Paul Laginess writes:

I'm sure there are a few questions about the old site that could use some answers. I think I can answer many of the obvious ones now, and if anyone thinks of others feel free to write me using the form here or post a comment at the end of this article.

One answer that I know won't be all that satisfactory is that there really isn't much I can do about subscriptions paid for at the old AL. Early in '07, I turned management of the site over to Scott Griffin and during that short period some pitches were made for subscription renewals and a number of people responded. Scott then decided, for what I'm sure were very good reasons, to step aside briefly putting responsibilities for site maintenance back on me. Very shortly after that, the site was sold to Moses de los Santos. It's fair to say that anyone who subscribed late in '06 or anytime in '07 justifiably would feel like they didn't get their monies worth. If I had my druthers, and the means, I'd return every bit of that money myself. Unfortunately, I've only got the former…the latter, sadly no. My fervent hope, is that somehow, someway, even though AL is now a free site, our former subscribers may someday feel that what we provide here, over time, will represent value that compensates for what was lost.

There are some things I do still have control over though and I don't and won't run away from any of them.

For starters, I still have in my possession a number of CDs that were being sold on a consignment basis through the old site. Please feel free to contact me if you'd either like them back or forwarded to another CD-selling site like CD Baby for instance. Many artists had a sale or three and may well have more than enough to cover any expense to mail them back and I can use bulk mail to send them so it would be cheap. Even though the amount owed may not have cleared the $20 floor we had in place I'd be happy to include any difference between postage expense and artist earnings.

Most artists who cleared the $20 minimum have been paid but we had a few cases where the artist never made the check or Paypal payment option selection and they are owed some bucks. I think you know who you are. We're talking 5 to 10 artists and I'm not now, or have I ever, tried to duck a legit payment, but on the other hand it always seemed to me that the artist should at least take responsibility for telling me how they wanted to be paid. Anyway, I'm here and listening so contact me if we have business to settle.

I should also note that I still maintain the ability here to make copies of the AL-produced CDs. If you need copies either to sell at gigs or to stock a CD selling site just let me know. We can make arrangements. One former AL artist, Rose Robbins, has a Paypal button set up on her personal site and whenever she gets a sale she contacts me, I fill the order, and she Paypal's my share to me as the payments come in to her. Works out well, and I'd be happy to do a similar arrangement with anyone else who would like to continue selling their CDs.

Then, there are those titles in the AL digital distribution program. There's not a whole lot of action going on with most of them but there are a few artists that have made a few bucks. Again, contact me. Although I don't have a mechanism in place to track totals what I'd be happy to do is provide access to the AL iTunes account so you can monitor your sales. I think ultimately, the 25 or 30 titles under AL should be transferred to a company that's actively in the digdist business and if anyone has thoughts on how best to accomplish that I'd welcome them.