Heather Pahl dba heathersong - independent music

heather@heathersong.com  
phone (360) 546-1555   fax (360) 546-1191
P.O. Box 70174  Vancouver, WA  98665 U.S.A.   near Portland, Oregon

My Shareware is saved as a TEMPLATE, not a Worksheet.  Learn about TEMPLATES – they’re different.  You never SAVE one – it won’t SAVE.  So that you can always go back to its original design, no loss.  Instead, do a SAVE AS once the page is happily full of YOUR design labels.  SAVE AS to a place you can easily find it again.  And when you download/save the original HeatherSong TEMPLATE from my website, also deliberately save it to a place you can find.  Otherwise they end up in their own little TEMPLATE file. Somewhere possibly less desirable?  Like when I saved mine to my Desktop in test runs, they refused to visibly show up on my Desktop – yet appeared in my Windows Explorer listing under Desktop. They’re a little spooky!  But helpful when you understand and let them be who they are.  They want to help you. 

No spine label means no retrieval at radio libraries!  I thank Phil Bowler from WPKN -FM in Bridgeport, CT, who was honest enough to say when music director:  no spine label with the following information: CD Title; Track Titles; Track Timing; Label or Artist Contact info, no library entry.  I don’t blame him.  Other places simply ditch your slim jewel.  YOU the artist waste time and money while forfeiting exposure.  Heed the warning.  Like Phil says (and I concur): 

REMEMBER, YOU ARE NOT SENDING YOUR CD TO YOUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY, TO RECEIVE HUGS AND KISSES, BUT INSTEAD TO VIRTUAL STRANGERS WITH A LIBRARY FILLED WITH THOUSANDS OF RELEASES, IN THE HOPE TO RECEIVE POSSIBLE AIRPLAY!

Phil adds:  I hope these suggestions will be an additional help to fellow artists submitting their releases to radio stations for possible airplay.

So sometimes it’s the discipline of caring . . . and clearly Phil and WPKN care.  This really is a first-rate solution.  MP3s I’m told clog up the works retrieval-wise too.  Staff must deal with a deluge of new material these days.  I appreciate those honest enough to say they easily forget MP3 artists.  One local station asks for ZIPPED delivery. Anyway, make the extra effort. Everybody deserves it.  If artists can’t make their own spine labels, why should the radio station?  We are fortunate for exposure.  Yes, simple practical problems can thwart potential appeal. There’s a lot of talent . . . and folks are very, very busy sorting it all out!  Chin up – best foot forward – spine positioned . . .

From JamminJerry of JJRN.net: 
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.  ~  Mark Twain


And now for something completely different . . .
The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where pimps and thieves run free and good men die like dogs.  There's also a negative side. 
   ~  Hunter S. Thompson, Writer