PaulWarning

why does it have to be a US style system, why not a French or German style system? on most measure they've got better health care than us

it has been covered before, I'm not proud, got some luminous tape of ebay, edit, and before someone tells me I've stuck them on the wrong side, yes, I am a lefty 😂

If the RM didn't deliver junk mail they'd be less profit and therefore less jobs, in fact it could mean the end of daily deliveries, Don't know about anybody else but I receive a lot less mail than I used too

Tutti Frutti with Robbie Coltrane is on the iplayer, episode 3 on BBC4 tonight, couple of new docs on sky arts tonight, Beach Boys and George Harrison

depends how much they are new, if they use parts that are available (i.e. ones they can get cheap) quality could be variable

there's a thread on here, sounds like try before you buy

I'm not sure what that has to do with the current problems unless it was kept as a monopoly. Opinions vary as to how it cheaply it was sold off by anyway. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/dec/18/royal-mail-sell-off-undervalued-firm-180-million

classic conundrum, Royal Mail under pressure from cheaper competitors (capitalism at work), understandable the workers want an pay rise, which the management thinks will make them uncompetitive. Not all workers are feckless layabouts, not all management are incompetent idiots, but some are

being a lefty it's even more difficult to find a shop that stocks that instrument you want, as @Doctor J says , by second hand then sell on if it's not for you without losing your shirt, o f course this relies on people buying new in the first place, and patience.

Royal Mail is in decline because the number of letters being delivered has fallen off a cliff and there is lots of competition in the parcels market, Post Offices were closed down because welfare payments are now made directly into banks accounts instead of being made in cash over the PO counter which was their main reason people used them.

we've done Slade a couple of times this year, first time went down a storm, second time, a bit more of a punky venue it didn't, so pick your venue I guess

yep, we do a punked up Shaky and a fairly straight Slade, just a bit faster, crowds just love singing along, well ours do anyway

Queen, Freddie was such a huge part of them, how they can carry on I don't know, but they do, charge huge money for tickets and the punters pay it, having said that I'm not a big fan

Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift etc seem to do ok, I think it's only ever been the ones at the top of the food chain make big money, most live on scraps

that has had me perplexed before, the only thing I can think of is, that anybody who buys one of his creations hasn't a clue what they're doing, therefore doesn't realise they've been done, either that or he really is a master Luthier, make your own minds up 😃

I don't think so, what happens is when they pass on an album sale they debit your account with a % of the sale, then when they get a download they take the amount you owe them off before passing on any that's left

if it's a small band I do this, but we get very few of these and as I found out, Bandcamp take download payments against any physical sales that have gone through them

these are my thoughts as well, the difference is I can't motivate myself to write new material and send hours learning and honing them with the band if we're never going to record and release them

Headsticks have done very well and are reasonable big on the gigging circuit, we're not in that league. We easily covered costs on our first 3 albums, which is all we wanted, we recently remixed our first album, , added some live tracks, we were never happy with the original recording and it had long since sold out, we have struggled to sell the 100 copies we needed to recoup the costs, which is what prompted the singer's wife's (too many apostrophes Dad?) comment. We can still sell T shirts though 😃

Not sure whether that's a jovial reply or not. we've already got 3 albums out, that's enough posterity for me 😊, we don't expect to make money just recover costs

The Competition and Markets Authority have released their report into music streaming services, not good news for the pitiful rate that artists get, not surprising really, the public (like me) are getting a cracking deal at the expense of the recording artist. As our singers wife pointed out the other week, when we were discussing poor album sales at gigs, hardly anybody buys CD's anymore. It's unlikely, that we as a band, we will release any more albums, we'd struggle to even recoup the cost of recording and production. edit, forgot the link https://www.gov.uk/government/news/music-streaming-report-published

my tastes are rather narrow, it's tricky keeping it down to 8 That'll Be the Day - Buddy Holly I'm a Man - Spencer Davis And Your Bird Can Sing - The Beatles All Along the Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix Street Fighting Man - Rolling Stones Sabbath Bloody Sabbath - Black Sabbath Chasing the Night - The Ramones Safe European Home - The Clash Not a big reader, so a book of sudoku puzzles Luxury item would be a pub

🤣 that's right, that'll teach me to rely on my fading memory, got the Bryant bit right.

you may mean Buddy Holly, the Everly's had a lot of hits written by Bryant and May

interesting, just after the minute mark