In a legitimate MLM company, commissions are earned only on sales of the company’s products. No money may be earned from recruiting alone (”sign-up fees”). Some, less legitimate, companies produce revenues primarily by attracting new participants or selling them marketing services, as opposed to selling actual products. One must analyze the compensation plan to determine whether participants are paid from actual sales to customers and not from new-recruit bonuses or business support sales. - source (wikipedia on MLMs).

Initially, Burnlounge seems like a wonderful revolution in the music industry. Through my own internet surfing I have run across countless people with their own “Burnlounge Stores” and thought nothing of it!

In case you aren’t familiar with it, Burnlounge is a company that allows users to set up a digital music store. You sign up under one of three different levels for a set up fee along with monthly fees. At the bottom you get the chance to set up your own store within the site where people purchase digital music from you that you choose to carry, and you get a commission from these sales. At the top level, not only do you get this, but also the ability to recruit (and earn a bonus from recruiting) others to open their own burnlounge store. They themselves are also able to recruit in the typical MLM setup. You get bonuses from everyone signing up as well as a commission from both yours and their sales.

This is a “legal pyramid/MLM”. Unlike the common misconception that all pyramids are illegal, pyramid companies only become illegal when they break the FTC’s rules. These rules are set up to make sure that the majority of profits come from the product and not the recruiting. Even calling them illegal at that point is misleading. It simply means the FTC can take action to shut them down. Looking at the digital music marketplace you will see that Apple selling mp3s for the same price as Burnlounge proposes barely breaks even, with a large market share. Burnlounge store owners can’t compete with that large market share, and the immediate conclusion is that those who come in at the higher subscription levels stand to gain much of their profits from the recruitment of others.

This should be a red flag to anyone who has considered working with this company. Leaving the merits or lack thereof of MLM as a business model, you can see that Burnlounge is on the seedier side of such companies. They seem to be walking the line of FTC rules while using recruiting that appeals to a young and sometimes naive audience. Their banners say “Wanna be in the Music Industry?” when owning such a store is nothing of the sort.

There are many other resources for musicians to get their music out there, and for fans to feel a part of things. If you are looking to do that, ignore Burnlounge and keep looking.

Jerimi Ann Walker is the Director of Marketing and Promotions for UVTV, Underground Video Television. UVTV is a website and television show featuring exclusive live performances from touring underground artists as well as music videos from hardcore, metal, and rock acts. All videos aired on the show are also available at http://www.uvtv.info as well as archived episodes, music news, a blog featuring guest contributors from all areas of music, and an active forum community.
 

WALDORFWORLDWIDE
GOOD CHARLOTTE
GOOD CHARLOTTE, THE BOOK
MOTIVATION PROCLAMATION
EAST COAST ANTHEM
THANK YOU MOM
MY BROTHER’S PLACE
THE YOUNG AND HOPELESS
LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH AND THE FAMOUS
PIRATES!
WALDORFWORLDWIDE
The twin brothers that make up the core of Good Charlotte were born on March 11, 1979 in the “middle-of-nowhere-suburbs”, Waldorf, Maryland. The brothers, Joel and Benji Madden were turned on to music by their older brother, Josh. Their influences started with bands like Rancid, Minor Threat, the Cure and the Smiths. Benji started learning to play the guitar at 16 while Joel developed his vocal talent.

GOOD CHARLOTTE
After their bassist, Paul guitarist Billy joined the twins, Good Charlotte took their name from a children’s book and played their first gig in a neighbor’s basement for an audience of 20. Benji recalls, “We only played our own song so we weren’t good enough to learn anyone else’s songs!”

GOOD CHARLOTTE, THE BOOK
That children’s book they took their name from has a similar theme to what they have come to represent, it’s about a young girl that gets picked on by other kids because she is different. These guys know what it is to be outcasts.

MOTIVATION PROCLAMATION
The brothers dedicated themselves to their music, although they had almost no money for equipment and no connections in the industry. They cut their first demo, wrote their own bio, and began mailing packages off to a list of record companies obtained from a magazine. “I wrote this letter saying, we’re Good Charlotte and if you sign us now it will be a lot cheaper than if you wait!” recalls Benji. “Our ignorance was kind of a blessing. We couldn’t be discouraged by knowing too much about how the business really works.”

EAST COAST ANTHEM
When the twins graduated high school in 1997, their mom presented them with two open airline tickets to California as a graduation present. “Some of our favorite bands like Green Day had started out at this East Bay club called 924 Gilman Street. So when we graduated, that summer we made a pilgrimage to visit the club. We’d never even been on a plane before, but we have an aunt in Berkeley who let us crash with her.” This gave the band a whole new kind of outlook when they returned home to the east coast.

THANK YOU MOM
While living in Annapolis, Maryland, the band won a local contest, and their song “Can’t Go On” was included on a sample CD of local area talent. This helped them attract the attention of a manager, and Lit offered a supporting slot on a series of sold-out East Coast dates. “We had no money, no transportation, and no way to do the gigs. Our mom was living in like a shed on a neighbor’s property, and the only thing she really owned was a mini-van. She said, you guys take the mini-van to play the shows and I’ll catch rides or walk to work. That just shows you how she’s been there for us the whole time.” “Thank You Mom” is a hidden track on their first album, about a minute after the last listed song, “Change”. The song is a rich acoustic tune and shows where these “I’m so punky” rockers’ hearts really are.

MY BROTHER’S PLACE
Despite their spiked hair and pierced exterior, “Good Charlotte” is a poppy-slightly-emo-punk sound that is clearly distinct from the rest of their peers and the fans have taken notice. You’ll most likely never mistake them for anyone else. Their recent hit album, “The Young and the Hopeless” is a prime example of their punkrock-independent attitude.

THE YOUNG AND HOPELESS
Honesty is the thread that runs through every song on The Young and Hopeless and binds Good Charlotte to their devoted fans. “I don’t think we’re better than any other band,” says Benji, “although I do think we’re more sincere, more real, than some of them. We want to be judged for what we’re really doing, not put in a genre with a bunch of other bands with which we have nothing in common.”

LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH AND THE FAMOUS
“We have a lot more to say than some of the bands we’re compared with, and I hope people will hear it on this album. The kids that we were, five years ago just want to give those kids something to help them through the day.” “Our goals right now as a band are to make the music we want to make, and give our fans what they have given us - positivity, dedication, loyalty, hope, truth, and a place to belong. we really just feel like the luckiest guys in the world, cause after all we just fans too.”

- Joel Madden

To read more articles by Chad, visit the American Pop Culture Encyclopedia at: American Pop Culture Encyclopedia - http://www.americanpopcultureencyclopedia.com/
 
 

Both Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt were born in Rodeo, California in 1972 and have been fabulous childhood friends since the age of 10. At the age of 14, they carefully put together their first band, Sweet Children.

They recorded their first EP as Green Day, 1,000 hours, in 2 days flat and in the meantime, Dirnt graduated and Armstrong dropped out of high school. A local indie label “Lookout!” released Green Day’s debut album – at this time, Green Day recorded the album with their first drummer, Al Sobrante. Al Sobrante soon quit the band. Dirnt and Armstrong found a friend in Tre Cool (Frank Edwin Wright III) who as been a drummer with “Lookout!” since the age of 12. Together, Armstrong, Dirnt and Cool released the group’s second album, Kerplunk.

Green Day didn’t burst into the entertainment scene without followers and fans. That’s because Green Day, before the release of their albums, EARNED their following by driving their renovated bookmobile from coast to coast, crashing in their friends’ places and organizing mini-concerts for their fans. When they reprised their debut, Dookie, Green Day already have a throng of fans and followers. To say the very least, Green Day made immaturity and malcontent cool all over again. Their songs on picking scabs, pyromania….won the hearts of followers and fans who can tune in to the content and felt the pain and stress in the songs. The re-release of ‘Dookie’ took the world by storm because they sold more than 10 million copies in the U.S. alone and they won a Grammy in 1994 for “Best Alternative Music Performance”.

Green Day proves to critics that they are here to stay and refuse to be a one-hit (or even one-album wonders). With their next album, Insomniac, and in their latest album, Nimrod, they stayed steadfast to the punk philosophy. They maintain that being naughty is sometimes nice – even when you’re married and have kids.

What makes the songs from Green Day so wildly popular is the fact it’s easy for anyone to identify with the lyrics. They reintroduced anger and exuberance in a very offbeat and un-rhythmic sort of way. They have, what people will call, the finger-in-your-face attitudes. The sort of staying power Green Day has shown through their songs, it’s not hard to imagine why we say that Green Day won’t be making its way out of the scene any day soon – not today, not Green Day.

Dean Erickson. Journalist, and web site builder Dean Erickson lives in Texas. He is the owner and co-editor of http://www.all-green-day.info on which you will find a longer, more detailed version of this article.

So where did the term “Goth” come from? Well, in the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, the word “goth” is defined as, “1. A style of rock music that often evokes bleak, lugubrious imagery. 2. A performer or follower of this style of music.” along with an Etymology: “From Gothis (from a view of Gothic styles or genres as dark or gloomy)” Sorry, but I had to look up lugubrious….it means ” mournful, dismal or gloomy, especially to an exaggerated or ludicrous degree. That’s a good one, I will have to try and use that word today!

Back in the day, I had friends who were Goth and I felt that they were very misunderstood. Today, I have a daughter who has Goth friends and it seems little has changed. Many Goth kids are stereotyped as dark and satanistic, not ‘normal’ or weird, all of which is highly inaccurate. For younger kids in particular (preteen, early teens), this is more than likely not the case. Many young kids are into it for what they see as a cool look, or to follow in their friends’ footsteps, or they like the music, etc. Parents relax, Goth for young teens is more often than not, is just a fashion statement, just a passing phase, part of teenage rebellion.

There are so many different levels of Goth and such a wide variety of people who are into the Goth lifestyle, that defining what some label as a “subculture” is impossible. Everyone’s opinion will vary when questioned on the subject. People who are into Goth usually tend to be highly intelligent, free thinking and creative. However, as with any other group, or labeled society, there are some exceptions. Because many Goths have the characteristic of being nonjudgmental and not being very prejudiced, they are more open to exploring subjects that might be considered off-limits in “normal” society. Just what is “normal” society anyway? Do yourself a favor and just take the time to listen with an open mind, to what a Goth kid, teen, or adult has to say - you might find it very intriguing and enlightening.