ORPHIC ENDEAVORS

I usually check my stats once a day at Amazon.com, and usually I do so in the early morning. Today I went to see how "War Stories" and "Around the Next Corner" are doing and I got this message: To upload MP3s to Amazon.com currently, you must have worldwide distribution rights to the song and the song must be from a CD with a valid UPC. If you'd like to learn more about how you can promote and sell your music through Amazon.com's Advantage program (which includes uploading MP3s) please learn about it here: Learn more about Amazon.com Advantage.... So, of course, without a UPC symbol, a stash of already printed CDs, and/or a record contract, I will no longer be able to put music up on the Amazon.com site. I am very disappointed though I guess in the back of my head I knew it was bound to happen sometime. I have emailed them and asked what happens to the 30 tunes I have posted there, but as of 9am today I still haven't heard anything yet. This, of course, has made me seriously concerned about the future of the other places I have free music downloads available. I know that IUMA has been bought out and really it's probably only a matter of time before something bad happens there. Besonic has been messed up for many long months now and only works occassionally. I have to worry about CNet really, because they have added wma's of artists like REM that degrade over time. That says to me there isn't enough action going on there to support the music section of the site. I wonder if all free downloads places for indies like myself are doomed? In a mad rush to figure out some way to save everything from falling apart, I did a little research. I can get a UPC symbol from a place called CDBaby for $20 per album. They also distribute. What they DON'T do is manufacture CDs. They have a list of places that do, but the cheapest of the bunch was $990. I was so stunned by the price I didn't hang around to see how many you get for that. Cafepress, though nice and easy to use and I have total control over how I want the CD to look and everything, really doesn't offer the quality I need. It's sad when you can download a free version of each song that's actually a better bitrate than the ones on the CD.... So, then my husband recommended submitting music to record companies. I did research on that. They all accept your demos. What they don't do is listen to them. Several of them actually say they put them in a box and forget about them. So I'm at the point where CNet is really my last best hope for something big to happen, like, for instance a video game company needing background music, or a film company needing background music, or a record company contacting me, which is what they all say they do. They prefer to contact you, not the other way around. Am I good enough a musician for that to happen? I don't know.... I'm not so sure.