Font
Right now, things are coming close to total meltdown because we aren't even allowed to approve, let alone even choose the FONT used for our logo on the record sleeve. The day that YOU form a band and WRITE AND RECORD A SONG, then you get to design your own band's logo. You don't get to impose yours on us.
Yes, it has got this bad. I just want to cry. As far as I'm concerned, I am disowning this record and having nothing more to do with it.
It really is down to a battle of wills at this point. This is a guy who thinks letting the band have any say whatsoever in their own record or artwork = "design by committee" = bad.
WTF? Is this our single, or is it just another exercise in narcissism whereby he gets to inflict his "taste" on his "audience"? As far as I'm concerned, this is no longer even our single, it's just us contributing another track to a compliation album that happens to be spread over several different discs.
And you know what? I'm tempted to just burn a sampler CD for the {Lorry Festival} which includes this song, do the artwork myself, number them as collectors items and sell it for cheaper than his is. THAT will be our first single. Not this.
Yes, it has got this bad. I just want to cry. As far as I'm concerned, I am disowning this record and having nothing more to do with it.
It really is down to a battle of wills at this point. This is a guy who thinks letting the band have any say whatsoever in their own record or artwork = "design by committee" = bad.
WTF? Is this our single, or is it just another exercise in narcissism whereby he gets to inflict his "taste" on his "audience"? As far as I'm concerned, this is no longer even our single, it's just us contributing another track to a compliation album that happens to be spread over several different discs.
And you know what? I'm tempted to just burn a sampler CD for the {Lorry Festival} which includes this song, do the artwork myself, number them as collectors items and sell it for cheaper than his is. THAT will be our first single. Not this.
posted by Masonic Boom | 4:34 pm
4 Comments:
OK, thing is, in my vast career of working with exactly three other indie labels, I have NEVER had such a bad experience as this.
WRT being on compilations and stuff like that, you kind of expect that you're not going to have any say in the artwork or anything.
But when you're putting out a single ... honestly, this is not being treated like a single or even a split single.
None of the other labels that I've released singles or albums on has acted like this. We've always supplied our own artwork, own logo, chosen the song (neglected to mention we didn't even get to do that), chosen photos etc. That's the way it should be. IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS.
And one of the prerequisites for working with labels in the past has been getting together, going for a drink and sitting down and chatting about what our expectations were of one another. The mere fact that I couldn't do this with this bloke should have been a red flag from the beginning.
And, to make things worse, try as I might not to, it is affecting intraband tensions in that I am starting to feel a bit resentful towards the person who pushed me into doing this in the first place, for introducing this twat into my life and my business. And that really sucks.
I have two simultaneous thoughts w.r.t. all this.
One is ARGHFUCKSHITDIE! - for me fonts are just as vital as snare reverb and I'm continually annoyed by "dudes with record label" that think they're the art department of Elektra Records or Peter Saville. It doesn't help that my problem is that I look at vinyl as a complete work of art - hell I spent days just getting the disc label Just Right.
The other thought (and my suggestion) is to do the sampler CD-R with your art, your font, your special bonus stuff and let Record Label Dude go hang.
Fair point, but also, to be fair to label boss, he/she at this level will be running their own label for all the fun stuff (like running a band) such as the artwork and general image. They're not going to get as excited about doing the accounts! Does sounds very bad ettiquette if they didn't consult you, but also could there be slight change in the chain of command within the band? Was no one in the SC camp asked what they thought of the artwork before it was okayed?? I'd be surprised!
And were they really fighting your corner for you?
Also, there's a previous blog on here saying how great the single cover is. Has anything changed since then?
I'm assuming your manager is the first point of contact for stuff like this? Might be worth having an agreement whereby your manager consults you first (I'm basing this on the assumption that you write all the songs yourself rather than collectively?) so you can then at least gather your thoughts and have a crystal opinion over whatever's being put in front of you BEFORE you all as a band thrash stuff out. This means that you're still a democracy, but it takes account of the fact you're bound to take everything more personally than the other members. Maybe live with stuff for a day or too. The songs are your babies babies, and you want them to be properly dressed when they're out in public!!
Ps. Love the new song!
TBH, we were in the midst of such a row that I was just relieved that the photo chosen for the cover was good. However, I did state at that time that I wasn't sure about the font, that it was illegible. After conferring with the other band members, I found that others shared this opinion.
We've been given an alternate cover now, which is slightly less shit. I'm just so tired of the whole thing at this point (and frustrated by having to deal with a label person who Just Doesn't Get It) that I don't see any point in fighting any longer.
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