From bw@ashbysolutions.com Sat May 18 14:26:57 2013
Subject:Re: OT - Re: Jim Alfredson's New Project - Tribute to Big John Patton

Hi Jack,

If you're referring to my post, then let me clarify: It's OK to post a
'mild' advertisement that you are trying to put together an album of a
certain genre, and are looking for financing. What I asked to curtail
was the advertisement on *others' behalf* because the CW list allows
advertising for list members only.

________
If you're referring to the other comments, let me try and paraphrase
what I think bothers some of the list members. Let me say that I'm not
100% sure that it's *wrong*, but it certainly is *different* than most
commerce ventures.

When someone like Norm creates and then markets an album, he is taking
on all of the monetary and work risk up-front: choosing the genre,
hiring players as necessary, mixing down the tracks and creating
masters, pressing the CDs or buying website space, etc. Some of these
items might be free, or almost so, but nevertheless, the artist expends
the effort before any payoff is seen. The 'bootstrapping' method takes
away much of the artist's risk, and hands it over to the customers; if
there aren't enough customers, the album never gets made. This sort of
defies the unwritten 'laws of commerce' that the supplier takes the
risk, because he/she gets the rewards. A good analogy would be a farmer
going to customers and saying, "I'm thinking of planting tomatoes this
year, but I'd like a guarantee that you'll buy them at retail price when
they're ripe." It rarely works like that: one makes a best guess at
the needs of a market, takes business risks, and if they pan out then
rewards are seen. The only time this is different is if you come to me
and ask me to do something that I wasn't planning to do -- a 'special
order.'

The Big John Patton doesn't seem to fall into either category; it's a
pet idea of Mr. Alfredson, but to be financed by the customer base. I
don't know much about the arrangements of the project, but let me ask a
practical question: A typical music CD has a value of about $15USD. If
I give $50 to the project, what do I get if the project succeeds,
besides a copy of the CD, which is worth 1/3 that much? If the answer
is that I get bonus merchandise, or I get paid back for the other $35 I
invested -- and maybe even a little more -- then it's really no
different from going in front of a venture capitalist. If I get
nothing, though, then it amounts to a form of charity, and I can see how
that might bother people to be asked to contribute.

Regards,

-BW

Bruce Wahler
Ashby Solutions.com™
bw@ashbysolutions.com
http://music.ashbysolutions.com
877.55.ASHBY (877.552.7429)

On 5/18/2013 4:27 PM, Jack Ponissi wrote: