no_exit
New Member
This is an e-mail i got recently.... :
Hello,
Recent revelations about the review policies of certain self-proclaimed 'D.I.Y.' punk magazines including, but at this point not limited to, Maximum RocknRoll have forced me to write this: a call to arms of sorts, a good ol' fashioned letter writing campaign. For those of you with short attention spans, here is the gist: MRR has a racist and classist review policy, two ideologues they supposedly fight so vehemently against. But inherent in their own magazine are these elitist policies, and whether they are intentional or not is not for us to say; that will be on their own conscience. Suffice to say that it is this policy that is keeping the true spirit of D.I.Y. music squelched (or at least somewhere near the back). D.I.Y. musicians must now assume the role of today's Rosa Parks, and stand up! ..And then sit down again, in the front. Below, you will find a full explanation of why I believe this to be true. It may be long, but I believe it is in every independent musician's best interest to read it. However, if the above words were enough to fan the flames of institutional change within you, then skip ahead to the end and forward the dry form letter I've attached to MRR, a thousand times over, if you so choose. And pass this on to anyone you think may have a credible interest in maintaining true independent music, whether it's punk rock, indie rock, prog rock, rock rock, rap, whatever. This email is for every artist that chooses to record and produce their own music.
That said, I will now attempt to defend my position to those of you saying,"What the hell are you talking about?! MRR may be the ONLY magazine that supports d.i.y. artists! You're a jerk! A plain jerk." That's a lie. Except the jerk part. The D.I.Y. part is a lie. Or, at the very least, a misconception. Has the phrase 'D.I.Y.,' at this point in time, lost all meaning entirely, becoming just another popular buzzword like 'buzzword' for aspiring punks everywhere to champion as a cause, to rally behind,to chant as they make their way to Denny's to meet with the owner of some small indie label to plan their upcoming CD release party? Does anyone remember what it means? It means Do It Yourself. For musicians, it means complete control over writing, recording, producing, and putting out their own music. "D.I.Y.- It's not just a patch anymore."
The issue of control basically comes down to money. If a band is signed to a label, no matter how big or small, that label usually puts up the majority of the money to release the album. We all know that. But those of us in bands who have not been fortunate enough to be signed know that any money that is going to be put into our music will be our own. Therefore, unless that band has members with large trust funds to finance a release,the D.I.Y. musician must spend whatever money is left over after bills to finance their release. This is not a complaint- those of us who choose to approach music this way wouldn't have it any other way. It's a personal triumph for those of us who have seen a project like this to fruition. However, since there is no outside financial backing for D.I.Y. bands, they have to compromise when it comes to production costs. This means that not only is it a bad idea, business-wise, to spend $1100 on 1000 cd's, it is a financial impossibility. Sure, these bands would love to be able to have a CD professionally pressed and packaged(maybe), but making $8/hr at the used bookstore doesn't generally leave that as an option.
So, you may be wondering(or do you already know?),"How do D.I.Y. bands do it, then? How DO they subsist?!" Well, they use CD-R's, or better yet, good old fashioned tapes, of course. This is the cheapest way to get self produced music into (pseudo) mass production- cutting the cost, not only to the band, but, by trickle down economic theory(sort of..), to you, the music consumer as well, you bargain shopper(face it, that's what you are). Why, that sounds like musical utopia! Cheap production=cheap sales! What could be better? But, apparently MRR does not see it this way.
As you may or may not know, MRR's review policies prohibit CD-R's and tapes from being reviewed in the 'normal' review section. When questioned about this via email, the response i got was, "we don't review cdrs in the regular section, using the same logic behind why we don't review tapes in the regular section." When asked, 'What logic is that, exactly?," I received no reply. So, tapes and CD-R's are reviewed in the Demo section, appearing directly after the normal review section, apparently for no other reason than that they are CD-R's and tapes. I found this out after four months of sending CD's for review, as I am in a band that releases something every month. Though I knew that MRR is consistent in taking quite a while to get to reviews (I know they get a ton of stuff), I found it strange to see the Feb. 2003 issue still without a review of the first CD we sent in Nov. of last year. I found out that our CD's are "sitting in a box," waiting to be sent to Erin Yanke in Portland, the sole reviewer for demos. So, since November, our CD's, as well as probably 100 other bands, have been collecting dust in a corner, and will continue to do so, until an arbitrary date when the new intern from UC Berkeley can make it down to the post office to mail it(sure, UPS picks up, but it's SO expensive!).
Though this is bothersome, it's really not that big of a deal. I realize that at some point our band will be represented in print. What is irritating,not to mention poor business practice, is that we've been waiting for our reviews to start appearing so we can place ads in MRR, and isn't that what they want?! Don't they depend on ad sales to keep the rag afloat?! Of course they do, but what good is advertising for something that no one's even heard of? I don't know about MRR, but Punk Planet(who, by the way, also has not rewiewed any CD-R we've sent thusfar) has a specific policy of asking for ads only for bands/labels that are reviewed in their pages. If this is also the case for MRR, it looks as if we're stuck until they get around to reviewing us. This sends the message that had we only sent in 'real' CD's at the outset, we would have been reviewed by now, hence, we could begin placing ads. THIS, my friends is the classist policy I referred to in the beginning of this letter. MRR IS INDIRECTLY PLACING ECONOMIC RESTRAINTS ON THE MUSICIANS IT CLAIMS TO SUPPORT.
Is it not classism when authority divides groups according to their economic standing? Can we not now look at the community of people involved with MRR as a microcosm of our great country? Hmm.. Here, the rich, or signed bands, are showed favor simply because they are spending more money, while the poor, or D.I.Y. bands, are caught in the vicious circle of having to remain 'poor,' or unrecognized, in this case, because, since we aren't being reviewed in a reasonable time frame, we cannot advertise, and therefore we can never crawl out of our economic slum. Why? Because no one's hearing about us, much less buying our records-er, CD-R's.
Doesn't it stand to reason that if we started getting a response from timely placed ads in the magazine that we could at some point graduate to the upper class of bands and start pressing the precious 'real' cd, if we so chose? That is classism. And it's bullshit.
Moreover, as far as CD's are concerned, it seems like the only factor in whether they are put in the dusty demo box or onto the shiny review table is the color on the bottom of the CD. I imagine the poor review editor trudging through the hundreds of submissions they get a month and simply opening each one and glancing at the bottom and separating them according to color. Holy crap! Segregation by color?! That sounds like racism! Futhermore, AMRRica's view towards tapes can be directly correlated to the way we treat Native Americans: though they were here first, they have been surpassed, and since they do not serve the interests that we have made for ourselves in this new society, we'll keep 'em around, but nobody will take them seriously because they're out of touch and a little weird, so we'll just subsidize 'em and stick 'em out here in the shitty desert, the desert here being the sparse flatlands of the demo section.
Hello,
Recent revelations about the review policies of certain self-proclaimed 'D.I.Y.' punk magazines including, but at this point not limited to, Maximum RocknRoll have forced me to write this: a call to arms of sorts, a good ol' fashioned letter writing campaign. For those of you with short attention spans, here is the gist: MRR has a racist and classist review policy, two ideologues they supposedly fight so vehemently against. But inherent in their own magazine are these elitist policies, and whether they are intentional or not is not for us to say; that will be on their own conscience. Suffice to say that it is this policy that is keeping the true spirit of D.I.Y. music squelched (or at least somewhere near the back). D.I.Y. musicians must now assume the role of today's Rosa Parks, and stand up! ..And then sit down again, in the front. Below, you will find a full explanation of why I believe this to be true. It may be long, but I believe it is in every independent musician's best interest to read it. However, if the above words were enough to fan the flames of institutional change within you, then skip ahead to the end and forward the dry form letter I've attached to MRR, a thousand times over, if you so choose. And pass this on to anyone you think may have a credible interest in maintaining true independent music, whether it's punk rock, indie rock, prog rock, rock rock, rap, whatever. This email is for every artist that chooses to record and produce their own music.
That said, I will now attempt to defend my position to those of you saying,"What the hell are you talking about?! MRR may be the ONLY magazine that supports d.i.y. artists! You're a jerk! A plain jerk." That's a lie. Except the jerk part. The D.I.Y. part is a lie. Or, at the very least, a misconception. Has the phrase 'D.I.Y.,' at this point in time, lost all meaning entirely, becoming just another popular buzzword like 'buzzword' for aspiring punks everywhere to champion as a cause, to rally behind,to chant as they make their way to Denny's to meet with the owner of some small indie label to plan their upcoming CD release party? Does anyone remember what it means? It means Do It Yourself. For musicians, it means complete control over writing, recording, producing, and putting out their own music. "D.I.Y.- It's not just a patch anymore."
The issue of control basically comes down to money. If a band is signed to a label, no matter how big or small, that label usually puts up the majority of the money to release the album. We all know that. But those of us in bands who have not been fortunate enough to be signed know that any money that is going to be put into our music will be our own. Therefore, unless that band has members with large trust funds to finance a release,the D.I.Y. musician must spend whatever money is left over after bills to finance their release. This is not a complaint- those of us who choose to approach music this way wouldn't have it any other way. It's a personal triumph for those of us who have seen a project like this to fruition. However, since there is no outside financial backing for D.I.Y. bands, they have to compromise when it comes to production costs. This means that not only is it a bad idea, business-wise, to spend $1100 on 1000 cd's, it is a financial impossibility. Sure, these bands would love to be able to have a CD professionally pressed and packaged(maybe), but making $8/hr at the used bookstore doesn't generally leave that as an option.
So, you may be wondering(or do you already know?),"How do D.I.Y. bands do it, then? How DO they subsist?!" Well, they use CD-R's, or better yet, good old fashioned tapes, of course. This is the cheapest way to get self produced music into (pseudo) mass production- cutting the cost, not only to the band, but, by trickle down economic theory(sort of..), to you, the music consumer as well, you bargain shopper(face it, that's what you are). Why, that sounds like musical utopia! Cheap production=cheap sales! What could be better? But, apparently MRR does not see it this way.
As you may or may not know, MRR's review policies prohibit CD-R's and tapes from being reviewed in the 'normal' review section. When questioned about this via email, the response i got was, "we don't review cdrs in the regular section, using the same logic behind why we don't review tapes in the regular section." When asked, 'What logic is that, exactly?," I received no reply. So, tapes and CD-R's are reviewed in the Demo section, appearing directly after the normal review section, apparently for no other reason than that they are CD-R's and tapes. I found this out after four months of sending CD's for review, as I am in a band that releases something every month. Though I knew that MRR is consistent in taking quite a while to get to reviews (I know they get a ton of stuff), I found it strange to see the Feb. 2003 issue still without a review of the first CD we sent in Nov. of last year. I found out that our CD's are "sitting in a box," waiting to be sent to Erin Yanke in Portland, the sole reviewer for demos. So, since November, our CD's, as well as probably 100 other bands, have been collecting dust in a corner, and will continue to do so, until an arbitrary date when the new intern from UC Berkeley can make it down to the post office to mail it(sure, UPS picks up, but it's SO expensive!).
Though this is bothersome, it's really not that big of a deal. I realize that at some point our band will be represented in print. What is irritating,not to mention poor business practice, is that we've been waiting for our reviews to start appearing so we can place ads in MRR, and isn't that what they want?! Don't they depend on ad sales to keep the rag afloat?! Of course they do, but what good is advertising for something that no one's even heard of? I don't know about MRR, but Punk Planet(who, by the way, also has not rewiewed any CD-R we've sent thusfar) has a specific policy of asking for ads only for bands/labels that are reviewed in their pages. If this is also the case for MRR, it looks as if we're stuck until they get around to reviewing us. This sends the message that had we only sent in 'real' CD's at the outset, we would have been reviewed by now, hence, we could begin placing ads. THIS, my friends is the classist policy I referred to in the beginning of this letter. MRR IS INDIRECTLY PLACING ECONOMIC RESTRAINTS ON THE MUSICIANS IT CLAIMS TO SUPPORT.
Is it not classism when authority divides groups according to their economic standing? Can we not now look at the community of people involved with MRR as a microcosm of our great country? Hmm.. Here, the rich, or signed bands, are showed favor simply because they are spending more money, while the poor, or D.I.Y. bands, are caught in the vicious circle of having to remain 'poor,' or unrecognized, in this case, because, since we aren't being reviewed in a reasonable time frame, we cannot advertise, and therefore we can never crawl out of our economic slum. Why? Because no one's hearing about us, much less buying our records-er, CD-R's.
Doesn't it stand to reason that if we started getting a response from timely placed ads in the magazine that we could at some point graduate to the upper class of bands and start pressing the precious 'real' cd, if we so chose? That is classism. And it's bullshit.
Moreover, as far as CD's are concerned, it seems like the only factor in whether they are put in the dusty demo box or onto the shiny review table is the color on the bottom of the CD. I imagine the poor review editor trudging through the hundreds of submissions they get a month and simply opening each one and glancing at the bottom and separating them according to color. Holy crap! Segregation by color?! That sounds like racism! Futhermore, AMRRica's view towards tapes can be directly correlated to the way we treat Native Americans: though they were here first, they have been surpassed, and since they do not serve the interests that we have made for ourselves in this new society, we'll keep 'em around, but nobody will take them seriously because they're out of touch and a little weird, so we'll just subsidize 'em and stick 'em out here in the shitty desert, the desert here being the sparse flatlands of the demo section.
