Sorry, J. Hall. My point was simply that it is ludicrous of Eric to suggest that being from LA means we don't take chances on a band or have an indie scene, or that I lack credibility in those areas. I should have phrased my response without questioning his experience, which is a bad habit I have sometimes that I need to learn to curb.
BTW, Eric, you never recorded TV shows on your VHS? I didn't mean music, even though we originally used VHS machines for digital before DAT came along.
Also, I'm not disagreeing that I'd rather have 50% of a hit. I posted twice in this thread about it, if you care to take another look. But I thought I mentioned that you better be able to guarantee me a hit, like Madonna does. She can have her 25% any day of the week. I think when producers start looking for people who don't have any money and try to entice them into signing over publishing that it is predatorial, and I would not do it either as the artist of the producer. But those are simply my own principles. You don't have to agree.
And for a confession: I was approached to work with a band that was AWFUL. I mean REALLY bad. I would have had to have somebody come and replay the drums, because the drummer was unbelieveably terrible. Even worse than me. However, they had two things going for them, the songs were kinda catchy (with some restructuring that I did) and the singer was dating Alicia Silverstone, who was still a big deal at the time and had a new production company. I didn't see any chance of these guys ever getting a deal, but I recognized the chance that Alicia might use them in a soundtrack, so I offered them a production deal for publishing. Even though I would have had to put lipstick on this pig and stand the thing up on my own better than any turd I'd ever polished, I still felt slimy about it. The band never got it together to follow up, and I think the singer broke up with Alicia, so it never amounted to anything, but I never quite felt OK about offering that deal down inside in my conscience.
I'm from Chicago, home of Chess Records. I am aware of how those artists got screwed out of ALL of their publishing, in turn making a couple of white guys very wealthy. This is just my opinion, that taking publishing without giving the artist a good sum of money or contributing as a song writer, is just unethical, unless it only covers the recoupment of your services.
And BTW, as for the comment about my humility, which I take (rightly or wrongly) as a backhanded compliment, as I always say, my opinions are based on experience. If you don't like them or think they are grandiose, then fine. Feel free to disagree all you want. But always understand that they are substantiated by real life experiences, and not plucked out of the ether. If I say something that is obviously not my dry sarcasm, I am always being earnest have a reason for that view. I stand by my opinions, and freely admit when I'm proven wrong.