concerned for artists and their royalty payment needs, which was very ironic to hear, although I was certainly comforted if indeed Napster is now understanding this dire importance. She said that the RIAA is upset because they cannot collect fees for the copyright owner yet from Podcasts. How ironic again? You know who the RIAA represent right? The major record companies. Isn't is such a shame (I am using sarcasm here) that the labels are unable to stop spreading art, that consumers can control what they want to listen to? Samantha Murphy has been keeping a close watch on the discussions and future of these download rights for the songs. Apparently Ascap and BMI are already collecting $300 a year from major podcasters for so called "broadcasting" songs. The weird thing is that the songwriters are not getting paid? So where is the money hiding? Why aren't songwriters getting paid. They claim it's too hard to divide it up because it's impossible (at this point in time) to audit the statistics and downloads. So why are they collecting the money and who are they harboring it for?

Michelle from Napster offered a cool site to check out called www.musicpodcasting.org. It's the Association of Music Podcasting. I went there and got another blast of information which my brain is just soaking up like a sponge. In their own words, AMP was formed in January 2005 to unite podcasters who play awesome, legally available independent music. We are a bunch of music lovers who have access to great, mostly independent music that you probably haven't heard of (yet). We provide a fresh alternative to the radio you may be used to. It is all 100% legal and safe to download."

At the Rockrgrl panel, Michelle at Napster defined the new era of podcasting as being majorly powerful for indie artists. Even Derek Siver's CDbaby.com has joined in on the fun. He has offered over 2,500 artists' songs to www.podsafeaudio.com, from cdbaby artists who've opted in to this opportunity. It's listed now at itunes. Powerful grassroots marketing stuff don't you think?

Samantha Murphy says that podcasting is growing faster than anything in history. In January there were one hundred associations of music podcasting. www.musicpodcasting.org was the first. Now there are millions, and once you create a show, it's up there in cyberspace in perpetuity.

Success stories for artists through podcasting? Panos from Sonicbids says that it's not about success stories through this phenomenon. Podcasts, EPKs (electronic press kits that he has re-invented with a vengeance), and web blogs are merely tools to get out there. We are living in the best of times, where artists are able to make a living by what we love to do. It used to be about being signed to a label and touring. Now it's about diversifying the access to the world to get our music out there and making a living from it, and the Internet is truly where it's at.

I walked away from that panel on fire and ready to take on podcasting more and more.

So how do you manage your subscriptions to podcasts? Well I've discovered Juice, now on my 7th day of podcast introduction heaven. It's a "podcatcher". I'm getting very cluey on these terms, all in one week. Juice was called Ipodder, but they changed their name. They say "We squeezed "iPodder" out of our name. What’s left is... pure Juice." http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/index.php is where you can download the software to your computer. If you want to listen to podcasts, this program is for you. Juice is the premier podcast receiver, allowing users to capture and listen to podcasts anytime, anywhere. Once installed, the program offers you a way to manage your podcasts... which music program to play your podcasts on (itunes, Windows Media Player etc), checks for new podcasts when the application is started, and more. If you use Windows, like I do, it automatically sends new podcasts to your "My Received Podcasts" folder that Microsoft creates in your Documents. It's pretty seamless really, and very exciting.

Very soon we'll be able to make our own branded Juice Receiver with preset subscriptions so i can package all my podcasts in one area and have it downloaded from my site. For now, you can subscribe to my podcasts individually. Feedburner.com is another cool site to collate all your podcast feeds into one.

But I like Juice. It uses a yellow lemon for it's logo and I don't know why, but that sucked me in. So, go get Juice at http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/index.php and add my podcast feeds to your list today: Warrior Girl Music podcast, featuring Females On Fire artists and gilli moon http://www.garageband.com/user/warriorgirl/podcast/main.xml


I know my Warrior Girl Music marketing mentor and distributor, Ernie Campagna (former A&M executive now independent revolutionist of the new music paradigm with Experience Entertainment) would say to me: "Gilli, now it's about the artist reaching directly to the consumer. That's it. By-pass the middlemen. You can reach your audience directly now. Do your art and they will come." He then emailed me an mp3 of Joni Mitchell's 1970 recording of "For Free", and her words said it all. She really knew it all didn't she?

Thanks for reading,

gilli moon

Online Podcast Resources

- how to create a podcast (feedburner)

books you should read

Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook
201 Self-Promotion Ideas for Songwriters, Musicians
and Bands on a Budget
BOB BAKER
http://www.bob-baker.com/af/gilli1.html

 

gilli moon, recording artist, songwriter, author and entrepreneur, gave a presentation in March 2004 to songwriters and artists at the Songwriters Guild of America in Nashville.

Here is a transcription, kindly offered by celebrated writer Doak Turner, of her talk, which she called MPWR – The Path to Artist Empowerment. As this is an interpretation of her colloquial and informal spoken word, taken by Doak in an effort to capture the message, rather than her direct written prose, please keep this in mind as you read.

gilli moon (transcription from live talk):

Being independent does not mean you have to sign “The Deal” and trust others will work for you. It is a good thing to know you can work with all companies. If you hold out waiting for the big deal it may not happen for you. The music business is all about the business. Music is the catalyst. I feel many artists look for happiness as commercial success, the big money and things. That does not mean happiness to everyone. The business changes, there are fewer and fewer openings to get your songs heard, to get the shelf space in the record retailers. Even if you do get the shelf space, they are rented out by the majors, the posters and exposure takes a lot of money to compete with the majors. Why not give it a shot as an independent artist? It may not give you the big dollar, but this is a big company with a lot of holes to fill. I look at wealth as not how much money you earn, but how much you spend and are able to save. We spend money on silly stuff that we do not need.

 I wrote a book called. “I Am A Professional Artist”. I am going to discuss a couple things that are in the book. I believe that it is important to define your strengths, to work at what you are good at for the business. Spend the time on your strengths making those your competitive advantage. You as an artist needs to find your strength. Uniqueness plus talent equals your competitive advantage. My favorite term is “Commenceaphobia”. Get something done! Self doubt, fears wondering when someone else is going to do it for you – why not take that step on your path? A small step leads to large steps. You have to be passionate or do not do it. Rejection, criticism, negativity from family and friends can take your positive energy. It is a choice to choose to be an artist. People complain about it is not happening for them and they use it is a crutch. You made the choice, if it is not happening, move on, go find your way in the world. It is about you finding your way on this two way street.

I used to have the wrong producers who did not know or understand what I really wanted to say. It is about communication, developing relationships that nourish, not zap you! My three O’s – Optimism, being positive and surrounding yourself with positive people + Organized, learning time management and planning your day and how you want to live as well as the business side sending your e-mails, mediation, playing or whatever you have to do. Optimism plus Organized equals Opportunity! If you have a positive outlook, you just smile and endorphins get released to give you a natural buzz of energy and enthusiasm. Loving what you do, plus what you do in your business and creating. Opportunities come when you least expect it. If you sit on two chairs, you will fall between the cracks. Choose what you are going to do! Do not spread yourself too thin, or you won’t get much done. You can work for a publishing house in Nashville, while you are developing networking, developing websites and get more computer savvy that will help you. Diversifying is a key. You start somewhere and make your journey towards your destination; you can have turns on the way. But eventually find where you are going. Being a businessperson as well as an artist is also important.

Find the people you want to work with on the journey. This is YOUR career. We have heard the stories about things that happen to artist, they get screwed because of bad deals. We can change what happens with our careers. The industry is right in this room! You never know what project can happen with someone in this room. The best way to do it is to “un-network”, that means, don’t think of yourself and your needs first when meeting people. See it as an opportunity to create relationships. The word “networking” has such a bad connotation these days. Some people go to events to meet people that can do something for them, so they can move up the food chain and become famous. It is so me, me, me. Life is about giving to each other, coming together and helping each other. The WOW Factor is working together and seeing things happen – that is what it is about. Not wanting that quick fix.

Let’s educate the youth of today what time and energy goes into a record, - the passion, and the people that make the music to work to touch people and create a reaction. We can do it at the grassroots level and create your own groundswell. Do your thing and take care of your art; the people will come to help you in your life. It will come.

 Knowing that everything is in abundance is important! I am very much an “I AM” Girl. “I AM a professional artist”. I AM who I want to become, …. write it down for yourself. It is OK to have ambitions, but success is not necessarily commercially driven. Your goals are different from others. Finding your own goals can make all the difference to finding what you really want. It can take a lot of work and it is a lifelong journey. It is about waking up every day and enjoying what you do every single day. Telling yourself at night that you love your life and art! If you do this, you have succeeded! It is not all about playing the game to get in bed with Clear Channel to get on the radio and spend millions of dollars! The radio is so manipulated. Janet Jackson goes #1 before anyone has heard her song. Does that tell you anything? Hey maybe one day my label may work with a major label, but the right relationship at the record company is so important.

Learning the business – education is so important. Developing relationships is so crucial! Being the businessperson is the biggest thing right now. We all just want to sing, but you have to be in control of what you do. Artists have had to sue labels, managers, CPAs to get their money. The right people will come to you in time. It is a group effort, no one makes it on their own, and every artist needs the right team. Why not share a little of the profits with the team around you? There’s enough for everyone.

You need contracts. You need to learn contracts. I have my own contract that my attorney drew up for my business. I learned how to write a contract, my attorney checks it. Why not pick up the phone yourself instead of asking people to make phone calls. Find the right people; find the right rewards for them. Define success on your own terms. Enjoy what you are doing. Know not just spin your wheels. Personal achievement is what it is about. People will tell you that you cannot do it, ignore them! There is a place for every single person to shine.

On page 143 in my book, there is a great amount of information on goal setting.  I do goals backwards. I envision myself by closing my eyes. Envision where you are in 10 years time. Think about it, it is not too far way, where are you, what city, who are you surrounded by, what are you about to do, what have you just done, who are you married to, or not, … it is about living, family friends, and finding balance. Write it down what you want in 10 years. Once you finish it, completely written everything that you want, the money and stardom, laying on the beach (hah ha!), and then bring it back to 5 years away and do the same thing. Then 2, then 1. All of a sudden, you’ll have worked out a way to reach your dreams. Just by putting it out there. Then put that little piece of paper away.

It is your own voice, your music and your goal,… find your own place. My music is not Brittany Spears, it is totally different. Find that for yourself, what you want in life. Age does not matter for what you want! Age does matter because you would not have known what you know today. We have all had hardships, struggle relationships and it is all part of you.

How to do it the indie way? Number one- get started – get into the studio, record, get something on tape, let people know what you are doing! This is such a refreshing town to see so many people have such passion for their music. Recording – these days everyone it seems to have a studio, the CD burners, recording at home, it is so amazing what is out there and is now affordable. Finding other songwriters or producers to record and write with that has their own studio. Work together to make it happen. Art programs on computers make it easy with programs such as PhotoShop. I did it this way! You have to learn do it. Cheap printing and CD duplication are out there in every city. Study the bar code options. Short run CD’s like $150.00 for 200 CD’s and a 4-page booklet with the CD. www.mixonic.com have short runs. Type in short run CD in www.google.com and they will give you a list of places for these CD’s. CD Baby is an on-line store for CD’s. www.americasprinter.com has posters, fliers, and postcards. You get 2,5000 fliers for about $125.00. Discmaker.com offers free CD booklet and designs. My non-profit organization www.songsalive.org is a great resource for songwriters.

 Making the CD does not mean that the world wants to hear it, we all thing everyone wants to hear our songs. So many bands spend 10 years together, and then they get a break and then they tour and have hardships during the first tour or recording the big first record. You have to be in it for life, it is not a quick thing for success. You will be going on so many journeys. It is not about blaming the radio and the labels; it is about looking at choices. The radio promotion is important. Bryan Farrish is located in LA. He has a place called Brian Farrish Radio and they talk about payola, under the table and bad stuff that has happened in the business. Brian is very proactive for indie artists’ rights in radio. Good guy to know!

WE are dealing with finding the crumbs to get airplay. I am not looking at those major stations. I believe in target marketing, certain areas. I micro-market by planning my years and target that market one fan and one step at a time. I will give you example, the Northwest region of the country. Great place for the summer. Sleep on the beach; do not spend all our money in hotels. We would book the gigs, call a friend of a friend, call the colleges, get on the yahoo groups such as www.indiegirl.com and www.gogirls.com to network, create my own groups through www.warriorgirlmusic.com www.musicthoughts.com run by www.cdbaby.com and there are so many groups to help each other in the towns. Call the venues, as I have an assistant to help me that used to work at Clearchannel. She works very hard and takes on A&R, management, whatever is needed to make the phone calls. Call the community radio stations in those towns. Send the stations a CD and let them know you are coming to town to see if they will play your songs and interview you. If I have my songs on the radio, you have to be out there and working it, it is a 100% job. I get the gigs lined up. Some gigs pay for the gigs that did not pay. You have to believe that it is a good opportunity. I have met amazing people on the tour. Promoters have been very good, they refer others to me. When I went to New Orleans, I called the local CBS affiliate. They liked the fact I came all the way from Australia and wanted me on their local TV station. When I play with my band, I paint on stage, which is a unique performance that separates me from other artists. I call it Sensuart, bringing the music and art together. Dynamic energy on stage is what it is about. Community TV can also work in some markets. Sell your CD’s out of your trunk to the audience. Pass out fliers to develop one fan at a time at the venues. Have a great relationship with your PRO such as BMI, ASCAP and SESAC; let them know stations are playing your songs. I would encourage you to join one of these affiliations. 70% of your income is likely to be able to come from your PRO’s. TV royalties will get paid by one of these groups. Always get a cue sheet if you get a song in a movie so you can keep track of where it is played. You can down load it in the sites of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC.

You want to find income from various levels that will help you keep doing what you want to do. Do not be so narrow in one area. I have songs in many areas, to be recorded by others, pop, some for movies. We talked about the Northwest. Sometimes you can be out there too much. Create an image and what you want to represent yourself, That can be your dress, your website, what you say, your business and through publicity, reviews, Find quotes to help you form your own image. My CD’s are a concept of what is going on with me.

A lot of songwriters get together in their community. In LA we play songs for each other, but I still need to get out of my town to play. Get out of your own space with short run tours can help your career. Every time you perform make it in a way that you are showing your best songs and performance. You never know who is going to be there in the audience. Think about managing how much you go out, how many songs you put on your CD. Sometimes you want them to know you as an artist and person, other times the mystery speaks best. My Woman CD has 18 tracks. The new one has 14. You want to show a dynamic range and have people get to know you. The first 3 songs have to hit them right between the eyes, have your best 3 songs, show them what YOU do, not someone else, find you in the CD, not someone else. The listener wants to feel what you are feeling in the production.

 Radio play can be done in small steps, whom can you call to get lists of radio stations. The Indie Bible – www.indiebible.com/sa then you can get a discount through songsalive. Get the local press in that market. Send specialized e-mails to the targeted market. Be very direct and give them what they need for their article, sometimes line for line. Put a link to your site in the article so readers can learn more about you. Publicity is excellent. On the website www.songsalive.org you can click on “getting reviews” and it will walk you through of how to get distributed, to get on the web and other aspects that you will need for publicity.

If you can find a publicist it can help your career. You want to know you are going to get the best attention from that person. I had a company that promoted Ani DiFranco and thought it would be good for me, as they know how to talk to the stations every week. They would always promote Ani, and I would get lost in their talk to the stations. They cared mostly about Ani, obviously. Money can be spent in a better way. I have to target each territory. I had success with a song in Phoenix. I went there 12 times and opened for the group “Simple Minds”. It was a 2,000 seat audience and had the performance of my lifetime, had people in line to sign my CD, they signed up for my e-mail list. Develop a community on your site. Go to http://groups.yahoo.com and find out how to start your own yahoo group for your own community. Mine is a newsletter called “Warrior Girl eNews”  and Artistlivingroom an interactive discussion board for all artists www.artistlivingroom.com. I also have Songsalive! Enotes that is an interactive group for songwriters.

 Publicity – public awareness and press, that is media, on-line e-zines to get your name out. You need to back it up with talent. I use my website that attracts people to the site, I have a diary and the people feel like they know me. Bios, photos and performances and a touring schedule keep everyone in touch. Oh yeah – there is a CD at the site for sale. Of course! The website is a big key to getting your name to the people and is YOUR store front. Use it, promote it, bring people HOME to you.

Some servers limit you to how many e-mails that you send at a time, it is not your outlook or outlook express. You need another program such as Go Sender and you can send a million transactions a year. It passes your ISP to send your e-mails. A million e-mails are about $99.00 a year. Bulk mail by e-mail. There are other programs that you can research to help with your efforts.

Marketing – how to get the attention of your audience. Use street promotion tools such as posters, postcards, flyers for gigs and cd launches, stickers, cool swag and merchandise, little things that draw people to you to buy your cd and get to know who you are as an artist. Learn about branding your name, your cd name, your website name, getting into people’s minds. I love postcards. When I receive a postcard it’s hard to throw it out. I have to put it somewhere, like my fridge, or on my desk. The paper is solid cardboard and I feel people have spent money on it so I hang on to them.

Distribution – use CDbaby.com (etailer), Amazon.com/advantage, TheOrchard.com, 101distribution.com, local distributors for mom and pops. Anything you find to get your music out there. But your website, again, is your home. Always link back to your site. Distribution is changing from being the hard core bricks and mortar to online downloads. Soon, consumers will be able to go into a store and have your cd music and cd booklet (skins) downloaded from your site, whereupon you will get immediately paid electronically by the retail store for your share of the profits… instantaneously. No more shipping and storage issues. In fact, no more duplication costs! Distribution is changing and artists can be ahead of this game. Artists to consumers direct. That’s what I’m talking about!!!

We live in a world of change. Don’t be intimidated by it. Embrace it and get on with it. What else are you going to do?!

- gilli moon

 

Doak Turner is a songwriter in Nashville, the editor of the Nashville Muse www.nashvillemuse.com and the correspondent for www.musicdish.com in Nashville.


 

© 2003 gilli moon

Whether we move forward independently or as a united front, I am overwhelmed by the strength, passion and energy that exudes my fellow music compadres in this so-called music revolution. It's not easy going out there and making it happen for yourself. It's a long and hard road, a life long journey of becoming who we want to be, making some sense of our creative urges, and hoping others understand and enjoy what we do. More and more when I tour around I am meeting such wonderful artists who are empowering themselves and their art, believing in themselves, and understanding the art of promotion and the art of business. I am really excited at what lies ahead for all of us who are going out there and making it happen.

  I read the press daily about what's going on in L.A, San Fran, Seattle, Vancouver, New York, Phoenix, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, London.... acoustic music, folk music, alternative music, rock, pop, whatever the inclination... being taken to the people, the masses, in a movement that is surely to be THE way.. the indie way. Not ignoring the "system" of the music industry or even the Majors, for they do bring great business to the industry, but working with, in tandem, those in the industry, creating a circle/network of our own we can call our "industry" and being business savvy and strong in our affairs while retaining artist integrity.   We've come into a world now... although masked by fear, threats of war, threats to our stability, ... but a world that is also encouraging freedom of creativity, where with simple tools we can create the music, manufacture the music, upload to cyberspace and cost effectively distribute it. We live in a new renaissance where we are not only able to (and even forced to in the current economic climate) look within and analyze who we are, but we are able to create our own opportunities simply by working hard, remaining true to our goals, and not giving up. We can have everything we want, if we truly believe it, focus and enjoy every single day. We can work alone, we can work with our teams, we can work with the status quo, or change it all. There are no longer rules.   I look forward to the times when radio (in particular), tv and media are accessible and open to new, good music without any barriers except the acceptable rating of what is good, and not by any other immoral persuasions. I believe in a system where music on the Net is paid for, where people understand the concept of either subscribing to music downloads at a reasonable rate, or that they buy the Cds once listening to the free tracks - but that takes education of the masses to learn to respect music as a service and respect of the artist as a service provider that is worthy of earning as much as any other service provider. I look forward to a time when venues (and promoters of music venues) respect artists of original music, and pay reasonable and fair rates for performances, for we all work hard to entertain and are worthy of such payment.   There is much to change in the music industry, but at the same time, I see many changes, and those are emanating from artists themselves who, like artists through the ages, are overcoming obstacles small and large to create their own opportunities, share their creativity and create a lifestyle that allows them to continue making their art. I am really delighted to be surrounded by individuals such as these, and at times like Christmas, this spiritual season for all inclinations, I want to wish everyone a good one, a prosperous one (for we are all rich in heart) and let us think about PEACE because that is what this world needs right now. With peace of mind in our own hearts, brings peace to the world.   Be passionate one and all!  

© 2002 gilli moon

gilli moon attended NXNE, Toronto in June 2002 and discovered that questions are being answered about payola, copyright infringement and artist control in the music business.

On June 7, 2002, while attending the North By North East Music Festival in Toronto, Canada, I was able to sit in on a very interesting panel discussion. The discussion, titled “The Future of Music,” hosted some illustrious music movers and shakers, some old timers and others, the new pirates of the music frontier. Dick Gabriel, from the American Federation of Musicians (U.S. & Canada) moderated the discussion between Jenny Toomey (The Coalition of the Future of Music, Washington,) Dave Lory (Artemis Records, New York,) Ann Chaitovitz (AFTRA, Washington,) and Bernie Finkelstein (The Finkelstein Management Co, Toronto.)

While an advocate of change myself, I was hungrily anticipating a challenging and heated discussion on how the music business was going to wake up to today’s changes and hardships, regarding Internet, piracy and royalty issues. I found it, instead, quite promising and flowing with hardly any arguments. I guess because this discussion took place outside the courts of recent times.

I’ve used the term “mafia” not in a literal sense, but more in a conceptual, metaphorically speaking way. I’m not referencing any specific person or organization, rather, a state of affairs that concern control, monopolies and bribery that currently exist within the music industry, whether legal or illegal, between artists, radio, promoters and record labels. As we must be all “innocent” until proven guilty, this article merely expresses principles of the music business on how change needs to be made to improve it for artists.

Basically these panelists talked about what has been taking place inside the court rooms between the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America,) who represent the Major Record Labels, and the independent Record Labels and artists. While the issues are quite grandiose, often difficult to explain, and convoluting, what has been going on, in lay terms, is a slow victorious ride towards ridding the following dirty words: payola (particularly in radio promotion), copyright infringements, illegal digital downloads and sharing, and the consolidation of companies causing monopolies.

In my eyes, as the panel discussion unfolded, I began to realize that who we had up on the panels were five keen music industry representatives representing the under-dogs in this tired world of the Music Mafia. Let the peasants revolt!

Here is a little of what was discussed in the NXNE panel discussion. I speak only for what they said, perhaps not word for word as I didn’t have a Dictaphone but certainly in the frame of their message. These comments are not of my own opinion unless I have indicated so. So here are their views about the problems we are facing in the music industry:

Payola Payola was made illegal A LONG TIME AGO! But it still exists in a (so far) legal form today in the disguise of independent radio promoters. Instead of paying the radio stations directly with bribes, favors and trips to the Caribbean (or worse) the Major Record Labels have resorted to paying a middle person, known as the indie radio promoter, the “indie.”

Payola was made illegal A LONG TIME AGO! Yeah, right!

Artists, whether through the Majors or through Indie Labels, pay so much to get on radio that they rarely see any royalties. (Gilli: I know for example, being an indie artist myself, that it costs a minimum of $400 a week for a minimum of six weeks just to start with some radio promotion but this doesn’t guarantee that the radio promoter can get you on radio, nor even in the listening hands. Record Labels spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on their artists. Where do indie artists have a chance?)

There has been huge consolidation of music companies (consider Clear Channel as an example.) Caps on how many one company could own were changed from two to eight in the U.S. recently. Four companies control more than 50 percent of music on the radio.

Jenny Toomey and the Coalition of the Future of Music (in her words, “a think-tank not a lobby group”) were given a grant to study the effects of this consolidation and the problem of payola in radio. They found that less music was being played, less music was being paid for, and prices were increasing in order to get on the radio dial. More about payola at www.salon.com by an article by Eric Boehlert “Payola City.” This article is also linked from www.futureofmusic.org or www.songsalive.org.

“… Virtually all the songs played on a typical commercial radio station – known as “adds” in the trade – are paid for…..The current system is able to flourish partly because the major labels, reluctant to make waves inside the profitable format, have adopted a hear-no-evil, see-no-evil mentality, turning a collective blind eye to the corrupt transactions.” – Eric Boehlert

Jenny Toomey went on to say that Labels will be implicated in this payola practice. Radio will also be implicated. Therefore, it has become a kind of war between the Labels and Radio. A coalition of artist groups went to the FCC and lobbied to say that this practice was “illegal.”

Ann Chaitovitz from AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists http://www.aftra.com), a lobby group, discussed how they, the AFIM, RIAA, Nashville Songwriters Association, NARIS and others (about 10 groups) signed a document to change the payola laws. The movement document was released to the press and 20/20 did a story on it. The issues that the document centered around was about Payola as well as the radio caps – creating more diversity in ownership. Artists need to be able to get onto a local station. Clear Channel as an example, who bought SFX, owns many venues, as Ann pointed out, as well as about 1200 radio stations and on top of that, they control the booking and touring of the artists to these venues and radio stations. In turn, there is a silent blackmail going on with the artists where, if they want to play in the clubs, they have to play for free, if they want to get radio airplay.

Dave Lory, of Artemis Records, pointed out that it takes a $100,000 marketing budget, minimum, to get a song heard on radio (and this is not even including charting). If artists get the chance to get airplay, they are encouraged to come to the radio station’s market (local area). “If they can’t make it (can’t afford to tour, etc.) then they just miss out.” The other problem is that the artists have to play the radio game. If they don’t play their selected venues and follow their rules, they don’t get a chance. It costs $10,000 for every ad on radio. This doesn’t even guarantee airplay. All this combined and if you can’t appear, they drop the record. Period.

“Record Labels created this ‘new payola’ in order to get the music to radio,” says Ann. “It’s like running their own game. But what should be played on the radio should be the best music, not what money can buy.”

“What should be played on the radio should be the best music, not what money can buy.”

Artists Need To Be In Control It’s unfair that those artists getting the hits are in that ‘bad guy mob.’ “It’s not so black and white,” says Bernie Finkelstein. “We tend to put down the charting artists because they have signed deals with Labels that are forced to these measures due to the competition. We shouldn’t be so harsh on the charting artists nor the Major Labels. What we should be working towards is a time when everyone in the industry wants to clean up the system. We’ve been trying to do that for fifty years. Monopolies and consolidation happened even in the 70s with Motown. Nothing much has changed, just new people in power.”

“But to succeed in that system is to buy into it. Artists shouldn’t have to do that,” claims Ann. Jenny also agrees. “SFX which is now owned by Clear Channel, owns huge venues. Artists may not take a penny touring to get radio play which is fine on an interim scale but if you’ve got 14 tour dates, you want to see some tour revenue and radio royalties as well. Because there’s no choice for artists to say ‘no’ then there’s a problem.”

(Gilli: Too many clubs are asking artists to pay to play. In Los Angeles as a classic example, some of the hottest clubs on Sunset Strip require artists to buy tickets upfront, to sell to their fans, in order to play at the club. If they don’t sell their quota they end up owing the club money. Where is the sense in that? Where will the line be drawn that clubs, retail and radio realize that artists are offering a service, that should be respected and acknowledged monetarily?)

Dave Lory says that “most managers and artists don’t have the experience to negotiate with Major Labels on all these issues when marketing and promoting a record. It’s an endless, constant expense of money going out through a Record Label in promoting a record. It’s hard to keep up with it. Yes, you want a ‘hit’ but it will cost, say $500,000 to try. There’s no way to control that.”

The goal in the lobbying efforts, says Ann, is that artists will have more leverage and control over their deals, their airplay, their touring, their profession. “Artists need to be able to negotiate from a stronger position, not give away copyright ownership. Artists need to be more in control of their career and less beholden to the deep pocket.”

“Artists need to be more in control of their career and less beholden to the deep pocket.”

Playing the devil’s advocate (with a certain modicum of support as well) Dick Gabriel from the AFM says that, “to a degree, artists should be in control, but the label also needs to be able to get the music out there. For example there is usually a seven or so year clause in an artist’s contract. This clause allows Labels time to push the music. It’s a juggling act.”

“That’s right,” pipes in Dave Lory. “This is not a Label bashing. I’ve seen both sides. They have been caught up in it and have suffered also (for example, bidding wars, trying to recoup, etc.). The model of a Record Label as a whole has to change. Consider the consolidation of AOL and Time Warner. Their music division makes up five percent of their income, yet play stations make up 35 percent of their income. The model of how they run, with the record company arm having only a 10 to 20 percent hit ratio, makes no sense to the stakeholders. We are opening up Pandora’s Box. Label Executives have been in their jobs for fifty years and they don’t want to change the status quo. But they need to in order to move with the times.

“We are opening up Pandora’s Box. Label Executives have been in their jobs for fifty years and they don’t want to change the status quo.”

Revenue Splits Burning and Internet sharing had begun to erode artist and Label income, Bernie Finkelstein discusses. There was a campaign instigated in Canada called “Neighboring Rights” (still to happen in the United States). This is a system where artists who recorded the record and the master owners of the songs (not the songwriters, who get paid under performance and mechanical rights) get paid on radio airplay. As an example, artists currently who do not write the songs don’t get paid for the songs on radio, even though they performed them. Yet the producer often gets a royalty. This doesn’t make sense. This new Right allows artists to get the money direct. “Nobody expects television programs to be given away to the TV stations so why should artists give songs away to radio?”

 “Nobody expects television programs to be given away to the TV stations so why should artists give songs away to radio?”

In the United States a new law has been instigated for digital webcasts where digital performance rights are being paid 50 percent to the artists and 50 percent to the Labels. Even in the Wild West of the Internet, some new laws are being set in stone to create a better music industry.

With recording albums it is interesting to note, says Jenny Toomey, that “some artists who are able to get leverage, being successful, get songwriting credits on albums even if they didn’t write the song. This is the only way they can get paid upfront.” Ann adds as a side note that “Berry Gordy was listed as a songwriter on most of the Motown songs, and the real songwriter wasn’t even credited.”

“The question is,” as Bernie Finkelstein explains, “if you decide to give 50 percent of your songwriting/publishing to Celine Dion so it gets covered, then it’s your decision. It’s just a business transaction. You can always say no.” “Diane Warren I guess refused that option,” adds Ann again.

Internet Radio Jenny Toomey, in her studies, has spent a lot of time on the topic of Internet radio. She claims that as a webcaster “you must sign the statutory license of you want to webcast.” This was decided by CARP, participants in the Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel. (Side note: The Yahoo deal is different to the Indie webcast deal.)

Basically there is a problem with the CARP deal, she explains. “It’s a ‘one size fits all’ rate. If Indie webcasters had to pay the rate set, it would have put them out of business. So there were talks and there will be hearings about this to change the CARP process. I think you really can make your voice heard through webcasters, and this new process will assist this. We’ll see some less expensive non-commercial and hobbyist licenses. A chance to get in”

“You really can make your voice heard through webcasters.”

Normally agreeing to Jenny’s comments in this discussion, Ann Chaitovitz defends CARP. “The CARP Process was a huge process. Forty days, witnesses, etc. The final rates were graded and there was a non-comm rate based on the webcasters’ yearly income. The web provides more diversity and a new way to access an audience. Now, if you get played on the web , you will be paid. Sound Exchange, a collective of artists and record labels, does understand.  It is trying to work with community broadcasters who want to simulcast. It doesn’t want to put anybody out of business. It wants to pay artists. Make AOL pay. As a musician you shouldn’t have to subsidize AOL!”

(Gilli: You can read the outcomes of the recent changes to CARP on the AFTRA web site: http://www.aftra.org/resources/pr/0202/carp.html. From the site: “February 27 -The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) hail the Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP) decision setting the payment terms that will govern webcasters when they use music on radio-style Internet programs.

"We are extremely pleased that the Panel recognized the critical stake that performing artists have in the royalty fees and payment methods," said Tom Lee, International President of the AFM. "The statute requires recording musicians and vocalists to receive 50% of the royalty fees. We believe that the evidence presented by the unions during the proceeding helped the Arbitrators to understand the nature of the artists' creative contribution to sound recordings and the importance to them of this new income stream. We are disappointed that the rate set by the Arbitrators is substantially below the rate we requested, and we believe that the evidence presented in the CARP proceeding amply supported a higher royalty rate. But we are delighted that artists finally will be compensated when their work is exploited on the Internet." )

Talent Rises Above The Mafia  Indie Radio Promoters work with some radio stations exclusively. They get, say $1000 each from 100 artists but only five may get on the station. “in a perfect world,” says Bernie Finkelstein,” “radio programmers would listen to CDs and decide on what the public wants to hear, rather than what was paid for.”

“There are too many artists out there,” responds Dave Lory. “The songs have to be great, not just good. The cream rises to the top. If you stick to it, it will work. If you pay an indie promoter and the song sucks, it still won’t get paid. It’s still got to be a great song. It takes time to break an artist. It took Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan until their fourth records.”

Jenny Toomey’s goal, with the Coalition for the Future of Music, is “for artists to connect in a more organic way with people who can connect with more people who like their genre of music.”

“Artists should be able to make more money with less people. We’re fighting radio to clean them up because most people listen to the radio for music so we are fighting the big guys. If the conglomerate controls the system then the artists end up paying them and this is wrong.

Copy Protected CDs A question was asked about how the new copy protected CDs will help fight piracy and copyright infringement. Bernie Finkelstein was quick to respond. “It’s a useless endeavor. Any CD that can be locked can be unlocked. I understand the reasoning though. An example is the new Celine Dion record which was copy protected, encoded in a way that would corrupt various computers if copied. We just found out that a young German guy broke the encoding by running a marker over the CD!

Ann Chaitovitz concedes, “Most people aren’t thieves. When there’s a legitimate alternative, they won’t steal. I think that people still want their own CD copy in all it’s glory. But Record Labels have been slow in offering a real service to protecting copying.

Where does the future lie? Bernie Finkelstein admits that in 10 to 15 years he sees an artist-driven industry, based from artist web sites direct to homes. “The focus is that artists need to get people to pay attention to their sites. Good music coupled with good marketing. The Major Record companies will still be around, but changed.”

Jenny Toomey believes that we will technically not erase the function of sharing. “Microsoft increased their business just by the 90 percent of piracy that took place with their programs. People got so used to using Microsoft they bought more!

“We just need to clean up the business so that artists get paid,” Jenny proclaims. “Consumers would want the money going to the artists.”

Ann believes that “the future brings more subscription services for say, $20 a month, with access to music everywhere, in homes, work, the car, the phone. Easy accessibility. On another note, accounting practices of Record Labels are going to be audited. Artists need to be accounted to in the proper fashion.”

In wrapping up this discussion on that fine Canadian afternoon, the panelists gave a warm address to the artists in the audience.

“Stick it out in this learning curve. You need to understand it all. Pay attention and don’t get ripped off. Stay active. Make great music. Watch, while the models begin to change.”

“We just need to clean up the business so that artists get paid”

© 2002 gilli moon

gilli moon, music artist, author and president of Songsalive!, was approached by Tag It/MusicDish to respond to a survey they distributed amongst the music industry at large. This is what she had to say.... 

Response to the Tag It/MusicDish Songwriters Report: "20 Questions With The Songwriting Community"

When I was approached by Tag It/MusicDish to sponsor the Songwriters Report (www.musicdish.com/survey/songwriter) I was somewhat dubious. I mean, here I am presiding over a non-profit organization deserving other sponsorships to keep us alive, and in turn we were asked to sponsor something else. It was the first sponsorship we have actively given and it was out of the sheer joy and enthusiasm to be part of a survey that was attempting to find truth among the corporate industry bullshit that NASDAQ, the Majors, the so-called Internet new age music advertising machine and unqualified music industry sources had created. Let me make this bullshit clearer: How on earth can an industry, once so reliant on bricks and mortar widgets and digit sales, once so engrossed in passion of music and melody, become so elusive by way of the introduction of digital streaming on the internet and internet start up companies? The years of 1999 and 2000 marked a tremendous growth in start-up internet companies which the music industry embraced most of all because of the new technologies. Music internet companies sprang out of nowhere offering artists new vehicles of promotion, marketing, sales, exposure and so-called artist self-empowerment. We all know that by early 2001 I would say about 70% (an unqualified guess but I reckon I’m pretty close) all crashed.

Where did that leave the artist? They were caught up in an illusive, imaginary industry, the so-called digital music revolution…. Napster, MP3.com, Farmclub, IUMA, and hundreds more sites offered alternative means to getting the music out there. Most of these sites have gone, the rest are now contracted to the original monsters of the industry, the Major Record Companies, who have once again successfully monopolized the industry.

But that’s ok. I wouldn’t have expected otherwise. One should never put all their eggs in one basket, and the internet should not be the only basket to rest ones poetry that’s for sure.

So where does that lead us? Back to the roots of the industry. Back to reality. What support structures do we have in place? And who is using those support structures? I feel that Tag It identified a series of questions that sought for the right answers so that "we", the people, the democracy of the music world, can create a new structure of support, marketing, promotion, exposure and fundamentally, sales. For we cannot ignore that if one chooses the path of professional music, it equates to making money. What do we need to make a strong industry that supports artists? We shouldn’t ignore the internet. It has certainly opened up the doors for a new way of seeing and doing. But we need more than that.

Who is the single person that is the basis of success in the music industry? I would like to suggest, in my defiant and outspoken way, that it is the humble songwriter. 

Songsalive! (www.songsalive.org) spends it’s entire program year on supporting, promoting and nurturing songwriters. Why? Because without a song, there is no music industry. Simple.

Not surprisingly, the survey was male dominated. Not sure what to make of this. It was refreshing to note that whilst the survey brought the attention of songwriters nationwide (not just near or in capital cities) that most were performing songwriters (artists) who had been in the industry more than 6 years, some more than 10 years.

It is somewhat interesting to note that the survey says illegal downloading on the internet (Napster, Gnutella etc) did not affect the songwriter’s career. However, consider that this report surveyed a majority of new and aspiring songwriters and artists (58%), with 27% not earning from their music. More than half had not earned one penny from royalties (Performing Rights Associations), let alone from the Internet (more than half again.)

I would like to see how a Major selling artist was affected by the internet through a report like this. I don’t think they have time to fill out reports. Pity. Wouldn’t it be nice that the law suits and subsequent millions of dollars expended in fighting those law suits, identified and protected at least sales of music (!)

In any case, what does a ‘songwriting career’ really mean? In the eyes of the budding artist, exposure is just as much success as making money. I’m sure we can agree that Napster exposed quite successfully songs and artists, irrelevant to the money side. I guess the likes of Metallica could sue Napster for loss of income because, well, they already had a lot of exposure. They already had a lot of money too… However, I didn’t see any new artist (unsigned/indie) step up to the plate and sue Napster. That might have been biting the hand that feeds (exposes) them. Just a thought.

So going back to who had received royalties in their career (48% had not), it was interesting to find that nearly half again believe that digital royalties are the way of the future. Is this based on ignorance? Are we as artists still mystified by the hope of the all mighty savior (this turn of the century being – the elusive internet) to believe that it will replace record companies? Once again, speak up those who have really made money on the internet. Come on, where are you? Ok, some of you have. Ernesto Cortazar, the famous piano player who came out of retirement to gross $200,000 in his first year on payback for playback on mp3.com. Rare.

Back to the original industry monsters. Between 30-40% surveyed have had no experience with either music publishers, indie labels or major labels. That indicates that we still have a large independent scene. The fact of the matter is that most feel dissatisfied with publishing companies. Long gone are the days when the publisher would come along and offer a great deal to push, pitch and pay writers for their works. One reason is that the market for the songwriter has narrowed because so many artists write their own songs. The other reason is that artists are much wiser. Who signs 50/50 or 70/30 (70% the publisher) deals these days when you can set up your own publishing company?

So let's get down to the nitty-gritty…. The part I focused on in the survey - support for indie songwriters. As much as there are Performing Rights Associations in every country, it seems that a lot of songwriters don't know about them. Don't they realize that this is the way one makes money? They pay royalties. I can't stress enough how you need to be a member of these organizations (Ascap, BMI, Apra, whatever…) in order to receive performance royalties. When I meet a songwriter who is not a member of one of these organizations, I can't take them seriously, because they are not taking themselves seriously.

So let's look at the songwriters organization, the humble (usually non-profit) servant to the music writer, such as the organization I preside, Songsalive! 60% surveyed knew about the likes of us and those who did find it either helpful or very helpful. Well that's a good start. It seems the more regional we get, the better we serve. The larger, the less support and the more disappointment. This tells me that in order to properly serve and support the songwriter, or any artist for that matter, it's about small clusters of organizations, meeting the communities needs, rather than fostering some kind of esoteric global vision. Let's see: workshops in your neighborhood, newsletters about services in the local area, a local phone call away for support - that's what I'm talking about.

The bigger the company, the more beaurocratic, the less face to face, and we start losing the artists. Anything to do with spending outrageous amounts of money (high membership, paid song retreats) don't work as well. We are talking about poor artists here. Let's not try and rip them off.

When I first arrived in Los Angeles I was flabbergasted at the copious amounts of services directed to poor artists.. I guess that's what makes the Hollywood machine. But it was sad to see artists being so hungry to 'make it', that they pay almost anything to get inside the 'inner circle.' From headshots, to demo production, to showcase gigs (yes venues here have a stupid 'pay to play' scheme [no, scam] going on…) artists answer the ads in Music Connection, LA Weekly, New Times thinking and hoping they are on a winner.

Mind you the survey indicated that most found music magazines adequate or even helpful. The Internet magazines cropping up seem also helpful. Yahoo Groups has a string of music groups available to chat, network, post gigs and find resources and they are all Free. It seems that free Internet newsletters are the most favored - direct, in your inbox that very day. However, song tip sheets are very disappointing to most. "Quick, send in your song, for a hot signed Major artist looking for that next hit!" Why are they disappointed? Is it because the competition is so fierce to get that song heard? Or is there so much shit out there all the good songs have to swim really hard to get to the top? I think a little bit of both.

Finally, I am going to come around in a circle here: based on the survey it is apparent that the Internet does support, ultimately, the independent songwriter. Songwriters seem encouraged by not only creating their own web sites and uploading their songs, but also by hosting their songs on other sites. Now, this may not be translated into record sales (as I mentioned in the beginning of my response, it seems not,) but it certainly adds to the self-empowerment of the artist. The Internet has become a viable means for artists to take control of their music. They can decide (usually…. Bad boy Napster!) where they want their music and when. Sites like mp3.com, vitaminic.com, iuma.com and others, invite artists to upload their songs and usually they get their own web page to host their biography and photos as well. For the budding artist, this is a great tool.

I encourage all artists and songwriters to empower themselves and take control of their careers, waging guerrilla-lie tactics on the so-called mainstream music industry (whether that's major labels, publishers, national songwriter organizations that do little to appease the music masses.) Embrace your local community and small non-profit music organizations. Be wary of those just trying to suck your energy and your money. Learn, network, and perform. Good luck everyone.

"Revolution never happens suddenly on a global scale. Revolution happens on the streets. It’s time to unleash the warrior within."

© 2001 gilli moon

Now... let me first introduce my musical backgrounds... I'm a pop girl. Pop
music, Funk, Rock and Roll is my bag! Anything with great hooks, groove, hip
hop beats to jive to and hunky heartthrobs on MTV... and I'm there! So, the
cynic that I am happily accepted the invitation and with some reserve I
arrived at B.B Kings on Universal City Walk, for pre-Awards drinks with the
CBS bunch.

I was prepared to see lots of bouffant hair-dos, tall cowboy hats, and
jeans. What I didn't expect to find was the most elegantly dressed,
beautiful women in all the sparkles you could possibly imagine, gorgeous men
in suits (yes the black cowboy hats with studs, some reaching higher than
7ft!), and celebrities galore. Oh, did I mention heart throbs? I realized at
first glance, that I, as an artist, was in the wrong music field. The spunks
were in "Country"!

We began our trek from BB Kings to the Universal Studios like a herd of
sheep in our glitz, past the decorated tables in the sun that were awaiting
us for after the show, into the Theatre itself. Inside it look similar to
the Sydney Entertainment Centre, and tonight the stage was amass with props
and sets and cameras on dollies. We were to be the live TV audience.

Later I found out that this Dick Clark Production was better than the
Grammies. Thirty-one acts, one after the other, with amazingly quick setups,
just blew me away. The timing was great and the show ran seamlessly, well at
least from a spectator's point of view.

First up, the tiny, (not everywhere) Dolly Parton. My gosh, she looked so
good for her age and her comic style was great. The hair, the dress, the
one-liners, the whole bit.. I was very impressed. She goofed on her
rockabilly number, even with lyric cue cards and M.D (musical director)
conducting the timing to her from the back of the Theatre, BUT she was still
full of spunk. First performer was George Strait, followed by the aging
George Jones. I had no idea who he was but he was definitely greeted as a
big-wig. The story goes that he was asked to perform at the Country Music
Awards (the ACM's competition), who consequently asked him to cut his
performance short. In an outcry he refused to perform.... "I'm legendary..
he cried". So, when he got up at this Awards, he began his song with "I'm
going to finish this one!", to which he received a standing ovation.

Lonestar followed. Now, let me get this clear. I'm supposed to be at a
country music Award night, but the more we went in to it, the more I kept on
feeling we were at some pop concert. Lonestar, and a few others who
performed, like Jo Dee Messina, Sawyer Brown (liked his funky pants) Martina
McBride (Country's version of Sheryl Crow?) and Winona Judd, all seem to be
getting a little "pop-ish". Shania Twain (who didn't show) has certainly set
a new precedent in cross over music.

Tim McGraw and model looking wife Faith Hill win my "I Love You Husband
Forever" Award, while they did their own "making out to music" on the stage
with gay Paris on the video screen behind them. Ahh love is bliss in the
limelight. I just know that hunky Tim was really looking at me.. I know he
was.... Yeah... he was! Clint and Lisa Black were definite runner ups with
their love rendition. Congrats go to the production team who did a 16 piece
orchestra set up in 1 minute... Wow! Marie Osmond, Patti Page, Winona Judd
and Trisha Yearwood win my "I'm getting on the podgy side of life" Awards
and the Dixie Chicks win my "is it dark or blonde hair this year.. oh I
don't know, let's just clean up all the awards tonight" Award.

In reality, even though there was an immense wealth of talent on the stage,
not one act really blew me away. Well Collin Raye has a certain stage
presence which was heartening (now he was looking at me.... I know it!)
Also, newcomer Jessica Andrews has certain potential with a sweet smile and
pretty voice. But generally I was not blown away by any star quality or high
impact entertainment value. I'm not saying that this would have happened
elsewhere. This is the standard feeling I'm getting from a lot of these
events. I'm in Hollywood, I'm going to the best shows, but to tell you the
truth, when it comes to showmanship, we have equal if not better caliber of
talent in Australia. Our outback pubs, Leagues Clubs and hardworking gigs
have created seasoned and great Australian entertainers, a background which
many American artists lack.

So back to the show.. a quick beer in the foyer and back we were counting
down from the commercial break, 5,4,3,applause please....oh no, not Faith
Hill again. (she deserves her success, very pretty, nice voice, gorgeous
husband, two wonderful kids... all perrrrfect.) And with her husband Tim
McGraw also cleaning up... all I could think was ... is there a conspiracy
going on?

Well, the show ended on time apparently, with the missing Shania Twain
winning the last Entertainer of the Year award, announced quickly over the
credits in defiance of her disappearance.. and Dolly said goodnight in her
squeaky Southern drawl... while we rushed out to grab a Vodka and Lime or
two and a plate of good 'ol countrified food at the buffet.

It's nice to be in Hollywood. But give me Tamworth any day!!!




© 2000 gilli moon

In September 2000, at the height of the Internet company stock crash, and the huge court case on Napster, gilli moon wrote an article calling on the music industry to consider a new way of protecting artists' rights and paying for music: music subscription. Subscription has now become the norm for online music delivery, but gilli moon was there, writing about it, before it had even begun....

The industry's Hollywood-esque, old, out-of-date, sleazy, inefficient, business model, the music recording industry,  is about to be blown up. Major record companies have been ripping off artists for years. Why, prey
tell, are they so angry at Napster? Because someone else is becoming the pirate? More succinctly, consumers are taking the industry into their own hands, even though they are doing it without proper legal advice!

This is nearly 2001, and as the movie depicted, it's a new, unknown, maybe scary, frontier. When it comes to technology, Napster is not the only thief. We need to resolve the copyright issues and all musicians must be duly paid for their music, and consumers need to get this message into their head. If songwriters don't get paid for the songs they create, then there won't be any songs out there for you. It defeats the purpose of releasing music. Releasing music to the commercial world, and the internet is part of the commercial world, means making money.

The Napster experience is about the untapped potential of the new frontier... the internet. No need to explore space, we have found space right here... in cyberspace.

I just hope the artist doesn't lose out in the end. I mean, we've created the music... It's not only about compensation for artists.... It's about permission. Isn't it the artist who is supposed to decide who can download the music?

I see no discussions in the papers on the artist's side. We've heard Metallica's case against Napster, that's just a foil for the real case: record companies versus Napster. I'd like to see some news or some positive
direction on how consumers, the public, can show appreciation of the artist and their music: not just by downloading it.. but by paying for the service of downloading it also.

When an artist or record company wants to record a song, say an old Beatles tune, they simply and easily go to the Harry Fox Agency, or the publishing company, and get a mechanical license to record it. Once a song has already been cut, anyone can get a new mechanical license. In return, however, they pay the statutory rate of about 7 plus cents per song. So why can't the internet have the same system. If you want to download a song that's out there, pay a statutory rate. Or even have a performance royalty like for playing songs on the radio. Please, please, please Harry Fox and Ascap/BMI, and RIAA, will you hurry up and come to some kind of agreement on how standard rates can be formalized. The little person is losing out while you prolong the pain!

On the consumer end, there is no doubt that on-line users are illegally copying music through the likes of Napster. But what's happening on the internet is ultimately challenging the conventional ideas of copyright.
These laws will need to be re-addressed, and fast. Artists and songwriters still need copyright protection. This world is not about stealing and using without permission, property of another. We do not need to revert to the laws of the Wild West, or petty thievery of the Middle Ages.Let's try and revolutionize the music industry without breaking the law. Changing the law, yes, and modifying how music is bought... great. But don't rip off the artists in the meantime. Respect our work.

As for the artist trying to "make it" in this increasingly growing consumer world - my theory: record companies will become a mere choice, not the only option. I am seeing it already. But record companies will have their place : as great powerful, and financially abundant, marketing tools. On the business end, artists are to become the winners here. The empowered rulers of their business practices. The "cut" will be diminished on the record
company end, while artists will become financially empowered. But until then the Napster problem highlights this fact: Napster and similar sites "hurt recording artists who release albums on independent labels (or independently) because it is more difficult for them to recover the costs of album sales" (Michael Robinson of the band The Tabloids.) Whether you call it sharing or sampling, right now, this is really stealing.

I recently read Bob Kohn's "Primer on the Law of Webcasting and Digital Music Delivery' (www.mbsolutions.com) and he quite distinctly and methodically explained, in a few pages, how it is illegal to download music without permission of the copyright owner. That's what I concluded from his paper. Basically a server or web station needs a license to broadcast, deliver or allow others to download music, from the copyright owner of the music. This is law. Napster, look out. Actually, not just Napster, but ANYONE who thinks they can download an mp3 (or other) music file from the internet without the copyright owner's permission, is breaking copyright law. You are a thief. It's stealing. Now, we may not know how to find you, just like the millions of unauthorized infringements occurring on the streets where you can buy ripped CD copies of music at shady markets, but you are still stealing.

Don't forget that Napster is a business, a large corporation making money off of published music. Who's really getting stiffed here?

The answer: Economy will be divided into two arenas: the old market-based economy, and the new network-based economy. Subscriptions will overtake product sales. Napster, Gnutella and Scour will be outmoded by a new operandi that the courts and legislation will rule over protecting copyright, and that will be a monthly music subscription network.

Already, EMI Recorded Music, the Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment have announced plans to make their music available on the Internet, as a subscription service, by the end of the year. And Napster and
the rest of them will follow suit because they won't be able compete in the marketing. Ownership of a thing will give way to the sharing of an experience.. at a price. I've seen a few sites where they are offering musicians "tips" when downloading an mp3 (e.g fairtunes.com) but this is not enough. Payment for music is a right, not an option. Even when you buy a cd, you only have permission to play it. You don't "own the music". So mp3s
aren't "owned" by you either. CDs and mp3s are owned by the copyright owners of the sound recording. So, for music on the web, in order to be able to "listen" to the music in a format that's on your computer, or on your
player, then Subscription it has to be.

Think about it. Unlimited access to music and musicians being paid.

The new generation of file-swapping with decentralized programs defines a shift in power from the recording industry to the consumer. All we need to do is educate the consumer now to respect the music as a financial service.

As much as Napster is a crime, this particular phenomenon has made our whole economy change. This is the twenty first century and our social dynamics are moving in a heightened direction.. a server/client relationship operating in networks. Let's pray that music subscription works, for everyone's sake.


© 2000 September, gilli moon