In May of 2007, I wrote a post about the wacky world of record company royalty recoupment.

This week (Nov.-2009) - I received another royalty statement.

Wow!...we've gone backwards!

In May 2007, we were unrecouped to Warner Brothers to the tune of $174,717.56

Now...our balance is up to $174,717.56!

Talk about "pushing forward back!".

How is this possible?

Good question!

Even as a veteran record company exec...I thought I'd seen it all!

This is a phenomenon that is both sad and laughable.

Warner Bros. still makes money off our back catalog...but yet finds ways to implement "creative accounting" to send us backwards.

Haha!

...And people wonder why the record business is in the swirling vortex of despair.

The accountants are desperately trying to administer CPR to an industry that has breathed it's last...(insert Dixieland funeral dirge here)

Am I bitter?

Am I mad?

Heck, no! These are unsecured loans!

While the record company may be re-collecting their money at usurious rates...

...it's like squeezing blood from a stone!

Record companies recoup their money off album sales...not us personally.

There was lot that I didn't like about the record business of old...may she rest in peace.

But there was a lot I did...and this is one of them.

I could say that we were were overbilled and ripped off!

But I prefer another word for us...

Fortunate!

(...to be continued)

Is John Elefante an e-junkie? 

No...but he has a great new album out!

You can check it out at his new website here!

I don't claim to be a great web designer but Jamie Rowe and I had fun building it!

And...one of the coolest new tools for musicians is E-junkie!

So what is E-junkie?

E-junkie is an e-commerce solution that lets musicians sell their music digitally...direct from their own websites.

Yes...you can have your own little iTunes...right on your website or blog!

And you keep all the money!

It's a great tool and easy to use.

Check out E-junkie here!

Guardian uses it and now so does John Elefante.

I've become quite handy with e-junkie so I am happy to answer any questions about it or assist anyone with implementation.

...Just holla!

An interesting post from Seth Godin, who quotes a NY Times article by Charles Blow.

In a nutshell:

"A study last year conducted by members of PRS for Music, a nonprofit royalty collection agency, found that of the 13 million songs for sale online last year, 10 million never got a single buyer and 80 percent of all revenue came from about 52,000 songs. That’s less than one percent of the songs."

Another interesting chart in the NY Times piece showed the peak years and following decline slopes for various types of recorded music mediums: 

What fascinates me the most is that digital music is not a fixed hard-goods medium…unlike the LP’s, 8-tracks, Cassettes, and CD’s of days past. (Yes…CD’s are antiquated technology!)

Digital is like the wind…it goes where it will.

I’m no pundit but it remains a fascinating quandary to me to see where modern music sales will go in the next couple years…

“Restraining her is like restraining the wind or grasping oil with the hand.” -Proverbs 27:16

All I really know is that I sure like my iPhone!

Thanks to my buddy Doug Van Pelt (HM Magazine)...who sent this link to a great vintage live performance of one of my favorite bands...King's X!

Concert Vault is awesome!

I amazed at how many great live recordings I could listen to...for free!

Sign up now! (No...I am not on an affiliate program with them...I just think it's that cool!)

This vid is posted in honor of my upcoming 30th high school reunion.

Let it be noted that I once had hair like Daryl's...