Dear Bob Ellen Shipley here.Recording Artist in the late 1970’s-1984; hit songwriter ("Heaven is Is A Place on Earth"…….)Survivor of the monstrous music business for 30 years.  One of Dave Marsh’s best friends.  Mother of two kids, three dogs.Married to veteran keyboard player (as they like to describe him) Ralph Schuckett.It’s all there—google away! I […]

Rights, distribution and radio.  Those are the three cards the major labels and their controlled publishing companies held.  And until Napster, those cards always triumphed. You needed exhibition to sell.  And that’s where the labels’ relationship with radio was so important.  Independent labels could not get their songs played.  Still cannot get their songs played, […]

1. Chrisette Michelle (Or is it Michelle Chrisette?  What kind of fucked up world do we live in where almost no one in America knows the name of the holder of the number one album?)  "Epiphany" Sales this week: 83,468Debut So what are her Pollstar numbers? So she grossed $800,000.  Sounds like less than one […]

Used to be a number one record.  You wanted that ceremony, with all the label geeks and your manager, where you were presented gold and platinum plaques, which you paid for, demonstrating your success.  But do you really want to be Lady GaGa?  Beholden to Perez Hilton?  A creature of the media?  Or would you […]