So being famous is all you’re after? Here’s a tip. Perform naked. Guaranteed to work.
no sand, i’m not after famous. the following is a list of what i have asked from every record company that i have approached:
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enough money to buy a decent interface and software. all my guitar and keys (MIDI) is done at home.
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arrange tour of all the cultural bureaus (train station tour). sell records at shows.
that’s it. i haven’t asked too much have i? but lets get into something else:
i don’t deserve people walking into my shows and saying “it’s so great”. “when’s your album coming out”, “you’re a genius”, “he’s a genius he’s my student not yours” (college), all this shit if it’s not true. i’ve never thought i’m great or anything like that but how can 20 GODDAMN YEARS OF PERFORMING REACTIONS BE REVERSED WHEN I STEP OFF A PLANE TO THIS FUCKING COUNTRY AND HAVE TO BE JUDGED BY TW RECORD COMPANIES. i wish the lady in that bar that night in taipei who called me over and said i played so brilliantly would have kept her fu yen comments to herself if it’s not true. i’ve been performing for 20 years. all the record companies CONSIDERED me but backed out because they don’t live by THEIR decisions but by the boss’s. that’s the way it is. they live by the status quo of what they THINK the boss will go along with.
they don’t WANT me in their market. they never did. they knew i was coming.
the thing is OTHER people built me up into thinking i could approach record companies. people i didn’t even know. 20 years of performing did so. if i sucked i would have known it a long fucking time ago.
and porcellain, i don’t need anybody’s sympathy.
20 years? Then for christ’s sake, go do it the US – surely if they love you so much there, that’s where you should be? Why are you banging your head against the wall here? Go to where the audience is!
20 years? So you’re, erm, not exactly a spring chicken anymore. Why in the name of HELL would a TW label pick you up?
I think you’re being incredibly unreasonable in your approach. Hell, I don’t even work in the local music industry, but even I know that there’s NO WAY I’d get my investment back off some older foreign guy, no matter how much of a whiz-bang guitar player. Whiz-bang guitar players are 10-a-penny here. The money-makers are kids. I really think you need to get over yourself, genius or not.
Rantheman,
I’ve seen all of your posts and i just can’t keep silent any more
Stop whining and clogging up the forums with your rants!
Your comments about the music industry would seem to contradict your alleged 20 plus years in the industry. Did you not do your homework before you came to Taiwan to make it as a musician? It seems that rejection is a new concept to you
The other Forumosans here have offered some good options.
If you want to play music, then play it.
If you want to be famous, then give it a go.
If you want everything on your terms, you have to accept that neither the record co’s or record buying public are going to be on your side 99.99% of the time. You have to offer something they want.
If you can’t do that, Just do Something, and give it a shot, but don’t complain when it doesn’t go your way.
If you want support, back up your rants by giving us some more information like who you are and where we can hear your music otherwise please just deal with it!
okay rant over. but please explain why EMI offered me a con to leave asia. please explain why BMG said they had a rule … fuck this rant over.
i do thank all of you for your comments. dekeboko is right. don’t complain. just do it. sand is right just do it. i’m acting like i have no pomodoros here. sorry. my apologies.
Duh! Because they figured you could make some money for them outside Asia.
Why didn’t you give it a shot?
Or do you think the top execs at EMI got together at a secret closed-door meeting to figure out a way to get Ran out of Taiwan – “hell, screw Taiwan, let’s get him out of Asia altogether!” – just as well they didn’t have a rocket-ship handy, or who knows where you could have ended up.
Jesus Ran, this is life, not the X-Files.
Sand,
Amen, brother!
so you coming to my show?
Damn straight I’ll come! What do you do, where do you do it and when?
soon very soon. i’ve got band rehearsals tomorrow. we’ll be doing a thing for a car company supposedly at the end of this month. that’s what my music store boss told me. thanks for the ass kicking. i need it sometimes.
I think I’ll resurrect this thread and post a question that’s been on my mind for awhile. Does anyone know where one can buy some independent Taiwanese music in Taipei? I mean, I find Jay, Cyndi with U and 2moro as hilarious as the next man, but I’d like to hear what’s really going on with the Taiwanese youth. Plus, a cool record shop is always a good thing to check out, no matter what country you’re in.
Also, if anyone has any suggestions about local Taiwanese bands I should check out, please list them here. It’d help prep me for Spring Scream…