First and foremost, I would like to thank you for being a member of Broadjam. Being a songwriter, it is my honor to host nearly 100,000 songwriters and musicians from 190 countries and to provide a conduit for their music. In 2008 Broadjam.com experienced many changes from technology upgrades to a new graphical look. And we will continue to make improvements, many of which come from your suggestions. Your ideas and opinions are always welcome and very much appreciated. Please send any of your suggestions or comments to feedback@broadjam.com, and you can always contact me directly at ceo@broadjam.com. Secondly, I would like to share a few of my thoughts about musicians getting exposure and the trend in the music industry.

Earlier this year, one of our members said to me that they just wanted anyone who will listen, to hear their songs. This member was seeking additional exposure for his music and ultimately that’s what we all want as indie musicians. So we put on our thinking caps and launched Broadjam Free Songs which now boasts over 1,200 songs for free directly from the artists who posted them.

With Broadjam Free Songs, an artist can make one of their songs available for free download. Ultimately, we would like you to sell your music, but we think having one song available for free can attract fans to buy your music. Radio has been proving this for years, so why not give it a shot on the web?

I understand that this concept is not rocket science, but we believe that an indie artist should be able to do whatever they like with their music. No technology, law, or other environmental factor should prevent you from doing so. You also have the right not to distribute your music freely if that is your preference.

In the years prior, the record industry tried to stop sites from spreading music illegally and freely. They sued all of the big websites and received settlements and stopped them from doing business. Then they turned their efforts to the consumers of music and started suing them. The record industry continues to receive large settlements from this effort as well. Recently, I was at a conference and heard a major label representative say that they have no intention of stopping the lawsuits as it is their number two revenue stream. I have always found this more than a little short sighted and morally apprehensible as well.

A couple of weeks ago, the RIAA put out a press release suggesting that this strategy is going to change. I applaud the industry for stopping this process and hopefully when the next new technology comes along, they will embrace it rather than fight it. Then the indie artists who do adopt the technology won’t be indirectly affected by the short sightedness of the industry.

The mission of Broadjam is to provide technology and marketing vehicles to any musician or music industry company that desires to push their music to the world. In the next year, you will see continued improvements on Broadjam.com that will make it easier to do so. On behalf of the Broadjam staff, thanks for your business and, more importantly, your music.

Best of luck in 2009.

Sincerely,

Roy Elkins
Founder & CEO