Board Meeting Minutes November 2021

Colorado Music Business Organization Board of Directors Meeting

Sunday, November 7, 2021

1. Called to Order at 7:04 p.m.

Present: Alex Teitz, David Barber, Tracey Chirhart, Johnnie Johnson, Barb Dye, Jamie Krutz, Sheena Morgan, Tony Molina, Clark Hagan

Absent: Annette Cannon, Consultants: Angela Whaley

Guest: Shanica Jules

2. Consideration and Approval of the Minutes of October 3, 2021: Tracey Chirhartso moved, David_Barber seconded. Approved (with minor corrections – Shanika Jules’ name spelling, FB news item should also be posted on website – Jamie’s comment).

3. Treasurer’s Report:

Income received:

Memberships (Paypal) $ 140.00 (See Membership Report)

Memberships (cash): $ 65.00 (See Membership Report)

Barb reimbursement: $ 100.00 (for unauthorized use of photo)

Interest on Savings: $ .01(September 2021)

Total: $ 305.01

Expenses paid:

Bank Fees for October: $ 2.00 (checking fees)

PicRights: $ 100.00 (unauthorized use of photo)

Paypal fees: $ 6.36 (See Membership Report)

Facebook Ad(s): $ 12.00 (for October for Spotify program)

Zoom account: $ 16.30

Mailchimp for Ocotber:    $  31.95

                                Total: $ 168.61

[Note 1: Barb did not do a booth at the DSE so the $100 from Sept. was not spent.] [Note 2: Barb got dinged $100 for using an unauthorized/purchased photo again. PicRights would not take a check or a money order so David paid it out of our Paypal account. Barb reimbursed the checking account $100. We may have to do the same thing this month for $250 because they hit her up for using the Sound-Cloud logo! Is this really a photo?]

Checking Balance: $ 2,070.66 (as of 10/31/21)

Savings Balance: $ 1,003.30 (as of 10/31/21)

PayPal Balance: $ 844.58 (as of 11/03/21)

Grand Total: $ 3918.54

[Barb transferred $500 from savings to checking due to insurance bill coming soon.]

Membership Report – Sheena:

Current Paid Members: 54 (38 individual, 4 businesses, 11 bands, and 1 Supporter)

Renewed Members in October:

Supporter(s): None

Individual(s): Rudy Grant (Paid for 3 years in advance)

Bands: Jim Ratts (Runaway Express)

Business(es): None

New Members in October:

Supporter(s): None

Individual(s): Evelyn “Pat” Barton (November), Travis Daudert

Band(s): Karen Current (Slopside)

Business(es): None

Up for Renewal in November:

Supporter(s): None

Individual(s): None

Band(s): None

Business(es): None

Membership “Welcome Surveys”: Sheena reported that we received 0 survey(s) in October.

4. Unfinished Business:

1. Bar Code requests: None

1. Upcoming Programs:

a. Program for Thursday, November 18^th, 2021 – Songwriters Showcase: After trying for several weeks, and driving over to their venues, Barb finally was able to connect with Paula Vrakas of the Roxy on Broadway. They set up a showcase for Nov. 18^th from 7:00 until 9:00 p.m. Barb sent invites to the 7 top-scoring songwriters to invite them to play. So far she has received “Count Me Ins” from Paul Iwancio, Karen Current, Mike Abbass (2 songs), Michelle Roderick, Steve Son, and Ron “Arjay” Sharp. No response from Christopher Ryan yet. Joel Ashmore (runner-up) confirmed as a back-up. Also, Karen Current, of the band Slopeside, said that she, Cody Culver, and Arn Current could easily present 6-8 songs as an acoustic trio.

Tentative Schedule: 7:00 to 7:15 – Introduction to COMBO, Board Members, and what the song contest’s goals are. 7:15-8:10 – Performances by the top-scoring songwriters. 8:20-8:45 – Acoustic Band (member(s) competed in the song contest. 9:00 – program ends, Roxy on Broadway’s regular program commences.

b. December Meet-up/Holiday Party: We should make a decision on this tonight. Possible venues discussed: Wide Right – 2100 Curtis, Mercury Café, Walnut Room, Edgewater Market

c. Monday, January24, 2022: Program meeting TBD

d. Monday, February 28, 2022:

3. Web Reports – David (as of 11/03/21):

1. Current Email Subscribers: COMBO has 2469 subscribers which is down from the 2,476 reported at the 10/03/21 Board Meeting. As of the 10/28/21 newsletter, we had 23% opens and 4% click thrus.

2. Twitter Account Followers: COMBO has 7629 followers which is down from 7,637 followers from the 10/03/21 report.

3. Google Analytics Report: In October 2021 there were 22,298 sessions, which is up 280% from October 2020 when we had 5262 sessions. There was a big spike on October 14-17 due to the most viewed articles this month which were “Parents of High School Students Started a petition to remove principal who Loves Iron Maiden”. 16,000 sessions came from newsbreakapp.com.

4. Facebook Analytics – David: Page Views: 57, down 50%; Post Reach: 1316, down by 79%; Post Engagement: 73, down 89%; Page Likes: 2, down 79%. Page Followers: 2, down75%.

5. Linkedin – Sheena: 126 followers, 2 new followers in October.

Reminder – Our Facebook address is:

http://www.Facebook.com/ColoradoMusicBusinessOrganization

4. Bookmarking website – Jamie: Linking FB articles? Jamie wants to streamline links to newsletter and website. Jamie: Please clarify. See corrections to October minutes. Jamie wants any articles posted on FB to be posted on the website, and any other COMBO social media

5. Songs on the COMBO Spotify Play List for October 2021: Barb took the following songs off Tony’s playlist to feature: “Los Cabos Serenade” – Steve Glotzer; “Blue and Red” – Last Call Romance; “Get The Kick” – Justin Faye; “Aspen” – SYCDVK; “Won’t You Stay” – Riley Jones. Tony is working on songs for November. Suggest guidelines for posting songs in COMBO newsletter. Showcase list – see new business.

6. COMBO Members Only Video Uploads: David uploaded the video from the October meeting. Pat Barton wanted to watch this – Barb convinced her to join COMBO!

7. Ombudsman Program – Annette Cannon: (Annette was absent)

8. Meeting Space Ideas: Board meetings to continue on Zoom (Sheena was not able to set a “retreat” at her friend’s “We Work” space; it is paid for by a company out of California and her friend does not have the authority to “sub-let” it); general meetings as determined. November’s Showcase to be held live at the Roxy on Broadway.

9. Designation for Funds: Nothing at this time.

10. Purchase of Promotional Merchandise Items: Nothing until we resume live meetings or start participating in festivals, expos, or career fairs again.

11. Promotion/Advertising: Facebook ad for October: $12.00

12. Posting on Facebook: There was an issue with an app that did not automatically post the newsletter articles to Facebook. David was finally able to get it to work. Sheena on posting directly to Facebook:

13. Board Member Bios – Shanica:  Done with 1, almost done with second and working on her own

14. COMBO Organization By-Laws:

ARTICLE VI

Standing and Special Committees

4. Proposed Clause: Committees may present fund-raising events, such as a concert, using COMBO’s Not-for-Profit license but with the understanding that at least fifty percent of the profits will go to the general COMBO fund. The other fifty percent will remain with the committee for its future use. This does not apply to other entities such as outside groups like Riot Fest or the Warped Tour whose agreements shall be on an event-to-event basis with the COMBO board.

Discussion and/or improvement suggestions: Barb sent the proposed Clause to our lawyer Todd Myers, Esq., but has not yet heard back from him.

5. New Business:

1. Reaffirmation of Board Officers (President, VP, Secretary, Treasurer): Or nominations/volunteers for positions:Annette absent so unable to vote on her position. Barb called a blanket vote on all other officers. It was approved. No objections.

1. Someone – we’ll call him “Mr. XYZ” – entered a song in our songwriting contest under his “stage name”. I asked David to follow up and get his real name – the legal name that the song is copyrighted under. This pseudonym was obvious – others were not. There would not be a problem unless Mr. XYZ’s song scored high enough to get on the CD and, therefore, would be passed out for public distribution.

This paragraph was included in the rules from the year after the contest started until 2019 – it was taken out this year in order to make the rules more “readable.”

… [M]ake sure that the WRITER(S) of the song(s) are listed – not the people who played on the recording (i.e., see our Lyrics section where the real names of the guys in U2 are listed as the writers, not pseudonyms). Any songs submitted should have been registered for copyright before sending them to COMBO.

I looked up the rules for copyright on the Library of Congress’ website and they said the same thing: Stage names or pseudonyms are not to be used when registering your song(s) for copyright.

So here is David’s suggestion:

“I think I have a solution for next year. We can ask them to check a box affirming that they are a copyright holder for the song being submitted and then also ask them to separately identify who the copyright owner(s) is/are and also include a statement that we will only accept copyrighted songs.”

This suggestion is very much in line with the deleted paragraph but written in [probably] easier to understand language.

The deleted paragraph was added in the second year of the contest because a band member submitted a song his band played that he really liked and thought stood a good chance of winning. Turned out that not only did he not write it but that the writer was not happy about the song being submitted without his permission. We also had a writer submit a song under his stage name the same year.

We have had other songs submitted with stage or nick- names and so perhaps we need to state or clarify that again for next year in the form that David has suggested.

What if someone submits an unregistered song? Unless it scores high not a problem.

1. Use of Photos – Barb used Soundcloud logo. Picrights tactics are strong. Foreign articles are causing problems. Barb may use samples, or fair use pictures in the newsletter in the future.

1. Johnnie asked about using an artist on playlist who wrote a song titled “Let’s Go Brandon.” COMBO must avoid politics as a non-profit. Discussion of offensive material: “Let’s Go Brandon” same as “Fuck Biden”. Will this limit protest songs? We need to avoid offensive material. If there is a question, Board will decide. Is playlist for members only? Johnnie manages 5 groups. Should they be in playlist without being a member? The playlist is a value for members. David & Alex moved for Spotify playlist for members only. Board members can be included. Motion approved but Jamie stresses the motion was for members [e-mail list? Need to clarity], not paid members.

1. Tony wants to present Spotify showcases – piggyback on someone else. Prerequisite of Tony’s showcase is must be on Spotify. Tony wants it to be a successful show. 1 song per artist. Genre based. More discussion needed. Will finalize later.

6. Reports

1. Program for October 25, 2021: Tony Molina – on Spotify and other streaming services. Ryan Holiday, a friend of Tony’s, and Isaac Sherman, a student at UCD, spoke about their dealings with Spotify and other streaming services. Jamie moderated and asked questions posed by the Program Committee. Alex asked questions posed by the attendees. Attendees: Guest Speakers Ryan Holiday (New York), Isaac Sherman (Denver marketing student). Attendees: Eric Montgomery (Portland, OR), Cody Culver (Loveland), Jon Sherman (any relation to Isaac?), Steve Son (South Denver), Emily Winters (Last Call Romance; Fort Collins, CO), Jenn Cleary (left early), and Lauren Brombert. Board member attendees: Jamie Krutz, Alex Teitz, Sheena Morgan, David Barber (Started COMBO Zoom), Johnnie Johnson, Tony Medina, Annette Cannon, and Barb Dye. Total: 17.

Barb MUST talk about joining COMBO and COMBO’s mission at the beginning of the meeting. Barb must give warning to people before calling on them. Barb embarrassed Sheena. Barb question to Dave: Is there any way to keep track of how many people watch the videos? Answer: YouTube automatically tracts number of views and is clearly visible on video.

Comment from Ryan: I had a pleasant time. No comments really. It was professional and we all had time to express ourselves.

2. Book, Movie, and Featured Member(s) for October/November 2021: Since the Denver Film Festival is being held in November, Peter Jones wrote an article for our October 28^th newsletter. A “Night at the Movies with Barb” will be held on Sunday, November 14^th at the AMC9 (Colorado Blvd., & 8^th) to see Soy Cubana, a documentary that follows Vocal Vidas, an Afro-Cuban, all-woman a cappella group from Santiago de Cuba as the quartet makes its debut in the United States. The 2017 visit to Los Angeles comes to symbolize the larger relationship between two nations, close in proximity yet ideologically in different worlds, even as the promise of long-awaited diplomacy was seeming to take shape. [Unfortunately that didn’t last long.]

3. Denver Balanced Breakfast: No Denver meetings planned. National office is holding bi-weekly discussion on Clubhouse (on Thursdays) about Music Industry in general.

4. Denver Open Media: May start 1^st Friday in new year.

https://www.denveropenmedia.org/

5. Women’s Groups:

a. Women in Music:  They are putting together a mentoring program. They put out a Google sheet for people to sign up for it. Otherwise no other meetings planned.

b. Womxn Crush Music: Alex sent an update on this group which Barb published in the October 28^th newsletter. Basically, they are going to hold off on doing anything until 2022.

7. Items for Newsletters/Announcements: Small Business Saturday is November 27^th!

8. Next General Meeting: Thursday, November 18^th – 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at The Roxy on Broadway. Songwriters Showcase. Please come early. Buy dinner if you can!

9. Next Board Meeting: Sunday, December 5^th, 6:50 p.m. on Zoom.

10. Meeting Adjourned at 8:16 p.m.

/s/ Alex Teitz

___________________________________

Alex Teitz, Secretary