JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum Blazetrak...

Okay.. I've again only read a few of the zillion posts here, so my apologies for not getting into the back and forth minutia.

First, and most importantly, I find the response from Ron quite appropriate and reasoned. Roughly 9 out of 10 companies shrink away from my consistent (i.e. I've challenged every company we've ever endorsed or worked with as sponsors just as aggressively) and we never hear from them again. Of the remaining 10%, about 1 in 10 of those pass muster for me. Again, my standards only apply to JPF and myself. I protect our brand fiercely and our integrity fiercely. I err on the side of over protection actually. But it has served us well.

In the few post beyond Ron's that I read, I will say this, Magne had the most reasoned response of all of them. Niteshift, who I disagree with probably more than I agree with is also pretty close to the truth. Mike Caro on the other hand is a bit shocking in his responses based on past issues with companies that show up here and what I know about him. I am not sure what is up with him, but sometimes folks surprise you.

For those who have compared the service, from what I know so far, to TAXI have it very very wrong. TAXI is an unbiased entity that provides a desperately needed service for industry to find worthy material from primarily disconnected nobodies in the industry. And that is not a slam on Taxi members at all. EVERYONE, regardless of talent, fits that description until they become insiders themselves. By saving time and effort of gatekeepers, who are the actual decision makers choosing material for direct commercial use, they improve the opportunities of those who are ready for an opportunity immensely, saving them from having to sort through brutal piles of garbage to find anything useful. Of course, if those gatekeepers were directly making 50-500 bucks a song to listen, even the wealthiest person is going to do it. At only 50 dollars a pop, you could do that full time and make over a million dollars just from screening bad music. Even if you cut it in half for video time, it would still be serious cash. At the high end, it's 10 million a year. Would I call that excessive? Yup. And ironically, should the rare quality submission show up, those gatekeepers would not only have pocketed all the previous cash, but then cash in even larger on the success of the song in question. Great work if you can get it.

Now here's a reality check: Other companies have done this same exact thing already. Remember Tonos? David Foster, Babyface, Carol Bayer-Sager and the lot? That was one of many, but when their private emails showing they were scamming everyone surfaced and they shut down, stealing membership fees from some of our members who had joined the day before and paid in full when they knew good and well they were closing down the next day and they refused refunds even to those folks, well it proved that no matter how large the name, it doesn't prove or even suggest honesty or propriety. When someone is that big, even such a public exposure disappears soon enough. So big names attached means nothing more than a bigger worm on the hook to justify oppressive submission fees. But I disgress.

Taxi doesn't get a piece of anything other than their measley 5 dollar submission fee which is only there as a minimal barrier to keep the same people from entering the same bad song to every possible listing. It's not a profitable thing for them and I have seen the books. Interestingly enough, TAXI is now bucking the trend of using middle man music libraries and going straight to the film supervisors etc. where the artist and/or writer who gets a deal keeps 100% of the money, not a share of it from a library. So not only are their fees tiny, the upside is huge. No giant submission fee. No giant piece given up to the "producer" or famous guy/gal who finds them through a mostly critique service.

But.. I will say that.. Blazetrak has my attention. I always take people seriously who do not get defensive, who are comfortable with their brand and their model being openly discussed (and even attacked) and not taking their ball and going home. At the least it shows balls and I find that a rare thing in the slimy world of our industry. (Most people only have balls once their power is firmly secured and they can bludgeon people with it).

As for whoever (Mike perhaps?) said no one works on behalf of the grassroots music community for free... that's a laugh... whose site do you think you're on anyway? I am a rabid watchdog for our folks and have put my actions where my mouth is for over 15 years. And 100% of the money we've ever taken in has gone directly back into JPF. So our sponsors are feeding our starving community of artists, writers and industry folks helping to educate, encourage and protect them, whether they know what's good for them or not.

Back to Ron: In the past I've hand picked some of our (according to our massive music awards program which screens more music than any other entity in the world each session) best talent in a variety of genres, and asked them to demonstrate what they can do for talent which I know is the top of the heap. After all, if they can't help those folks, what good can they do for anyone. If Ron is up for the challenge, I am happy to pick a few out in some large genres, perhaps Pop, Rock, Country, Jazz, Singer-Songwriters, Rap, etc. and see what they can do with/for them. It would require they waive the fees for the experiment and in return, I would publicly acknowledge any success stories they created to our membership, something that cost WAY more than their entry fees. At the same time, if they walk away, then that will tell me something as well. If they can't help some of the best among us do anything, then they can't help the average or below among us which would make promoting them a bit pointless to our entire membership.

Sound fair? Or perhaps they have a better way to do it? But if I choose the artists, at least I'll know the results are real and can tell a compelling story. And since the stuff will be top quality, it won't be a waste of time to their folks either and they might even make a lot of money in return. It also stacks the deck in their favor because they can twist any arms behind the scenes they want to make something happen and we'd never know the difference. That's far more leeway than I've given others. If they find success, I'll tell the story with all the facts laid out. And it won't cost them a dime. If that goes well, that can be the end, or it can be the start of a larger relationship.

Brian