Ok, here comes my thoughts...We will never charge for access to the anything on the Mudcat. I am not sure dick and I could even afford a membership fee. Point is, we know you all aren't rich out there. So the thought is pure, provide STUFF that you would buy anyway, at competitive prices. STUFF that is relevant to traditional music and the like, that may be hard to find or at least not convinient. So we provide more of the service this place is really for anyway while raising some money. Perfect.
Soon there is a major update coming to the cat which includes a record collection, auction, maybe MP3's for sale, and we have deals with about 100 or more websites to get little commissions like we do with amazon (which averages about $42 per month).
I have been talking about this forever, I know, and a lot of people have been counting on this. I truly underestimated the work involved in this plan, blew deadlines and broke promises. Folks like dick and Wally McNow at Camsco have been very supportive and patient with us, and I thank them dearly. But now even I am getting impatient.
Without exageration, since January, Onstage Media has supplied us with over $50,000 in manpower and about $5000 in equipment for these new changes (don't tell my stockholders). This shit is really hard!
Some of the changes are obviously commercial, which is inevitably going to piss somebody off. In the spirit of the Cat, I have made and will make every effort to not allow the commercialism to take anything away from what the mudcat is all about. But it is going to happen now. All I ask is to work with me in this process. When we finally do launch the new site, be tolerant of bugs and differences and commercialism etc. You asked for it.
And I am pretty confident dick will be full time by the end of the year. But then again I am huge optimist. Everybody take a deep breathe and relax, I have a plan and am taking action, though maybe not a quickly as some would like. Suggestions are welcome but don't let it bother you cause we're gonna make out OK.