Steel White Table

I just read this on Jim’s blog. I’ve copied and pasted the whole thing. It’s written by Danny Schmidt:

Hi —

I’m sending this note out as a bulletin to my MySpace peoples. Please feel free, though, to forward it around to your own peoples… or feel free to pass its sentiments along in your own words. Basically, the message is brief and simple…

DON’T BUY ANY MUSIC THROUGH MYSPACE.

Here’s the elaboration:

MySpace has a deal with Snocap. Snocap is the company that sets up those jukebox-looking store fronts on some musician’s MySpace pages, where you can one-click purchase MP3s of songs you like. All fine and dandy, except…

Snocap and MySpace don’t ever pay the artists for downloads that you have purchased from them. They will collect your money, and they will give you the songs. And they will even have an account for the artist to log into and see how much money they will be paid. But they never do pay the artist. Ever.

And there is no way for artists to contact them to discuss why they are months and months delinquent in payment. Emails sent to their support address are never answered. And the only phone number provided by the company is, literally, never answered. And messages are never returned.

Snocap is a scam. And MySpace supports them. There are many many independent artists who will attest to this — and many more, even, that will learn it soon enough… soon as they notice a check has never come, and they try and follow up on that.

WHERE TO BUY MUSIC, THEN?

Choice #1: Always always always go to the artist’s website. They will provide you with the best deal… for you and for them. That’s the best way to support artists you like.

Choice #2: CD Baby. They are a model company. They treat the artists (and their customers) with the utmost respect. And they are accountable.

Choice #3: iTunes. For a big online digital retailer… they pay the artists a very reasonable percentage.

Choice #4: Any of the other big retailers… Amazon, etc. I consider these places to be a decent last ditch shopping spot. They are at least honest and on the level. Very little of your money, though, trickles down from your purchase into the artists’ pockets. There’s simply too many hands in between you and the artist.

Anyway… sorry to be preachy today. I just had a conversation with another musician friend today who has been screwed out of almost a thousand dollars by Snocap and MySpace. And I just don’t want to hear this story AGAIN. So please don’t spend your money on MySpace.

All the best —
Danny

UPDATE (Dec. 15/07) from Danny via Jim’s blog (click link for more details):

My perspective on Snocap is that they’re a disorganized company that’s way over their heads… that they lack the technical structure to handle their business… and that they lack the support structure to handle the fall out from not being able to handle their business. So, in a word, I think they’re a mess. But probably a decent honest mess that isn’t actually TRYING to screw artists around.

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