Release 1.0 Gband

ChrisBradley, November 10, 2005 3:45:36 am:

Speaking of Small Companies - I've been asked for my opinion from Garage Band Regarding the Music Service Artists First. I thought I might Share My Communications with them, and Let you Know how I am taking this particular Challenge on.

Within the Last 24 Hours we've taken on a new musician, which means that's right, we're up 100% to two musicians served open source and for free.

===Content of E-mail===

Janey Ecker - Right now I am using Artists First. Yes. My websites have had ups and downs. I have just recently installed an Apache Server on my desktop and it is running smoothly. These are the statistics from Artists First for this month.

Bundle teaser visits
Total visitors Visits this month Visits last month Latest ECR Previous month ECR Total fans in DB Fans added last 30 days
708 302 2 0.000 0.000 1 1

To date - i have sold 1 - Count them 1 - in 6 months. People generally - regardless of their inclinations - do not want to pay for music anymore through any service.

I am now publishing my work free through an open source creative commons license. Garageband can have what its got. But honestly, I'm not ever paying a hosting fee to Garageband or any other hosting service. I am never using CD-Baby or the like, because the distribution channel just isn't necessary anymore.

And I am not going to continue with Artists First if it does not prove immediately profitable. I see no point in maintaining a contract with a corporation that is only half-marketed. At its inception, 6 months ago, it was promised it would be a part of Garageband. You obviously need staff and integration to get your gears in motion.

I wrote 400 music reviews to get my work up at http://www.garageband.com/noisecontrol - Time I could have better spent learning about Open Source. Granted I was exposed to some music I never would have been earlier, and it was fun. But was it really worth my while as an artist?

Here are my opinions, and since my opinion counts with people from Release1.0 -

1) Drop the Hosting Fee
2) Put Artists First into Action
3) Educate your customers about the benefits of Hosting Themselves Under Linux
4) Make your Garageband Server software GPL and open yourself to Competition.
(Competition Breeds Strength)
5). E-mail me and next time I offer my music for free - for Hurricane Survivors,
Call me back. Because now its not just available for free because of them. It's available for free because...Just because its the right thing to do.

-Christopher J. Bradley
Noisecontrol Publishing INK.
mavdecker@gmail.com
http://www.noisecontrolpub.com

PS - I e-mail all of my business communications to Release 1.0 now. Its interesting to see what happens when you "communicate."

--- Janey Ecker wrote:

> Hi there,
>
> I understand from Artists First that you are using their services and we at
> GarageBand would like to know what your overall experience and impressions
> are. As you know Artists First advertised on GarageBand a while back, and
> many of our members expressed an interest in their services. So we would
> like to better understand our users experience and satisfaction to determine
> whether a potential relationship with Artists First should be considered.
>
> Your time and feedback is greatly appreciated!
>
> Janey Ecker
> Operations Manager
> GarageBand Records
> www.GarageBand.com