swerve wrote:Scott --- It would be rather unfortunate that "one man" stops you from moving forward. I would think this guy has a boss. It sounds to me you only have one option and that is to contact his boss. I'm pretty sure I mentioned this before but escalation to a higher level in the company seems to be the route to go. Have you already done this ? Also, did you ever send any of your releases to Classic Pop magazine for review ? It's not uncommon these days for people who would buy your releases to not find out until months / years later that they came out as CD reissues so your stock will move but it could take quite a bit of time to do so.
This man is a VP and has been with Universal for over a decade. I don't know what his deal is but I had a contact at another label tell me none of his clients ever get anywhere with Universal, mainly because of this guy, and was shocked I achieved the releases I have. I don't know if he does a ton of different jobs and prioritizes catalog requests very low. But I've even tried to help. I've requested a couple of other Visage releases and the only one that got initial feedback was that timings for the release were not listed in their database and they have to have it pulled, timed and entered in the system. This was back in October. I offered a flat transfer of the vinyl as a reference, and even provided them the listing for the master tapes from their own database. Nothing, no response in any manner.
As far as going above his head, I don't know who his superior is. Back when I was still trying to get Trees done, after progress over a few months, he just stopped responding. I sent several messages either very kindly or sternly and nothing happened until I contacted someone in finance and asked if he was even still working there since he had gone missing. They replied, copying him, confirming he was still there. And it was only a short time after being copied on that message did he respond and I was able to move it along. He really isn't needed for much of the process, he calculates the cost and submits the deal memo for me to sign. Once I do that then it is out of his hands and into legal and licensing before production begins. The production side is very friendly and responsive, and I get my titles done very quickly at that level but if that initial deal memo never comes then nothing happens.
But taking it to another level doesn't always result in positive results. I'm not sure if you recall when I was dealing with Sony that I eventually did go to the VP of sales. He and I had a good phone conversation and he seemed like a really nice and concerned man. He was very irritated about the lack of communication but said it's not the first time he had heard that about the Sales Director. But he also seemed intimidated by her and said if she found out I had complained to him I would get even less communication. So he took it to the awful Sales Associate I was also dealing with. The resolution they came up with was that I could pick 3 of my requests to be fully cleared by the end of March 2018. As the months went by, communication was still poor and inquiries on the status of my titles as the deadline was approaching proved futile. The date came and none of the 3 had been cleared, so it didn't matter. I managed to get the one secondary title cleared and into production but by that time a snotty message from the Sales Associate encouraged me to copy all 3 of them on a final email that I wanted my account closed due to the unprofessional and rude conduct. But as we see with Universal, it's not much different. This one man holds the keys to the kingdom and can't be bothered by third parties. It's a shame but it should be a crime considering how much catalog he is denying proven paying clients from accessing.
Regarding Classic Pop, yes, I sent them 4 of my CD's around the holidays. They did receive them but the person (the editor) that has them hasn't commented on them either way. I've had several people suggested getting some of my titles into the hands of Classic Pop, and now that I've done that I can only hope they say something about it. There seems to be little support for my venture regarding advertising. Recently, Paul from Super Deluxe Edition responded to a post I made on one of his blog entries and said he'd be interested in supporting my future endeavors on his site, and I should get in touch. I promptly sent him a message but didn't receive a reply. I contacted Slicing Up Eyeballs some time back and they asked if they could be added to my distribution list regarding upcoming releases. I've done that but they've never mentioned anything about my label or releases. So even the areas you would think may be a little supportive have yet to lend the slightest helping hand. There's been a lot of hard work involved in this label venture but there has to come a time when the frustration outweighs the value. 2019 will decide that.