The Great World of Sound!
November 18, 2007 9:13 AM   Subscribe

Want to be a recording star? The Great World of Sound is looking for new talent!
posted by The Deej (22 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
"Proud Winner of the '99 Web Static Awards!" -- Woo-hoo!
posted by ericb at 9:33 AM on November 18, 2007


The Great World of Sound: The Film.
posted by ericb at 9:34 AM on November 18, 2007


Ah -- yet one of the many in the long history of 'song sharks.'
posted by ericb at 9:36 AM on November 18, 2007


I anxiously await the DVD. Meanwhile, I entertain myself by laughing out loud every time I play with the "music on/off" button.
posted by The Deej at 9:42 AM on November 18, 2007


This looks interesting. There was a post about song poems last year that was pretty good as well (related to the idea of song sharks).
posted by sleepy pete at 9:45 AM on November 18, 2007


Thought #1: "How cute! An old-school internet site lookalike! Very well done."
Thought #2: "I remember building sites like this. Crap, I'm old."
Thought #3: "Wait a minute, that was only eight years ago!"
posted by rouftop at 9:57 AM on November 18, 2007




Thought #1: "How cute! An old-school internet site lookalike! Very well done."
Thought #2: "I remember building sites like this. Crap, I'm old."
Thought #3: "Wait a minute, that was only eight years ago!"
posted by rouftop


Thought #4: "I think I owe some refunds to web design clients."
posted by The Deej at 10:00 AM on November 18, 2007


You're Ads Here For Cheap!

No, I'm not. You must have the wrong guy.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:14 AM on November 18, 2007


Why not enter your Credit Card Info!
posted by sveskemus at 10:22 AM on November 18, 2007


I looked at the site and thought I got transported back in time; so I was gonna party like it was 1999...
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 10:47 AM on November 18, 2007


I miss the days when every web page worth its salt had a jaggy JPEG background of compact discs. Made things look so futuristic.

West of the Beb
posted by porn in the woods at 11:26 AM on November 18, 2007


That's gotta be just about the worst-run scam I've ever seen. I especially loved: "Shank has worked with virtually many of the most talented names in the business". Virtually many? Does that mean....none?
posted by goingonit at 11:34 AM on November 18, 2007


That's gotta be just about the worst-run scam I've ever seen. I especially loved: "Shank has worked with virtually many of the most talented names in the business". Virtually many? Does that mean....none?
posted by goingonit


Yeah, it's almost like it's deliberately bad or someting!
posted by The Deej at 11:37 AM on November 18, 2007


"Just because it's a lie, doesn't mean it's not a great idea."
posted by ZachsMind at 11:40 AM on November 18, 2007


Oh...I get it now. I'll just shuffle off inconspicuously...
posted by goingonit at 11:41 AM on November 18, 2007


It's driving me crazy what I know this guy from. I'm thinking maybe it's Matlock. But I never watched much Matlock. He was on a lot of shows though, so he's one of those "that guy"s.

Honestly, people run these kinds of scams on wannabe musicians ALL. THE. TIME. Especially on singers because they don't think singers are musicians.

For example, here's one... I'm in a club with a friend, sitting in. A woman walks up to the two of us and says "You guys are great! I would like you to sing in this club. I think you'd do really well here!" At first you think she's with the club, right? And she wants to make you a STAR!!!! Nah. When I asked about the money, she changed the subject. Since I don't feel people should expect singers to play for free, that was a red flag for me. Knowing how these scams work, I declined but my friend didn't. Unfortunately.

• So at first the woman implied that my friend and I would be able to share a night, each performing for half of it. When I decline the woman tells her she's going to have a night with another singer. And that all she has to do is bring 20 audience members. Next time she brings up the show, it's with two other singers. Then it's three other singers. Then it's four, including the woman herself.

• At first it was implied was that my friend would get a percentage of what the club pays, but then the woman said, "I have to pay the band from the money we make. There are three guys in the band and we're only being paid $200 plus tips and they all need to be paid evenly." (Well, 3 doesn't really go into 200 all that evenly. So it was clear to me that she was paying the musicians $50 each and keeping the other $50 for herself.) Then she said that "You'll get paid if you bring a lot of people in and they eat and drink a lot. You'll get a percentage of the door. 20%!" (Okay, so then add on 4 other singers. and that 20% isn't 20%.)

• When the flyer came out, it was a GIANT photo of the woman herself with teeny tiny pictures of the other people next to type that said "AND FRIENDS!"

• Due to poor planning, the show ended up being on the same night as the annual giant fireworks display in San Francisco. So I guess people couldn't get each get their 20 reservations. So she actually called up my friend and said, "Since there aren't enough reservations, there aren't going to be enough tips for the band. I promised them at least $20 in tips each. So you're going to have to pay them $60. Okay?"

Fortunately, my friend said no. She did the gig and she learned her lesson. I listened to all five singers and by far the worst was that woman. Hands down. Oh my. It became clear to me that this scam was mostly one of ego... because if she didn't do some kind of elaborate rouse and have other people bring in audience members, she wouldn't get to perform. Just unbelievable what kind of manipulations some people will concoct to get what they want.
posted by miss lynnster at 12:10 PM on November 18, 2007


Ironic website lost on mefites. Go figure.
posted by sleepy pete at 1:01 PM on November 18, 2007


Well, I got it. Wasn't exactly thinkin' that some friend of Matlock's is out scamming people under an assumed name. It looks like it might be pretty funny, too.
posted by miss lynnster at 1:11 PM on November 18, 2007


The Great World of Sound. It's good stuff, and especially the play with reality elements is both hilarious & heartbreaking.
posted by muckster at 2:06 PM on November 18, 2007


It's driving me crazy what I know this guy from. I'm thinking maybe it's Matlock.

Yeah, watching the previews drove me nuts, because I KNEW he was in my brain, deeply embedded. Looking at his imdb resume I'm sure it's from accumulated appearances on many 70s and 80s TV shows. Plus he sounds a bit link Ving Raimes to me, which adds to the familiarity I'm sure.

It's movies like these that make it suck to live in Montana. It will never come here. I'm also dying to see My Kid Could Paint That, another one I'll have to wait to see on DVD. I got to see Across the Universe while I was in Colorado, in a town WAY WAY smaller than Billings. Go figure. (Hix nix indy pix.)
posted by The Deej at 3:14 PM on November 18, 2007


miss lynnster, my comment was a general view on how everyone was looking at this post (or, you know, not looking at it). Your comment just happened to fall right before I made my comment.
posted by sleepy pete at 6:07 PM on November 18, 2007


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