Why Vassy Courtes left ReverbNation
A little over two weeks ago—give or take—we announced on our official blog and all our social media platforms that our digital music was no longer hosted on Reverbnation, which had been our official home base for nine years, and that we were moving to BandCamp. While the first part is true, the reality is we had already been on BandCamp since around 2019; we simply stopped using Reverbnation as our primary link.
This transition turned out to be somewhat problematic because, for nine years, we left that specific link everywhere—from videos to updates for tracks on our only album so far, Rooted Time. Many followers received that link, and many bought the full album right there. In short, we had to track down all those details and update them wherever possible. While there were a few moral complaints (fortunately, only that), there were also some implicit advantages to this decision.
With total honesty, I was the one who decided to use that platform back in 2009 (we are talking seventeen years ago) when, as a group, we published our first single (The First Time), followed by our second single ([Touch me in the] Moonlight) in 2011, all while we were processing the intellectual and creative work for Rooted Time. I did it because back then there weren't many options available, and I wanted to keep us relevant rather than focusing on profits. Eventually, it helped us release the album (Rooted Time) in 2017, and we also started publishing on CD Baby to formalize an eventual release in physical formats (Vinyl, CD, and Cassette), which ultimately didn't materialize.
Now then. In the period that followed, starting in 2018, things within the group became quite unstable—between an irresponsible member who never showed up to rehearse (let alone record) and the well-known COVID pandemic in 2020. Between those issues and some administrative complications, the only active medium keeping our sound alive out there in the world was Reverbnation. Their administrative team knew this well; all the artists hosted there relied on them to stay in touch with the world. Naturally, they wanted to exploit that beyond what was reasonable.
The first surprise came in 2022, when they banned me from mentioning anything in my editorials that showed support for the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, or any allied countries and public figures. This happened despite the fact that, for five years, the bulk of our audience had been located in these specific countries, in this exact order:
* Russia
* Italy
* Belarus
* Kazakhstan
* Uzbekistan
* Hungary
* Romania
* Ukraine
* Czech Republic
* Georgia (the country)
* United Kingdom
* China
* United States
* Brazil
* Argentina
* Chile
* Mexico
In other words, in its rush to align with anti-Russian propaganda, Reverbnation began blacklisting the audience that we artists have in Eastern Europe, and it even extended to targeting artists coming from that region. Apparently, it wasn't clear to many media outlets (like Google, YouTube, and Reverbnation) that we are not all part of the wars that WE did not provoke. Regardless, I filed a complaint with the platform which was never answered, and our audience in countries not aligned with NATO and the EU simply lost access to our music.
Later on, our earnings started taking hits from hosting tax withholdings (even though they were supposedly already charging a commission) and sales taxes for countries that do not belong to the World Bank (I mean, seriously?). Meanwhile, my follower list became cluttered with people constantly offering to place our music on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music because they claimed to be experts. We already know what they are: parasites who make a living scamming artists.
Then one day, out of nowhere, I suddenly found myself offline. I wrote to support, and they replied that they were updating the system but that I could still use the old version by adding the word legacy to our music's URL. I did so, hoping the new platform would be better. However, when the new system rolled out, it turned out that if I wanted to keep uploading and selling tracks, we would have to pay a publishing fee.
So now, on top of the stupid commissions and taxes, we had to pay fees just to publish songs—capped at no longer than five minutes (and one of our tracks is seven minutes long)—along with several additional conditions. It was clear that the WOKE agenda and its new marketing tactics had taken over Reverbnation. Unsurprisingly, we artists were being trampled over for a few coins once again.
Artists hosted on these types of platforms are not supposed to have that level of financial resources. If we did, we would pay a producer, an agent, and a manager to handle everything so we could focus purely on the music. We are people who look for accessible options for a reason, running away from scammers who might sell our music and our show while ensuring we, the artists, never see anything beyond a minimum wage, at best.
Nor are we artists supposed to pay the price for political issues. Musicians—at least Rock musicians—are PACIFISTS. We make music to BUILD and CREATE, and we do not support war in any sense. Personally, I am convinced that all these totalitarian systems (like Trump's) only seek to subjugate people. Of course, I am not going to contribute to that because I don't make music to be approved or disapproved of by idiots.
For all the reasons stated above, we decided to stick with BandCamp as our main hub for our digital music and elasticStage for our physical formats. We have declined, at least by now, the idea of being included on Spotify and similar platforms, as those types of services have allowed many others to exploit artists without us seeing any considerable benefits.
At least on BandCamp, they are completely and utterly honest with us.
That is all, and thank you for reading.
Messy Blues
