Mix Magazine – considered by many to be the trade bible for the music production industry – apparently isn’t too concerned with getting their facts straight.

I’m not claiming that what we’re up to at The Burst Collective, Burst Labs, and Burst HQ is deserving of a Mix cover story or a spot on 60 Minutes, but c’mon… arghhh.

Two problems related to Burst in the November issue :

1. Their Sound For Picture section this month is titled Creative on Demand : Composers Reap Benefits From Production Music Libraries and, in our not-so-humble opinion, leaves a false impression on who’s responsible for FirstCom’s Velocity Music Library.

The November issue each year has traditionally included a review of the new releases and products from the world of production music libraries, the niche of the music business into which we launched Burst Labs, our production music library and music licensing website. We were really hoping for some coverage this year, and had been in touch with Mix through a mutual associate. We were told that we just missed the cut of the companies to include, as they covered three of our competitors and “had they gone with four, Burst would have been the fourth company.”

Okay, no biggie… except that one of the companies they covered is, for all intents and purposes, credited in the story as having created the Velocity Music Library for FirstCom! HA!

The article says :

Wade and Ayala have cultivated a niche with FirstCom, producing 10 titles a year for the Velocity Library.

Ah, no. That would have been us who did the cultivating, considering the new production team has been on the job only a year. The first 71 discs released by FirstCom as the Velocity Music Library were written and produced by The Burst Collective.

We don’t wish any ill will on the new guys, who by all accounts are doing a fine job continuing what we started… but really, at this point, it’s more about the creative partners and good friends with whom we built Velocity than it is about Burst. I don’t like tooting our own horn, but I’m all about giving credit where credit is due, and the fact is Velocity is in the position it is today because of the hard work of the writers and players of The Burst Collective over the past 6 years.

2. The Track Sheet column for the Midwest region falsely credits us with recording “Chester French’s first release.”

As we’ve been very clear about previously, we recorded some overdubs for Chester French… that’s it. To print that I recorded their first record is simply a gross over-statement – one that I would have corrected anyway, but in light of the problems Mix Magazine had getting the record straight on the Velocity Music Library, I wanted to be sure they weren’t giving me credit that was not justified.

I’m a big fan of Chester French and can’t wait for the world to hear their Star Trak debut, but I simply recorded some horns and want to be sure that the facts are squared away (and, hey, I don’t want to screw up my chances at getting a legit gold or platinum record for the wall!).

Mix didn’t even get our studio name correct. It’s Burst HQ, not Burst Labs. Oh well… at least they spelled my name right.