Gaylord Strikes again!

Dave Boothroyd · Post by **Dave Boothroyd** » 31 Dec 2000 3:25 am

Check this out, especially the songwriters on the Forum.

http://songs.com/

I know why you despise these people now!

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 31 Dec 2000 7:57 am

Whatis going on there?.. seriously!

John Macy · Post by **John Macy** » 31 Dec 2000 11:11 am

That is sad to see. This was a great website that was independent for many years, but obviously, Gaylord Interactive made them an offer that they could not refuse a year or so ago. Another part of merger mania.

Gaylord Interactive was recently closed, due to huge financial losses at Gaylord in general, but especially in the internet world. 116 employees were let go with it. They are also experiencing major losses with Word Records, one of the leading Christian labels they acquired a while back. The Word President, Roland Lundy, was forced out after a 28 year distinguished career with Word.

I assume they are having other losses across the board, too.

Don't know what this bodes for the future...

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 31 Dec 2000 12:42 pm

I can't understand how Gaylord Corp has got to this point. Seems everything they touch turns to crap.

They are now expanding the Opryland Hotel concept and building or planning to build smaller versions of the Opryland Hotel in the Washington DC area and Orlando. Who can afford to stay in them?

erik · Post by **erik** » 31 Dec 2000 4:25 pm

Well, i've never heard of songs.com until now. Guess a web site can't be successful if people don't know it exists.

Has anyone given soundartist.com a lookover? I can understand the concept but wonder if it would ever catch on... or if it's even needed. One curious anomaly is their online copyright registration service. They clearly state that any audio file you upload is limited to 2 minutes in length. If it is longer it will fade out at 2 minutes. So then, how do you register your full song???

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 31 Dec 2000 4:44 pm

I'm no expert, but I might guess that the so-called "Alt-Country" stuff is finally hurting "NCS Country" sales. One way to remedy this might be to try to make the "Alt-Country" less obtainable.

What do you think?

Janice Brooks · Post by **Janice Brooks** » 31 Dec 2000 4:52 pm

Did anyone else notice the top 10 lists this year for Amazon and CD Now? Also this comes from the Chicago Sun Times
Top Albums and shows from a Chicago reporterCountry Music
-Bobby Reed
1. Neko Case & Her Boyfriends: Furnace Room Lullaby
2. Dwight Yoakam: Tomorrow's Sounds Today
3. Allison Moorer: The Hardest Part
4. Kelly Hogan & The Pine Valley Cosmonauts: Beneath The Country
Underdog
5. The Handsome Family: In The Air
6. The Johnny Staats Project: Wires And Wood
7. Emmylou Harris: Red Dirt Girl
8. Gurf Morlix: Toad Of Titicaca
9. Shelby Lynne: I Am Shelby Lynne
10. Front Range: Silent Ground

Top Country Concerts
-Bobby Reed
1. Emmylou Harris and Buddy Miller: Vic, Oct. 6
2. Gary Allen: Fitzgerald's, May 15
3. Alison Kraus And Union Station: Chicago Theatre, March 24
4. Dwight Yoakam: House Of Blues, July 4
5. Doc Watson: Old Town School Of Folk Music, June 4
6. Clint Black: Ravinia, Aug. 2
7. Charlie Robison: Schubas, Aug. 11
8. Trisha Yearwood: Soldier Field, July 22
9. Lyle Lovett: Chicago Theatre, Aug. 10
10. Kathy Mattea: Schubas, Aug. 14

------------------
Janice "Busgal" Brooks
ICQ 44729047

John Macy · Post by **John Macy** » 31 Dec 2000 5:07 pm

Actually, if you look at songs.com's website, alt-country is just a small part of what it represented. Alt-country is having it's own problems, too. Gavin dropped the Americana Chart in it's publication, so I doubt alt-country is having that kind of effect. The damage that's happening to country music sure isn't from alt-country competition.

Online internet sales have just not turned out to be what everyone thought they would be, hence Gaylord Interactive was one of the biggest money losers for them.

Dave Boothroyd · Post by **Dave Boothroyd** » 1 Jan 2001 1:52 am

Here is a post from the rec.music.makers.songwriters newsgroup, from a great writer called Peg Bertsch.It seems to sum it all up.

This was a really painful thing to watch, something which has been bumming me
out for months.

As a songs.com artist and a friend of the three co-founders of songs.com, I
know that they are also extremely frustrated at how things turned out. All
three of them remained with songs.com after the sale to Gaylord, because it was
never just about the money to them. They all believed in what songs.com was
trying to do for independent music, and wanted to see it grow with Gaylord's
help. I always felt confident with them still involved that they could realize
the dreams they had for the company.

It's true that it's a business, and things like this sometimes happen in
business, but I don't think the word "betrayed" is too strong to indicate how
the songs.com folks (and other dot com components affected by Gaylord's latest
change of heart) feel about how they were treated by Gaylord.

The "Gaylord Digital" division was part of a larger business plan for Gaylord.
They were branching out, looking into developing an internet presence
(songs.com was just one acquisition of several meant to build the internet
business), establishing a new record label (under the guidance of highly
respected Nashville veteran Tim Dubois), etc.

When songs.com was initially bought out by Gaylord, the Gaylord management team
made all kinds of promises and supported all kinds of grand plans to grow these
businesses and make Gaylord a real presence in the world of internet music
sales (especially "smaller market" and independent music). It all sounded very
exciting and for a while, it seemed like they really meant it. There were some
good things happening at songs.com that we all benefitted from.

All of those plans started falling apart months ago. First there was a
changeover at the top management level, meaning the ones who believed most in
these new "business directions" were out. A member of the old-school Gaylord
family was installed as the top-level manager. This was not a good sign.

Then Dubois left, amid comments around Nashville that if Gaylord couldn't find
a way to work effectively with Dubois, widely recognized as one of the most
respected and well-liked executives in town, then they weren't really serious
about the record label in the first place.

Finally, Gaylord just pulled the plug on the entire digital initiative. They
initially cut the songs.com staff drastically back in October/November (they
fired the head songs.com guy the day after he returned from his honeymoon).
The writing was on the wall. They closed down the rest of the division
(including all the other companies besides songs.com) earlier this month and
put even more people out of work.

Public comments in the press indicate that Gaylord has decided to return to its
"core" businesses, meaning the hotel and entertainment business (Opryland
hotel(s), Opry Mills mall, entertainment venues they own around Nashville,
etc.). They weren't willing to go through the "red" year(s) that many
internet businesss require before becoming profitable. So be it. Personally,
I think they bailed out much too soon and will be sorry in the end that they
didn't stick with the plan to become involved with internet music sales. They
decided to stay rooted in the past, rather than moving forward into the world
of "new commerce".

As a songs.com artist, I'm not sure what I will do next. There is definitely
value in being part of a larger, better funded indie music website (rather than
striking out entirely on my own). But I will be taking control of my personal
site, and if necessary, linking to another site to assist with sales. I hope
to get that set up soon. I was hopeful that there might still be a chance for
songs.com to find a new home, but obviously this isn't the best of times for
"dot com" businesses to find new buyers.

Makes me want to avoid giving business to the Ryman, Gaylor Entertainment
Center, Opry Mills, etc. just out of principle. But since Gaylord seems to own
half of Nashville, I'm not sure how long that "principle" will last

It was
certainly a cold, hard lesson in what happens whenever large corporations
become involved in the creative end of things.

RIP, songs.com. It was great being a part of it while it lasted!

--peg

erik · Post by **erik** » 1 Jan 2001 5:24 am

Why can't they sign up of Liquid Audio? It's practically the same thing.

erik · Post by **erik** » 1 Jan 2001 5:31 am

Forget Liquid Audio. I couldn't even find any artists or songs after clicking about 8 pages. The color scheme of that site is less than musically inspiring.[This message was edited by erik on 01 January 2001 at 07:55 AM.]

John Macy · Post by **John Macy** » 1 Jan 2001 9:23 am

Actually, Luquid Audio is just a delivery system, like MP3 or Real Audio. songs.com was a painstakingly built website run by some great people who made it a sort of clearing house for independent labels. They had a central store, and stocked the CDs and sold them through one shopping cart, so you could buy from a number of small labels in one stop.

Great concept, and it was actually starting to work. As as so many things these days, when a bigger entity smells a profit, they tend to make offers and merge them in to a bigger operation. Trouble is, the vision is soon lost, and if it does not make money quick--you're otta there.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 1 Jan 2001 6:40 pm

John, I think that "Miles of Music" is a similar outfit. I believe they sell just obscure and independent label stuff. They have a good website, and do a catalog mailing, as well.

erik · Post by **erik** » 1 Jan 2001 8:01 pm

Actually, Liquid Audio is more than a file type, it serves the needs of artists to make their music available for sale. An artist can create an account and then tie it into their own web site. So really, it only takes one person to ceate a web site dedicated to independant artists that consists only of hyperlinks to the artists web pages where you can then download a song (provided they have a contract with Liquid Audio) or buy a CD for sale. Yes, the artist would have to receive payment and mail the CDs themselves. But, isn't that what many steelers are doing today?

John Macy · Post by **John Macy** » 1 Jan 2001 8:03 pm

You're right, Donny, and a good one as well. They are more like a store and sell product, and well as some distribution, especially in Europe..

songs.com was way deeper, though, with a focus on working together with the smaller labels. More cross promotions, website linking (including building sites for those without them), sales, and a great monthly newsletter. Almost like a co-op.

I am really sorry to see them go, and more power to Miles of Music, too.

And erik, you're right about that, and it may work well for some people. A lot of artists associated with songs.com were on the road a lot, and the site allowed their records to be fulfilled and shipped quickly, regardless of where they were. You could also buy several cd's from several labels via one order and credit card charge. Also, the labels and artists worked together more than just someone putting links on a site. The Liquid thing might be right for a steel record and other more "hands on" grassroots artists.[This message was edited by John Macy on 01 January 2001 at 08:09 PM.]

JB Arnold · Post by **JB Arnold** » 2 Jan 2001 10:47 am

The problem here is one that is plagueing the .com industry-the years of red ink that were expected to turn into monster profits never did so. The money people are now out of the dot com biz, until someone proves that there can actually be a profit turned, which may be impossible. In terms of being the wave of the future, e-tail has yet to prove it's promise, and the bloodbath of 2000 may leave it never getting the chance. dot com's need bankers or investors to back them until the profits show-but investors now believe the profits will never show up in enough piles to offset the startup losses, and they're probably right. It's a bad situation.

JOhn

------------------
Fulawka D-10 9&5
Better Late than Never!
www.johnbarnold.com/pedalsteel

Hook Moore · Post by **Hook Moore** » 2 Jan 2001 11:59 am

Janice its great to see Johnny Staats on the list,he is very deserving and will be starting a new CD project this month.

erik · Post by **erik** » 3 Jan 2001 2:46 am

OK John, i see your point. It was interesting to see Baillie and The Boys on there.