Idea

[R C Sniffer]

I sayeth:
It already exists! There are tons of websites out there that feature this kind of thing, for everybody from the songwriter with 4 track to a band with a pro mastered CD. I think the problem is time. The A&R people who are the ones out there looking for the next hit artist and/or next hit song do not and/or will not take the time to do the research on the WWW. D/L times are too long and there is a lot of crap out there that will not cut the mustard. Another thing is, IMHO, those A&R people do not just want what THEY think sounds great, they want what will sell, something that a lot of people like, that is why they usually only consider solicited material.
I am confused about what you call "all the legal stuff" You do own the music you create and can sell or give it away as you wish. It's not until you sign a deal giving someone else ownership that you run into those problems, and ASCAP is not a bad thing, they are there to make sure YOU get paid if your music is used...

Then again, what do I know? I sniff way too much rubber cleaner!

[Schmoe]

Got an idea. If some of ya'll are like me, you like to record but don't have a label or a band, but can write songs (with or without vocals) and enjoy doing it. You record at home, do all the playing, mixing, mastering,etc. etc. but just want someone or some artist to hear and see if they'd like to buy it or use it for a song or something but don't want to spend hundreds in making cd's or paying some site big bucks just for them to hear your stuff? We need to open a web site just for that. No upfront cost. Just upload your stuff in wav format or someother format so others can download. If they dig it, they get into contact with you. We just record the ideas and lay them down as best as you can, it's up to the person wanting to use your stuff to re-mix, digitize, master, market, or whatever the hell they want to do with it. We just supply the IDEA. Talk to me folks, what do you think? This could also be for bands too, we would have different areas for folks to choose from. Screw the RAII, ASCAP thing and all that legal crap. WE are writting our own stuff, if we sell it or give it away, it's up to us. Tooooooooooo damn much legal crap in the arts department.
What sayeth thou (s)?????

[Schmoe]

Can relate to all of that. But it's so typical, the stuff that A&R people pick up on is the stuff that they WANT us to hear. I was thinking along the lines of letting anybody else make that decision on what they want to hear. That was the basis of my first post. It's like the ones that don't always go to the top ten are always the better groups or performers to listen to. Like Rush, they aren't always top ten, but God do these guys spank some ass!!! Listen to the older U2 stuff, really great, then the money got ahold of them and now they are bubble gum rock. Been listening a lot to alternative rock on the internet. It's all good, but I be damn if you would hear 1/10th of those songs on the radio. My idea was to by-pass the money making machine and let the music stand for itself. I think it might be plausible. But you do have some good points that I failed to think about.

[BLISS]

I understand what you guys are saying, never the less, after you sign the contract, (if your smart enough to check it out) you and your music belongs to the MUSIC COMPANY.

But to own your material is the greatest love, also as stated by SNIFFER - that medium exist already to shop your material. Yet A&R's are all assholes consisting of picking
music that will keep them their jobs (BASICALLY) as the media like to call them HITS, but to the real: MUSICIAN,ARTIST, PERFORMER someone who handles matter for there self, you will have a tougher time being molded into what they want you to be:
BRITNEY, 98degrees, BACKSTREET, they are all
puppeted by the industry,

try to picture there tracks if they did it, or wrote the songs, ---can you say NO TALENT