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Radio Alert!
“Prom Night” has had quite the release! With just a few cassettes and minidiscs still available for sale at the time of this writing, the reception has been overwhelming, and the reviews have all been extremely positive! Ryan himself attended the album’s impromptu online listening party and was overwhelmed by it. Additionally, tracks from the album have been played on both KOSU-FM (The Spy) in Oklahoma City, and in Bristol, UK on SWU.FM.
If you’re a DJ or Program Director and want to acquire our music for airplay, please do avail yourself of free downloads from the Bandcamp site – and let us know about your station and the show!
Prom Night Delivery Update!
The “Prom Night” cassettes have arrived from the manufacturer; however, the minidiscs will be delayed due to a misprint on the original order. All cassette-only orders have been processed. Orders of both cassette and minidisc will be shipped as soon as the replacement minidiscs arrive.
The Artist Edition box-sets will still be about another 10-14 days from the time of this writing. All of the bonus items have arrived, and they look great!
Prom Night on Vinyl?
Short version: YES. Details coming soon.
“Sample Heaven” Update!
More good news! We had been told to expect the test pressings for Mere’s “Sample” heaven sometime in July, after being told early 2nd fiscal quarter (so, around April). We were just advised that the test pressings will be shipping early next week by express courier! This is exceptional news, although I don’t know if it changes the production date. I will provide an update as soon as I know.
Categories
We Need to Talk About Hitpiece
On Tuesday, it was discovered that a website called HitPiece appeared to be selling music as NFTs without permission from the artists. Throughout the course of the day, musicians in our community were searching and often finding their entire discographies listed, with active NFT sales appearing to take place. A social-media firestorm ensued.
Today, the website is empty, except for the message:
Hoo-boy. Where to start here.
NFTs are a deeply-divisive topic in our community. Some artists have embraced them and have created some stunning and original works of digital art to sell. Many other artists reject NFTs outright and want nothing at all to do with them, citing a number of valid concerns. What I think everyone can agree on is that every artist should have the right to form their opinion and decide for themselves whether or not to get involved with NFTs.
When I found that HitPiece was listing eighteen of Coraspect’s releases on their site, I tried to find a way to report the listings, and found none. I looked for a contact link on the website and found none. I contacted our attorney to let her know, prepared a DMCA letter in case it would be needed, and then I reached out to HitPiece’s Twitter account as well as to the owners themselves, indicating that we had found our albums being offered for sale and wanted to know how to have them removed. We received no response.
By Tuesday evening, the site was reporting a 404 error. By morning, it was replaced with the message cited above.
“We’re Listening”
If the stated goal of your new online venture is to connect artists with their fans, then the inclusion of artists to the conversation should begin before the website goes live, not afterward.
Among other things:
- Artists should be assured that the inclusion of their material on the site is their decision to make.
- The terms of an NFT sale, and what rights that sale transfers to the buyer, need to be spelled out in plain English and the buyer needs to agree to those terms before making the purchase; for example: “This sale does not transfer intellectual property rights to the purchaser, nor does it grant permission for the purchaser to reproduce and sell copies.”
- The site should provide the ability for the owner of a work of art to report unauthorized listings.
- The site should provide the ability for an artist to block their name on the site to prevent unauthorized postings by others.
I do sincerely hope that the owners of HitPiece are listening, as this was an incredible fumble on their part which has not scored them any points, especially not with artists. Yes, listening is important. Conversations are even more important. HitPiece claims they “started the conversation,” but with whom? If they are indeed serious about bringing artists and their fans together, it would seem that artists should have been invited to participate in that “conversation.” By not doing so, they have very likely turned off a lot of artists who may have previously been on the fence about NFTs.
Coraspect made the decision a while ago not to get involved with NFTs, so finding eighteen of our releases listed on HitPiece did not sit well with us at all. We do sincerely hope that they’re listening.
Categories
Mere, Prom Night & Oversharing
Happy 2022, everyone. To everyone who has braved these last two bastard years, I raise my generic diet pop to you. We made it.
2021: The Most Horrible of the Horrible Bastard Years
I know last year was particularly hard on everyone. It was also the reason why Coraspect flew under the radar for much of the last of 2021. Straight talk, I was completely burned out about everything. I had hit rock bottom without alcohol or drugs. It’s been a struggle to keep hoping for tomorrow. I’m on meds, but it’s easy to let it slip your mind, and when the anxiety and depression finally smack you in the head after you’d missed a few too many times, even the act of opening the bottle and taking the pill becomes a monumental task. If this sounds like you last year, you’re not alone. But I’ve been working to get on track, and things are better. I’m also going to finally be getting my ADHD diagnosed and treated, which should help considerably. Over the course of years I taught myself to function despite and fulfill my work and home responsibilities prior to 2020. The pandemic scattered my ability and self-confidence to the winds. Every day has felt like treading water. Every night ends too early, particularly in the winter. My internal melatonin begins to fire as soon as the sun goes down, and it goes down early right now. Work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat – oh, shit, label! – asleep at 6pm, etc. But I’m committing to changing that this year.
“Yikes, this seems pointlessly personal!” Maybe. But you know Coraspect as me, and me as Coraspect, so what affects one affects the other. Plus you’re all pretty much family to me. 💙
Mere News
The news is that … we’re pushed back at the plant yet again. We were supposed to get the test pressings back at the beginning of January. Word now is that those won’t be here until late-February/March. As soon as they do arrive, they will be reviewed ASAP. I will post updates here.
Once the test pressings have been reviewed and approved, pre-orders will begin shortly afterward. It is planned that every person who pre-orders within the first 48 hours will be put into a drawing. First Prize of a blue portable turntable like the one on the cover of “Sample Heaven” and a test pressing. Second prize will be a test pressing. (Prizes will be shipped when the final records arrive.)
USPS in Crisis: What’s a Label to Do?
Due to increased and deliberate degradation of quality at the USPS – which is in no way caused by any post office worker or mail carrier – we will be using our new European fulfillment service, 8Merch, to process pre-orders and orders for the Mere release. This will cause the cost of shipping to the US to go up by a few dollars. However, I believe their order packing is the best in the business, and every order will arrive ‘signature required’ to eliminate porch piracy. Conversely, shipping costs to the rest of the world will go down considerably, providing a more equitable shipping cost for everyone.
For the time being, all future vinyl is planned to go through 8Merch, with cassettes and minidiscs available from both 8Merch and Bandcamp.
Prom Night: A Tribute to Saint Pepsi
The official deadline for submissions ended a few months ago, but so many amazing artists stepped up to ask if they could contribute, and Calmcast and I couldn’t say no. We’ve officially closed off submissions now and we’re finalizing the artwork and getting all the tracks EQd and leveled for the final release. This will be a cassette pre-order, with a possible minidisc edition.
There are so many amazing people on this compilation.
An advance listening party of the album will be announced here, and hopefully elsewhere. But definitely here.
And to all the artists who participated in this project, thank you.
Right Now I’m Listening To …
Something new from DU- …
Some Inspirational Shit
Cynical header aside, seriously, thank you all so much. I have not been at my best this year, and while a lot of that had to do with depression, I am making a resolution to get back to the promptness and quality you all have come to expect. You’re what makes this worthwhile. You, the fans; you, the artists; you the artists who are also fans and fans who are inspired to become artists – thank you. This label started as an experiment, and then became a hobby for far longer than it should have. It’s going to have to become more of a business, as much as I hate that. But it’s part of the cost of doing what I have to do to make it possible to make this thing I love my job. I want to spend all my time with this scene.
I’m still a little rough around the edges, but bear with me as I pull things together and make this a great year despite whatever happens.
We move forward, stars.
Be good to, and take care of yourself today.
A. – ♥