The Daniel Johnston Benefit Project update!

[Gammon Records]

Henry~
Well, you will be the first to get the package now! We will send them to the people from the boards who want to help late June or early July.  We are yet to have an offical release date.  What I'll do is set it up so people can E-mail me with their address and when the time is right our interns will send out the packages.  This is a great grass roots way of making a record work. It really really helps! It's about the fans turning people on to Daniel and making new fans.  Thank you Henry for saying you want to help!  And....I grew up in Philly so we have to nail it down in my home town.  You need to put up posters at Jims and Pats for me.  

[Armchair Messiah]

Would you care to explain what that has to do with it being a great record? A great record usually depends on great songs and great artists, not some clueless A&R shmuck.

This is very true.  We know the songs are great because they are from Daniel and we all love Daniel's work.

I know jordy and he's definatly not a A&R schmuck.  I have friends that are A&R schmucks, Jordy's not one of them.  Jordy has been talkign to me on and off for along time about this project and I can assure you there will be good artists.  Only purists that haven't liked anything that has come out in the last 20 years will have a problem with this album.

One great thing about this album is that it will include many of Dan's best songs on one CD.  this wil be a great way for new people to discover Daniel.  Imagine all the major Beck fans that will buy this cover album and get into DJ.

When this album comes out I think everyone will think the songs are great, the artists are great, and the album as a whole is great.  Even after the album comes out you might still consider Jordy an "A&R schmuck" but  the album will help expose DJ to people thgat have never heard him before and will enjoy him.

[Stress Records]

looking forward to seeing a big ass hype job on the gammon site soon. and cant wait till the tribute album.

Wickedwill I too look forward to hearing the tribute album but I'm afraid the only thing "big ass" you're likely to see from Gammon Records will be if you happen to find yourself standing behind the label manager.

Okay Jordy just kidding..  In all seriousness though let me ask you one question: which took more time - responding to my criticism on this board or fixing the tour dates on your web site?

Jeff, I find it strange you feel Gammon did a week job with Fear Yourself.

How many copies did it sell? Did it make money? I sure didn't see the kind of press that accompanied his previous releases.

Could you have done a better job with non existent distribution ( Gammon now goes through Caroline / EMI) or the fact that you only put out cassettes and have a one person staff?

As for the first part of your question the answer is yes although I probably would have had WEA distribution with just one phonecall. Whose fault was it that you had no distribution? Wasn't that your job? As to the second half of the question I'm not sure what you're trying to ask - sorry.

What do you know about marketing a record?

Enough to have been on the payroll of more than one major label during my 20+ years in the music business for just that purpose.

When was the last time you spent money working a record? I hire PR, Radio, Street teams every record we do. That’s more per release with up front cash then I would bet your label has grossed in a year.

Losing money is nothing to brag about. I managed to turn a healthy profit last year and pay Daniel accordingly. Can you say the same?

The ironic twist to your post Jeff is that the two people who should be routing for Gammon’s success is Daniel and yourself . You have to be quite aware that your success now is based upon our record sales and our visibility which drives the sales of your cassettes.

I did everything I could to plug your last Daniel release. I actually thought it was his best studio album since Artistic Vice. As for your second statement you couldn't be more out of touch with reality.  If my "success" was really based on your record sales I'd kill myself right now.  In case you missed the point of my post I'll run it by you one more time. For going on a year you had last spring's tour dates listed. It needed to be updated. I told you that nicely about a year ago and your response was rather vulgar. Now that Daniel is returning to the NY area in April people were looking at the tourdates on your site and getting very confused. Giving the fans misinformation or outdated information is not conducive to selling records. But what the hey.. you suddenly found time to update the schedule yesterday so.. in the words of our favorite poet, "I take it all back. I take it all back". Okay maybe not all of it - just the big ass joke as I was trying to lighten the mood a little. And I  was standing behind you at the Gammon showcase for Daniel's SXSW gig last year...

[wickedwill]

jordy,
 well now thats out of the way i can understand jeffs frustration he has been there since the beginning and his ties with daniel i am sure go beyond just a business relationship. i truly believe their is a love for the person and the music!! i salute jeff because without him who knows what could have happened to daniel. when ever i speak to jeff you can hear the love he has for his friend and thier has never been any proof that he has been anything but honest and fair in his dealings with dan. so i can understand him 100% and he was a good sport about his comment !! got to admit it was funny!!! anyways thanks for keeping us informed on the tribute. we all want whats best for daniel thats all! i sent you a private message with my address for promo materials and will expect that you will stick to your word of giving them to folks so they dont all wind up on ebay and be wasted. i live right next to a train station next time your at a railroad crossing you may see a promo poster  hahaha!!!

jeff,
all i can say to you is thanks for doing what you have done for daniel and for standing by your friend all these years im sure its been tough but you have done it and i for one think you should deserve alot more credit. although i dont know you personally (just phone calls) i can tell you are a good soul. daniel is lucky to have you in his corner! best of luck to you.


fans of the forum: lets kick ass for daniel this year and do all we can to spread the word of the genius of the man we all deeply care for and admire. daniel deserves our best efforts and we all know this or we wouldnt be on this forum. look at what he has given us. i for one am going into full time mode spreading the word!!!

p.s. gammon this is your chance to show the fans that daniel is not just a commodity but someone who deserves 100% of your efforts to promote so dont be lagging with that promo stuff.

                                                                    thanks and good night
                                                                            wickedwill

[wickedwill]

and by the way this doesnt apply to everthing but it does to somethings

"what is understood need not be discussed"  -loren adams


so for whats its worth................good luck to all involved here !!!!


                                                                                     wicked will

[drewjoh]

selfishness is not keeping what belongs to you.   selfishness is not declining to give to others what belongs to you.  selfishness is not hiding or hoarding what belongs to you.   selfishness is not "showing off" what belongs to you.

selfishness covets what belongs to others and maliciously seeks to destroy it.  selfishness seeks to rob others from from enjoying what is rightfully theirs to enjoy.

selfishness in its maturity announces "If I can't have it, nobody can have it"

[notdaniel]

Hello, Jordy! Glad to see you taking an active role here!

     I can imagine that continuing to discuss the “failures” of your business enterprise is the last thing you want to dedicate your time to right now. However, the sad truth is that Jeff Tartarsauce is *not* the lone gunman in your character assassination. I’ve heard the points he’s raising before, from at least one person who’s far more closely involved with Daniel and the “Rejected Unknown” CD. On the other hand, keep in mind that I’ve heard basically the same hullaballoo EVERY time a local artist has put out an album that didn’t live up to peoples’ commercial expectations – certainly noone ever accused Yves Beauvoir of giving too much attention to “Fun”.

     At one point, you ask Jeff “Could you have done a better job with non-existent distribution”. I think you miss the point of his argument here. When a label says “we didn’t have proper distribution for this record” or “we wish we’d had enough money to spend on that CD”, people don’t say “Ahh! Now I see what the problem was!” No, they then want to know the answer to one simple question: “Why did you even PUT OUT THE PRODUCT if you don’t have the necessary resources to do so properly?”

     Before you ask me -- No, I don’t have any real idea of what it takes to run a record company. I did work A&R for Relativity Records for two years, but the one thing I actually learned from that experience is that a fully-incorporated, national/international record label can in fact sign an impressive roster of renowned artists – without anyone involved having the slightest clue as to how to manage a successful business. I can take a few educated guesses about what ideas are "good" or "bad" ones for a label to invest time and money in, though.

     Examples: I wouldn’t be surprised if the Daniel tribute album doesn’t “sell itself” through the big name stars involved, and in turn, “sell” Daniel’s own work as well. In endeavoring to issue such a compilation, and in assembling for it a lineup of such high quality and wide appeal, Gammon is clearly doing a great service to Daniel. Perhaps as importantly, the deal about recruiting worker bees out of this dot-com hive is another stellar and admirable move. After all, the record industry today seems to have its collective head up J-Lo’s ass when it comes to understanding “grass roots” support (Hint: it doesn’t mean “roll up a doobie before we go into the marketing meeting”!

     However, here’s another clue for you all: If at any time during the selling window of any new release on your label, if you find yourself thinking EITHER “we should be doing more to get this heard” OR “I wish we had the resources to get this heard” – you are doing a deep and possibly LIFE-AFFECTING wrong to the artist in question. Don’t pretend to be Casper the Friendly Altruist – you’re running a BUSINESS to make MONEY, and that’s all well and good as long as you give the artists their fair share. However, don’t let your “hero to the creative community” side fool you – Daniel Johnston can survive with or without Gammon Records. If you aren’t capable (and again, *I’m* not suggesting that you aren’t), financially or through a lack of business acumen and savvy, to get the music of Daniel Dale Johnston into the hands of each and every consumer whose heart has a little vacant spot waiting to be filled with a “Museum of Love” or a “Dearest Darling Girl”, leave the job to someone else.

     My emphasis of the word “life-affecting” above was not hyperbole, either. The reason a lot of people around Daniel worry extra hard about the disappointing performance of his “post-Tartakov” releases is that (I’ll be blunt) a lot of people around Daniel don’t expect him to live too much longer. Personally, I think he seems like a survivor and will be laughing at all of our graves, but the fact remains that many people close to Daniel are terrified that if those in charge of making him rich and famous don’t pull a rabbit out of their hats soon, he’ll be pushing up daisies before he gets the international respect and applause his work deserves. They don’t want him to end up as a tragic figure, the Vincent Van Gogh of the toy organ set. Neither do you, I’m sure.

     Obviously there are limits to just how much information a business can publicly give without possibly endangering themselves, competitively or however else. Still, this forum isn’t THAT public, and I for one truly would like to see some real, hard details about what Gammon did to support “Rejected Unknown” -- and what the label is planning to do to promote “Lost and Found” (or whatever Daniel ends up calling the next album). Examples: how many promotional copies are being sent to how many magazines and radio stations, how much is being spent on print advertising; where are the ads being placed, all that sort of thing. To the extent that you CAN reveal such information, it would work hand-in-hand with the grass-roots effort of the web site’s participants: “Oh, they just sent copies of the CD to my favorite local FM station; I’ll call in some requests and talk to some deejays I know to make sure they know what Daniel’s about!” (etc.)

     Well, that’s enough verbiage to chew on for now, I’m sure. Best of luck with the tribute, “Lost and Found”, your other artists, and life in general!

-   Not Daniel Johnston

BTW, any chance you’ve got space on your roster for another wavery-voiced, oddball singer-songwriter from Texas?  Watch for me at SXSW 2004, at the SoHo Lounge on Saturday March 20 at midnight! (Say, who’s that pudgy guy with the beat-up guitar that’s going on after my set? Could it be…? Naahhh!!!)

[wickedwill]

well said not daniel!!! excellent points all the way. i wish i would have come up with something as insightful and informative as you did but that takes alot of typing and im just a lazy bum seriously that is the best thing said about this can of worms i seemed to have opened!! i should have maybe kept my trap shut but like everyone here our only concern here is daniel so i thought the promotion issue should be addressed and boy was it!!! we should all just hope for the best and quit the bickering even though it makes for good reading and activity on the board its become a pissing contest with no winner in the end. we are here for one purpose daniel!! if a stranger was to just come across this they would probley laugh and make a ray pickens like post just to change things up and we know what happens to anyone that slags daniel on this forum so maybe a little unity on this is needed!!best of luck to you. thanks for bringing up all those good,bad,sad points about dans situation.

[dejected]

Hear!  Hear!

UNITY.

Having said that, I know from life not to "expect" it where there is diversity of perceptions and goals.

But if we all profess to share the goal of helping Daniel, I don't understand what this thread is about.   I'm a relatively informed individual about all this, and I'm sorry, not only do I not agree with many of these assertions, but I fail to see what is hoped for in airing them.

I conclude that what is hoped for is in conflict with the stated goal of "helping Daniel", but that passion insists it be said.  I don't particularly want to interfere with that passion (as if I could).   So why am I writing anything - you know I don't think there's any value to that either - so I'll stop....

[cheddarcat]

wow a lot to read on this thread, i just want to say i would LOVE to be part of a street team & run around sticking up posters etc. for dj's tribute album. i live in boston area. looking fwd to seeing danny in april

[dejected]

This from an email to Daniel:

"M Ward in his concert in Sydney, Australia said he was contributing towards the album and then sang "The Story of the Artist".  I must admit, it was M Ward who, after singing that song, got me investigating Daniel Johnston (and I haven't looked back).
 
Cheers
 
Mick"