JUST SAY NO TO GOOD LIFE RECORDINGS

This is a statement against Good Life Recordings and it's ownership.

This statement is a collective effort on behalf of the following bands;

100 Demons, Aftershock, Broken Promises, Course of Action, Birthright, Driven, Hamartia, Horse The Band, ILL Balance, Kindred, Morning Again, Reveal, Band-Anonymous 1, (this band is forced to remain anonymous for right now, but wanted very much to support this statement), Awaken,

 

It is time someone spoke out against this label and it's business doings. It is time someone stood up and said NO MORE, for all the past, current  and future bands dealing with Good Life Recordings.

For years Good Life Recordings has been lying to bands, labels and the public about it's sales, pressings, site hits, merchandise, royalties and income. For years most of us stayed fairly silent. Those who attempted to speak out were either ignored or their grievences were considered too small to make an impact.

Not anymore.

Look at the list of bands, look at our names, and then know that there are more bands our there that we could either not find, or that were too intimidated or beaten down in spirit to join this statement. We are not talking about one band, one release, 5 people, 50 Cd's. We are talking about 10's of bands, THOUSANDS of dollars and THOUSANDS of CD's.

• Most of us were never paid royalties
• Many of use were never given entire payment for studio, mastering, mixing costs while we struggled to come up with the money and had a signed contract.
• Many of us have never been told how much we sold
• Many of us relese records on Good Life Recordings years ago and know that our release is still selling, yet we NEVER see any royalties.
• Many of us had our bands break up because of the enormous pressure put on us by Good Life Recordings, being promised, money, support, merchandise and never seeing any of it, while we were forced to continue to put out our own money for release costs.
• ALL of us have NEVER been paid what we are actually due for our recordings. This is OUR work, our sacrifice, our heart, our soul, OUR MUSIC. Edward and Good Life Recordings have been profiting from OUR work for years while never giving the bands what they are fairly due.

• HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE SENT IN YOUR DEMO TO GOOD LIFE RECORDINGS? DID YOU KNOW THAT GOOD LIFE SELLS YOUR DEMOS TO AN ANONYMOUS PERSON IN JAPAN FOR VERY DECENT MONEY? THIS IS ABSOLUTELY ILLEGAL!
• How many of you have bought LIMITED EDITION Lp's from Good Life? Most of these ARE NOT limited! Picture discs, colored vinyl, DON'T rush out to buy these, there are plenty to go around, there are plenty sitting in Edward's spare bedroom. Go to this site, you will find MANY 'limited releases' in large numbers that were supposedly sold out or lost in the mail: www.colorwax.com  Guess who owns this? Yes, that's right Edward Verhaege, you can go to www.namesecure.com , search for the colorwax url and then click on "Who Owns It"! So again, under an anonymous guise Good Life is trying to double fuck you out of your money!

This is more than a rip-off, this is more than a bad label in a small scene, this is now and enormous amount of missing money and releases that have never been accounted for.

Look at your Good Life CD's, take a look at the band name, how much did you pay for that CD? Too much!! Too much because Good Life does not pay their bands.

This is the fruit of sacrifice and huge efforts from bands, from kids just like you who got used and abused on many levels. 

Several times people have tried to change these situations, tried to get the label to do the right thing, some of us worked at Good Life Recordings or volunteerd our time, some of us were fired for asking about the truth, some of us were never paid for our work, some of us found the truth and were threatened and bullied til we kept quiet. All of us were treating as if we were useless and unworthy slaves.

We are now asking for your help, this must stop, please help us to put an end to this disgrace and reclaim a bit of support for all bands harmed by Good Life Recordings.

• We  are asking for an organized boycott of Good Life Recordings. We are asking you to buy CD's from the bands only, this way the bands know exactly what is being sold so they can claim their royalties for their work. Buy merchandise from the bands only, it is the merchandise that sometimes harms the bands the most, as many times more merchandise is pressed and sold and the band never knows and is never paid for these sales.
• We are asking you to contact Good Life Recordings, send them a letter, tell them what you think, and demand that they make their wrongs' right and publicly apologize to each and every band ever on Good Life Recordings and refund each band what they are owed. [email protected]
• We are asking you to stop sending demos to Good Life, or at least make is VERY clear that your demo is NOT to be sold, you DO NOT give permission to sell your Demo anywhere in the world.
• We are asking anyone who is a certified public accountant to offer their help to us to have the accountings at Good Life Recordings reviewed.  Many of us have collected important information on Good Life Recordings that could be of help. We are specifically pointing the finger at Edward Verhaege owner of Good Life Recordings as he uses his personal name for all dealings with Good Life Recordings. We are asking distributers to please check your books, total up your sales of Good Life Cd's and send them to the appropriate bands, this may be the only way we will ever know how many records we really sold.

Recently in the new issue of THE PAPER, the quarterly magazine put out by Good Life Recordings, Edward states: "I hate to brag about the great job Good Life does, I'd rather get back to work", "I hate the idiots who are trying to copy every single thing we do, I want to bash their ugly skulls in", "Good Life Recordings, seven years down the road and it never felt better".

Maybe it never felt better for Edward, but it never felt worse for us bands, so many of us have been 'fired' from Good Life but yet we still see our Cd's being sold throughout the world and know we will never see any money for these sales.

Be clear, none of us are doing this for the money, we know we will most likely NEVER see one cent from Good Life, but we want our names DISCONNECTED from that label, we want Good Life to STOP profiting from our work unjustly! We want this shit to STOP!

Add your names to the support list whether you are an individual, a band, a zine and/or a label. Be part of what has been held back for years, the truth. Just send in your complete name + city/country or your band/zine/label name + city/country. If you have more to say, simply send in your story. E-mail us here: [email protected]

Copy this statement and post it all over the web, put it on your site, link it to people, print it and distribute it at shows and music stores, make sure our voices will be heard.

This statement is on behalf of the following bands, we are still looking for many bands, you know who you are, you can still join this statement at anytime. Please contact us here for your comments, support, request information or to join the statement:[email protected]

The content of this statement must not be changed or altered in any way unless given specific written permission by this collective.