Whither BAKC?
Readers might have noticed a letter in last week’s Pitch attacking Bands Across Kansas City. Joe Jacobson of Richmond, Missouri, griped that the company takes money from bands and promises them the world.
Jacobson is the bass player for the butt-rock band Drive 13, which you may have seen on KCTV Channel 5’s Kansas City Chiefs Locker Room Show before you flipped the channel for music that’s less misogynistic and clichéd.
On November 6, 2007, Drive 13 delivered to BAKC a box of 120 CDs. A distributor called J Distribution was then supposed to place the CDs at local Best Buy outlets. The band also brought a check for the $250 setup fee.
J Distribution is run by a Leawood man named John Fetto, who used to work as a regional music buyer for Best Buy. Now Fetto places CDs from area bands directly into the alphabetical racks at Best Buy, where they’re priced at $9.99. If a CD sells, the band’s cut is $5.15.
Fetto does not disclose to BAKC or the bands what his cut is. BAKC gets a small fee each time it hooks Fetto up with a band that, in the words of BAKC creator and producer Carrie Brandon, has a “retailworthy product.” One of those bands was Drive 13.
Long story short, Drive 13 did not get ripped off by BAKC or J Distribution. Jacobson was dissatisfied with the amount of time it took for the CDs to arrive in stores and demanded a refund and all of his band’s CDs back, both of which he got, except for the CDs still on the shelves at Best Buy, which Fetto says he will return later.
The problem arose because Jacobson was under the impression that the band’s check wouldn’t be cashed until the CDs were in stores. When the check cleared on November 26, Jacobson began looking for the CDs at local Best Buy outlets and not finding them. What he didn’t know — and what J Distribution repeatedly failed to make clear — was that the check would be cashed when J Distribution received the purchase order from Best Buy for the CDs; from there, it would take a number of weeks for the CDs to turn up in the stores.
What happened between Drive 13 and BAKC and J Distribution is a case of clueless people confusing other clueless people.
Jacobson e-mailed Fetto on November 29, 2007: Hi John, I see that my check has been cashed so I assume this means that the Drive 13 CDs have been placed in the local best buy stores. Can you please let me know which locations so we can announce this on the radio and tv shows? thanks, joe jacobson
Fetto answered the next day: Joe i will be delivering to all of the etro stores. Lees Summitt, Overland Park (2) Olathe, Metro North, Liberty, Independence. John
Fetto could have avoided weeks of aggravation by explaining that Jacobson had misunderstood the policy.
The last time I wrote about BAKC (“Get BAKC?” May 17, 2007), Brandon Phillips provided helpful insight. Over 10 years playing in the Architects and the Gadjits and working at Anodyne Records, Phillips has worked with major distributors.
“Any distribution agreement I would feel comfortable signing would tell me how much everyone’s going to make,” Phillips said, explaining that such transparency is standard in the music business.
Fetto would not tell me how much he makes per CD. “It’s never been a concern on the band’s side. They know they’re making $5.15 a CD. That’s the number they’re concerned with.”
Brandon tells me that she’s fine with Fetto keeping his profits hidden. “You just look at the situation: $5.15 per disc…. If you’re not OK with that, then walk away.”
Brandon believes BAKC is only doing good for local bands with the Best Buy deal.
But you, serious music lover and patron of the arts, how often do you go to Best Buy to find out about what’s cool, new and local? That’s why we have places such as Needmore Discs (see this week’s music feature) and Love Garden. Best Buy doesn’t even come close.
BAKC has carved out a niche as a clearinghouse for untalented bands that, in most cases, can’t get distribution any easier than they can book themselves a gig at one of the town’s more prestigious venues.
And if guys like Joe Jacobson want to start up bands and there’s a company willing to bust its ass to help them sell their CDs in suburban box stores, who am I to get in their way?
