Letter From the Publisher (Max)

Subject: RE: Letter From the Publisher
From: Max
Date: 03 Feb 97 - 08:07 PM

Just a response to the responses.

The Mudcat Cafe is not exclusive to any musics. Our viewers seem to be mostly ecclectic musics as are our editors and publisher (me). We follow what we love, as I am sure do you, and we certainly don't like any type of exclusivity.

We are releasing a new version of the discussion forum in March that will be more efficient as well as more organized. We are also trying to implement cookies so that everyone who logs on has a unique identity, and keeps it as long as they use that browser. That way messages can be directed to specific people or to everyone. Soon you will call up the mudcat and it will say "Hello Joe or Tom or Harry, you have two messages today."

Yes, the record collection will be 99% cd's.

We are willing to advertise almost anywhere on our site. In fact we are in great need of income. Our holiday contest gave us a 500 person demographic study of you all, so we now we know what kind of person visits us. We are searching for potential sponsors as we speak. We get about 500,000 requests per month, and people who have advertised with us are getting about 20 click-throughs a day (that's actually above average for any site). We are prime for ads, but have yet to make the connection with a vendor. We just decided to have a money back garauntee, so that may induce some. We are, as I said, a non-profit corporation. Any income made will be emidiately put to upgrades to satisfy the giant demand on our servers. We want to put some effort and moneys into content too. We're trying to get Folkies.com made now. We have an Exclusive Interview of Gatemouth Brown scheduled for March, and hope to add almost everybody to our list. Oh boy, I can't wait...

Oh, and we always accept unkown artists. We'll even put your stuff up for sale. We are getting an audio server soon, so we will even be able to broadcast them.

My goal for the next two months is to just fill this site with as much stuff as possible. I love that we are popular, and I want to stay that way. So make sure you tell us what you like and want, and by God we'll give it to you.

If anyone has any original photos, essays, drawings, historical pieces, anything, send them and we'll incorporate them into the site.

We anticipate good income from the cd sales and advertising, and we are applying for grants this summer, so we hope to start paying reasonable fees for content.

Send anything to:

Max D. Spiegel The Mudcat Cafe PO Box 525 Downingtown, PA 19335

Thanks for all the kind words folks.

Subject: RE: Letter From the Publisher
From: Bert Hansell
Date: 31 Jan 97 - 04:28 PM

Max,

I'm looking forward to being able to buy music from Mudcat. It's always a problem finding good folk music. Do you have any plans to stock books as well?

I would be pleased to consider your advertisers' products but my bookmark is set to 'The Mudcat Discussion Forum' and I never see any ads. Perhaps you could display them here as well.

Let me know when you start accepting from unknown folk singers. I'd just love to send a tape.

[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Letter From the Publisher
From: Joe Offer
Date: 31 Jan 97 - 02:05 AM

Max, we're sure glad you came to the rescue of the Digital Tradition Web site, and I like the addition of this discussion area. I hope you can bring back the Digital Tradition tunes sometime, so we can hear what the songs sound like. I like the idea of the record collection (although I hope it's mostly CD's). Keep up the good work!

[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Letter From the Publisher
From: Coralena
Date: 30 Jan 97 - 09:01 AM

Thank you for Mudcat Cafe!!! I look forward to being able to order from you but please give a snailmail address to order from as well and/or an 800#. A service that would really be wonderful ( had thought of it as a business I'ld like to go in to but....:( ) would be one where you could get a cd made up with only songs you request.:)

Subject: RE: Letter From the Publisher
From: Rodney Rawlings
Date: 30 Jan 97 - 08:27 AM

Is Mudcat only devoted to folk music? I have used it profitably to chat about pop music myself. e-mail [e-mail]

Subject: Letter From the Publisher 1997
From: Max
Date: 29 Jan 97 - 09:06 PM

Well, now that 1997 is here, I can look back and say that we really took off in the latter half of 1996. I must say that this success is due to the addition of The Digital Tradition and the seemingly endless efforts and knowledge of Dick Greenhaus. Thank you Dick.

I would also like the thank AskSam for the use of their tremendous software, of which the database may never have been available.

One more thank you goes out to all the people who take the time to respond to questions and requests posted to the discussion forum. There is some truly good information being passed around there, and I am glad that we could make a place for this to go down.

We have some big plans for 1997. The first of which is the launch of folkies.com, another Mudcat creation. Stay tuned to see biographies, festival listings, concert dates, historical accounts, and much more about your favorite folkies.

Also for 1997, which should help us financially to pull off our plans, is the addition of the Mudcat Record Collection. We have assembled over 500 albums from all you favorite and many unheard of Folk and Blues Labels. They will be available right online for your purchase and perusal.

To go hand and hand with the previous ideas, we intend to add streaming audio to our list of offerings. Hear sound clips or is some cases entire albums of your favorites and versions and artists you have never even heard of.

We are also going to feature up-and-coming, and unsigned musicians. It will give us all a chance to see tomorrow’s folkies as they come out of the gate.

The deal has yet to be signed, but we anticipate also to simulcast a weekly blues radio show. Radio on the net… who would have thought…

Also in response to our popularity as of late, massive upgrades are in the works. We will have new hardware and a heftier network connection to increase the reliability and enjoyment of The Mudcat Café.

Our goal for 1997 in no uncertain terms is to publish all of the Mudcat’s sections with increasing regularity. Our hope is to have a magazine’s worth of new content every month. Thanks to the nature of the net, past issues will also always be available.

Let me say that we shall never charge a cent for access to the Mudcat Café. We are planning to finance the ambitions of 1997 with our record collection, advertisement, and academic grants. We have organized as a non-profit company whose only goal is to preserve and extend the Mudcat’s existence. How can you help? (thanks for asking) Well, keep coming back for one. If you see a product advertised on the Mudcat, realize that they have given us the financing to continue through that month. If you happen to buy a product that you have seen advertised on the Mudcat, make sure you let them know that. You can help spread the word, and wield the power of the almighty dollar for the underdog for a change. You can also buy your cd’s from us. We originally decided to provide this service in response to the increasing difficulty in finding non-mainstream music. You may see the same music for sale somewhere else, and maybe even a little cheaper (we doubt it though), but know that when you buy from us, that 100% of the proceeds go to the continuance and expansion of the Mudcat Café. The addition of a new service or section, more hard to find music, new and reprinted publications, more up to date news and interviews, sheet music, instruction materials, and all around good things.

Well, once again, thank you to all the folks that put in their time creating and visiting the Mudcat Café and all of its parts. I know this has brought me closer to the things that I love, as I hope it does and continues to, for you.

Dig it.

Max D. Spiegel Publisher, The Mudcat Café