Neverwednesday Nights

I only managed to pick up one album by The Godfathers back in the day, Unreal World, but I've wanted to give them some love here on a Neverwednesday. Only to discover that most of their videos on YouTube have linking disabled by request--notwithstanding the fact that most of their catalogue appears to be out of print in the States and people embedding Godfathers videos might, you know, perk up that "Long Tail" a bit.

What makes the whole thing a little more puzzling is that the band isn't exactly defunct: they have a MySpace page, have apparently reunited for a tour, and have re-released their very first album, Hit By Hit, from whence springs this cut--"I Want Everything" (1986):

You might think either the band's label would be doing whatever they could to pimp their back catalogue. I mean, look at this entry: I've included a music video, a link to the band's MySpace page, a link to the band's official webpage, and a link to the Amazon page selling the reissue of their first album. I don't have a vast readership or anything--some UCFers, family members, a few friends, the occasional stray or random visitor--but even if we generously say this particular page gets thirty hits, that's potentially thirty people who maybe never heard of The Godfathers or who'd forgotten about them, and who might be interested in hearing more or mentioning them to another friend. At any rate, it certainly wouldn't hurt, would it?

Indeed, The Godfathers and possibly their label are the only ones who benefit. All I get out of this is a filler entry and the pleasure of maybe sharing a good song with my friends, family and random passerby. I could have just as easily mentioned any other band on any other label or just typed, "off to play Neverwinter Nights with friends, open comment thread."

But it gets better: it's not the band's fault at all. If you go to the band's official webpage and click on the link for videos, you see this message at the top of the page:

Sony BMG have, in their wisdom, withdrawn permission to embed videos on the site so they will open in new window.

The band can't even post their own videos on their own webpage to promote the reunion of their original lineup and reissue of their first album. Think about the next time some label shill talks about how the internet is "hurting the artists." With friends like that, who needs enemas?

I know this is an awful long post. I should start just posting the videos and wandering off. But the fact the labels don't seem to understand that a certain level of admitted copyright infringement is a good thing for business is baffling, since they've been in the business long enough they ought to be able to figure that out. Essentially giving away one song--you know, kind of like radio does--increases the chances someone will buy a record or go to a show or even merely say to someone else, "Hey, I heard this song that made me think of you...." There's a certain risk it won't happen, but the profit margins on music are such that you can write off some loss because it generates sales.

But I digress. Yet again. Watch the video if you haven't already, rock out, and have a good evening. I'm off to play games.