FEATURES

GUEST EDITORIAL

by Kelly J. Calton
Midwest BEAT Web Designer

"A LITTLE COURTESY IS CALLED FOR IN COMING NEW YEAR"

    In traditional terms, this is the season for giving. People should always
give without expecting anything in return. Here at the Midwest BEAT, we are
very used to this. We all dedicate our time and respective talents to help
the local music scene thrive, and to draw attention to our local musicians.

   That's right - everyone at Midwest BEAT volunteers their time and energy
just for the sake of helping the local music scene. No one on the creative
and production staff - from editor Tom Lounges to the columnists and
freelance writers, to yours truly maintaining the online edition of this
publication and it's website - draws a paycheck for their efforts

    Why have I butted in and taken over part of Tom's editorial space?
Mostly because I am ticked off at a few of you band guys who claim to buy in
to the "one hand washes the other" philosophy.

   After doing a little checking, I have found that while we may do our best
to support you and your musical projects, the same not being true of you.

    This all started by an email sent to me from a band that wanted to be
added to the free listing/link section of our web site. That is never a
problem. We are happy to add as many of the area's bands as we can to this
free service. Those who visit the page will notice that there is a disclaimer
saying that the list will be updated at the beginning of each month. Due to
the volume of people wanting on the list, it takes less time to do it all at
once rather then each time I receive an email.

    This particular band which won't be mentioned received a reply from me
stating their information was received and would be included in the list when
the November issue of the magazine was put on line. I do all my major Midwest
BEAT work at one time. I reply to every email explaining this, because I know
not all people may see the disclaimer.

    They then emailed me THREE more times with their information, and also
emailed Tom Lounges. I am not sure if they thought they could get on the
list any faster by doing this or what, but Tom and I have a very close
working relationship, and he knows everything that goes on with the website.
That alone ticked me off, because I felt like I was being tattled on, even
after the situation was explained to them.

    All of this made take a closer look at the local band list. Some bands
just have their contact information, and those with websites have links. Want
to know what I found? I found a total of four (yes... four!) of bands on our
list had courtesy links back to our site. Four bands out of at over 70 who
we list free of charge decided to return the favor and put a link to the
Midwest BEAT.

    This really blew my mind. After all the time and work put into this
website, only four people could find the time to put a link to our page?
Most pages that have links on them require a link back to their page. If the
website does not link back, they are deleted. We did not feel this was
necessary as we are believers in the "one hand..." philosophy and naturally
assumed we would get the same treatment and courtesy back that we have given
so many people.

    Our website has been getting a lot of attention from record labels and
national and local PR people. We've gotten some very nice emails from some
major national artists as well.

    We have expanded since I took over the helm of the website last year to
include things like the magazine being developed in an on line version. We
are doing everything in our power and limited budget to make this site a way
for Chicagoland musicians to have a world wide voice. Weeks of my own time
are spent doing this and you people can't put a simple link back to our page?

    Many of you jumped at my offer last month to have your websites
registered with search engines. With the constant changing of band members,
moving, new emails and contact numbers, and band name changes, I am getting
around 50 emails a month worth of changes to be made to the local band list.
All of this and I can't get a freakin' link back to our site.

    It is funny. Most of my web company's clients are musicians, and I have
found them to be loyal, respectful people. I have never seen this "gimme,
gimme" side of the music community until I started doing the Midwest BEAT
website.

    When is the last time you thanked Tom Lounges for dedicating over 20
years of his life to promoting and helping local music? When is the last time
you thanked a columnist or writer who appears in these pages for spending
their time creating quality articles that keep people reading this magazine
informed?

    If you think anyone is getting rich from this project called Midwest
BEAT, you are very mistaken.

    Tom and I have been discussing expanding our server space so that we can
include more photos and music samples from local artists, even though it
means that Tom will have to pour out more money and I will have to dedicate
more work hours.

    I was very excited about this expansion idea at first, but in recent
weeks I have had to wonder if it is really worth our time, effort, and money.
Is anything we are trying to do even appreciated?

     Now that I have vented and gotten all this off of my chest, I would like
to stop and thank those of you that have supported us - in both our print and
on line versions. I know not all people are ungrateful and that many of you
do support us and do appreciate what we are trying to accomplish here. You
are the ones that make this all worth while.

    This commentary may make it sound like I want a pat on the back or that I
am complaining about how much work I do. Trust me, this is not the intent.
I love doing websites just like Tom and the others who contribute to these
pages each month love what they are doing.

    We are always more then happy to help any musician that needs it to the
best of our ability. I guess this whole "no-link-back-to-us" discovery has
gotten under my skin, and I wanted to voice my opinion about the situation.
Thank you for listening.