From b3monaco@aol.com Wed Jan 04 06:54:19 2006
Subject:Re: New Tony Monaco "East to West " Question answered!


In a message dated 1/4/2006 4:14:08 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, writes:

Tony, is your new CD available thru the iTunes Music Store as well? I
saw, that you put some of your records there.

Best,

Steffan

Hey Steffan,
Thanks so much for the email and questions. This Cd, as all my previous
releases, will eventually end up on itunes. As a matter of fact, there will be
another release or at least additional tracks on itunes only called "North to
South" where I will have alt takes of I'll Remember Jimmy, My Little Boat,
Blues, Indiana in 5, etc... from the same session. We recorded 2 days 4 hrs the
first and 3 the next. The North to South (on Itunes only!) will complete the
session.

The Cd will officially be released sometime in Feb and probably wont show up
in stores, amazon, itunes, etc... till mid Feb at the earliest when the radio
press campaign is at its peak. These are my CDs that I get to sell myself.
In a record deal the artist makes his money by selling their copies AKA "Off
the bandstand" . These Cds will come autographed from me to you as I'm
grateful for the support I get from all my friends, fans and students. I hope you
understand I thought this question would be a good one to answer in more
detail as to explain the record side of the biz for the group as well. Its an
ever changing market and I feel we as musicians need to keep up our chops in
these areas as well. As artists, due to the small Jazz market, there are hardly
any proceeds that come from the label side, as contract % are big but sales
are small. Herbie Hancock's Washington post article "The dying days of jazz"
explains that a hit jazz record today will sell 3000 or more copies, a
blockbuster is when it sells over 6000 copies. In our biz that's a lot, most jazz
releases today barely sell over a thousand or so!!!! These numbers barely cover
the cost (usually there a loss) to put out a release (the only way the label
makes a profit these days, is the fact they own the CD as part of their
catalogue. That's pretty bad when your banking on selling the catalog to finally
make a profit! This is why I started :Chicken Coup" Records. I want to help
keyboard players get a chance to release something from a label that has
their best interest at heart. I teamed up with Summit Records because they are
great, straight shootin, honest folks. The deals are straight forward and
clean. I've already had 5 successful releases with them. They've always done what
they said they would do. If you think you've got something that should be
out and have a liitle $ to invest in yourself (or backing), I can help. Read
the story behind the "Coup" on my site B3monaco.com I don't care what kind of
music it is, even whether the keyboardist is the leader, as long as it has
keyboards in it and is good music, I'll consider it! Its through "Chicken Coup"
that I'll be able to help my friends from my already gained experience. We
all win! Thanks again!

God Bless,
Tony

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]