4anything: 'Record company auditions'

Subject: RE: 4anything: 'Record company auditions'
From: M.Ted
Date: 28 Jun 01 - 02:37 PM

So much for the lightning speeds of the internet--

Subject: RE: 4anything: 'Record company auditions'
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 28 Jun 01 - 01:29 PM

Of course the point of having it was to get people to install 4anything's software and come in and look around on the "free" night. Some of them might sign up to pay the fee.

Incidentally, speaking of installing. There was about a thirteen-minuted download. Then you unpack and install that. Reboot. You get on 4Anything, and it says you have an outdated version; do you want to update now? Another six minutes, as I recall. Then you get into the actual sound lobby, and it tells you that you still have an outdated version, and updating that takes, as I recall, another three or four minutes to install a patch. Not exactly stellar.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: 4anything: 'Record company auditions'
From: M.Ted
Date: 28 Jun 01 - 12:35 PM

I can understand your frustration, but the story is one for the books--a cyber version of the old stand-by "questionable audition"--

The amazing thing is that there is not that there is so much bad talent out there, it is that they don't know that they are bad--There are a lot of people who take unscrupulous advantage of these people, too--Too bad you didn't make it on--

here is the corporate profile from the USoft website(in case you didn't look it up) They have a music rights and royalties tracking software--but nothing about recording or even recording software--

USoft Corporate Fact Sheet

Founded 1987 Mission To provide effective IT solutions that support business processes in a changing environment. Objectives USoft aims to supply its customers with open software technology for planning, building and managing enterprise business systems. Its core technology features a highly adaptive business rules engine. USoft leverages object architecture with transparent deployment across heterogeneous, distributed computing environments. USoft's Business Rules approach aims to be highly compatible with recent developments in project management and cost monitoring, such as DSDM, to provide predictability, scalability and adaptability, and to turn information technology into a strategic business resource. Organization USoft is a subsidiary of Ness Technologies. Business USoft produces business systems and related consultancy on a time/material or fixed price basis. Solutions are developed either internally or at client locations. Expertise covers extensive knowledge of USoft products and of specific business areas such as insurance, media and industry. Various partnerships are available to deliver further specific knowledge. USoft has established strategic partnerships with leading database and CASE modeling tools vendors, with best-of-breed application providers, System Integration vendors, and consulting organizations. USoft offers complete consulting, education and support services for delivering Business Rules solutions in distributed computing environments. Product USoft tools are business rules automation software tools that let customers build applications without conventional procedural programming. They enable you to apply the industry's most advanced Business Rules technology to many existing situations:

Use USoft tools to add a business rules engine to existing database applications and development tools. Start small and gradually add business rules automation, getting increased benefits from its speed of development and ease of maintenance. Leverage your Internet/intranet strategy by publishing automatic, transactional web pages from the USoft repository of data specifications Re-architect legacy systems to take full advantage of business rules automation. Our customers report dramatic and sweeping changes in their application development cultures … no backlogs and more satisfied end-users!

Consultants, independent software vendors, and value-added resellers see their margins improve dramatically because business rules-based applications are modified and managed at greatly reduced cost. This approach provides unprecedented adaptability because you can change the underlying business rules at any time without worrying about application specifics. Locations USoft is headquartered in the Netherlands and is also represented directly in London, UK. USoft has clients in many industries around the world. USoft solutions are sold through direct and indirect sales offices in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia/Pacific, South America, and Africa. Partnerships USoft has established extensive business partnerships with the industry's premier technology and service providers. For more details, see our Partners page. These partnerships range from joint marketing and sales relationships to technology development and integration alliances. No. of employees 100 URL http://www.usoft.com USoft Group Kantoorgebouw 'Le Six' Gooimeer 6-10, 1411 DD Naarden, The Netherlands. Telephone [phone] E-mail [e-mail] Fax [phone]

Subject: 4anything: 'Record company auditions'
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 28 Jun 01 - 10:19 AM

Several days ago I heard an announcement in a room on Paltalk that a given record company was going to hold auditions in the "Special Events lobby" at 4Anything.com on Wednesday night at 9:00 Eastern time.

I won't bore you with my difficulties getting into the site, but it turns out that 4Anything is Hearme, expanded. It's Hearme, complete with boot-outs and poor sound. 4Anything charges $4.95 a month membership fee, with the exception of free access to the Special Events lobby on Wednesday nights. They announced tht they would continue to have "auditions" for various record companies on subsequent Wednesday nights.

The "auditions" turned out to be nothing more than a general sound chat, attended by an executive of some recording company I never heard of, Usoft.

I got in, finally, at 10:00 Eastern, and between then and 11:00 or so there was, I believe, one passable singer. Be generous: two. The rest fell into several classifications: No-talent, bad, precious bad, and catastrophically bad. Mixed and matched with karaoke. Some simple playing of commercial recordings, which I didn't evaluate. The text-message traffic was almost entirely inane and childish, in an unreadable mess of different typefaces and colors.

Partly because the Hearme system doesn't keep track of who is on line next to sing, but leaves it to the moderator, there was much confusion occasioned by the periodic change of moderator. I had my name in the list for a LONG time, and finally gave up and left at about 11:15 Eastern.

Other than that, I had a good time.

Dave Oesterreich