Daniel Powers

Archive for April, 2008

Still not out. Their website is showing a release date of April 15, but it’s still not out.

I was on Amazon.com the other day, and just to see what would happen I searched for myself. It was interesting to see that my first CD, Spring and Fall, came up as the second item listed.

It was also interesting to see that Amazon is “selling” it for $19.99. I use the quotation marks on “selling” because, as far as I know, not a single CD has been sold through Amazon. It isn’t surprising to see why, since my price on CD Baby is only $12.99.

But wait, it gets odder! The Amazon listing has five businesses listing it under their affiliate program or whatever its called. The cheapest one listed there is $14.47, but one outfit in New York is actually selling it for $39.99! I suppose I should be flattered that someone actually thinks its worth that much, but I doubt that’s actually the case. Frankly, I doubt that they even have it in stock. More likely, they just list things they find on the internet somewhere, which they then mark up by a ridiculous amount. It doesn’t cost them anything, and if someone is actually clueless enough to buy it from them, they just order it from CD Baby, package it up, and ship it.

That’s just a guess. Maybe they really do think it’s good enough to charge that much!

Anyway, I wouldn’t order it from them, if you were tempted. CD Baby is really the only place I’m actively selling it, so if you want it, order it from them. I’ll make the same amount of money from it no matter who you buy it from, but CD Baby will save you a few bucks. A word to the wise.

It’s April 1st, and time for another update.

Not very many current projects, since I’m still making an effort not to start anything new till I get all the old stuff off the table. There’s still a few things, though, and a few potential new projects for the future.

1. Fanfare for brass quintet. This is underway, and since it’s going to be short, won’t take long.

2. Basic Scoring textbook. Nearly done. We meet as a class only four more times, and I’m committed to having the thing done by the last class, so it has to be done by Wednesday next week. If I’d known how difficult it was going to be, I might have rethought my original plan. I’m not entirely happy with the way it turned out, but I’d say it’s a reasonably good first draft. Over the summer, I plan to work on it some more, maybe extend it, add more information, and generally polish it up. I’ll be teaching the class again in the fall, and maybe by then I’ll have a reasonably good second draft ready to give them.

Also: I haven’t mentioned yet that I’ve been doing some Finale work for an upcoming book of Mozart selections arranged for flute and piano, to be published soon by Theodore Presser & Co. I’m making a second pass through it, incorporating corrections by the arranger and editors. Behind schedule, I’m sorry to say, but nearly ready to send in.

And that’s pretty much all the stuff on the table at the moment. Soon all that will be done, and I’ll be ready to start some new projects finally. As it happens, there are a few things waiting for my attention, but I’ll have more to say about them later.