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Comment by Joe Pasquale on March 29, 2009 at 8:49pm

ps- songs over 3:30 generate bonus payments - i think it was almost double payments- another reason its good to be long- i am curious what Stupid Boy generated ;)

Comment by Joe Pasquale on March 29, 2009 at 8:47pm

thanks so much for recommending that- he has fantastic insight!!- i had an experience that falls right in line with his blog:

signed a deal w/MCA in '88 and sat around while other people wrote songs for our album- my ideas weren't commercial enough.... i had a song i really loved but it was 5 min long and the manager/label had no interest-

one of the producers thought it was pretty good so we recorded it- it spent almost 40 weeks on the charts- 10 weeks in the Billboard top 10- thanks to the christmas freeze- had it not been for the Phil Collins/Mary Martin duet- i would have had a #1 record-

the first time a publisher called me to inquire about publishing (i had no idea what publishing was)- i had a song top 20 with a bullet that i was the sole writer/publisher on- that song generated in excess of $1.5MM and i never signed a publishing deal.

Several years later in a publishing meeting with a young hot shot from BMG regarding a new artist we were working on- i sat there for 30 min getting lectured on the rules of writing- i had the demo of the hit in my bag so i asked him to give a listen and a critique- He hated everything about it that made it interesting and as i got into the elevator- he asked what was that song-

.........imagine the shock on his face after he realized he had asked me to re-write a song that had spent 40 weeks on the charts and received an ASCAP song of the year Award ;)

if you can break the rules without changing the language- and catch a moment- the ride is pretty rewarding!!

Comment by Camilla Kleindienst on March 29, 2009 at 2:58pm

You should read the Anthony Smith blog on his myspace called, "What Do I Want to Do"...
www.myspace.com/anthonysmithfans

Comment by Joe Pasquale on March 28, 2009 at 4:12pm

Everyone I have known over the last 15 years has used MS office and other than business environments which tend to buy enterprise licenses- i can count on both hands the number of people who have actually purchased the licenses and subsequent upgrades (and i have spent 10 years working in the highly visible tech communities of Los Angeles and San Fran) .

When portable Clean Rooms/CD manufacturing machines came online in China in the early 90's the impact on music in Korea and Japan was at about a 6/1 ratio- bands who had sold 100K records were doing touring numbers that reflected sales of over 500K (huge numbers over there)- content became essentially advertising for the live shows- my correlation is that for every license MS sells the penetration of the software is probably 6,7 or 8/1, its how they maintain market share.

The dirty little secret with software companies is that they actually encourage users to do this (the large amounts of developer copies that are released and made available). if Pro Tools doesn't make their software available for college kids to share- and they all start using garage band- the pro tools will lose market share as the young kids get used to using a competitors software- much the same way dealers tend to encourage addicts and then capitalize on the addiction- do you recal that internet explorer was a paid for application- when Netscape released their first browser- they gave it away- they captured 80% of the market in a weekend and soon IE was a freebie- same with AOL charging hourly rates while Earthlink gave it away.

these companies are in a tough spot but one of their own making ; )- with respect to music- perhaps people have been overpaying for music for the last 20 years and the markets are becoming more competitive ;)

Comment by Joe Pasquale on March 27, 2009 at 2:57pm

;)-- oh one final thing- i know when i pay $800 for 4 plugins- i am paying for the development and profit margin- if everyone who used waves plug-ins payed for them- the cost would come down- its the same reason an aspirin costs $200 at a hospital- someone has to pay the cost of existence. When i had no money- i didn't pay for any of my software- when i had money- i paid for all of it- Not making a judgment call- just noting the lack of consistency with respect to file-sharing ;)

Comment by Joe Pasquale on March 27, 2009 at 2:00pm

Peter King just emailed this:
Totally agree!
i own 100% of my software.
All plugins included. Have all serials and all insured too. cost me an arm and a leg...
its funny how people would probably be reluctant to record with someone who stole an SSL console.. but are happy to record and pay someone who stole the software!

pk

Comment by Joe Pasquale on March 27, 2009 at 1:53pm

dole-thanks for the comments and taking the time to read through it and put your thoughts down- FYI: i am actually one of those people who built a home having never done it before- original builder went bankrupt- so my wife and i finished the home- and made the best of a bad situation- but i get your point ;)

i would add that music business is about commerce as opposed to art- there are times when they really nail the art part- but those are the exceptions- "Dark Side of the Moon" was rejected and the band allowed to leave the label with the masters (this is a major reason why artists saw their records shelved when they were rejected- didn't want to put it out--- didn't want to take the chance that someone else would, but i digress)- DSofM album had surpassed 1MM in sales prior to receiving significant radio.

For the last 30 years Labels haven't been in the "Content" business but rather the "Content Delivery" business- from 8-tracks-cassettes-12"-mini disk- CD's ect--- all delivery systems- whether it was reading the phonebook or Segovia didn't really matter as long as they sold their petroleum-by-products. They are now out of the delivery business- or a mandatory reduction at the least ;)

its also worth noting that Arranging is instinct, based first and foremost in taste and secondly in skill, the classic argument in theoretical circles being: did Beethoven go to the recapitulation in the 5th out of instinct or craftsmanship-

Many of these people arranging beats are essentially arranging textures- today they are producers- in the 70's when Paul Buckmaster was arranging all the parts on those classic Elton records- it was just arranging- the producer was essentially sitting in the booth recognizing the brilliance of what he was hearing- unfortunately the behavior in your rant, that type of activity has been going on for 50 years;)- Steve Greenberg hired Ricky Peterson to make his little ditty Funkytown into a record that sold many millions of copies and generated many many millions of $$'s- Ricky was paid double scale for his time in the studio- and Greenberg owned the master and was the sole writer- its legal- but hardly fair ;)

Comment by Joe Pasquale on March 27, 2009 at 12:46pm

thanks man!!

Comment by Dave Bechtel on March 27, 2009 at 12:41pm

Well said!!! Couldn't agree more!