People, I said I was going to start off 2009 on a positive note, and I´ve got a lot of irons in the fire already this year, some truly great things are happening outside of Ourstage on other sites, and in the real world. And I wish the same for all my friends and fans here. I´m not too pleased that 3 of my best songs, good songs, good productions, with world class singers have been buried for the 2nd month in a row. None of them even made the Top 50. :( Let me say this, THEY`RE GONNA STAY THERE in those channels the whole year until they get the recognition and respect they deserve. And I´m not joking. It makes absolutely no sense for me to upload and enter any new songs, when the songs I´ve entered are either not showing up for people to judge, or are being down voted. Not that it makes a big deal to win here, I´ve been in the Top 10 × 9 times, and had 2 genre wins. And I´m still waiting for my prize money from November. :( HAVE ANY OF THE WINNERS FOR NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER BEEN PAID? Well, I know a few that haven´t, and I´m one of them. I received 3 emails from Rainy Stanford at Ourstage saying the prizes would be coming before Christmas. Then 2 days before Christmas I received an email saying she was sorry, and they wouldn´t be coming until January. I haven´t heard a word since. HAVE ANY OF YOU WINNERS RECEIVED YOUR PRIZES? Not that I need the $100.00, I don´t. It´s just the principal of the whole thing. Several winners still haven´t gotten their prizes. OUSTAGE, WHAT`S UP WITH THAT?

A FEW OTHER ISSUES; While I´m on a rant, I think I should let it ALL out, and address a few things I´ve been holding in the whole 14 months I´ve been here on Ourstage. So here we go. :)

OURSTAGE; I have to say, even with ALL the BS, I really do like OURSTAGE. I´ve been very successful for the time I´ve been here, and I´ve met a lot of good friends, talented artists, and some really good connections for ventures outside OURSTAGE that can bring major success and money. :) OURSTAGE is a pretty cool site as far as Indie Music sites go, But you have to remember OURSTAGE is a business, and it´s main concern is getting sponsors (SPONSE WHORES) to invest money and advertise on the site. :) We´re talking REALITY, not BS. I understand business enough to know and understand what´s going on, I´ve got 2 businesses of my own, and I´ve been on enough music sites in the last 4 years to know how things work. But OURSTAGE reminds me of High School sometimes, with all the pep talks, E-Jay Cheerleaders, etc, etc. :) lol It really does. :) And TWITTER reminds me of Grammar School. :) LOL They suspended my account for no apparent reason, and then unsuspended it a few days later, never giving me an exact reason. And some the stuff people post over there isn´t even Grammar School level, it´s KINDERGARTEN. :) LOL Ok, let´s get back to OURSTAGE. :)

THE FRONT PAGE; How does one get on the front page? Do you have to be under 24? :) lol I´m curious, because in the 14 months I´ve been here, I´ve never been on the front page, or written up, or featured in the Newsletter. I´ve got almost 1600 friends, almost 250 fans, and a ton of awards on my page. A lot more than most that tend to frequent the front page and newsletters every month. SO WHAT`S THE DEAL WITH THAT? WHY ARE THE SAME PEOPLE ALWAYS ON THE FRONT PAGE ALL THROUTGHOUT THE YEAR? And some of them don´t even have a page on OURSTAGE. lol Doesn´t make sense to me. SAME THING WITH THE “MARKET PLACE”. THE SAME PEOPLE SEEM TO GET ALL THE JOBS. And most of them have very few friends, fans, awards, and their EPK´s aren´t even complete. The Market Place doesn´t mean much to me, because I´m living in Germany now, and there´s not much work for European artists in the Market Place. But I always see the same people getting the jobs, and I don´t think it´s far to the others here. :( Which is why I´m mentioning it.

THE CHARTS AND GENRE DESCRIPTIONS; Same thing with the charts. I don´t see how people with 9 friends, 2 fans, and songs that are on NO FAVORITES LISTS end up #1, or in the Top 10. That´s always been a riddle to me, and many others here. lol I don´t kinow how many of you have read Don Campbell´s latest blog, but you really should, because he´s talking about the same thing I´ve been talking about for the last year. OURSTAGE NEEDS BETTER GENRE DESCRIPTIONS. Because some of them don´t make sense. Since when is Eric Clapton considered Southern Rock? He´s a Blues/Blues Rock guitarist, always was, and always will be. :) lol He´s done a lot of different projects, but his roots are the Blues. And he´s from the UK. He´s not a Southern Rocker. :) Jesus. :) lol I know that spending time getting money and sponsors is more important to OURSTAGE, but please fix the genre descriptions to eliminate ALL the chaos going on in the channels. OURSTAGE, YOU REALLY GOTTA FIND THE TIME TO DO THAT. If you need help, ask some of the experts here on OURSTAGE, I´m sure they´d be glad to help you out. :)

LAST, BUT NOT LEAST; It´s taken me 4 years and being on literally hundreds of Indie Music sites to realise that you really need to network with business people to further your career. Yeah, sure you can become the #1 artist, the most popular, the most reviewed, win the most awards on a Music Site, but unless the site, and site sponsors are behind you, and think you can make money for them, nothing is really going to happen. Believe me, I´ve been on a lot of sites, and have been successful on most of them. I´ve made a lot of friends, become very popular on Google, started a partnership business, which has done pretty well, but in the end, BEING ON AN INDIE MUSIC SITE IS LIKE TRYING TO SELL SAND ON A BEACH. EVERYONE IS TRYING TO SELL THIER SAND, SOME SAND MAY BE BETTER THAN OTHERS, BUT IT`S ALL SAND, AND WHO ARE YOU GONNA SELL IT TOO? :) LOL YOU NEED BUYERS, NOT OTHER SELLERS!!!! :) LOL Therefore I´ve been spending the last months on business sites, meeting Film, TV, Advertising, Video Game, and Song Licensing people, and have made some very good connections. I´m not saying leave OURSTAGE, `I´m just saying look at the front page, look at the artists that are on there, or are doing all the gigs in the Market Place. That´s who OURSTAGE, and it´s sponsors are selling, or trying to sell. I don´t care how many friends, fans, or awards you have, if you´re not being promoted where everyone can see you, you can forget it. So don´t just being sitting around waiting to be discovered on OURSTAGE, get on some business sites and network.

ONE MORE THING;

THE iPHONE & iPOD TOUCH APP; First off the iPhone and iPOD touch are VERY EXPENSIVE here in Europe, and I only know 2 friends that own an iPhone, and I have 1000´s of friends. So the app is for a real small minority.Maybe 5% in the USA and EUROPE can use it, and maybe 2% even know about it, and are using it. And probably mostly OURSTAGERS!!!!! :) LOL How many of you have checked out iTunes? I´ve been on iTunes since 2005, and have actually sold quite a few downloads with my 1st CD. But I´ve been the #1 artist on 2 major sites, and if you Google search DICARLO PRODUCTIONS, you´ll find me on many pages of Google, so I do have a pretty strong Internet presence, which has helped a lot. But most people using iTunes are looking for and buying stuff from major artists. Preferably the latest releases with the LARGEST ADDS on the iTunes front page. :) EASY TO FIND. PROMOTION IS THE KEY TO EVERYTHING, YOU CAN SELL CRAP, IF THERE`S ENOUGH MONEY BEHIND IT, IT`S PACKAGED RIGHT, AND IT´S SEEN AND HEARD EVERYWHERE. . I don´t know what kind of deal OURSTAGE has with iTunes, but it´s obvious the OURSTAGE APP is not being used that much, hence Daniel asking people to write as many reviews as possible to save the deal. :) I would gladly do so, because I like OURSTAGE, and have always tried to help out. But I don´t have anyway of accessing or using the OURSTAGE RADIO APP, because I don´t have an iPhone, or iPod touch. So how can I write a review on something I can´t access? :(

Anyway, I think I´ve covered mostly everything. :) I´ve been holding all of this in for a long time, and just had to let it out. IT`S 2009, AND TIME FOR CHANGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) Some of you may understand me, maybe even learn something, while others will just be pissed off, and say HOW DARE HE!!!!!!! :) lol I´ve always been honest and outspoken all my life, and I´m not going to change now. :)

OURSTAGE, I LOVE YOU, BUT…………………………….!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Lots of love, and all the best to all my friends here.

1 DICARLO

HI EVERYONE,

I JUST WANTED TO THANK ALL OF YOU FOR VOTING MY SONG “DO YOU WANT MY LOVIN” #1 IN LATIN FOR JULY. :) I MADE THE FINALS, BUT IT WAS ROUGH, BECAUSE “DO YOU WANT MY LOVIN” IS REALLY AN UNFINISHED SONG, THAT WOULD NEED LYRICS AND SOME KILLER VOCALS IN ORDER TO WIN THE FINALS. BUT THIS JUST SHOWS ME HOW GOOD THE INSTRUMENTAL TRACK IS. BECAUSE IT DID VERY WELL FOR JUST BEING A BACKING TRACK WITHOUT THE VOCALS, SO I´M VERY HAPPY. :) I WON A $100.00 GIFT CERTIFICATE AT AMAZON, AND OURSTAGE ASKED ME TO DO A SHORT 20 SECOND VIDEO AS AN ACCEPTANCE/THANK YOU SPEECH, BUT UNFORTUNATELY MY VIDEO CAMERA IS BROKEN, AND I HAVEN´T BEEN ABLE TO BORROW ONE, AS MOST OF MY FRIENDS ARE ON VACATION AT THE MOMENT, AND TOOK THEIR VIDEO CAMERAS WITH THEM. LOL SO, YOU´LL HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL I WIN THE FINALS, AND I´LL BUY A NEW VIDEO CAMERA WITH SOME OF THE $5,000, AND MAKE A VERY NICE SPEECH FOR ALL OF YOU. :) ONE AGAIN, I´D LIKE TO THANK ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT, AND OURSTAGE FOR MAKING ALL OF THIS POSSIBLE. YOU ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

ALL THE BEST, DICARLO

ADDED; I´VE OPENED A SHOP AT CAFE PRESS, AND HAVE SOME PRETTY COOL STUFF THERE (T-SHIRTS, SWEAT SHIRTS, JACKETS, MUGS, MOUSE PADS, ETC.) HAVE A LOOK AT; www.cafepress.com/dicarloproducts

“DICARLO IS THE BEST”.

What people are saying about DICARLO.

[quote=”DICARLO”] I JUST MASTERED 3 SONGS FOR DAVID DEAL, AND HE SAID THE 3 SONGS I MASTERED FOR HIM WERE “DELICIOUS”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(quote=”ROBIN JAMES I can do better than that . . . DICARLO IS THE BEST.

I have spent 2 years writing, recording, mixing and ‘waiting’ to create this hours worth of music. When it came time to Master the work, I decided to try 3 different companies. Hope you understand Dicarlo, because this is my first CD and I wanted to be sure my work received THE BEST treatment available.

The first company sent me 1 sample. The second, uploaded all 13 songs where I have access to them. Dicarlo sent me 3 songs on 2 occasions for a total of 6.

Simply by comparing, I could tell Dicarlo really ‘digs in’ to the tracks and does what’s necessary to bring out the best aspects. Each song was studied, to identify flaws(I know where they are) and they have been addressed.

The other 2 companies seem to have laid all of my songs down on a conveyor belt and pushed a button and ran them through a machine. When I listen to their work, I can’t believe they actually listened to the tracks before sending them to me. Both of these companies charge less, but the savings aren’t worth it. (If anyone would like the name of the other 2 companies, send me a PM and I will get back with you.You really do want to stay away from them.)

I will say it again. DICARLO IS THE BEST. It’s quite obvious to me that he really cares about his work. Next time, I won’t have to, ‘shop around’ . . .

Robin

Thats a great customer review man, For our first CD we went through a mastering company here in LA, although they eventually did a great job, we did have some problems in the beginning. They actually sent us a master with clicks and pops in one of our songs, and those clicks were not on the original wav’s. Needless to say i wrote to them and told them how unimpressed i was and how it was obvious they hadn’t listen to the final mix or else they would have heard the clicks. I got another master back within 2 days and everything was fine.

For our next CD i might have you try a sample and maybe we will go with you this time. Anyway, I’ll be sending those banners to you this weekend mate. Sorry for the delay. KMP[/quote]

NOTE; ROBIN JAMES CAN BE FOUND HERE ON OUR STAGE.