Has anyone EVER got paid from TheOrchard.Com. ???

[russrags]

I've got a client who I've done 6 albums with or so, that's signed up with TheOrchard.Com. They've gotten him listed with CDNOW, AMAZON and Barnes and Noble. The only problem is they take the CDs, but never send any money. They won't answer personal e-mails, but are always requesting more CDs. My client probably has 5-6 hundred bucks invested into them with no return and the contract states that any court action must take place in New York. An attorney plus a trip to NY will surly not be justified. Anybody have any similar dealings with this company ???? Russ

[BOOKUMDANO]

Your reference to being "in" by 500-600 dollars is a little unclear to me. So, I'm going to play devil's advocate here because this is the first I've really been made aware of Orchard. What's the 500+ investment you speak of? Is that an amount your client paid to Orchard for some reason? I don't see a reference in the online Orchard contract notes where a client would ever write a check to Orchard. Or, is this an amount that represents out of pocket costs to your client to make the recordings and CD's? .....and you/he are upset because no one has seen any income even though Orchard wants 10,000 more cds (or whatever) for their warehouse? If so, that's your own tough luck....welcome to reality....you are now totally responsible for all costs of doing business in the industry...ie: no advances or promises from a big evil record company. You own the masters, you own the copyrights, you have total control and total responsibility. If you don't like Orchard's request for cd's...don't send them any more cd's. Is there any sort of contractual promise from Orchard that they will foot any portion of your costs or guarantee a certain number of sales? Not that I see anywhere. However, on the other hand, do you mean that your account statement shows that Orchard has sold $500-$600 (wholesale) of the cd's you sent them? According to the online contract notes, they do owe you some money (less returns) because they've sold at least 250.00 of your cds during a quarter. That's their one and only promise according to what I see. What is the auditing provision on your contract? What is the provision in your contract for recall of all your "unshipped" cd's if Orchard doesn't perform to your expectations in a reasonable given time...say 12 months or so? What exactly have you negotiated in that contract to either get the sales results you want..or to get out of the relationship?