DGM HQ Rising at although
08.54
DGM HQ.
Rising at 07.30, although awake before this. Nicky Bookkeeper has just walked in the back door.
09.21 From the viewpoint of a Heartless, Raging, Unreasonable, Angry & Venal Artist-As-Business-Person, when I reflect upon the subtleties of musicianship – for example, aim, decision, action, presence – that is, mostly what is taking place within the player-while-playing, I can see those musicianly-interests & aspirations as dangerous delusions getting in the way of making money.
From the viewpoint of a player giving attention to the subtleties of musicianship – aim, decision, action, presence – when I reflect upon the everyday life of the professional player, while my hands are getting dirtied in the actuality of daily life in the industry, I see the norms of the player’s profession as dangerous & based in delusion.
The main point: the danger lies in welcoming the impossible to earth while simultaneously denying its reality & paying lip service to the marketability & power of “magic”; while treading on it, and endeavouring to prevent what the possible from embracing the impossible-and -available.
10.26 A meeting in the kitchen with David & Nicky…
… beginning with a state-of-the-world discussion. David has deep & considered views on the contradictions in public life…
… which are well-argued, as befitting a Cambridge philosophy graduate.
Then moving to an overview of DGM affairs. Conventionally, meetings with Nicky concern matters of my solvency. The current position is tight affirms Nicky. I do not recall her saying otherwise.
My view: if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing for nothing. If you’d do a piece of work pro bono, then getting paid is already a bonus.
10.55 At the conclusion of our meeting, an incoming call c.10.30 was answered by Robert the Receptionist: from Bill Bruford, seeking to speak to Nicky Bookkeeper, also the Billy B’s bookkeeper.
Bill seemed surprised to find me in such a seemingly menial role, and wondered whether I had been demoted. Actually, not, I assured my fellow Crimson Road Warrior of 25 years: this is an example of vertical integration, resulting in me discharging seemingly menial activities in addition to those of raging venality & planning inter-planetary domination by DGM. All for the same wage, too.
17.56 From my letter to a Big Cheese at UMG re: the post-term sales of KC by Sanctuary UMG in Canada…
we have in recent years had problems of post-term sales with both Sanctuary & EMI. the main difference has been that EMI’s accounting department has continued to present accounts, even when the Front of House didn’t seem to know what was going on. with Sanctuary, this has not been the case.
the practical aspect of this is relatively small beer, although for a small niche catalogue more than we would like; and declan will have his own input as the distributor who sees the detailed sales pattern, flows & ebbs. the principles involved are of greater concern.
my aim: to put this to bed & draw a line under it. we all have better things to do. so how to move to that?
our suggestion: point 4) below. i am hoping i may persuade you to conduct an internal audit to see how many units of what were manufactured, and put this against declared sales. then we can see what is missing & where it went. like, canada. what i don’t know is whether titles were exported to argentina, israel & places in between; and if so, how many & when. were Sanctuary to have EMI’s accounts department, we would already have that information.
please note: the Sanctuary head of business affairs claimed to have the confidence of his superiors, while blocking us for 16 months, telling us he hadn’t read the contract, and not understanding why we might have reservations about Sanctuary continuing to exploit our material, albeit without our permission. so, i am prepared to believe that there are unreconciled elements which i would like to resolve. in this, i have confidence that your own goodself can make this happen.
in discussion with david, this is a concise statement of where DGM currently sits...
1) Our concern is with post period sales, and the fact that cheap cut outs (which we worked hard to prevent in discussion with Tim Smith prior to the end of the contract) are illegal and damage the long term value of the albums. declan has anecdotal evidence, and concerns from distributors.
2) From your letter - Distributors who had BOUGHT stock during the term would indeed be entitled to sell stock post term - but having paid full price for it, they would be unlikely to dump it cheaply, as they can continue getting full price for it. Distributors working on CONSIGNMENT would not be entitled to sell stock post term, and certainly not to dump it cheaply “to eliminate their stock holding”. What distributors operated on consignment? How much stock was held and what happened to it? If such sales occurred how were they accounted to the artists and MCPS?
3) The Canadian sales are disturbing. After the previous fuss with Mr. Most Useless of Second-Tier Lawyers, the fact this was ongoing seems to be a further indication that Sanctuary8 0s systems are not robust. The numbers also seem inconsistent with those reported for the previous year.
4) So that we can all achieve closure, the simplest solution would be to find out many were manufactured / sold / destroyed / reasonable promo - which would let us see the size (or not) of the problem.
at this point, i am returning to a dominican monastery in spain next monday for a continuing seminar, so i am hoping that declan will be able to follow through on this with you.
Goodies waiting for my arrival I…
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A day of stuff & e-flurrying, and Guitar Craft arisings.
An end-of-day call to Alan Cosgrove to wish him a happy birthday. Wimborne recently had a fire in the centre of town. Alan represents one of the owners of a burnt building.
Soon off homewards.
21.59 Bredonborough.
Leaving DGM HQ c .18.40, arriving here c. 20.55. A call from the Minx as I came in the back door. She is in Scotland, filming a tv show tomorrow. Tonight it’s WillyFred & Robert home alone.
Late evening views I…
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