[New-Poetry] A public plea to Jonathan Galassi

[Suzanne Burns]

Ya know what this reminds me of just a little?  Jane Siberry.

For those who don't know her, she is an indy musician who has a phenomenal
following.  I believe Wim Wenders used her music in his films, etc.

Well, a few years ago, she abruptly changed her name to "Issa", sold
verything she owned, and offered up all of her music for free or for a
donation on her personal website (that to which she still owned the
copyright anyway, which alas does not include her groundbreaking album "When
I Was a Boy" which includes the song "Calling All Angels"-- that album is
owned by a Very Big Company which now calls all the shots).

Her relationship to The Industry is very complicated, and although many
would kill to be handled by such a big company, she prefers to handle her
own work.

Here is the big irony: if you go to her website, you can download all of her
music for free ("a gift from Issa") or make a donation if you want-- she has
made more money from donations this way than she ever had any hope to make
through the "Big Studios".  He goal was simply to make her music available
and accessible to all (the industry will often buy the rights to music and
then not release it-- which means that it never reaches its audience and the
musician can;t do an damned thing about it, a situation which *may* be
comparable to Knott's situation if they are in fact remaindering his book
and yet withholding rights) and to simply own her own work.  She didn't
expect "payback"-- now however she is getting it.

There is something to be said for this.  The world is different now and
maybe a "Big Publisher" isn't all it is cracked up to be. There are people
out there who are representing themselves and doing a hell of lot better in
the long run.

I hope this doesn't sound all rambly-- I just had a big glass of wine and am
feating in the first harvest of organic lettuce in my garden, so I am
feeling all Yay, go Bill!

Suzanne


On Mon, Jun 2, 2008 at 9:04 PM, <AlMaginnes at aol.com> wrote:

>  Didn't Knott work as a professor of creative writing for a time? I know
> he's had a difficult life and made some difficult choices, but his claims of
> " have no family or friends, no home, no job, no position or title, no
> money, no prospects, no health or future," strikes me as a tad melodramatic.
> Not to mention the fact that many poets (although I'm not sure I'm one of
> them) would kill to have FSG as a publisher.
>
>
>
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