York, NY, Shenzhen, China and Hong Kong, HK

   Music/Jazz/Opinion/Comments/Business

       greg@greghenrywaters.com for your comments

 

Objective:  This newsletter came out of my experiences dealing in a new culture and a new history plus my experiences in the USA and Canada. The purpose of the newsletter is to provoke serious thought about musical art.  What is it? Where should it be going?  In addition, what is going on in China?  I write about my personal experiences and my thoughts about them. My music is here.  Am I really who I say I am.  The proof is here just listening. http://greghenrywaters.com/mp3 117 Songs to listen to!

 

Hi everyone and the Chinese New Year just passed , Happy New Year everyone, it is over and my friends are going back to China and coming here to the States.  Some say the States is better some say China is better, I really do not know or do I care I only know my own country takes care of me and when I was in China I was of no importance just only a so called rich American that everyone tried to take advantage of including my western friends when it came to business.     It is such a small world now for we can travel across the world in a day.  I see the problem not in traveling or living in a new country, but I see the problem of life as one of selfishness, greed, ignorance, lack of will power, political corruption, murder, lack of respect for the animals and the environment.  I must say in my life Chicago was the best place for business for me.  I always got paid and had support from the musicians union.  Here in NY, Mexico, Toronto and China exploitation is the name of the game.

 

I think this is China’s biggest problem their ability to deceive others.  But soon one learns the ropes but it takes a year or two and your closes friends can miss treat you with a smile  

 

My biggest disappointment in life is with women.  I never have been able to get along with them including my Mother and my own children.  Women do not know how to love; they only know how to act out what it is in for them.  They cannot see beyond their tits.

 

I have never been close to a woman who really enjoys sex.  It is all about materialism and what is in it for them.  My point is, they really do not know how to love.  Love to them is not selfless but completely materialistic.  It is only about station in life and food as I see it.  When I was in China I asked a group of girls do you know how to please a man in bed.  No one answered me or cared to answer me.  One always hears how man should please a woman.  Well, I am here today to say how about a woman pleasing a man.  I am sick of pleasing a woman it is time they learn to please a man as I see it.      

 

I recently have come to the conclusion they are all crazy and only understand their self interest.  A man for them is just something they can use and if they cannot use him they discard him like when we pee or vomit.   My second wife’s uncle was left alone because he could not work anymore so his wife left him.  I guess this is the way of nature if you cannot provide you are nothing.  But what about all those years he took care of this woman is my question?  My first wife was a devil, a liar, a thief, a deceiver and a coward.  So I guess this makes it hard for me to have respect for women.  When I was a school teacher the women ruined the school system because for them it was a second job and they did not really care about the economic benefit of men so as long as women work in the school system men will never receive the proper pay to support their family.  And the real point is they will never really fight for the rights of the school system.  It just repeats the same ‘lines’ over and over again year after year. School teachers are an underclass although probably the most important people in society.

 

Music:  Let me talk about the real subject of this newsletter which is exploitation of musicians and composers by the business community.  It is a sad story and one that brings much unhappiness to the artists and their families.  This subject recently came up to me because I just got cable TV with or 800 channels on it.  And there are about 30 radio stations plus MTV and other music TV video Channels.  And they are all selling music or records of artists who have passed away and are no longer with us.  So where is this money going is my question?  Why are artists so poor and cannot get the respect of the professional community?  It is because of the greed and the monopoly within the industry.

 

My point is:  do not buy records, cds from the big companies.  Buy them from the independent artist.  Now with the internet you do not need to go to the record store or a concert you can buy them directly from the artist so he or she gets the money. Make copies from your friends but if you do spend money on music give it directly to the artists.

 

I recently logged into Yahoo and they were selling records on messenger.  Now my point is why am  I having so much trouble signing into these companies and selling my product?  It is all a small club of big business and exploitation.  So please look for the independent artists and buy their music.  Keep the money out of the hands of the monopolies.  The big fish eat the little fish!

 

I was watching a TV Show about business and these young entrepreneurs were talking about this website they made where they were selling music.  Now my point is why our  people making more money selling these records, cds or whatever more than the artists.  This is the crime of the music business.  I have a friend here in NY, Dean Pratt, who runs a company that collects money from these people.  Now we need this company because these people just want to take and not share.  This is a basic human problem as I see it.  My point is they were taking a valued product and selling it without any reflection to the creators of the music.  It is a very peculiar situation.

 

Here is some examples how business people have abused musicians: First let us begin by saying that the reason musicians have been in this rut for so many years is because they are so involved in their art that they never developed any kind of entrepreneurial skills. You might say, "Well that's the way it's supposed to be. There are other people who can take care of that end of it so I can just concentrate on the art."
This would be true and well and good if the "other people" were playing by the rules. And some of them have and still do. But this is the exception and not the rule!

The rule or the past was one of exploitation and manipulation of musicians for personal gain.

How was this carried out? Well let's examine some of the ways.

Up until the early 70s, jazz musicians as well as others, were having their music stolen by record producers and managers for the simple reason that the basic education of how to copyright their music was being withheld from them. Musicians would sign away their publishing rights and often a large percentage of their writers rights simply because they didn't know how to write to the library of congress and get a form to protect their music with a U. S copyright. Consequently, funds that were supposed to be going to an artist were being channeled elsewhere to people who were not only making the money they were entitled to but usurping the money that was intended to go to the musician as well.

It was quite common for a record producer to say, "OK kid, I'll give you a recording contract but I want the publishing rights to all of your music and I want you to sign over 50% of the writer's royalties to me as well. Do you want to make a record or don't you?"

Often, a musician would jump at the chance to get their music and their name out there and make a deal like this. They would think, "Well, I still have 25% of my writers royalties and 25% of something is better than 100% of nothing."

When they would never receive a royalty statement for their 25% they would realize that they were being taken advantage of and start to get indignant. "I'll get a lawyer and sue the bastard" they might think. Then they call a lawyer and discover that the record company owes them around $900.00 in writers royalties and the lawyers fee for getting them this money was $1500.00. The record producer knew this in front and that's why that kind of deal with the musician was made.

http://jazzbeat.com/html/freereport.html for further information on this subject!

 

Now here are some websites where you can buy directly from the artist and not from commercial record companies.

 

Mike Longo’s site: http://jazzbeat.com I know of one more site you can buy some music from and that is here http://greghenrywaters.com/mp3 .

 

Let us change the economic direction of the big companies in our small way by buying from the real artists not the Mac Donald artists we have in our commercial world.

 

Lets us let the woman know the reason they are having so many problems of love is within themselves and their attitudes.

 

Let us support real music with harmony and melody.  Thank You

 

Sincerely: Greg Henry Waters

Artist of Music and Teacher

http://greghenrywaters.com/yoga

 

 

 Two wonderful replies to this e-mail from Den and Chuck,  Den is about business and women.  Chuck is mostly about women.