DJ Ron Slomowicz: I was surfing on your website today and noticed that you'd done a big update about 'More.'
Joi Cardwell: Right.
RS: What's 'More?'
Joi: 'More' is my Greatest Hits collection, spanning my career, not all of it, but a good portion of it, from the last ten years.
RS: But when I clicked on it, it's like $10 for the whole CD, is it a CD, or how are you doing that?
Joi: It's a double CD if you burn it back to CD. But basically that's what we're doing right now, it's an mp3 CD but of the highest quality. You click on it and then basically what happens is you get a file that you can download that you can then burn to two CDs.
RS: So you're doing it yourself, you're selling the mp3s directly from your site to your fans?
Joi: Exactly.
RS: What inspired you to do it this way?
Joi: Well, the state of the business makes it so difficult for people to be able to get stuff into the stores these days. The large chains are not interested in dance music unless it's a compilation, and just getting placement and stuff like that is so difficult I figured it would just be easier if people do come to the website, and people are becoming more and more internet driven, just to make it happen. So I guess that was the main reason why, in addition to the fact that there's a lot of stuff that's out of print now, so instead of me going up and doing a thousand CDs of different stuff, it's just easier for them to get my back catalogue that way. And actually, I just signed up with Rhapsody and Napster as well, I've just got some deals that we're finalizing, and my stuff will be even more available probably than it every was, in the near future.
RS: By hooking up with those Internet providers, are you noticing any difference by doing it yourself versus if you were with a label?
Joi: You mean as far as what I've done thus far? I mean, to tell you the truth, right now I've been getting some good responses and I've been getting a lot of hits on the site and stuff. So it's really hard to tell because, you know, we're in such a state of flux, the business and everything else is so confusing and nobody really knows what's going on right now. It's a little hard to tell but I do anticipate in the near future that it will definitely be better than just, you know, the average label situation for dance artists. Right now, today, I think it's better.
RS: Do you think you'll do an actual physical CD in stores at all with this project or it going to be strictly online?
Joi: No, I will do physical CDs as well, it's just a matter of me getting, you know, with the fact that I own everything now, there's so much work to do. It's just a matter of getting people aware of the fact that yes, I have come back, if I ever went away, and coordinating that with some stuff that I have, like the single coming out on Twisted, the Mind Control record, and I do have that Blaze project that I'm doing as well. So, right now I'm just generating interest and then we'll go back to that after the first of the year, we'll get into the hard line distribution as well. But I wanted to make it available now and not have to compete with everything that's in stores, you know, with the big fourth quarter Christmas Holiday rush, you know. Because it's really easy to get lost in everything else as it is with the stores, especially the majors only putting one or two copies of your records in there, in the chains.
RS: And that's if you're lucky to get them in there.
Joi: If you can even get them in there at this point, you know, with the state of the record business right now.
RS: You mentioned the state of the record business, I reminds me of a book you wrote, The Eye On The Game, where you gave your opinion or you gave a user's guide to the label industry.
Joi: Right.
RS: What was the inspiration for you writing that book?
Joi: To Keep Your Eye On The Game And Not The Fame, the inspiration mostly came from my friends in the business who just always seemed to be asking me a million questions about well, how do you do this, and what does this mean or what do you think about this deal? So, since people were always ask me questions and not paying attention to what I told them, I figured if I charged them for it they might take me a little more seriously.
