Wasn't Something Supposed To Happen Yesterday?

Hello Family!

True Confession time: As some of you are probably aware, the CD did not launch online yesterday as it was supposed to. (Surprisingly, I'm okay with that. More on "why" I'm okay with it later.) I tried to come up with a way to spin it. But I'm no good at "spinning" the truth. I can put it in a pretty package, wrap it up in a bright shiny bow bow and present it to the Universe. But when the pretty packaging comes off and the bow is discarded, all that's left is the truth. Then I thought I could out and out lie about it. But that's just not me. I try to live my life as above board as humanly possible. So for me to lie about it wouldn't be a good thing. All that's left then is the truth. Thankfully, it's not an ugly truth and in my eyes it's just another bump in the road.

Here's what happened:

As I detailed in one of my previous blogs, I joined tunecore.com. It's a digital warehouse of sorts that "houses" your music for an annual fee of $19.98 plus a one time fee of $9.99 for each album you upload. (At least that's the way it was for me. For more specifics on costs and if it's the right type of place for your business, I strongly suggest you go here: http://www.tunecore.com/index/faq). It seems like a solid sort of company and it seems like my music will eventually be available to download from itunes, napster, amazonmp3.com, shockhound, etc. etc. I finished uploading all my information to them about three weeks ago and my "navigation page" stated at the time that my information was processing. A few days later I checked my nav page again and was advised my songs had been sent to the stores I requested.Then I read the sentence that changed everything:"Projected go-live on or before: 25-Feb-2009"

FUCK!

Now to be fair, when I signed up with tunecore I did read the fine print that states it can take 4 - 6 weeks for your material to go live. They were upfront about it, and I read it. So I cannot blame them for not telling me. But there was a tiny part of me that was hoping against all hope that it would go live yesterday. That somehow someway the Universe would decide, "Let's break the laws of physics, the time/space continuum and technology as humans know it and push this CD on through."

Yeah, right.

And even now, there is a tiny part of me that hopes it will go live sooner rather than later. After all, the Sentence Of Despair (as I've dubbed it) says, and I quote: "Projected go-live on or before: 25-Feb-2009" See, it's that "or before" part I'm holding onto for dear life. Why? Because I've had it in my head for the LONGEST time that this CD would be released at the end of January 2009.

But life never works out the way we plan, does it? No, it really doesn't. There is no clear trajectory. There is no straight line from point A to point B. We'll have more "I knew I should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque" moments than we will have "Here we are at Pismol Beach with all the clams that we can eat!" moments and actually BE in Pismol Beach. (Brownie points if you get the references. HA!) Instead, life throws us curve balls, rips the rug right out from underneath us, kicks us in the teeth and then smugly says while towering over our bloodied broken bodies writhing on the floor, "It's for your own good."

And bringing it back to the music business, that's why I believe that while it's a really smart thing to be business savvy and to read as much as you can about the business of music, there is no "magic formula" for success. There simply is not. Anyone who tells you there is "and for $49.99/month and your left testicle and your unborn children I'll give you the magic beans that will transform your played out sucks would be an improvement Jersey garage band reality into sold out stadiums across the world success" should be taken with a grain of salt. To be fair, there are smart ways of traversing the music business landscape and there are downright idiotic things that should be avoided. But to say there's only one way of doing things and there's only one road to success is bullshit.

It's sort of the reason I write this blog. So that you, my not-so-gentle readers can learn from my mistakes and take note from my triumphs. All the while knowing I'm just one example. For every mistake I make there are a million other people out there that have made the same mistake 10 times over. For every taste of victory I get to lick, there are a million other people out there that have that sort of victory for lunch. Everyday.

And speaking of setbacks, having my CD not launch the way I wanted to in the time frame I wanted to is just one of many setbacks I've experienced in this road I've chosen. And I'm sure it won't be the last.

So that's where I am today, family. There are a couple reasons I'm not pulling my hair out about it all. The first is I have almost a full month more to prepare. To do all the behind-the-scenes stuff that I've grown accustomed to doing. And believe me family, there is PLENTY to keep me busy. (I'll have more next week on what exactly I've been doing while I wait for the CD to go live.) The second reason is it's not like it's NOT going to happen. And furthermore, it's not like it's gonna happen but it's gonna be six months from now. It's one more month at the most. (I REFUSE to let go of the "or before" part of the "Sentence Of Despair".) So I'm good with it. It's been a six year journey after all. What's another few weeks? As they like to say in prison, "I can do that bid standing on my head, muthafuckas!"

Take it for what it is and do your own thing.

Peace.

-Stephen

P.S. BTW, tell all your friends, neighbors, citizens countrymen and women, people you love and a couple people you hate about my upcoming release. I could use all the support I can get. Not to mention, it's good karma baby!

-Stephen