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Finally the day hit where I knew it was all starting. Stash O'Connor was a solid friend who would constantly fill my desire for not speaking by more than compensating my silence in jammering on himself. He had a tendancy to dictate stories which always included the most unneccessary details of sidetrack events. To elaborate, in replaying a concert he attended, he once felt obligated to include the knowledge that he stopped at 7-11 on the way, and was shocked to find Snicker's bars on sale for 69c, when they are regularly 89c. So, he picked up two and gave one to his buddy Brad, before realizing Brad was allergic to nuts, in which case he had the opportunity to enjoy both bars. It was on this trait of not missing the importance of recognizing and relaying the most minute and fruitless details that I vouched for him when the band got together and recognized we were pressed to hire a manager. Things were becoming chaotic and it was a consensus amoung the group that we couldn't control thing on our own anymore. Besides, when you start mixing business and music, enjoyment is taken out of the latter, and I couldn't allow for my head to detest its constant focus. So, Stash took pride in re-assuring the band that it was a logical decision and not one we would soon come to regret. At this conclusion, we felt assured that no label would be able to put a fast one by us via the small print.
Now that we had a manager, we could formally let the bargaining process begin and flood in it did. It seemed everyone in the music industry was throwing lucrative offers to have the privelage of recording and releasing our debut effort. But again, we knew time was on our side and we had way to much patience. Stash's quick and dedicated mastering of recording and publishing contracts allowed him to uncover the well concealed fine print in all the initial offers thrown our way. These contracts awarded the labels full recoupment on all advances, complete control of the creative process and all release decisions. We understood it would be difficult and near impossible to garner much pressure or power over our debut contract, but we felt it made no sense to rush into anything which would only fill the pockets of suits around us. Arrogance also had us believing we should be setting the rules and making demands with all the attention encircling us.
Besides, you know what some of the additional wording on these modern day contracts allow? They afford labels the executive decision and expressive right to pursue legal action against anyones unauthorized use of uncopyrighted material without the bands consent, yet its supposedly on the bands behalf. Basically, whether (as a band) you support downloading or not, the label will squeeze every last penny they can from the general public; in the meantime, you take all the heat in being perceived as the 'new Metallica', in the ignorant and greedy bastards column. The truth is, I fully support downloading and so should all non-commercial acts as the best promotion tool available. To elaborate, it may hurt the entire industry's sales as a whole, but for any new artist looking to make a name for themself, such free promotion can only increase sales, rather than hurt. Its like when you were younger and you would let a friend who couldn't afford all the latest Nintendo games borrow the new 'Lethal Enforcers'; than when your Dad tripped upon this news, he would bark "You what? No, you can't lend out your things like that, if you don't get it back now, you'll probably never see it again, call him up NOW!" Even than being the rightful owner you felt like you had no control over what was yours and this brought only resentment towards your father for not trusting your friends and never allowing you to make your own choices. Sure, he was only looking out for your own good, but this categorization also includes the fact he was making you more selfish in only looking out for your own good. Understand, I'm not claiming to be an under-educated and in-experienced teenager, I see the other side of the coin. There are clearly negative affects stemming from the allowance of file-sharing, but these are far out-weighed by what is gained. My belief is simply, the millionaire artists and powerful artists should quit their whining already, so what if they can't break record sales or get gold trimming in their houses. Its about time the playing field is leveled and opened up to everyone and kids aren't suckered into buying overhyped LP's, share the wealth.