Hoss 101
Here’s where I try to clear up basic questions about me, my purpose with this site, and how I operate it. If I haven’t done a good job with that, please click the “Contact Hoss” link above and let me know. I’ll get back to you fast. – Don Cudd (aka Hoss)
Hoss’s Mission Statement/Purpose/Whatever You Want to Call It
This site is just a non-flashy, non-corporate, simple and honest operation that, God willing, will eventually prove to America that non-flashy, non-corporate, simple and honest operations are the best kind after all. Our main purpose is to introduce the world to non-corporate, simple and honest musicians who, because they are non-corporate, simple and honest, might have a difficult time getting their music heard elsewhere. Related to that purpose, we are also building a community of people who appreciate music made by non-corporate, simple and honest folks and are willing to support it — with their ears, hearts and wallets. This community will never discriminate based on any of the factors that are, unfortunately, of utmost importance in the world of corporate music: willingness to follow trends, ability to drop names, access to fancy studios, obsession over music charts and target demographic groups.
HossTheBoss.com’s Main Features
- Hossey Music Award Song Voting Contest Show: This crazy little Saturday afternoon tradition (which replays many other times throughout the week) is the heart of the community I mentioned above. Click the links to the right to vote and otherwise get involved.
- Hoss’s CD of the Day Show: This show is the lifeblood of HossTheBoss.com. Every day at 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. Central Time, I play an entire CD and interview the musician(s). Before each show, I email a select Mp3 track from the CD to everyone who has signed up for our $5/month membership fee. (Those who pay for 4 months in advance also get their choice of one of the CDs mailed to them.) Signing up as a member is a great way to stay involved with the independent music.
- The Tony Kinsel Show: Tony may just be the most veteran radio DJ in the HossTheBoss.com hometown of Corpus Chrisit, Texas. He has been a friend of mine since about 1987 when he gave me the life-long curse of a recommendation for my first job in “real” radio. (Did I say he was a “friend”?) In 2008, after he’d gotten fired from KFTX for a typically ridiculous reason (despite years of thankless service on the overnight show), Tony discovered that I — equally disenchanted with “real” radio was doing HossTheBoss.com and volunteered to help. I got him set up to do his own dang — uncensored, unscripted and certainly unplaylisted — show on the station as quick as I could. Catch him at 7 p.m. Central Time on Sundays. His is the first of many shows coming soon on HTB from independent DJ across Texas, America and the world.
- Eclectic stream of Independent music: When all the other stuff’s not happening, HossTheBoss.com’s stream airs songs from our huge (and growing) collection of independent music. We play a little of everything from rap to country to rock to jazz to even a little tejano. While each song plays, the artist name appears at the top of every page, and website links for the bands we play can be found in Hoss’s Band Directory (use the link in the left of this page).
Hoss’s Corporate Information
Ha! We’re far from corporate. This little site is a tiny family business (a sole proprietorship officially) headquartered in half of the spare bedroom of the apartment my wife, cat and I share in Corpus Christi, Texas, USA. (The other half of the room is the headquarters of Mrs. Hoss’s Mary Kay Beauty Consultant business.) Our business losses have been covered since 2006 by my dear mother, whose long-frugal lifestyle has allowed her the luxury to support this project indefinitely. But “indefinitely” should never be mistaken as “permanently,” and our family’s business plan calls for HossTheBoss.com to no longer require investment payments from my mother beginning sometime in 2011. That means we are counting on you, dear audience member, to, throughout 2010, do your part to make HossTheBoss.com a long term venture. Support the dang CD of the Day Show’s music sales!
Our 2nd Floor Penthouse Studio
With the Beautiful View of the Neighbor’s Duplex
Hoss’s Pledge of Support for the Bands We Play
I know that plenty of organizations take financial advantage of independent bands and, so that HossTheBoss.com will never be one of them, I promise to be especially open about our music sales contracts with bands. The “love reports” section of this site (underneath the CD of the Day Show links in the menu on the left) gives detail of exactly how much of the money you spend is returned to the bands vs. how much is used to cover our other expenses. If ever those reports indicate that I am somehow mismanaging the money we collect from music sales, I invite you to let me know your concerns — and then go public about it if you see fit (even on this site).
Hoss’s Unique Royalty Policy
(and the trouble it may bring)
Because I found that very little (if any) of the royalty payments we made to BMI, ASCAP, etc in HTB’s early days were actually turned over to the bands,we were playing, I stopped paying those fees in 2007. That means that, from here on out, we must secure specific permission from the copyright holder(s) for each song that we play. That adds a considerable amount to our workload, but it also adds to the charm of our station: I don’t know of any other radio station that can say its staff has a personal relationship with every single band that it plays. Thanks are due in large part to Tony Kinsel who spends many, many hours each week making contact with bands and getting their permission for HTB to play their music. (He’s not the only one who does this, but he can take credit for us getting some of the bigger names like the Little River Band, Cross Canadian Ragweed and Robert Earl Keen.)
This policy has, so far, not generated any significant protest from any lawyers or such (in fact, most musicians seem very, very supportive of it). But, as this site’s audience grows, I expect that at least one or two music industry jerks will start trying to make trouble over it somehow. (The royalty groups are not likely to take kindly to us circumventing them. These are the a-holes who threatened to sue a coffee shop owner in my neighborhood because one or two cover songs got played during some open mic nights at his place — which seats about 30.) When that happens, well, I don’t have the money (or stomach) for a legal fight. So here’s my plan: The moment some ne’r-do-well starts trying to bully us over our policy, I will keep you, dear audience member, updated best that I can. I will then just rely on my faith that, if you believe in what this site is all about, you’ll come through with whatever support we need to weather an attack.
For details on this policy that I may end up asking you to help me fight for, please click the “Hoss’s (Mildly Entertaining) Policies” link above.
How To Support HTB
Here’s some ideas for the best way to help assure HossTheBoss.com becomes a long-term venture that we can all love:
- Become a member of the CD of the Day Show. Just $5 a month gets you an email with a select Mp3 from the CD we feature in each show. If you pay for 4 months in advance, you also get your choice of CD mailed to you.
- Buy CDs and Mp3s from the CD of the Day Show store. All CDs are just $10 (including shipping) and Mp3 downloads are just 80 cents.
- Buy stuff through the ad links on the site. We’ve got commission-only deals with all ads you see on the site. So that means we don’t make any money on the ads unless you click on them and then buy something. I don’t want you buying a bunch of stuff you don’t need, but, if you see something you do need advertised on the site, please remember to buy it through our link.
- Listen to HossTheBoss.com loud and often. Tell your friends to do the same.
- Give us links anywhere you can. Here’s some code you can cut-n-paste.
<a href=”http://www.hosstheboss.com”> HossTheBoss.com Plays Great Independent Music</a> Feel free to modify that however you want. - Buy HossTheBoss.com t-shirts, caps, mugs, whatever. Look for the links in with the rest of the ads on the right had corner of every page.
- Support independent musicians however you can, no matter where you hear them.
About Hoss
Aside from being a reformed corporate style DJ, I have also tried really hard to fit into the corporate-run world in other areas: I’ve been a newspaper reporter, a teacher and a retail “customer service” guy. At one point, I was even on course to be a university journalism professor. But I was born without the gift of functioning well amid insanity, and my corporate-style bosses never found much use for someone with such a handicap. If you’re really curious about all the things I did before I started this site, I’ll be glad to send you the list. Or you can just wait for the book that several people have said I need to write. It’ll probably be fairly interesting.
Hoss’s Friends
Being independent requires lots of help, ironically, and I am thankful to a great group of friends who are willing to do just about anything for this site. Here’s were I keep links to sites run by some of the more active (volunteer) participants in this little ole’ venture. (These people are listed in no particular order, and I update the list about once every quarter. Chance are I’ve left a very deserving person or two off the list. Please let me know if you spot such an oversite, and, if you’re that forsaken soul, please try your best to forgive me.)
Trevor Hopkins (aka Travis Hopper)
