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Feeling cancelled?

#61
Tough situation and I can sort of guess how you must feel cancelled and worse. I'm guessing your purpose is approaching your old friend would be to get some recognition for your bass lines.
Is that realistic?
What is the chance your old friend would do that?
If he would maybe it is worth a shot, if not it will only frustrate you and cause further contention.
 
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#63
Been there. Accept it. You’ve moved on. They’ve moved on. Best just let it go.

Go forth and make some other band a winner. :)

Note: getting together nearly every week and after 5 years the band still only has 6 or so originals to show for it? Doesn’t sound promising if things are moving at that pace.
 
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#64
DJ Bebop said:
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."

Hunter S. Thompson
:)
Click to expand...
My perspective on the music “ business “ totally changed when I found out that no matter how big of a band I was in and how many albums we sold if I wasn’t listed as a songwriter or co-writer I wouldn’t receive a single dime in royalties, nada .
 
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#69
tbird46553 said:
I played bass for an original and cover power trio for 5 years. We played out occasionally but got together almost every week to rehearse and work/write/record. The guitarist mainly introduced the lines for the originals and suggested ideas for bass and drum parts, but by and large we each contributed our own parts and added our arrangement ideas. By that point we'd completed 6 or 7 of our own songs, mastered and ready to release. Then covid hit.
Important background: the guitar player and I go back over 40 years, to high school and jazz band, then beginning to work together in a few fairly successful groups, again with original music an emphasis. But we never actually took off.
Early on in the recent band the two of us discovered we were very far apart on the political spectrum, but after a brief text battle we agreed it was best to focus on music and leave those things out. There were some revisiting instances over the years, always by the guitarist, but I chose to not engage.
When everything closed down I decided for many reasons, personal and scientific, it was best to wait it out and then start up when we all felt comfortable again. I was met with resistance to that decision, laced with theories and downright bs. I decided to make the heart wrenching choice to leave the group. That was a year ago.
They have just recently found a replacement for me, which I expected. They are moving to finish the album and have released several of the cuts on social media. But my trouble is I haven't been acknowledged as the low end contributor. The drummer is referenced, the guitarist, but no bass player.
So my question is, should I expect any acknowledgement, or just accept, since I left, that I will be ignored?
Click to expand...
Firstly, good luck and hope everything works out.

Secondly, the analogy I was taught young regarding your place in the universe was to stick a finger in a glass of water and pull it out. Notice how the water fills in the space your finger occupied INSTANTLY.

Thirdly, don't lose a friend since HS over politics. Politicians are morons and narcissists. Don't let them drive a wedge.
 
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#72
If you're looking for songwriting credit, that should have been agreed upon in writing. But if you're looking for a performance credit on some EP that no one will ever listen to?? Eh, Carol Kaye never got credit, either. At least not until much later.

Yeah, like everyone else says... walk away.
Best wishes on your next project.
 
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#73
I think that you absolutely deserve to be credited on the songs that you wrote or played on.

I helped form a pretty good band in college with a couple of friends and we did a decent job of writing songs and getting our name out there and booking shows and whatnot, but it was volatile between me and the guitarist. I graduated and burned that bridge massively.

30 years later, I discovered that the guitarist had meticulously documented the band and our whole interconnected band scene on Bandcamp. The band that meant so much to me at the time was written up in such a way that I was referred to in passing as the “first bassist,” but in a way that completely diminished my role in shaping the sound and approach and aesthetics. It still bums me out a little, but not as much as I regret flaming out on a cool friendship so long ago.
 
#74
I was in a band where we recorded an EP, then the drummer left and he had all the recordings. In order to get them back, he wanted cash, songwriting credit, a royalty agreeement, the works. We had to play ball just to get the damn tracks back. Nobody ever made a dime on the EP, everyone who would listen to the story found out he was a complete dick, and to this day he acts like it’s no big deal. If it’s your tracks on the recordings you deserve credit but at what cost?
 
#75
tbird46553 said:
I played bass for an original and cover power trio for 5 years. We played out occasionally but got together almost every week to rehearse and work/write/record. The guitarist mainly introduced the lines for the originals and suggested ideas for bass and drum parts, but by and large we each contributed our own parts and added our arrangement ideas. By that point we'd completed 6 or 7 of our own songs, mastered and ready to release. Then covid hit.
Important background: the guitar player and I go back over 40 years, to high school and jazz band, then beginning to work together in a few fairly successful groups, again with original music an emphasis. But we never actually took off.
Early on in the recent band the two of us discovered we were very far apart on the political spectrum, but after a brief text battle we agreed it was best to focus on music and leave those things out. There were some revisiting instances over the years, always by the guitarist, but I chose to not engage.
When everything closed down I decided for many reasons, personal and scientific, it was best to wait it out and then start up when we all felt comfortable again. I was met with resistance to that decision, laced with theories and downright bs. I decided to make the heart wrenching choice to leave the group. That was a year ago.
They have just recently found a replacement for me, which I expected. They are moving to finish the album and have released several of the cuts on social media. But my trouble is I haven't been acknowledged as the low end contributor. The drummer is referenced, the guitarist, but no bass player.
So my question is, should I expect any acknowledgement, or just accept, since I left, that I will be ignored?
Click to expand...
No
 
#76
Sounds like you cancelled yourself...It was your decision for whatever reason, politics, health issues, others health issues in your household perhaps, fear, but whatever the reason you made that choice to leave the band, that being said if your actual bass tracks that you put down are being used and the music is being sold you could certainly ask for player credit, (they'll probably just re-record the tracks). Good luck...
 
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#77
It sounds like you made the right decisions for the right reasons.

I’ve learned the hard way over many years that you can’t force anybody to be gracious or decent, and you can break your heart trying, and risk your actions being portrayed as a “credit grab”. On the rare occasion I’ve been in that position, I’ve raised my hands and walked away. Sometimes it takes years for the truth to come out, but it always does. Meanwhile, you’re now free to choose new places to put your musical energy. And that would be my recommendation: don't let their behavior make you bitter, don’t bother glancing back, and keep your eyes forward.
 
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#79
Ditto on all the move on comments. Life is too short to worry about the little things.

As for the political talk... I've come to learn that it's never worth the heartache of talking politics.... after all, there's always someone that's right and then there's the ones that don't agree with me so what's the point. ;)
 
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