David Singleton's Diary

DAY 51

So much to discuss and very little time after an overloaded day - so this will necessarily be brief.

FIRST THE GOOD NEWS : The first entries have begun flowing in for the V Factor. This may yet be an utterly transformative experience. I can only urge those sitting on the fence, to get off it and in front of a microphone (and female singers are indeed most welcome).

THEN THE MADDENING NEWS : I now realise that I have been stupidly naive in the past, by paying no attention to the credits I receive for the work I do, or to "my press" (or lack of it). I worked under the mistaken belief that the knowledge of a job well done was sufficient, and therefore never worried about what appears on the CDs or in the press. In fact, when other artists told me that they regularly checked their credits on "Allmusic" and other guides, I simply thought that they were being stereotypically egotistical.

WRONG!! What a dumbf**k I have been (pardon my french).

I was contacted recently by someone who had independently written a Wikipedia article about me and was concerned that it had been rejected. He wanted to check that it was indeed factually accurate. Which it was. But when I looked online, I realised that an entirely different incorrect version of the world had grown up. One in which I quite simply do not exist. The DGM entry on Wikipedia - the label which Robert Fripp and I co-founded in 1992, of which I am a 50% shareholder and to which I have given the last 23 year of my life - made no mention of me anywhere. Most of the people with whom we have worked were credited, including quite rightly Steve Ball, who designed our logo - but my contribution to a company I co-founded, which I have run for 23 years, for which I have co-produced most of the releases, and overseen innovations such as the collectors club and this website, was entirely absent. I have quite simply been erased from history. No wonder the proposed entry on me was scotched. I am apparently a non-person. Something, in truth, which part of me would until recently have been entirely comfortable, as the music world is far too obsessed with the personality cult. Far better we clear the field for the music itself. But another part of me seethes with a rage I seldom feel.

In an effort to correct this mistake, I registered as a Wikipedia editor and corrected the major factual errors...

WRONG!! My corrections were removed as I am "connected with the subject matter". Yes, because I actually know the truth about the company, I am not allowed to write it.

In fact, if we are to accept Wikipedia’s version of the world, I had better stop writing this diary as (unless they have not yet removed my second attempt at correction) the only DGM diarist is Robert Fripp. Likewise, The Vicar is not a DGM artist (while the Rosenbergs et al are). Our logo is apparently the same as the Discipline knot (not!). No mention in the explanation of the name that my previous business was called The Mobile (duh!). No mention of my role revealing our correspondence over Grooveshark to Digital Music News (despite the published correspondence clearly shows that I wrote to them)...

I shall resist the temptation to lead you through it line by faulty line. It is impossible to describe how angry I feel. In this modern world, we evidently all need to be self-publicists and ensure that everything we do appears in the online jungle so that it can be "cited" in wikipedia, otherwise we will be changed into non-people. Wikipedia has effectively sacked me from my own company.

If there is a wikipedia editor out there who feels qualified to rectify this situation before we start the alternative strategy of "DGM goes to war with Wikipedia" (with years more negative energy) then please get in touch. I am sure it is right that neither Robert nor I should have editorial control - but we do have a right to demand that the information is correct and up to date. Alternatively, I am now available for interviews, weddings and bar mitzvahs so that I can publicly set the record straight.

Here endeth the rant