Questions why I've retired from Live performances.

Some of you have been curious and some concerned as to why I've retired from live performances.  I have always been a strong supporter for the Independent Christian Artist, in part because I am one, but unfortunately the local support for Indie artists in this area rarely shows it's face.

The simple and plain fact that I write and sing Christian music should say to churches, Christian coffee houses and Christian promoters in this area that I sing for the Lord and minister in song.  If that wasn't the case I would sing secular music and get gigs in other genres.  But, in this area it's not enough to say that.  In this area churches, Christian coffee houses and promoters use the excuse to not pay any honorarium to local artists because they should be "Doing it for the Lord and not for money."

Churches don't survive without money.  Christian coffee house don't survive without money and Christian promoters who promote events wouldn't promote events unless they made money too.  But, all of these venues and more I suppose fail, or refuse, to pay Independent Christian artists anything for showing up and ministering in song to their audience.  So, who ends up paying the tab?  That local Christian artist who wants to share their music and ministry with others picks up the tab and ends up paying for the opportunity to sing.

Many would say that's "Going through the ropes" and "Paying your dues."  To a small degree that's true but in the big picture it's simply a way to take advantage of talent.  But then there are those so called Christian venues that not only won't give you an honorarium but won't allow you to sell your CD's at their venue.  They will tell you it's not about commercialism.  Yet those same venues will sell a wide variety of "Crap" in their display area to help them generate money.

In the end I just simply got tired of it all.  Independent artists spend months and months recording a CD.  Then they spend what money the can to record, mix, master and produce the physical product.  In the end that artist rarely gets a return on the money they've put out to make their CD.  Trust me I know.  I know plenty of local artists who have given me their CD or album in cassette form and I didn't even know they had an album.  I've asked them why they don't sell them when they sing and I hear the same thing I say about venues.  In the end they didn't make enough on the album to pay for it so they didn't even make a next album.

I'm not bitter, I'm tired.  I'm tired of the what seems to be "the fight" for indie artists to receive some kind of compensation for driving 100 miles to minister in music, or even 5 miles.  The distance should be irrelevant.  Well that's my 2 cents.  And that's about the average amount of honorarium Indie artists tend to make at live performances too.

Closing Blog

Due to the low volume of traffic to this site I will no longer be posting.  I'm not going to shut this blog down because I do believe there are a lot of good posts that people can find interesting.  And perhaps from time to time I'll be loading a new video on my Youtube channel and then post it here.

I'm in the process of recording my next CD and have renamed it due to the lack of local musician responses wanting to record on it.  The title is now going to be Jerry Corelli "The End".  It will be my last CD as I've retired from "live" performances.

I want to thank those of you who have followed this blog from time to time and hope that you find my last CD enjoyable when it's released around February of 2012.

10,000 YouTube Views and Counting!

Well today we hit 10,000 Youtube views.  I started the account in 2007 but didn't really put any videos on it until last year.  Most, if not all, of the videos on my Youtube channel are less than a year old.

With The Sword Held High CD play list.
Christmas Song play list.
Live on the Worthy Music Ministries Stage play list.
Addiction Songs play list.
Live on the Seattle Praise the Lord Show first show 2000, second show 2000 and 2003.

If you haven't checked out all the videos stop by my Youtube channel, view them and leave comments if you'd like too.  Thanks to all of you who contributed to the views.

Jesus Music (The Archers)

Summer camp 1972 in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.  I was 13 years old back then and I have 4 or 5 pictures remaining from that summer camp.  I recall the memory of my mother playing music from the Ol' Time Gospel Hour radio show.  Songs like Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art and the like.  I don't recall listing to any secular music back then.  It was my parents stereo so what we listened to was just the music my mother played.  Then, in one weeks time, everything musical for me changed.

In the picture above you'll notice someone jumping up high to shoot a basket.  I'm 97% sure that's Steve Archer and the one in front of him trying to block the shot is Tim Jaquette, of that I'm 100% sure.  I had no idea that Steve Archer, at that time, was only 19 years old.  Here was a band, some of them still teenagers and a few in their early 20's on their way to Gospel Music History.

I became a Christian at that summer camp and the impact The Archers had on my life is still in my heart today.  Billy "Rush" Masters, who I believe was the old man of the group at 22 years old lead me to the Lord that week.

Billy "Rush" Masters

Billy seemed to be a kind person with a love for Christ that appeared to shine from and through him.  He was kind to me when I needed kindness.  I had been adopted when I was around 3 years old and always felt out of place.  I had a fear of rejection that followed me like a dark shadow back then.  It still rears it's ugly head from time to time but back then it was terrible.

Billy, and of course The Archers, introduced me to someone who would never reject me.  Someone who would always be there through the happy times and the darkest times.  Christ became my Savior that week and he became my friend too.

I recall so well how I watched Billy play the guitar so effortlessly.  As a boy who didn't play an instrument at the time it was fascinating to me that he could even play with his eyes closed.

Pastor Dave Koser, our youth pastor at Calvary Temple, announced we would be gathering at the camp music hall to listen to a group that played Christian music.  I remember thinking, "Oh great, more How Great Thou Art!"  It turned out they were no Gospel Group, they were a Jesus Music Band.

Nancye Short (Tsaparalis)

Then came the time when Nancye Short introduced a song she wrote called "As Long As I Know".  My mind seemed to explode when I thought of that concept.  You have to understand that back then I really thought that all the songs that had been written were written years ago.  I had no idea that new songs were being written and recorded every day.  They introduced other songs that Billy had written too.  It was all so exciting I had to get their album.

Front Cover

This is not only the first Archer's album but it was my first album ever, and get this, it's now 39 years old.  Everyone signed and it's stayed with me all these years. 

Back Cover

I can't tell you what songs like "God's Love", "Put on Jesus", "As Long As I Know", "Basically Roamin'" and "For Me, For You" mean to me.  Included on this album is "It Won't Be Long" & "Jesus Is The Answer" by Andrae Crouch.  I was blessed to have this album as my musical guide and introduction to Jesus Music.  The album was re-released with a more hip album cover when The Archers signed with Impact Records.

A few years later, in the 90's, I discovered that one of Billy's songs was published by "Guardian Angel Music".  It was his last recorded song and released around the time he passed away in July of 81'.  I discovered the publishing company was owned and operated by his widow and I was able to send her a recording of the song Billy helped me write and arrange a year or so after I first met The Archers.  It was my first song and you could easily tell Billy's influence in the writing.

Through Judy Spees, Billy's widow, I discovered that Nancye Short lived and worked right in Tacoma.  I was able to arrange a meeting with her and took all of my Archers albums to show her.  A lot of years had passed and when I asked her to sign the other Albums she was on before she left the band, she was hesitant.  I think she may have thought me a NUT.  Most people do of course.  Seriously, she was very shy and almost embarrassed about the whole thing.  We only talked for perhaps 10 or 15 minutes and I haven't seen her since.  She never did sign the other albums.

I have learned through the years that many songwriters and artists have a hard time accepting how their contribution to a song effects people.  For many of us we simply look back and say, "It's just a song."  But, it's not just a song.  Just as my first Archers album isn't just an album.  For me it's a moment in time where everything seemed to change.  Having A.D.H.D. music could calm me.  It helped me to focus.  As I heard the music, listened to the words and later sang them repeatedly I entered a new life.  It was a new life as a Christian but also a new life in so many other ways.

I am sure that this experience is not inclusive to me.  I have no doubt there are countless others who have experienced the same thing with artists and bands they've listened to.

Jerry Corelli, his life and times.

About six months ago I started a site where I could write a chronology  about my life.  It starts from when I was born and takes the reader through my life.  It's called Jerry Corelli, his life and times.  As life goes on and I find pictures from my past from other contributors, friends, I will probably post them in the appropriate year.

I mainly started this because through the years I've met fascinating people who's life story isn't written down.  When you talk to their family they'll say, "Yea, dad or grandpa or mom or grandma served in this war".  But they don't know much more information.  I wanted to get it down in writing.  It's therapeutic for me and informative to old and close friends, and of course family.  

It would take awhile to read through it all so if you're interested just read a bit at a time.  Laugh a little, cry a little but hopefully enjoy it. 

30th Anniversary of the release of my 1st Album

It's hard to believe it's been 30 years since the release of my first album with a band I had called "Omega III" back in the late 70's & 80's.

The song "King of Kings" written by me and a friend Dale Zwart was the first cut on the album.  The following year Gospel City Records released the song on side "A" of a 45LP.  Since it's the 30th anniversary of the release of the album I thought I'd put a few of the songs on YouTube.

Who Will Tell Them?

It seems that lately everyday I hear of a young person being killed by a Drive-By-Shooting and recently a shooting that took place in the Puyallup area hit home.

The young man who was killed, the second robber, was my wife's stepson from a previous marriage.  My stepson, Juan, was raised with the young man and from what I'm told by my wife, they were inseparable when they were younger.

He was 31 years old, 9 days older than my stepson Juan.  Somewhere in his past he took a very wrong turn and decided to live by the sword and now he has died by the sword.  Please keep our family in prayer and especially Juan.

Who will tell our children where they faith can lie?  Who will tell them Jesus died?  Who will spread the news that their lives can change for the better?  That Jesus can put Love into their lives.  Who Will Tell Them?  Who Will Tell Them?

UPDATED: One dead in reported home-invasion robbery in Pierce County

Posted By Stacey Mulick on November 3, 2010 at 7:47 am

Read more: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/crime/2010/11/03/one-dead-in-reported-home-invasion-robbery-in-midland/#ixzz14Plmvtkf

UPDATE (5:35 p.m.): Detectives now believe the second robber accidentally shot his partner in the head, killing him. An autopsy showed the dead man's gunshot wound was not caused by a shotgun, sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said late this afternoon. Crime Stoppers is offering a reward for information leading to the capture of the second man. Reach Crime Stoppers at 253-591-5959.

PREVIOUS POST: One man is dead and another is on the run after an exchange of gunfire during a reported home-invasion robbery this morning in Pierce County.
Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said one of the suspected robbers was killed at the scene in the 6100 block of 72nd Street Court East, just west of the City of Puyallup.
The other suspect left from the scene, possibly in a burgundy or maroon-colored Honda. He's described only as a man standing 6 foot to 6 feet 1 with a heavy build, Troyer said. Deputies searched for the second suspect but so far, have not located him.
Investigators believe the home-invasion robbery was not random, Troyer said.
"Usually houses are targeted," he said.
The incident was reported shortly after 6:30 a.m. Two suspects forced their way into the home where a boyfriend and girlfriend were asleep.
The suspects wore masks, were dressed in all black and wielded handguns. They went into the couple's bedroom, woke them up and demanded to know the location of a safe and jewelry, Troyer said.
As the suspects pistol-whipped the boyfriend, the woman reached under the bed, grabbed a shotgun and handed it over to the boyfriend, Troyer said.
"The homeowner and one of the suspects engaged in gun battle," he said.
The robbers ran from the home. One made it about 20 yards, collapsed in the driveway and died, Troyer said. Deputies found a loaded handgun, jewelry and other items taken from the house around the suspect's body.
"We don't know who he is," Troyer said. "He has a mask on."
The boyfriend suffered minor injuries. The woman was not injured. A second man who lives in the home was not there at the time. Troyer described the man as a roommate.
The two were being interviewed by detectives about what happened.
The house is down the 72nd Street East hill, a short distance from Canyon Road East.
Staff writer Mike Archbold contributed to this report.


Read more: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/crime/2010/11/03/one-dead-in-reported-home-invasion-robbery-in-midland/#ixzz14PlYAk6m

Making a Fortune through Internet Sales, Streams & Gigs

I'm a person who keeps pretty good track of my Internet hits from all my sources on the Internet and I wanted to share some of them with you.

On my ReverbNation site it shows that I'm #1 on the Charts for Christian Music in the Seattle/Tacoma area, out of 53 artists.  My states show I have 644 fans, 2563 Song Plays, 68 video plays and 8359 widget hits.  If you don't know what a widget is that's okay.  Now ReverbNation pays artists for the streaming of the artist's songs on  their web site and so far I've racked up a total of $0.24.

Now I started distributing my Cd's through Cdbaby.com in 2006 and currently have 5 Cd's on their site.  They distribute those CD's, both physical and mp3's through Amazon.com, iTunes, Rhapsody.com, Napster.com and a whole bunch of others.  That comes to roughly 70 mp3's on a whole bunch of web sites out there.  In 4 years my grand total of revenue is $140.79. There's a site called Spofity and it's not available in the U.S.  They stream my songs and each time they do I get $0.00030000 per stream and it shows up on my account that way.  I won't know what I'll get for my Internet radio plays that are on radio stations until,.. maybe the summer of 2011.

I have a very informative book that I wrote called The Songwriter's Guide to Submitting a Demo which is available on LuLu.com and to date my total with them is $23.79.

If you Googled my name "Jerry Corelli" with quotation marks you'll get a little over 11,000 hits and most of them will take you to a real site where my music is at or being played or sampled.  I've discovered that daily there are about 3 to 4 searches using "Jerry Corelli", "Jerry Corelli Music" and so on.  I've discovered many sites that have been around for awhile that have 5,000 to 10,000 song plays of my songs but I haven't seen any revenue and have discovered that the chances are great I never will.  In fact there are programs that allow you to record or download music and video easily without paying for it.  So all those hits and streams look great but no one is paying for my copyrighted music.  Well, there are a few that are so I shouldn't say no one.

 

It's a funny thing too.  I get a lot of emails from fans who tell me how much they enjoy my music but from what I see few or none of them are downloading or buying any CD's off the Internet.  I only have basic tracking data provided by Google which starts in May of 2010 and shows my largest hits are the U.S., then the United Kingdom, Denmark, Canada, South Korea, China, Russia, Germany, Ukraine, Luxembourg, India, and bringing up the rear is Uganda.  After totaling up all the hits on every site I have that counts hits like, Myspace, Shoutlife, YouTube and so on the total is close to 100,000 hits.  So why isn't anyone downloading mp3's singly or the whole CD and why aren't they buying the physical CD's on the Internet?  Is it the economy?  Is it that my music isn't worth buying?

Over the years of singing at fairs, churches, coffee houses, etc, I've done very well with selling CD's at gigs.  I've come to learn that when it comes to making money with my music it's the live gigs where I'll make any return on the expense of recording and packaging my music through the sale of my CD's.  I've had one person after another come up to the CD table to buy a CD or 2 or 3 and ask why they've never heard me on the radio.  As I was singing "I Can't Believe I'm Yours" at the Seattle Center I noticed a woman rushing over to our CD table to buy the CD that had that song on it.

Then it hit me, as I looked over the states.  The majority of listeners, 80%, who both listen to my music and visit my sites are between 45-65.  The fact is that, that age group, doesn't buy on line.  Not because they don't want to necessarily but because they don't really know how or understand the whole process.  It can sometimes confuse me.  I've even gotten emails from fans who want to buy one or more of my CD's and tell me they aren't able to buy them on line.  Even though they've gone to CDbaby, iTunes or the other sites.  For some reason the process is too complicated.  I believe it's a generational thing.  It's common to see people 45 and younger walking around with there ipods with music they've downloaded but it's not common to see that with an older generation.  For example, I write and record, publish and sell music and I don't have an ipod to listen to mp3's.

In conclusion, I guess the reason for this post was to vent.  If anyone out there thinks the majority or minority of independent Christian Artists are making a living from our CD and mp3 sales on the Internet, we're not.  At least I'm not.  I would like to ask one thing of you if you are following this my web site, or blog, and that is if you could sign up as a follower.  You'll see the info on the left side of this page and it's real easy.  Also feel free to post comments regarding posts I've made.

Thanks and God Bless.