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Your record on an 'indie' label is totally worthless! Main Line Radio won't play it and Main Line Outlets won't stock it. However, the same record on a VMG Label doesn't have either problem. We're licensed and distributed world wide and ! Get the picture? Now, what are YOUR chances with a viable product "in the groove?" Let's get you some cold, hard, facts: WHAT WON'T WORK! - If you're waiting 'to be discovered' and given a million dollars 'because you have talent' - put your brains in the commode and pull the handle! Being in the business of being a Recording Artist is BEING IN THE BUSINESS OF BEING A RECORDING ARTIST! - Emphasis on "BUSINESS" - and there are no free rides. The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! There are several very good sites on the web that clearly expose the financial and other rape of 'being signed', the absolute God-Send Grand Daddy of them all being Steve Albini's (NIRVANA). Read it, then hit your "RETURN". The intent of this article is to break the mental stranglehold of trying to sell a few records to this or that 'genre' when the same investment can put the same records into the Main Stream! - In short, it costs just as much to make a record with the potential to sell 100 copies (maybe) as it does to make a record with the potential to sell 10,000,000 (with the same 'maybe')! The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! The difference is JACKASS or NON-JACKASS! If you think getting your record to 100 or so College stations (who may or may not play it!) is some kind of 'big deal', then consider the fact there are over 14,000 stations in the United States alone! So your 'one song' shot at the big time being played at 3:AM on Swampville College's own KW-JACKASS "where all the hop-heads are impressed" isn't worth a good god damn! The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! Most college stations try to air balanced programming, politics aside, and that leaves very little air time for each of the several Fields of Music. Contrary to the Beer Joint Baritone delusions, radio airplay is not infinite - it's FINITE to the tune of 336,000 hours per day at that 14,000 station mark IF they were all 24-'hour WHICH THEY ARE NOT! Now begin to subtract the TIME factor that MOST stations are not 24-hour, leaving and average radio airtime of 168,000 hours per day - then subtract the TIME factor for commercials, news, weather, traffic and commentary, which will cut radio airplay another fifty percent due to the popularity of Talk Radio and Religious programming. Now we're down to 84,000 hours. And that's the sum total of ALL the stations in the United States! But let's break that down to a given 24-hour station as a rule of the thumb for simplicity's sake. A 24-hour station consuming HALF the day, 12-hours, in something other than music. If each song did not exceed 3:00 Total Running Time (and all Jackass Elements insist on 4:00-Plus!), that station could air a MAXIMUM of 240 songs per day, and it would take all day to do it. The actual number is closer to 180. Now factor in the ROTATION, how many times a day a record plays if and when it reaches the Play Rack! The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! The average rotation is EIGHT times a day (seven days a week for six weeks!) leaving room for only 22.5 (make that 23) songs radio airplay on that station! Twenty three songs? That's right! The "Top 20" and THREE Classics, Golden Oldies (usually one play each of eight or nine different songs), or your latest effort on Stupid Jerk Records from over in the swamp! Anybody want to guess which choice that one is going to be? The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! Radio Stations live or die on numbers - the number of listeners determines the number of DOLLARS they can charge for advertising commercials - and competition for Radio Listeners is fierce! Broadcasters have to pay a LICENSE FEE to ASCAP, BMI and SESAC (just to use the music) right off the top of their gross advertising revenue which puts them in one hell of a financial cramp going right in the door! Broadcasters cannot afford to squander radio airplay on products their listeners can't buy through the existing commercial distribution outlets, sub-standard QUALITY productions or manufacture, or any other 'my talent' nonsense whatsoever! The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! Now that you know the cream-level of what won't work and WHY, let's get to the real meat and potatoes of WHAT WILL WORK and how to do it. The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! You need Professional Industry and Financial help! (We all need "professional" help for being in this business to begin with! :-) THERE IS NO FREE LUNCH! Not in Recorded Music, not in the real world anywhere else. The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! If you're not ready to spend some money to be in your own business of your own choosing, then stop reading right here with our best wishes for whatever you make of your life. However, if you're not cut from such cloth, you have as good a chance at success as anybody else! But nobody is going to 'give' it to you. They'll pay their share but not one damned penny more! Only one record out of eight ever sells any commercial copies at all - when everything is done right! Jackass any one single element and the number is an instant and eternal ZERO! The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! Now how much money and WHO you spend it with become the vital factors. Before you squander one penny in some jackass emotional tangent - regardless of WHAT you think you know about the Recorded Music Industry - or 'how much you believe in the product' - you need to do TWO things: ONE: Find out what the parameters are to get radio airplay; and TWO: Determine the budget to make a product and get it delivered into the right hands. The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! Then, and only then, can you produce a Commercially Acceptable product in the correct manner to get it distributed! And without hard commercial distribution, any record is all-but totally worthless. Without hard commercial distribution, any record is little more than a Monument to Stupidity. And NO!, the record companies ARE NOT going to pay you a ton of money to distribute your product! Distribution is a service, and you pay for it just like you do everything else. And here is how to get it! The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! And, even with the best distribution money can buy (and that's how you get it, you buy it!) without proper PROMOTION that record is a dead issue. However, do not confuse the con-artist 'promoter' with being a DISTRIBUTOR! And for you Country Folk, Nashville is over-loaded with such con-artists! For the rest of you Rock, Filk, Folk, Jazz, Alternative, Gospel, Rap, R&B, Dance, Hip Hop, Urban, Adult Contemporary, MOR, whatever, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, London, Berlin, Tokyo, New Delhi, Singapore, Rangoon, Hong Kong, Seoul, Lima, Monte Video, Brasilia, and dozens of other lesser Music Capitols all have their share of Music Industry thieves. The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! You can get your record released through an easy thousand locations, but only the Super Six General Licensers have the resources and connections to deliver the product anywhere and everywhere it needs to go! Mom&Pop Record Distributors, Glorified One-Stop, Sewer Service, Sidewalks Cleaned on Request, and Copies While-U-Wait - IS NOT COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION! IT'S JACKASS! They may carry your record (on consignment), but they can throw it farther than they can 'distribute' it. And so can you. However, VMG (Vandor Music Group) is quite another matter. The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! If you insist your record be in all the local stores, whether or not there are any confirmed orders, then all you have to do is PAY THAT COST! It runs somewhere between $140,000.00 and $1,500,000.00 to ship Gold (for just the United states) and it's written off entirely unless the outlet re-orders the record! VMG (Vandor Music Group) stocks product only on confirmed order and avoids that kind of expense at the out-set. If the record isn't selling, the why spend a bunch of money in it? Sound business principals, don't you think? The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! If you've already manufactured your record (which is a big "NO-NO!"), there IS a way to UN-DO the jackassing - details are FREE from any VMG Representative - or General Bobby Farrell himself - 505 247 4843 - at $2,500.00 per hour, but like everything else in this Industry, there are no guarantees. However, on the bright side, if your record should pick up on the far side of the moon the money would still spend! And who cares if a record takes off in Boo-dunky, Pah-flunky?! Selling records is the name of the game. The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! UNDERGROUNDers! Promotion, distribution and radio airplay are you too! You just have to stop the 'genre' what-won't-work stupidities and play the game the way the game is really played! There is an Industry between those of us who make records and those of them who buy records and it's called RADIO! And either your records fit their parameters - running time, content, distribution, etceteras, to get radio airplay, or the damned thing is a total waste of money. The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! We know the odds. We know the risks. But multiply EIGHT POINT SIX CENTS ($.086) per song - times a TEN (10) song album = ($.86) - times just 50,000 units - and you're looking at a whopping FORTY THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($43,000.00) as the Artist and another whopping FORTY THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($43,000.00) as the Executive Producer! And at VMG that would be FORTY THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($43,000.00) EACH! And that's not counting the FIFTY PERCENT from the Publishers to the Songwriter(s) after they've recouped their initial investment! Nor is it counting the Public Performance earnings you may be able to blackmail ASCAP, BMI or SESAC out of! The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! Now how much did you make on your last 'underground' attempt? Something less than this small fortune, I'll wager. And remember - the above figures are for a 50K seller not a rampaging monster! The odds are one out of eight of selling any at all, but that ONE (1) that does sell moves an Industry average of 50,000 copies. We just want you to know what the game really is. The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! I can't speak for other Record Companies, but VMG (Vandor Music Group) will give you a fair listen when you're ready to do business! We're NOT going to finance your pipe dream, so don't waste your time and ours with any such 'discover me', review my website, or 'my song' nonsense. It's trash-can bound if you do! We'll pay our share in full accordance with Industry Standards, as will our Labels and Publishers, but we do not take artists, songwriters, producers, arrangers, or Indie Labels to raise. We're in business, and if you expect to succeed in Recorded Music, you'd better be in business too! The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! There are THREE sites on the web you'll need to study from start to finish. Either take the time to do that or quit wasting your time in this Industry! The First site is fully linked below, of which this article is but one part. The Second is Major Labels, mirrored here for your convenience. It's the absolute tell-the-truth site about 'being signed' anywhere on the web. You may not like the language, but TRUTH is often harsh and without mercy. The Third site is http://www.atlantic-satellite.com, also linked below, the Top-2,500 Records in the world via their satellite transfers and without separation as to Field of Music. It's a real Market eye-opener. The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! Once you've been through all three of those mills, you'll have scads of questions. Email any VMG Representative, just DO NOT spam the Company! Email direct from the site or General Bobby Farrell, and I'll get you the best information and the best Recording Deal available. NOTE: if you choose to dialog with any VMG Rep DO NOT attempt to back-door them with any other VMG Rep! All legitimate Record Companies take a damned dim view of back-dooring, and it's the Kiss Of Death you can count on! The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! The ball is in your court. Either you want your music out in the hard world where it stands to make a Return on Investment (ROI), or you don't! Nobody is going to give a damn if you're conspicuous by your absence. But there's a few million record buyers out there who might give a damn about your presence if and when your records are available to them! And there's a lot of money to be made, even with underground productions. The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! You want a 'break'? READING THIS PAGE IS YOUR GOD DAMNED BREAK! Now all you have to do is have enough brains to take advantage of it. The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! Now, in closing - your specific Field of Music really doesn't matter - there's a Gold and Platinum Record available! But you have to do it right. Preparation, Production, Promotion, Distribution, everything, top to bottom, start to finish. And NO! The industry will not bend to fit anybody's half-cocked ideas! So either forget them or stop blaming 'the industry' for your life-long perpetual failures. The damned lies of ASCAP, BMI and SESAC notwithstanding! Your Obedient Servants, The Staff and Management, VANDOR MUSIC GROUP. info@vmgworldwide.com |
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Since new count began, 22 April 2008.
