[mplpost] Those CanCon lists

[Take Note! Promotion]

Richard wrote:

> It really doesn't reflect the reality of radio play, of record sales, or
much of anything - except that some people who programme some folk shows on
a some stations give their playlists to a list, and Harry extracts the
Canadian names and provides that list to the rest of us. <

	And thanks to all of them for that.

	Richard, this is going to be one of these where we really, really disagree.
This has become an increasingly nasty, narrowminded, greedy, competitive
business, which maybe never was supposed to be about music, emotion, and
content; but that's, to a small, ever-vanishing part, what it deals in.

	Listen, if any rookie, small potato farmer, or bottomfeeder with a CD gets
any promotional value out of these 'charts' I'm all for them.  If any media
contact (or potential listener) actually buys it, the better.  If they
don't, well, at least the musicians tried in good faith to get something
'out there'; and maybe there's someone at the receiving end of those
announcements or kits who's able to look past them, and listen to the music,
which will, as always, speak for itself.

	We, most all of us, don't play for airplay; and airplay, as reported, is as
big an illusion as the idea we could get something from it.  We're trying to
sell something that can't really be bought or sold to people who probably
don't care or listen, in order to get our emotions and aesthetic response to
social, political, natural, and spiritual environments across to people who
didn't pay attention to our pain in the first place.

	The way I see it, if someone takes the time and effort to compile airplay
from a limited list of stations and programmers to post it to a limited list
of artists, programmers and media folk, Richard, it's uncool of you to knock
it.  By virtue of your experience and status you seem to be doing publicity
for a great deal of people who don't really need publicity anymore; their
measurements and money don't apply to most of the people promoting
themselves here, and out there in the fields of bars, clubs, and festivals.
No, the CanCon lists don't mean much in the 'big picture'.

	But the big picture *sucks*.  The big picture tells me that major labels
have a 95% 'failure' rate in their releases.  It says that Sony Records
complains about income loss (for artists, no less) from downloading and
file-sharing, and Sony Electronics sells mp3-Players to kids for $300 bucks
each.  According to the big picture, 'Shania' Twain is an important artist,
and, what's more, commerce is good.

	Independent players try to play along as hard as they can.  CanCon Harry's
charts are one way of doing that.  According to this year's 'Contact' book,
independent sales made second place after Universal Music in sales across
Canada; Sony came next.  For a conglomerate of, to a good part,
non-corporate business entities that's not bad, not bad at all.
Subsequently, I for one would rather read your advice as to promoting
oneself as an independent artist, and tips, from your decades of experience,
as to how to get some good music across to people who need to hear it, than
hearing how this and that ain't really worth a damn.  Educational as your
posts are, man, we need your constructive input more than your criticism.


	Nick




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