What Did I Learn This Week?
That's a Good Question
Mark Rushton’s Abundant Spare Time is a weekly email on Substack where I talk about my ongoing work as a recording artist and visual artist.
This email is brought to you by the Mark Rushton Gallery, for printed and original artworks. License my music, sound fx, and illustrations at Pond 5 for your creative project. I’m on Bandcamp and all the usual streaming services.
This week’s topics:
CD-R Text and IMG Burn
A Positive PayPal Story
Yes, Public Libraries Pay Royalties
Miles Davis All Stars - Walkin’
CD-R Text and IMG Burn
As I said in the past couple of weeks, I’d like to give out some CD-R swag for my July 19th live ambient gig at xBk Annex in Des Moines.
I’ve had a difficult time burning a CD-R that somebody could play in their car and read the titles. Didn’t I know how to do this 20 or 25 years ago? Ahhh, the good old days, when life was simpler…
Maybe I never burned CD-Rs for the car screen in the past? Or perhaps I didn’t care. I probably wrote everything on the disc using a Sharpie.
One thing I learned was that my music is in Shazam.
Because the titles weren’t showing up on the screen, I got out my phone (while parked in the garage) and used the Shazam app. Surprise, surprise, there I am.
Along with a mention of the xBk Annex gig. How about that?
A Positive PayPal Story
Everybody hates PayPal.
For a while, they deserved the hate.
Well, I’m here to say that I had a really really really great experience with PayPal this week. An excellent HUMAN TO HUMAN experience. We got some problems solved.
There’s a company I supply with stock music and sound effects. They only pay two ways: PayPal and Payoneer. I was signed up through them with PayPal. After I hit their payment threshold, they tried to send the payment but there was a problem.
So I tried to use Payoneer. I had an account with them, but it’s been dormant for a few years. I revived it, but the Payoneer interface was a nightmare and I couldn’t connect with the company that wants to pay me. Payoneer’s customer service was the stupidest robot. When I eventually figured out how to send a ticket, I quickly got an auto-reply that had the wrong answer and they closed out my ticket.
Back to PayPal. Let’s try again. Never give up!
I called PayPal. They have a phone number? Yes, they do. I talked to a human being in the United States. Already I’m loving this.
She suggested I send the company an invoice. I got a hold of my contact at the music company via email and we coordinated where I should send the invoice - he was fine with trying things a different way.
And it worked! I got paid.
Additionally, just before I sent the invoice, another woman from PayPal customer support called me to provide a second option if the invoice thing didn’t work out.
So score a big win for PayPal. And human-based customer service.
I don’t know who PayPal hired to fix the hole in the bottom of their ship, but please duplicate them to other companies! Good human help has value!
Yes, Public Libraries Pay Royalties
Here’s another thing I learned this week. From the word robot.
I was listening to streamed music on my “smartphone” on Qobuz, Walkin’ by the Miles Davis All Stars, but it would occasionally go quiet if I was in the elevator. Annoying. How do I get around this?
I found the same album on Hoopla, through my library. I was able to “check it out” and download the files. Problem solved.
It’s checked out for a week, and then it disappears.
None of my music is distributed to Hoopla. You have to jump through a lot of hoops to do that. There are gatekeepers. The “Library Industrial Complex” is like that.
But I was curious if artists, at least the rights holders, got paid royalties for use on Hoopla.
According to one of the word robots, they do.
eBooks checked out via Hoopla seem to have rates. It varies, but it’s respectable.
For music, it’s likely the same thing. Or close. It’s a temporary license. The word robot seemed fairly confident that it’s based on the checkout.
How much in royalties? Well, it’s a lot more than streaming services pay if you listen to an album. Again, it likely varies, but it’s respectable.
Anyway, that made me happy. I’ll likely use Hoopla more knowing that writers and recording artists can get paid from it. I only get 6 checkouts a month.
Miles Davis All Stars - Walkin’
Everybody loves Kind of Blue. And Bitches Brew. I rather like In a Silent Way and Jack Johnson. I even like On the Corner, which was hated when it was released. I’m even a fan of his cover of Scritti Politti’s Perfect Way.
Walkin’ is from 1957. It’s everything you want in hard bop.
You walk into a store and they’re playing this - you’re staying.