Some notes on Living

I have a question for you all…

How many people have ever suffered from the “Music Consumer’s Lament”?

How many people don’t know what I’m talking about?

Sorry, I didn’t mean to be so vague.  How many people have heard a song that you really liked, and you went to buy the CD just because of that one song… or maybe two songs that you “kinda” liked… only to find out that the rest of the CD wasn’t worth the $16 you paid for it?  Be honest… I know I’m not the only one! 

That’s the “Music Consumer’s Lament”.  I’m not going to say anything bad about the music industry, suffice it to say… what happened to music?  MTV started up in the early 80’s, and it was great.  They aired music videos all day long.  Now MTV plays reruns of ‘The Real World’, ‘Road Rules’, and the only music videos they play… well… they aren’t really music videos.  Most of the “music videos” they air are either promoting ridiculous wealth as an ultimate goal, or the notion that objectifying women is actually a “good” thing… and I’m not just speaking about hip-hop… rock promotes these things as well.  As Lewis Black once said, “MTV is to music what KFC is to chicken”.  And he’s absolutely right.

Don’t get me wrong.  Some of the music MTV plays is catchy… when they do decide to air a music video.  But how many of those music videos do you watch, and you think to yourself, “Wow!  What a great message!  It’s universal, and I can really relate!  And the musicianship was brilliant!”?  Chances are, not too many.  Right?  Gone are the days of epic Michael Jackson, Madonna, or Guns n’ Roses videos.  Gone are the days of “Rock the Casbah”, “99 Red Balloons”, and “Video Killed the Radio Star”… ok, the last one’s not a great example because I miss the radio star, too.

The point is:  MTV has spent the last two decades destroying music as we know it.

And the record industry?  I just got a memo from A & R online, complaining about how the poor record execs aren’t going to keep making their $300,000 to $700,000 a year salaries.  Pobrecitos (Poor babies).  I think I hear the “waaaahbulance” coming.  What about the artist?  What about the songwriter?

Who cares?  They’re just the ones writing and performing the songs.  They don’t need to make a living.  Right?  Well, the truth is, a lot of professional recording artists make a living for more than a dozen people.  Many of them are making less than an A & R executive however… especially the hundreds of thousands of artists who send their unsolicited demos in to the record companies waste bins.  That’s usually where a demo CD goes these days.  I understand the talent scouts in charge of listening to demos have a lot on their plate, and it’s a bit too time consuming to listen to 3 or 4 demos a day, let alone 3 or 4 hundred.  Enter the indie musician.

We are unsigned.  We don’t have to give 70% of our profit to lawyers, agents, managers, and record executives.  We don’t have to sign a record deal if we don’t want to.  We also don’t make a living at it, unless we’re really lucky… or we’re really good at networking.  Enter the music consumer.

A lot of music consumers like certain types of music for one reason:  Simplicity.  And there’s nothing wrong with enjoying music that’s simple, as long as it’s catchy, and it means something.  Some of the most simple songs in the world are also the catchiest, most meaningful songs.  Enter the music genres.

There are so many music genres and sub-genres of music that it’s hard to keep track of them.  Orchestral, opera, folk, folk rock, blues, jazz, big band, swing, fusion, country, country-rock, country-pop, pop, new wave, pop-punk, post-punk, goth punk, alternative, alternative rock, rock, hard rock, goth rock, emo rock, doom rock, pop rock, glam rock, progressive rock, metal, hair metal, pop metal, speed metal, death metal, black metal, progressive metal, thrash metal, rap metal, hardcore, “mathcore”, thrashcore, electronica, techno, house, drum and bass, industrial, industrial rock, industrial metal, r & b, hip-hop, rap, gangsta rap, and the list keeps going.  Even my mp3 software has a sub-genre available entitled “Primus”.  However, I would like to introduce a new sub-genre:

Trannycore.

It’s got a certain ring to it.  And to let you all hear what “Trannycore” sounds like, here’s a music video they WON’T play on MTV:

And another:

That, my friends, is Trannycore.  And there’s more where that came from.

My latest musical creation, ‘Transformation Synergy‘ is now officially available for purchase.  And because I don’t want anyone to suffer the “Music Consumer’s Lament”, I have posted a few of my songs on my website for your listening pleasure:

www.transformationsynergy.synthasite.com

Go to the media section to listen to clips from both albums, ‘Pariah‘ and ‘Transformation Synergy‘, and please check out the rest of the website while you’re there.  For purchasing information, please check out the store section.

Now here’s the catch:

‘Transformation Synergy‘ is available for $20, and there’s a reason it’s so costly.  Every penny from my album sales goes into the Chloë Handler SRS Fund.  And here’s the scoop on that:

SRS (Sex Reassignment Surgery) is really expensive, and as stated by the AMA, is medically necessary.  I don’t have insurance, and even if I did, SRS would not be covered by insurance.  It is completely out of pocket, even though it has been declared medically necessary.  Insurance companies will cover hysterectomies and mastectomies for women with cancer, and orcheidectomies for men with testicular cancer, but they refuse to cover the exact same things for transexuals.  And so, I’m offering ‘Transformation Synergy‘ for a $20 donation.  But wait!  There’s more!

If you are one of the first 50 people to order ‘Transformation Synergy‘, you will receive an autographed copy of the CD, plus an autographed copy of ‘Pariah‘, plus an autographed limited edition DVD featuring the same music videos featured above.

If you’re one of the next 100 people to order ‘Transformation Synergy‘, you will receive the CD, plus the limited edition DVD.

Not too shabby for a $20 donation, eh?

This is where I need as much help as I can get from everyone.  If you like the music you hear, please donate.  I will soon be posting more music clips on the website, so everyone can get a good taste of what ‘Transformation Synergy‘ has to offer.  Our goal is 1,000 copies, so please help us reach that goal.

Again, the website is www.transformationsynergy.synthasite.com

Thank you in advance.

Love and Peace,

Chloë Elise