First Bad Blood.

Last Saturday, I recorded the Dead Dogs, You Need New Glasses, and the Goosepimp Orchestra. I talked to all of the bands before-hand and they all signed off on my recording, verbally. I made an agreement with the lead guy from Goosepimp that if I record, he gets a copy of what I get. I got a great recording. Goosepimp asked me if I wanted to go record them last night - so i figured it would be a great way to spread the music if i got a CD ready to sell at the show. So I busted my ass with a friend of mine to get 14 CDs done up. When the band finally showed up (2 hours after me), he demanded that I give him the CDs at no charge because his music is on there. I explained to him that there's 2 other bands on it, but he didn't budge. He asked me before he went up if we could figure this out through non-monetary means and i said yes, we'll figure it out. He threw two beers down in front of me because he thought that's what I meant - when i had to drive home soon after so I shouldn't have had any beer anyways. During the show I decided to give him 5 CDs for the two beers and the remaining 8 CDs (minus one for my records) would be figured out at a later date.

He said that I was breaking my word and I had no right, etc... I did not handle the situation well. I got angry. I ended up getting angry with the friend who helped me all day. I regret going to Boston last night. I called out on four days of subbing because I didn't get home until 4:50 AM and I would have to leave at 6:30. They gave the shifts to another person so there would be continuity of teachers.

I'm disappointed that I did not behave professionally. The night was going great up until then. I made $26 from recording the other bands and burning a CD for them right there. We ended up agreeing to disagree. He has 5, i have 9. I'm not going to do anything with the CDs besides give them to people in the other bands on it - if that.

I learned that I need to have contracts written up before hand. Money needs to be talked about and needs to be an issue that isn't brushed off by broke musicians. If a band can't pay me, I shouldn't do anything for them. If they're not going to pay me and I still want to record them, the recording goes no further than my own personal collection. No more verbal agreements. No more "hey i got the mikes up, why not record you guys." I also need to learn about the music industry more. I am a fish out of water when it comes to the business side of this crap. I hate the business. I just want to record music; however, I also want to get out of debt so I can focus on my music and my degree (hell, my life).

Bands that I have recorded this month: Death by Fame, The Garrison Delight, Dead Dogs, You Need New Glasses, and Goosepimp Orchestra. Venues: The Cantab Lounge and Copperfields. Attended an open mike at Bishop's Lounge in Northampton, MA - plan to return to record the open mike in a couple weeks. I know i just said I don't want to record anything for free, but I'm seeing this as a publicity stunt.

Learning is hard!