After reading this blog I realize I’m not alone in this issue with the Web Transition, in BJ’s attempt to upgrade to keep up with the competition. I certainly give them credit for such a move but since the advent of such undertaking I have had more problems with this web site to the point of asking my self, why would I want to upgrade my member status. is it worth it, I think it goes without saying, the answer is obvious. I entered the Date with a publisher contest with high expectations or a least I felt I had a big shot of making the grade, sort of speak. I ran into the huge problem with trying to review songs let alone trying to get them to load.
if this had any bareing on my chances of getting in the winners circle, well I won’t express my thoughts on that but you can take a wild guess. NOW I’m very curious if my song ever even got reviewed, being that Im not the only one who’s encountered serious problems/issues since the BJ wed transition. I’m not trying to create a problem for BJ but it’s certainly something for those who entered the contest to look into.

Sincerely
I’M NOT ALONE

Plagued by Piracy
Posted: May 2, 2008
A negative news post, however one for all of us in these online indie communities to be aware of. What do you find when you google your name? I wished to see what kind of online presence would surface related to my name and discovered on the 3rd page about half way down, an unauthorized download site advertising my music for sale. On further inspection, it is a site in Russia that is notorious for undercutting itunes with full length album sales by the MB rather than per song. They have taken and re-formatted my songs and my artwork. Regardless of the blatant piracy and illegal licensing of music for digital distribution, this site continues to boast about their legal, moral and ethical conduct, it’s funny really!
Although I’m honoured that they feel my work worthy enough to pirate, it is still a frustration and disappointment for the independent artist. Here’s to the internet and the digital era, the epitome of a double-edged sword swinging in all directions with very little control.
Jeremy
http://www.knightspyder.com

FAIR WARNING TO ALL BROADJAM MEMBERS:
STIR CLEAR OF A COMPANY CALLED STARLIGHT PRODUCTIONS.
I’M NOT SURE HOW THEY GOT MY NAME BUT I HAD FUN WITH
“JOSEPH”. HE’S NOT A PUBLISHER, HE’S NOT AN AGENT OR PROMOTER. HE’S A “CONSULTANT’ AND ALL THE BIG COMPANIES COME TO HIM FOR MUSIC…I WONDER IF HE’S SELLING SWAMPLAND ON THE SIDE. MEMBERSHIP IN THE “CLUB” IS $1500-$4500 DEPENDING ON THE “LEVEL”. WELL, YOU GET THE DRIFT. BEST PART IS HE SAYS HE’S AFFLIATED WITH BILLBOARD…OH YEAH.
GEORGE SLADEK

JESSICA MELLOTT ~ Cover & Feature at PureStyle Magazine!

Hi Everyone!

I am excited to share I am the Covergirl and Featured at PureStyle Magazine for May ‘08.
Check out my feature:

http://purestyledc.com/

MUAH!

xoxo,
Jessica Mellott
http://www.jessicamellott.com
http://www.myspace.com/jessicamellott

JESSICA MELLOTT ~ Cover & Feature at PureStyle Magazine!

Hi Everyone!

I am excited to share I am the Covergirl and Featured at PureStyle Magazine for May ‘08.
Check out my feature:

http://purestyledc.com/

MUAH!

xoxo,
Jessica Mellott
http://www.jessicamellott.com
http://www.myspace.com/jessicamellott

Hello,

I believe that the Grammy/ Recording Academy has an organization that helps musicians called MusiCares. This helps musicians who are sick, disabled etc. I do not know what qualifies you for their help.
You may want to investigate Lawyers for the Arts in your area. Entertainment lawyers donate time. I think they do a free consultation for musicians to let you know if you even have a case.

Indie Musician Suffers Disabling Stage Accident & Needs Your Help!

“Cookie Cutter Girl” 21st century Pop Superhero here, hoping *YOU* can be MY HERO today! This ‘Pop Superhero’ performed at a well known club in 2006 and suffered severe injuries due to the negligence of the soundman who set up the stage. I have not been able to sing or play guitar since that accident, and have been disabled for the past 19 months in many other ways as well. I’m writing to request YOUR HELP. I’m not asking for any handouts, just a few minutes of your time in responding. Everything and anything you remember may be helpful, so, please do not leave anything out simply because you think it might not be relevant.

I just discovered that the *3 COMPRESSION FRACTURES in my neck are much more serious than originally thought and can ONLY be helped with dangerous spinal surgery. (*suffered when my head whiplashed off the stage floor) They can never repair my neck completely, so I will be left, if I survive the surgery, with limited neck mobility. But, if I don’t have the surgery, I risk my neck discs slipping suddenly and cutting into my spinal cord, leaving me paralized from the neck down, as they are very loose now & pressing on my spinal cord. I suffered 3 MORE COMPRESSION FRACTURES in my upper back, where my medal guitar pedal wedged into my spine. These are not repairable, and I must live with the pain for the rest of my life. SO, I need this favor from you, my fellow musicians, and all those who love and care for you:

Please contact me with ANY INFORMATION about liability for injuries incurred on stage due to negligence of the stage set up. Just reply to GirlPower@CookieCutterGirl.com, listing anything you remember at all, whether it’s something you read or saw about laws governing stage performers. If something happened to you, or someone you know, tell me the details of the accident and where it happened. Since I am NOT an official “employee” of the club, I am NOT covered under their workers compensation or general employee laws. I believe that my fellow musicians *THINK* they’re protected, in case of accident or injury, each time they perform on stage, even when they are forced to use the club’s equipment and soundman. Since my accident, I have not been able to *PROVE* that the club is actual responsible for my injuries incurred directly because of their stage set up. That is where *YOU* CAN HELP… I REALLY appreciate the time it will take you each to respond. YOU are each my “SUPERHEROES” for doing so!

This Pop Superhero made SURE to warn the band that followed us of the dangerous stage set up. They were all setting up their instruments, and, just before I went to the ER, I made sure to tell the sound man, who was on stage next to their lead singer at the time, to remove the hazard that caused my accident. My manager came back in to take 1 photo of the stage during their first song, and the hazard was GONE in the picture. When I emailed the band to inquire about it, they said they had removed it themselves. Even *after* I TOLD the soundman that it was a hazard, he left it for a fellow musician to remove himself. (*Then the bartender refused to give my manager any ice for the 6 compression fractures in my back, claiming he didn’t have anything to put it in. My manager angrily emptied one of my bags & damanded the bartender fill it with ice.)

In my particular case, the bar employees were VERY negligent in setting up our stage (The soundman was a Â? late to sound check all 4 bands, so he only sound checked one instead). They also didn’t offer to stop my show, or offer to take care of me in any way after my fall, going as far as to refuse to give us any ice for the 6 compression fractures in my back. In addition, they neglected to remove the stage hazard, even after it caused my accident AND I identified it to them. If ANYONE remembers anything at all, or nothing at all, being said or done, it will be helpful in get

LCPMUSIC AND THERE NEW GROUP CRUNK SQUAD

RANDY JACKSON MUSIC CLUB VOL.1

The proud city of Atlanta can add another up-and-coming act to its long roster of success stories. Crunk Squad is featured on Randy Jackson’s Music Club, Volume 1. Sharing the spotlight with such mainstream acts as Paula Abdul, Mariah Carey, Joss Stone and John Rich of Big & Rich. The music critics are already taking notice of their work as referenced by this story in Billboard Magazine:

Southern hip-hop of Crunk Squad and Ghostface’s “Like A” has the goods to be a sleeper hit this summer. Good lookin’ out, dawg.–Wes Orshoski

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/content_display/reviews/albums/e3ia99a189e2d22c6c72407e257542b6c3e

Not only was Crunk Squad talented enough to land a spot on this album, but they collaborate with Ghostface, one of hip-hop’s elite acts. The people behind the scenes who work for and manage Crunk Squad understand the importance of the support of the surrounding communities and your paper is integral in this process. Any coverage of the group would be appreciated and they are definitely available for an interview should you need to speak with them.

If you need any additional information about Crunk Squad contact Monyea Crawford at 404-557-3716.

Regards,

Paul Smith
Media Liaison
LoveChild Productions

STEVE DAFOE:
THE WAY YOU RESPONDED WAS JUST FINE WITH ME CAUSE IT BENEFITED EVERYONE INVOLVED. IT IS NO SECRET THAT I THINK WE SHOULD “KNOW THE SCORE”. WHY NOT? I’VE ASKED ROY ELKINS PERSONALLY ABOUT ONE LISTING I’VE SUBMITTED TO, BUT HE HASN’T GOTTEN BACK TO ME ABOUT IT. I TOO WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF I’M “GETTING BETTER” OR “GETTING THROUGH”. I’VE GONE SO FAR AS TO ACCUSE ONE MEMBER IN PARTICULAR OF “HAVING IT IN FOR ME”…PERHAPS THAT “CHRISTIAN” SONGWRITER STILL DONES. I DON’T WANT TO HURT ANYONE’S CHANCES, SO I WANT TO KNOW IF THAT PERSON IS “AT IT AGAIN WITH ME’. WHATEVER HE DID TO ME IN THE SIX-PACK CONTEST IS ON HIS CONSCIENCE, NOT MINE. I ONLY ANSWER TO GOD AND THE PERSON IN THE MIRROR. THOSE ARE THE FACES I NEED TO CONCERN MYSELF WITH EACH DAY. BEST THING YOU COULD DO, STEVE, IS OPEN UP A DIALOGUE FOR DISCUSSION. ONE OF THE ATTRIBUTES OF A SONGWRITING ORGANIZATION IS TALKING ABOUT IT AND AROUND IT. SO LET CONTINUE TO DO SO. THANK YOU STEVE DAFOE.
GEORGE SLADEK

STEVE DAFOE:
THE WAY YOU RESPONDED WAS JUST FINE WITH ME CAUSE IT BENEFITED EVERYONE INVOLVED. IT IS NO SECRET THAT I THINK WE SHOULD “KNOW THE SCORE”. WHY NOT? I’VE ASKED ROY ELKINS PERSONALLY ABOUT ONE LISTING I’VE SUBMITTED TO, BUT HE HASN’T GOTTEN BACK TO ME ABOUT IT. I TOO WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF I’M “GETTING BETTER” OR “GETTING THROUGH”. I’VE GONE SO FAR AS TO ACCUSE ONE MEMBER IN PARTICULAR OF “HAVING IT IN FOR ME”…PERHAPS THAT “CHRISTIAN” SONGWRITER STILL DONES. I DON’T WANT TO HURT ANYONE’S CHANCES, SO I WANT TO KNOW IF THAT PERSON IS “AT IT AGAIN WITH ME’. WHATEVER HE DID TO ME IN THE SIX-PACK CONTEST IS ON HIS CONSCIENCE, NOT MINE. I ONLY ANSWER TO GOD AND THE PERSON IN THE MIRROR. THOSE ARE THE FACES I NEED TO CONCEN MYSELF WITH EACH DAY. BEST THING YOU COULD DO, STEVE, IS OPEN UP A DIALOGUE FOR DISCUSSION. ONE OF THE ATTRIBUTES OF A SONGWRITING ORGANIZATION IS TALKING ABOUT IT AND AROUND IT. SO LET CONTINUE TO DO SO. THANK YOU STEVE DAFOE.
GEORGE SLADEK

Hello George (pianoman1) and to all:

I know you sent me an e-mail to thank me for speaking up and for the support. I thought i’d answer it here maybe for the benefit of other members. I have been very vocal on all of these blogs since after the Web Transition began, (when i did not realize such a thing was going on.) I had many issues with the site and I realized all communications are done in a blog format. I laid out many points in frustration that I will not repeat here, (look in the archives) I have strong thoughts on the handling of the web transition itself and the on-going issues with it.

Speaking to your e-mail…. I know one of your issues was in submitting 400+ songs and geting nowwhere fast. Hopefully, the law of averages will favor you soon. I’ve been guilty of submitting a lot of material at other sites and this one too, hoping for the ” big break”.
Nobody said this would be easy. But i’ve learned a few things quickly.
(1) As one example, TAXI has a lot of Listings from Music Libraries. And Music Libraries may or may not shop your material. Most are no different than Broadjam, where we can sell downloads etc.. But I learned why spend the $5 per song at Taxi/SonicBird/Indie 911, etc.. on these kind of listing submissions when you can go to many, many Music Libraries DIRECTLY who will take your stuff. For Free. Very few won’t….ie: The Music Library being one. And you may have to “audition” a few songs for some sites but very few actually work exclusively with a middle man (ie: Taxi) There goal is to build a Library and they are open for business from artists directly. On these Music Sites A/R people may scan what they’re looking for. Or the sites actively shop your product (ie: Royalty free places but ONE NEEDS TO VERY CAREFUL ABOUT ROYALTY FREE SITES).
(2) Your frustration and others with the system Broadjam is using, is that it would be nice if we had a bit more of transparency on BJ TV/Film submissions. I understand it is “review” based on what gets forwarded first, but it would be nice to know that my song “ABC” was # 34 on a list of songs forwarded for submission # 123. (NY TV SERIES SEEKING….)
A simple e-mail to me for the money I spent. Also, I’d be curious to know for the artists that have the good fortune for a Licence deal for TV/Film….where their song placement was…..in the first 5 or in the first 10?….or were they the 100th song? Does the Submission Listing A/R even bother with songs after the first 10—20 they receive?? It would be nice to know and maybe Roy and staff will take note on this.
(3) Part of the Frustration in song submissions is the “generalization” of the actual listing’s. Song requirements aren’t as specific as they would be on sites like Sonicbirds or Taxi. In other words, they detail a SPECIFIC genre needed maybe something like “pure Country sounding like Traditional artist like George Jones”. With BJ TV/Film opportunities they tend to be wide ranging, (not always though)….. and its hard to know what song i might have that may be the best shot at a listing. I favor more specific type of listings that help us not waste money.

Anyway, Pianoman1 this may or may not help you but i did want to respond for the benefit of all. I hope other people use all or some of the blogs to help Pianoman1, Earl, Jim, Shekhar and Cameron by voicing concerns and offering support. ( i believe there’s 86,000+ )
This will be my last blog .

Thanks

Steve Dafoe

To Broadjam Team:

For a guy that never blogged before i’m sure making up for lost words here! Not sure where to park this blog so I’ll put it on all Active blogs.
Anyway, credit where credit is due.

1) I voiced an earlier blog about certain functions being way too long to open. The song edit process used to be 24 seconds…now we’re down to
about 9-10 seconds. Thank You.
2) The Captcha Feature in the Guestbook Edotor is great. I deleted entries before they went public….so I feel in control of this!
3) Receiving the proper Top 10 e-mails advising of ALL areas that a song may landed. Thanks.
4) Not as afraid to touch buttons anymore…..so to that end Web Transition appears to be better for me as of today.

Steve Dafoe

To: Shekhar

I’m sure you’re there somewhere ….but the publicity & photo is priceless for recognition around the Globe. I was impreesed when BJ had stated they have 86,000+ members wordwide….some of whom, i believe, are publishers and straight A/R people and not necessarily artists…..

To: Madison, WI

i’ve e-mailed to Customer Service the Jpeg of the “Ooppss” message i’ve received for the 400th time it seems…….got a ask……Is it something i’m doing? (or not) Is it something my computer is doing? (or not). Does what i’m doing at the time an error pops up get done? (ie: e-mail sent sucessfully?)

To Jim Ferrie:

To answer your question on prizes. I received prizes for one of 6-pack placements last year. It wasn’t in a timely matter and I live in Canada, not Portugal. I remember communicating with BJ customer service and I was told it was on its way and eventually it was. I do believe, in future, the prizes should be secured by BJ in advance of their contests and “bundled together” (for multiple prizes for a single member) by BJ and shipped from BJ to a winning member. Jim…..I did happen to win a Jan 08 song event and one of the prizes was keys for “software download” and that did work great! So in future i’m sure BJ will keep that under consideration to help winning members worldwide. (no customs & “surprise taxes/fees”)

It’s unfortunate for Jim and any Contest winner that this has happened to as you sort of develop a “hat in hand” mentality. You almost don’t want to bother anyone or ask anymore for something you were entitled to all along.
Hopefully Roy and staff will sort it out soon. But I can’t say it makes Broadjam look good.

Steve Dafoe

Three topics which I think are important information for members:

1) Song Edit, Song Delete and Song Re-Upload functions do not work.

I use a Mac, not a PC and so browse using Safari, not IE. However, this shouldn’t matter. I’ve taken Shekar’s advice and tried Firefox and still all I get when I try any of the song edit functions is “Session does not exist”. This means that I can’t currently act on useful information I have received via reviews to upload revised song versions, lyrics, change genre if necessary etc. The Song Upload function itself works, but then I can’t do anything with the song after it’s been up-loaded the first time. This situation has been going on since the web transition period. This is now preventing me from submitting the new, improved versions of my work to TV and Film placement and obviously I’m not prepared to submit old versions of an improved song to contests via Broadjam. This rather defeats the purpose of what I use Broadjam for.

The Review on/off buttons on the Song Edit page work, but take forever to change status. Before the transition, review on/off selection was almost instantaneous. Subsequently, I had been getting new reviews on old material which I thought had been de-selected for review, but actually hadn’t. It doesn’t matter which browser I use, it’s still the same.

Broadjam CS say they’re working on it. However, I’ve spent a lot of time recently trying to use a system which I now know doesn’t work. I’d like Broadjam to tell me when it’s finally all working, then I’ll get back on to these tasks.

2) Importation of Broadjam prizes from USA (this information is particularly for non-US members)

Firstly, I’d like to say that what’s described below is no fault of Broadjam. Indeed, in my case, CS have been more than helpful.

I live in Portugal. After having obtained all the necessary paperwork to release “free-of-tax” my part-shipped winnings from the 6-pack last year, the Portuguese Customs have charged me almost $400(US) to obtain my goods. This amounts to an additional charge of 26% on the stated value of the goods. My protest got me nowhere. Pony up the dough, or you don’t get the goods. Not only am I outraged at this, I realise that I face paying more customs charges for the remaining prizes I have not yet received (more of this later). In the end, I’ll have paid European customs charges amounting to about $1000!! Of course I’ll continue to enter contests (and hopefully keep winning) but It makes me wonder if I should bother collecting the prizes at all!

The point is that this is the general attitude by Customs Agencies in the European Union these days. From other sources, I’ve heard that goods coming form the USA to the EU are impounded with regularity and a Value Added Tax applied at port. More and more they’re rejecting genuine ‘gifts’ and ‘prizes’ as imports free-of-tax. If a package has electronic content, you can bet it’ll be stopped and a customs charge applied. This is true particularly of France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and the UK. Also, you’re goods are likely to languish in a Customs warehouse for months before they’re processed. By the time you get your prize, the software in it will be well out of date!

In view of my ‘expensive’ experience, I’m suggesting to Broadjam that where possible, prizes for non-US winners could somehow be obtained via EU or other-country sponsor locations or, in the case of software, download keys provided. As it stands, if you win big and you live outside th US, you’ll pay big too!

3) Some sponsors are not ponying up the prizes.

After last year’s 6-pack, some prizes were shipped by Broadjam and some were to be shipped direct from the relevant Sponsor. I’m still waiting for four of mine from Sponsors. Two of them happen to be in the 600-700 dollar range. I’ve written to Roy directly about this and he’s looking into it. I’d like to know if anyone who won something from a Broadjam contest last year has received all their prizes.

STEVE DAFOE & SHEKHAR:
THANKS FOR THE MESSAGE…THAT’S WHAT I WANT TO BE RIGHT NOW…WRONG. IT’S NOT THE FIRST TIME…WON’T BE THE LAST.