| The TIPSHEET at Number One; the real ORSON story |
| Thursday, 16 March 2006 | |
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When I was released from prison after serving three and a half years for crimes I didn't commit (appeal still pending), I spent a lot of time looking over past posts on various music boards and came across a post on The Velvet Rope by an American - Brett Meisner - called something like WHY AREN'T THIS BAND SELLING MILLIONS?
I listened to their MySpace site, loved the music and posted this answer in July. ***** They sound bloody good to me. Excellent first track. Come on Ropers... the industry has totally changed. It's no longer the old "must be young and pretty... must have a long career... must be a one dimensional project" business anymore. The OLD model was based on the existing parameters THEN. I know. I was a founding father. Times have changed. The model for a music company THIS CENTURY means... Far lower overheads Far greater income stream sources (downloads; physical sales; gig revenue sharing; merchandising; commercials use; publishing; brand sharing...) Far wider taste possibilities Far more imagination in promotion and spreading the word (like MYSPACE and the Rope... congrats to the guy who started this thread). It's the best time EVER for people who simply make great music. Well done ORSON! ***** I put the link to ORSON's MySpace up on our Tipsheet message board and a huge thread started. Many music industry people contributed, including my friend and ex Tip Sheet Editor, Joe Taylor. He asked if I'd mind him making an Orson track a Record of the Day; I, of course, was delighted. Spreading the word is the whole point of the Tip Sheet. Literally dozens of responses to the track meant ORSON got offers from publishers and labels. They signed big deals with Universal Music and Mercury Records. And this week in the Midweeks they are at Number One on the UK chart... A REAL HIT. From a band who would probably still be playing small clubs in Hollywood, under the noses of the music industry, just as they had been... ignored, for 8 years... until a fan of their music tried to start spreading the word with a despairing post in May; a wrongly convicted freed prisoner with all his personal contacts in place (thank heavens real friends and supporters don't desert us) picked up on it and carried the buzz into the market place... and the music industry got BACK ON TRACK once more!! JK March 2006 |