Makes one glad to be an amateur.
Imagine the trouble I might have had
if I’d had talent!
Kevin, you’ve done an incredible job with this compilation.
Of course, we all know that only signed acts have talent, and only talented acts get signed! 
Greetings from another proud amateur. 
BB
If one decides not to buy from any record label that screws its artists, one would pretty much never buy any music except from artists who have their own labels.
Thanks glauber. From what’s coming in, I think the 2nd compilation may be better.
Kevin Krell
Good point, Chas…
Buying CDs is like drinking water, we don’t have much choice about it, don’t we? Let’s call it a requirement to survival…
Maybe all record companies do cheat their musicians. Maybe this has been going on for a long time - from what I’ve heard, it has been. But that doesn’t make it all right for it to continue. I’m a letter writer, complainer, “let me speak to the manager” type of person who believes the only way things get changed is if people speak up. We have power as consumers and if all each of us can do is write an email to Green Linnet to express concern about the press releases in the Irish Echo, perhaps something will change. It might not be anything you and I can see, but maybe something good will come from it. I honestly don’t know if it would help or hurt the musicians who believe they’re being cheated by Green Linnet to not purchase CDs. But if there’s a chance we could do a little something, isn’t it worth finding out?
I’ve sent emails to some hopefully informed folks trying to find out if there’s anything consumers can do in a case like this - to let Green Linnet know that part of what we’re doing when we purchase a CD is showing appreciation for the artists’ talent and hard work in a monetary way and we certainly assume they receive the financial rewards they’ve worked so hard to gain.
Well, that’s my rant for the day.
Susan
Susan, I hope your perceived my irony in my previous comment, it seems that people are just aware of their own well being, and that caring about others or about a cause is just too much pain, it’s much more easier not to look too far around and walk on our own little path. Anyway, thanks for bringing this whole thing up.
So, if one wants to buy ‘Redwood’ that is not a GL product, is there a way to get a foreign version?
Trad artists are not secretive folks…Lunasa and Eileen Ivers and all these folks have their own websites and addresses and etc, and there is nothing stopping any of us from writing them a check and a supportive note if we have heard one of their CDs and enjoyed it.
My girlfriend and I have purchased many CDs from GL. I am saddened that the combination of unscrupulous behavior by record companies, combined with the technological capacity for consumer CD bootlegging ultimately harms the starving trad artist the most.
We can all be angry at GL for what they are doing, but in all fairness, I issue all of you a good-natured challenge: send the GL Five an “appreciation and support” check in an amount that seems right to you. If course, noone on this board would ever have in their possession a burned copy of any GL recording, but if hypothetically this were the case, then maybe sending the artist a “direct royalty” would be a nice and proper thing anyway.
Just a thought.
DAZED
no, you misunderstand me. I’m saying exactly what you are: we can’t assume ANYTHING, no matter who it is in favor of, until we have proof that this is or is not true. As for Eileen, it has been several years for her on Sony and why she would wait until now would puzzle me. No matter, we are in agreement (I assume, unless you have some other viewpoint).
I’m similarly puzzled by Ross’s reasoning, but I can confirm, since I was present at the time, that Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh of Altan advised an upcoming band here in Belgium against signing to GL because they are so bad at paying royalties. The reason why the artist victims have been so slow to sue is presumably the cost of legal action: the amounts owed have to be really substantial before it becomes worth while taking the risk of being saddled with a legal bill and with still no royalties coming in because the company continues to evade its liabilities.
BTW I always wondered why there are so many Altan compilations. Now I know!
I’ve spoken with a musician who has recorded with a big name label, asking what consumers can do to support the artists. The advice, echoing Dazed’s:
Buy directly from the artist. Go to gigs, buy the CDs there, get them autographed, or do the same from the artists’ own websites.
Carol
Thanks so much, Carol! That certainly answers it for me.
Susan
Ah yes, instrumental being the only type of music that you must actually have talent in order to do well (just look at billboards top 40)
Oh yes, bad green linnet, bad, smack them all upside the head with a rolled up newspaper (with a brick inside) or a radioactive enhanced guppy (i know someones got one around)
I haven’t checked, but I think it’s pretty safe to assume that you could get it direct from the Lunasa website.
Actually, it dossen’t appear that you can buy it from their website.
All the Best, Tom
Take a look at the Shannaquay website…Steve has a great selection, and he’s kindly gotten me albums that weren’t available here (including one that I hadn’t a clue about its name…he hunted it down and had it shipped out to me).
Good suggestion, Tyghress. And the same goes for Celtic Grooves. Phillippe is wonderful at identifying and finding things.
Susan