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Frank on keskustelupalstalle kirjoittamiensa kommentien perusteella jälleen aktivoitumassa musarintamalla:
 
(keskustelupalstan lukeminen vaatii muistaakseni rekisteröitymisen ja sisäänkirjautumisen)
 
"OK... I'm Back..."
http://www.mahoganyrush.com/frankville/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=7401
 
"...So here's what's new... I just retained a brand new agent and agency, Skyline, and I feel that they will do some good things for us. We're working on trying to get something out there before the fall, or by the fall. I'm also working on a few different recordings... I've been playing around with the blues stuff, yes, but I kind of felt like doing some more Mahogany Rush music, so I'm working on that as well... it's very much like the mid-to-late 70's Mahogany Rush records. Don't ask me when it'll be done, that's like asking me to finish the Blues Record, and we all know where THAT got us!
 
I've also started putting my name out there for services that people might want to take advantage of... like producing, mixing, editing, mastering and even playing on people's albums. I'm kind of trying to get a whole bunch of things going, so that I can remain busy. So, if anyone knows of anyone who wants to hire me for any of those things, I am available... and I'm pretty good at it... (shameless plug, I know, but I need to add that cuz I'm REALLY expensive ya know!)...
 
I've also decided to finally do the DVD we've talked about. Right now, if nothing goes wrong, we should be on course to do it in Cleveland at the Agora Theater, in the fall when we tour. But even if we don't tour, or don't tour extensively, I still plan on going to The Agora to do the DVD anyway. We've been making those arrangements in the last few days..."
 
Music: Can We Change The Mindset
http://www.mahoganyrush.com/frankville/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7440
 
It's a well-known fact, to those who know my views, that I do not care too much for the music-business and the way in which it operates. Without going into the litany of complaints that I have often voiced about the business, in interviews, posts and general one-on-one dialogue with fans, I think I can sum-up my feelings by saying that:
 
1. The business does not serve the fan
2. The business does not serve the artist
3. The business does not serve the Art.
 
In fact, where the Art is concerned, it does it a grave disservice.
 
We can list dozens of reasons for this... the least of which is that the business is disproportionately concerned with money over substance, and quantity over quality. This is not uncommon in almost every business that graduates from an original idea, or service-based structure, into a conglomerate industry. We see it in almost everything today, including sports, luxury items and even food.
 
But for the purposes of this opinion-piece, I'm not going to concern myself with the power-politics of business-in-general, nor sports, nor food... nor anything else. What I'm concerned about is the music industry and, more specifically, the music itself and it's true lifeblood, the fans and the artists.
 
So I want to put forward a long-held view of mine, which is that music should be made by artists specifically for fans, and should be supported by those very fans.
 
I'd like to see the paradigm change. I'd like to see the day when people just automatically think that, to get music, you get it from the artist. People have for too long been indoctrinated into the false idea that you must get your music from the "music company". Want a record? Go to the store. Want to listen to music? Go to the radio, or any one of the newer mediums around today.
 
"Oh, you can't go to the artist...", we've heard for decades, "The artist is out of reach." "You go to the record companies... you go to the store... you go through the managers and representatives and middle-men."
 
And it's no wonder people feel like that... they've been hypnotized to believe that "that's just the way it's done". The music industry has spent millions of dollars and hired thousands of ad-men to propagate this fallacy, until it has become true. And why shouldn't they? That's why they're there. They're not there because they believe in the music. Hell, most of the "suits" I've known in the business-end of music can't even stand the music they represent.
 
The same thing essentially happened with banks, when they first became prevalent. For a long time, most citizens wouldn't have dreamed of putting their money in a bank. Some actually said, "Hell, I don't even know those guys!" But the banks were very good at promoting the many "good reasons" to put money in the bank... and they also paid interest. So it gradually became "the way to do things". It became the paradigm.
 
And today you will even find people who actually believe that they are required, by law, to put their money in a bank. But that's not true... it only seems true. While there may, in fact, be many good reasons for putting your money in a bank, one of them isn't that you must. That's simply a mindset. And mindsets are hard to change.
 
And so it is with the music-business. There is a deeply entrenched mindset out there that tells people that they must get their music a "certain way", and that way always includes going through some aspect of the business, whether in brick-and-mortar establishments or simply online at pay-to-download sites. The business people always have their hand in it, somehow, some way. And God forbid, from their standpoint, that there might be something like P2P to throw a monkey-wrench into the works.
 
Imagine people bypassing the business folk!... That's heresy to them. Why? Because that's their "action". And they don't want to upset their applecart... they've long had a "good thing going".
 
So, having said all of that, here's what I'd like to see, and hopefully to actually do:
 
I'd like to change the paradigm. I'd like to change the mindset. I'd like to see the day when, if you tell someone they need to get their music from anywhere except the artist, they'll look at you like you're crazy.
 
I'd like to see the day when people say, "Everybody knows you get music from the artist..." and "...that's just the way it's done."
 
But to do that, artists and fans have to come together to create that change in mindset. It's never going to just happen by itself.
 
Recently, a band called Radiohead offered their album for free, while accepting donations from fans. I don't know the end result of that, but I imagine they were supported to some degree. I have been calling for something like that since the late-nineties. I once gave a talk at McGill University in Montreal, to a room full of music-lawyers, and I basically took the position that we should completely "fire" the music industry and go one-on-one with fans, and get our support directly from them.
 
But I had said at the time that a guy like me can't change it alone... it would take many more-popular artists to make it happen. I reasoned that, if it did work for some, others would copy it. If it worked for others, still more would follow. And, by the end of a year, we would have successfully changed the mindset. The idea was shunned at the time by some of my peers. They didn't want to upset their lucrative label-deals.
 
But, finally, I saw Radiohead do it. And by and large it worked. I haven't seen too many others try it yet, especially not famous bands, but I'm still hopeful that they will.
 
But I want to do that. I know that I don't command the same attention as larger bands, but I want to make it become the way I deliver music, from now on. I don't want to have to "sell records", or DVD's. I don't want to have to go to the same record labels, over and over, and do things the same way. Quite honestly, I'd rather not do music at all if that's the ultimate end-game.
 
I'm tired of seeing record companies dictate the mindset... of seeing the RIAA sue fans... of seeing the industry deliver sub-standard productions on sub-standard media. I'm tired of seeing fans pay way more than an album is worth, only to find out there's one good song on it and sometimes none.
 
But the difference between me, now, and Radiohead when they did it, is that they did have the resources to do it. They had earned a lot of money from their days with the labels... they could afford to just do the production at their own expense. I, and many like me, can't just do that. It costs quite a bit to hire guys, musicians, engineers, etc., not to mention the simple cost of living while doing nothing but art for months.
 
So I'm putting this idea out here to see what my own fans think about it. Would the fans of this group and of our music have an interest in creating a kind of one-on-one relationship with this band, whereby the fans provide the material support, and we go and do nothing but record album after album of Mahogany Rush music?
 
I'd like to do it that way, because I think it's time that the mindset changes. I think the music industry has had its day, and had its way with the fans and the artists. But I can not do it if there's little or no material support for the idea.
 
What do you think... and what do your friends think?
 
Do you agree that, "Maybe It's Time"?