fortuneandspirits's Blog

God has spoken.... lol That's funny Brian!

Glad we got that settled!

Seriously hst why are you such a jerk all the time.. haha.

Sorry, I probably don't belong here, but just trying to mix up all the serious talk with some comic relief.

Let the contest resume!

All of this negativity started with one negative statement mine, so please, dont make me contend anymore of this Matt.  Please dont think ill of Dennis, he's literally a god of Indie Music.  Let's all move forward...

Thanks to both of you. It sounds like we are of the same mindset. Good luck to all of you.  Hopefully no one is offended etc and we all walk away with our pride. And yes, we are always looking for writers. It's hard to keep volunteers around!

To DScanland:

 You seem to be commenting about a lot things that are bugging you that really don't have a ton to do with my blogpost.

As far as ballot stuffing and all that goes, I totally understand your frustration and I think your contest is great and you are acting is a tremendous steward of the community.  With regard to the contest you've never heard anything out of us but thank you.

However, you are, by definition, bringing Music Emissions to a crowded marketplace - there's a lot of other sites trying to do what your're doing; I know because I write for several of these sites myself.  The contest serves to try to get us, the bands, to bring you new users, so while this is an altrusitic contest and I'm grateful for it, you still do have ulterior motives, and there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, I really think the site is great and was going to see if writing for it would be possibility after the contest and after I no longer have a conflict of interest.

My original post was lambasting hstisgod, because insulting fans, and your potential new users, is a self-defeating propisition.

However, aside from that first comment from hstisgod, I think Brian has actually been very gracious and as far as I'm concerned this issue is put to bed.  I like you, was surprised this turned into such a huge thing.

But, Dennis, I'm sure you're not naive enough to think that all or even most of the people voting for this contest are going to come back, it's just not realistic.  I mean, some of the people I've had vote, I've literally had to go over their house and walk them through the voting process, should I feel bad because I had someone vote that I know will neve come back?

You have your crosses to bear and I think you should be lauded for trying to help out the indie music scene, but we have our crosses too, Dennis, and to paint us all with one brush as "greedy" I think is unfair.  Over the lifetime of my band, I am out probably close to $15,000 you know why?  Because when my band doesn't draw the number of people to the show I pay for the remaining tickets I help my broke bandmates buy their equipment they need, I've mastered cds for free, recorded bands for free, I've done graphic design and myself attended thousands of shows on my own dime, never EVER accepting a spot on a guest list.

If I was greedy, I damn sure got into the wrong business.

So, if no one has said it yet, thank you for your contest and we'll keep doing our best for your site, which, seriously, really is a great site.

Your points are well made.

I can tell you first-handedly that IOTY has been an exciting opportunity for me to expose my music to some new ears via Music Emissions. It is only natural that my friends and family will come on to support me. My goal is to get more criticisms to my sound and to play it for new ears. And honestly, I think that's the goal of a lot of artists.

This is why I find it difficult to believe that every artist should have a stacked resume of thorough criticisms and reviews when submitting their contest entries. Many indie bands haven't had access to this, and IOTY opens up a door for us to make this a possibility.  

Thus I have been promoting Music Emissions heavily on all of my sites. As I thought we were supposed to do. Whether people are leaving extensive reviews or not, they ARE indeed coming to Music Emissions to express their opinions and cast their votes. As the artist, that's all we can do. We can encourage them to stay posted with ME on a daily basis, but it will ultimately be up to them to do what they want. 

Thanks for your follow-ups, and I look forward to the remainder of the IOTY contest. I hope we can all move past this and realize some of the obstacles that come about with independent artists. There really are some awesome artists on here, and I just hope everyone gets a fair listen at the end of the day.

- Bassel Al-Madani 

Wow, did I miss something this weekend?

I can't believe we can't hold a contest on this site and depend on peoples good will and perseverance. All three years we've done this we've had to disqualify some band for cheating. And we end up bickering about the whole process. Very sad when many people involved with this aren't getting paid a penny, instead, doing this out of the love for Indie music. This year we've got a whopping $15K of prizes up for grabs. Maybe that's the problem. Bands and such are getting greedy. Brian and I have had extensive conversations about changing the way the IOTY is judged but we really can't do it at this point (despite what's going on) because of the rules being laid out before hand.

Ballot stuffing will not be tolerated.

As for the music, I can say that almost every band/artist that has entered this year is outstanding and deserving of the prize on the music alone. Bassel, I haven't given yours a good listen yet but the rest of the bands, very good music.

And as for the fans, the main reason we work our asses off on this contest is so we might turn some of your fans into users of Music Emissions. That's it. In turn we will reward the band who brings the most fans to Music Emissions with the grand prize. It's simple. BUT, please encourage your fans to look around. Like Brian has stated, when a fan comes to the site, signs up, votes for you and then never comes back to the site is a complete waste of our time. Sure, you may be up a vote but that's not the whole point of this contest now is it. You may have different values with this contest but in the end, we are trying to help you, you should try and help us.

So hit the street, the internet, the chat rooms, Myspace, Twitter, Facebook, live shows... Get your fans over to the site to not just vote for you but to partake in the banter and maybe find a few other great artists as well. Encourage them to not only vote for you but to listen to some of the underdogs in the contest because some of them are better than you. Really! If you don't believe me, then check them out yourself! 

Let's end this contest on a good note and we just might hold it again next year. It's a lot of work only to be slagged and cheated. All of the IOTY bands reading this, do me a favor, ask your fans to come back to ME and check out both your standings and some of the other bands in the contest. They'll be thankful that you may introduce them to another favorite. 

Thanks for the fair review, Brian. I'm going to post this up on my pages too. I think it's quite honest, so it is definitely appeciated.

You haven't heard much from me because I'm still relatively new to a lot of this. My outside help has been minimal, and I've been juggling two degrees & two jobs simultaneously with writing, recording, performing, booking, and promoting my work.

The last year of my life was also spent immersed with a different band, so I am now revisiting solo work with a new perspective and gained knowledge. The newer tracks are significantly different, taking on a much folkier sound. You can here this in the "Senseless Dreams" video that is also on my MySpace profile. This contest has been a good outlet for me to expose some of this newer material, and give a taste of what's to come on the new album.

If you have more questions, please let me know. Take care

- Bassel

Nobody insulted your music. I haven't had a moment.  I merely stated that the locker room type support was lame and tasteless, I'm sorry if that ruffled you or your fanbase's feathers.  I can not understand for the life of me -after surfing the web for nearly 15 years- how I've managed to avoid you, and boom now you're here.   In fact if you put your fangs away long enough, I might actually be able to finish my user review on your music.  DESPITE what I think of you as a person.

Jacob Vanags is indeed a close friend of mine, and I had nothing to do with is disqualification. He lives in New York City, and I am in Columbus, Ohio.

I am "Bassel Management". There is no extensive promotional tactic, it is simply me reaching out to my friends and listeners.

When you directly insulted my music without listening to it, you should have been asking for a criticism to your professionalism. So I am not quite sure how you can feel offended.

I felt compelled to do so since you sort of insulted my listeners... You suggested more people speak their opinions, so it's on me to keep fans posted and generate discussion.

This is the best way I can think of in order to allow any future editors or reviewers to keep an open mind when viewing my music and profiles. Thank you for following up with Matthew's blog, and I appreciate your honesty. Nonetheless, I will always defend my fans and my music when I find a criticism unreasonable.

- Bassel Al-Madani

Wow Bassel management, you actually took this to the band blog? I'm speechless... All I know is I didn't see you posting blogs apologizing for getting Jacob tossed out. Your process for promotion is wack, and somehow I knew it was an example of character. Instead of enjoying your myspace music, like I was trying to do, I have to eye this headline.

"Indie of the Year! ...And a mean music editor... "

 Really?  Comon man...that's just beyond the spirit of any of this.

Highly appreciated Matthew.

Here was my own response to hstisgod's comment:

"The point of IOTY is for fans to vote on their favorite indie acts. While Music Emissions may encourage voters to leave their own reviews and comments on the website, this has no bearing on what fans actually think of the music itself. If you are curious to read up on comments, please refer to http://www.myspace.com/bassel. But please don't judge a book by its cover by merely discounting someone's music due to 'minimal comments, reviews, and ratings' on one specific website. The point of independent music is to generate a reputation on one's own. Considering the title of this contest, it should be realized that musicians involved want to branch out. The fans are the ones that make this a possibility by registering and voting for their favorite artists. It is also very fortunate that Music Emissions allows this to be a possibility. If you have more questions or comments, let me know, and thanks for your criticism."

Bassel Al-Madani

(www.myspace.com/bassel)

You make some strong points... and to be quite honest, my statement was far less vindictive than it was perceived.  Nonetheless, considering how terribly i wrote the statement, it's safe to say I was saying these things primarily as a user and not an editor.  Truth is, the Editor position is currently under review to another writer on staff simply for this reason.

  I guess my point was, if you're going to bother commenting about a 'record', say something with more taste than a pep rally, cause no this isn't Pitchfork. Though I dont visit it much, Pitch isn't a bad site, but its not really even close to the same.  The soul behind Music Emissions is for EVERYONE TO HAVE A PUBLISHED OPINION ABOUT INDEPENDENT MUSIC. The soul behind IOTY is only a branched thought to promote that very same idea amongst artists. By pooling prizes, ya know what... no.. nevermind all of this...It's simply supposed to be about the music.  More truth? I've not given any of the top three artists enough of a listen.  Could be a knee jerk reaction to something I see going on, or could just be me being a jerk. 

As one user of this website (reviewer status stripped), I'd like to suggest a challenge to ALL CURRENT IOTY CONTESTANTS. I think (myself included) M.E. made a mistake from day one to name an independent artist based on general public voting, I've got two words for you, Al Gore.  No not the brightest crayon in the box, but he's seemingly human. Getting back on track, I suggest a final head to head playoff in the last 7 days.  Clear the vote standings, and grade in another fashion.  All idea's welcome.  If not, just stick with what's going on, but I'm not sure the Independent Music Scene gets any brighter from it.

Let me add something to this...Cause I realized, I have not yet apologized to the fans of Bassel, and it is needed.  I am sorry if I offended anyone, again, it was not my intentions. I enjoy the company of anyone who is willing to spend time listening to underappreciated music rather than morphing into music that is more force fed.  Thanks for your understanding...