... the other Black experience
Wondering if this site will be closing in july like all other ning sites?
Just curious as to what will happen to this site in july, will stay open, move to another network, or close completely?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Golem_3 on -
another thing that I've had trouble digesting-
if James left Afropunk because he just wanted AP to be a fun hobby, not having the burden of doing it as a business, then thats fine. No sane person would judge him for that.
But, honestly, who wants to work for free?
Lets say if the AP fest was free while everything was still "D.I.Y.", how long would this site & the shows last?
Not very long, I'd presume, unless, AP had full support of everyone.
People are so against sponsorship, but yet nobody has practical suggestions.
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Permalink Reply by Matthew on -
Laughing all the way to the bank, that's hysterical - how is that possible.? Because we made two films that we (James & I) lost money producing. Because we run a site that loses money or because I produce a festival that's free and doesn't pay for itself ? No one that know's me or works for afro-punk believe's that to be true. We all work 98% of the time for free. Jocelyn, Whitney, Lou all the full timers & part times work on afro-punk because we believe in the community, we also believe we can make a difference and hopefully one day will make a living for the time we have put in. I started managing James Spooner (before we became partners), Santi (santo gold) , Cree Summer and found that there wasn't a system in place to support people like us. Everyone complains that there is no alternative to BET or that black alternative bands do not get signed to labels or that there are no black films, books, tv shows that truly depict the other black experience. The only way we will see these businesses, film makers, record labels, magazines grow is for us to support the things we love, otherwise they will not be viable. I do not know anyone including James that was willing to work for free as I have done but yet people say that i'm laughing all the way to the bank... I wish that were the case. I want/need to make money, I have a family, I want to be able to sustain afro-punk and build a viable business out of it so I do not look back at the last 9 years as if it were all a waste. I want to be able to afford to employ people like you, to pay them a decent wage so they can maintain their families.
I wrote something in response to one of the threads about sponsorship which I didn't post. I'll finish it off and post it next week for clarification and addresses my relationship with James. Just so you know, the only person that made money from the Toyota sponsorship was James. Now, I'm not outing James I do not think there is anything wrong with making money, after all the years he worked for free he should get something out and people that support him and afro-punk should be happy for him. I received money from the Toyota sponsorship which I used to produce the festival that year, not a penny went into my pocket, James received cash and a car. So all that bullshit about Toyota is just that, bullshit! As I said I will address all of the speculation in my post next week.
Compound Egret said:Matthew said:Hi Guys
I'm going to take a long hard look at this next week. What you guys don't know is we are already paying for many functions on NING, Aminata mentions a few of them in the article below. This network hasn't been free since i created it 3 years ago - the realization that some one has to pay for the site every one uses for free is one i welcome. LUNAKISS, JAMADIANUK thank you so much for saying you would pay a monthly fee. Most people on here do not value the community enough to offer a monthly subscription. If they did I would not be considering closing down the site.
At you Aminata: You mention the festival paying for the site, who pays for the festival ? People also want that to be free, they complain about the sponsors because its not punk, the sponsors that we are able to convince do not pay enough to float the festival so some one has to pay for that also. We have not broken even at the festival in 6 years, this year being the biggest loss or investment depending on how you look at it. But investing would be a dirty word for most people on here so lets stick with LOSS, no one seems to mind that their is potentially some one losing money as long as its not them.
Thanks to the few of you that do care.
slightly bitter and twisted.
Matthew
Wow. Your frustration is palpable, but understandable. People think you are laughing all the way to the bank when you are really running a deficit. If the site is going to close down please give us some notice. Thanks.
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Permalink Reply by X-D-D-M*9 on
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I just happened upon this and all gotta say is DO YOU; Matthew, James, everybody. I trying to do what these bros are doing and I supprot that all the way. And I'm about the $$$ too, holla at for the ALT DVD MAG where we cover AP, Omar, Don Letts and others. PROUD PRODUCT PLUG, no shame in my game!
Each and every AP event I've enjoyed and paid for the charged events because I dig it. If I can give those thieves at LiveNation and TicketMassa, uh, TicketMaster (hmmm) my loot then why not AfroPunk Inc.? I don't give a damn about folks personal ethics if they ain't hurtin' no one.
To quote Puffy (how punk is that, ha): NO BITCH-ASSNESS.
And damn right I'd PAY for AP.
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Permalink Reply by Golem_3 on
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Matthew said:Laughing all the way to the bank, that's hysterical - how is that possible.? Because we made two films that we (James & I) lost money producing. Because we run a site that loses money or because I produce a festival that's free and doesn't pay for itself ? No one that know's me or works for afro-punk believe's that to be true. We all work 98% of the time for free. Jocelyn, Whitney, Lou all the full timers & part times work on afro-punk because we believe in the community, we also believe we can make a difference and hopefully one day will make a living for the time we have put in. I started managing James Spooner (before we became partners), Santi (santo gold) , Cree Summer and found that there wasn't a system in place to support people like us. Everyone complains that there is no alternative to BET or that black alternative bands do not get signed to labels or that there are no black films, books, tv shows that truly depict the other black experience. The only way we will see these businesses, film makers, record labels, magazines grow is for us to support the things we love, otherwise they will not be viable. I do not know anyone including James that was willing to work for free as I have done but yet people say that i'm laughing all the way to the bank... I wish that were the case. I want/need to make money, I have a family, I want to be able to sustain afro-punk and build a viable business out of it so I do not look back at the last 9 years as if it were all a waste. I want to be able to afford to employ people like you, to pay them a decent wage so they can maintain their families.
I wrote something in response to one of the threads about sponsorship which I didn't post. I'll finish it off and post it next week for clarification and addresses my relationship with James. Just so you know, the only person that made money from the Toyota sponsorship was James. Now, I'm not outing James I do not think there is anything wrong with making money, after all the years he worked for free he should get something out and people that support him and afro-punk should be happy for him. I received money from the Toyota sponsorship which I used to produce the festival that year, not a penny went into my pocket, James received cash and a car. So all that bullshit about Toyota is just that, bullshit! As I said I will address all of the speculation in my post next week.
Thats the realest shit thats been said about the matter.
Not that you, Matthew, need to explain fiscal matters to us (who use this site for free).
Thank you.
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Permalink Reply by Kodachi on -
If we do have to pay for this site - I don't really mind, I'm paying to be at the LPU - I worry we might lose some people who may have difficulty paying due to age or whatever have you but I think we should do things like the LPU (Linkin Park Underground) does in terms of payment. What they would do is have free 1-month subscriptions if you buy an LP cd so a person can try out the site and if they like it, they pay full membership. We can try something like that so no newcomers are going to feel intimidated about paying. It's a slightly shabby idea that can be modified but it works for the LPU really well so it could work for us.
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Permalink Reply by Rosenda on -
Matthew, thank you for telling all that information there. I'm glad you and the others who work with you full and part time still are working and rocking it. I believe in all of you and all of us.
Dont' ever any frustration or bitter feelings stop you and everyone on your crew from keeping AfroPunk alive.
Let us all know what happens going forward.
Matthew said:Laughing all the way to the bank, that's hysterical - how is that possible.? Because we made two films that we (James & I) lost money producing. Because we run a site that loses money or because I produce a festival that's free and doesn't pay for itself ? No one that know's me or works for afro-punk believe's that to be true. We all work 98% of the time for free. Jocelyn, Whitney, Lou all the full timers & part times work on afro-punk because we believe in the community, we also believe we can make a difference and hopefully one day will make a living for the time we have put in. I started managing James Spooner (before we became partners), Santi (santo gold) , Cree Summer and found that there wasn't a system in place to support people like us. Everyone complains that there is no alternative to BET or that black alternative bands do not get signed to labels or that there are no black films, books, tv shows that truly depict the other black experience. The only way we will see these businesses, film makers, record labels, magazines grow is for us to support the things we love, otherwise they will not be viable. I do not know anyone including James that was willing to work for free as I have done but yet people say that i'm laughing all the way to the bank... I wish that were the case. I want/need to make money, I have a family, I want to be able to sustain afro-punk and build a viable business out of it so I do not look back at the last 9 years as if it were all a waste. I want to be able to afford to employ people like you, to pay them a decent wage so they can maintain their families.
I wrote something in response to one of the threads about sponsorship which I didn't post. I'll finish it off and post it next week for clarification and addresses my relationship with James. Just so you know, the only person that made money from the Toyota sponsorship was James. Now, I'm not outing James I do not think there is anything wrong with making money, after all the years he worked for free he should get something out and people that support him and afro-punk should be happy for him. I received money from the Toyota sponsorship which I used to produce the festival that year, not a penny went into my pocket, James received cash and a car. So all that bullshit about Toyota is just that, bullshit! As I said I will address all of the speculation in my post next week.
Compound Egret said:Matthew said:Hi Guys
I'm going to take a long hard look at this next week. What you guys don't know is we are already paying for many functions on NING, Aminata mentions a few of them in the article below. This network hasn't been free since i created it 3 years ago - the realization that some one has to pay for the site every one uses for free is one i welcome. LUNAKISS, JAMADIANUK thank you so much for saying you would pay a monthly fee. Most people on here do not value the community enough to offer a monthly subscription. If they did I would not be considering closing down the site.
At you Aminata: You mention the festival paying for the site, who pays for the festival ? People also want that to be free, they complain about the sponsors because its not punk, the sponsors that we are able to convince do not pay enough to float the festival so some one has to pay for that also. We have not broken even at the festival in 6 years, this year being the biggest loss or investment depending on how you look at it. But investing would be a dirty word for most people on here so lets stick with LOSS, no one seems to mind that their is potentially some one losing money as long as its not them.
Thanks to the few of you that do care.
slightly bitter and twisted.
Matthew
Wow. Your frustration is palpable, but understandable. People think you are laughing all the way to the bank when you are really running a deficit. If the site is going to close down please give us some notice. Thanks.
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Permalink Reply by Miss Lashea on -
@Matthew, I would be willing to pay if I were in a position too but I can't at the moment. I really love this site though, and I would hate for it to ever close.
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