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| From | "Jaimie Vernon" <bullseyecanada@hotmail.com> |
| Subject | Re: Thank you, Jamie |
| Date | Thu, 10 May 2007 23:34:29 -0400 |
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At Date: Fri, 11 May 2007 02:01:23 Boersma wrote:
>I just want to say how fascinating I found Jamie's discussion / disclosure
>of some of the financial realities behind downloads. I am probably firmly
>in the old fart demographic who still wants a physical product (and even
>makes backup CDs, artwork and all, for downloads) and who has never
>downloaded any tracks from any "sharing" sites. Look, the line is a bit
>grey and I'm no saint. I buy used CDs and have made a few mix CDs for
>friends. But I cannot bring myself to "share" my musical collection with
>others on some public site, knowing that I am helping deprive the people of
>income who have given me one of the greatest rewards life has to offer.
>Most musicians are totally poverty-stricken. When I like an artist, I make
>a point at small gigs of buying t-shirts I will never wear, or any other
>product that will enable me to put a few more coins in their pocket. I
>prefer to buy CDs from artists websites, figuring they will get more of the
>money (naive?). Anyway, this has been a !
> very in
>teresting, if somewhat depressing, public debate but I have to cross the
>line and stand firmly in Jamie's camp.
Thanks...and to Adam for the recognition. But I'm not decrying a right or
wrong vision here. There is no need to draw a line or make camps. I want to
make it perfectly clear that I encourage the purchase of music in whatever
form --- I only got defensive when the value of the music itself was
declared insignificant. It was like having someone insult my mama :-)
Somewhere in the intervening years between being a musician and running the
record label I had to decide whether to make the music industry my
living....no one except Segarini, Hershberger and David Bradley on this list
knows that I was, in my former life, a civil servant -- 12 years as a
certified records manager and archivist (an ironic title given my future
career). I was at a financial crossroad with a baby on the way, a new
marriage and the opportunity to be given the golden handshake from the City
of Toronto to the tune of 40 weeks pay and ALL my medical plan investment
back. Coincidentally, I was offered a year's salary to write what has become
the Canadian Music Encyclopedia...AND at the exact same time was offered a
NEW position as content editor for the, then, flagship launch of
SamTheRecordMan.com (RIP).
I had the friggin' world by the tail....a huge buy-out, a new job in the
music biz and a sideline income writing the Encyclopedia. It was time to
stop being a silly servant and finally commit, full-time, to the music
industry. That was 9 years ago. Every dime I was paid in 1998 went into the
re-launch of Bullseye as a corporation (I had run the company part time
since 1985 as 'sole proprietorship'). In April 2000 my business partner came
on board and we went global.
We've released 117 CDs , one vinyl LP, 7 DVDs and a best selling book by
Greg Godovitz since 1996. I've even been able to revive my music career
(which was put on hold the exact year this 'dream' began so that I could
focus on the important elements of establishing the label), see the reunion
of KLAATU, send one act to Japan, dozens of IPO gigs, roadied for the Bay
City Rollers, attended an industry brain-trust holiday weekend in Cancun,
Mexico, met some incredible people on this list (the main reason I still
read and contribute), and can count some of the greatest Canadian rock stars
(and two comedians) as my personal friends now.
But it's been no picnic. l've gone through three distributors (and about 40
sales reps from each), a near fatal moose impact accident in a van, four
office relocations, the collapse of three major retail chains (Sam The
Record Man, CDPlus, Tower Records), loss of my front tooth during a meeting
with EMI, four kidney stones, gained 75 pounds, had nearly all my hair turn
grey, been denied credit, been stranded in LA/New York/Chicago without a
personal dime to get me out, had the RCMP investigate us for having TOO much
money in the bank (!!!), been ripped off by two of my own acts, become the
proud owner of 35,000 unsellable pieces of inventory, and the disbanding of
half the acts on our roster.
Would I give it all up? Yep....but only if the public fails to support what
we do. I don't care what the rest of the industry is doing...I only care
about what WE are doing to reach our audiences and continue generating
revenue from that. I've got a lot mouths to feed and if that stops being
viable, I will go back and work for the government. They're already
devalued. So expectations are low.
Jaimie Vernon,
President, Bullseye Records
http://www.bullseyecanada.com
SWAG:
http://www.cafepress.com/bullseyecanada
BULLSEYE LIVE 365 RADIO:
http://www.live365.com/stations/bullseyerecords
Author, Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia
http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Pop_Encyclopedia/
http://www.myspace.com/jaimievernonsmovingtargetz
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