Follow-up: Indie musician versus eBay. Guess who won?

Written by tinfoil on Wednesday, 27 November 2002 13:47

Previously we reported of a fight between one George Ziemann and eBay, a true David vs. Goliath fight. At question was eBay's policy of no re-selling of CD-R's, innept software and staffers.

George was attempting to sell copies of his band's CD's on the premier auction site. eBay policy seems to be on his side in this stating that CD-R's can not be re-sold unless the seller is the original copyright holder, which he was. However, eBay's software which scans auctions for illegal and otherwise nasty things flags anything containing the phrase CD-R for checking be a real person. This is where things broke down.

In a phone call which came long after the original offense, eBay acknowledged the problem with their system and have taken steps on an administrative level to change that. They are also planning on re-vamping the software.

Now the fight comes down to the way the CD-R's are listed. Many bands list a number of influences. eBay calls this 'keyword spamming' which is against their terms of service. Ziemann only recently recieved word that multiple keywords are now allowed, but he is asked to keep it relevant and to avoid excessive lists.

Congratulations to George for his fine work. With CD writers as cheap as they are, it is easier than ever for the indie musician to distribute his or her own works. Had eBay been stubborn and not budged on either issue, a very large venue for sales would have been removed. So, congratulations to eBay as well for seeing the problem and fixing it.

I recently had the opportunity to bounce some questions off of George.

Given what eBay support said about their CD-R policy being the result of actions taken by the RIAA and others, do you believe that the RIAA is truly for the artist anymore, or have they moved to the more lucrative side of the business in backing the record companies?

The RIAA exists solely for the benefit of the record companies. Judging from the way the industry has always taken control of an artist's music and never given it back (which finally changes in 2013 -- after 35 years, the artist gets their rights back) the real question is whether the RIAA has EVER been concerned about the artist. The artist pays all the costs of producing their product (according to Sheryl Crow in a Congressional Hearing) and the record labels pay them a pittance.

After 30 years of chasing the elusive recording contract, if someone dropped one on my desk today, I would run like the wind. In the opposite direction.

You seem to have burried the axe with eBay on the CD-R issue, and to some extent on the 'keyword-spamming' issue as well. Is this solely for your account or will other indies out there get the same concessions?

My goal in the confrontation with eBay has always been to identify and eliminate the barriers for all independent artists. After going through the entire battle, it appears that the "keyword spamming" issue has been the crux of the problem all along. eBay just never said so until the clock was ticking in the 4th quarter.

Any independent artist that reads my story and follows my suggestions should be able to avoid listing problems. Or at least keep them to a minimum.

Your comparison of eBay to Amazon and Yahoo auction products was sobering. Is eBay truly the best choice out there for indies wanting to sell to a huge market?

I said that eBay is the best choice of the three major online auction houses. That is the limit of my recommendation. There are a lot of options out there, a great number of which have come to my attention recently. The best choices allow fixed-price sales of your product at a price point selected by the artist. eBay isn't one of them.

With all the publicity generated by such sites as slashdot and wired, your CD sales must have (hopefully) hit a new level. What's the next step? A CD titled Not for resale....?

To be totally candid, the international publicity I have garnered in the last month or two have had a minimal impact on our CD sales. We've sold one copy on eBay, one electronic copy on mp3.com and sold about 25 other copies off of our web site. Of those 25 copies, about 5-6 are attributable to the publicity we have received. If you do a search on "eBay Ziemann" at google or yahoo, today's results bring up about 100 results.

I have yet to mention the name of my band in any publicity, including any of the stories I have written on this and related subjects on my own website. This is not about us, it's about the independent artist. We're one of them, but our crusade has been for the general benefit of all.

But since you asked this question directly, I am not above a little shameless self-promotion. The name of the band is Hayden's Wall and our CD can be purchased directly from the band at http://www.azoz.com.

As for the next step, we have become a music publishing company and are offering our help to any Indie artist that wants it. Details can be found from the web page listed above.

Our first venture is in connection with Jamie Gilcig at www.auctionpie.com (one of the better choices to which I referred above and for reasons that go far beyond sales considerations) and www.baypie.com. Together, we will be promoting a four-day festival near Ottawa, Canada from July 1 to July 4, 2003. It starts on Canada Day and ends on Independence Day. Free admission. Independent musicians, comedians and independent films will be the entertainment.

A film will be made of the event, with involvement by a renowned Hollywood cinematographer. For the indies that get involved, this will lead to affordable music video production and inclusion in soundtrack CDs, as well as optional inclusion on compilations that MacWizards Music (my publishing company) will release.

Thanks to George for his time, his efforts.

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