HossTheBoss.com

This page is more than just fine print that guys who wear ties think we ought to say. It’s actually the heart and soul of HossTheBoss.com. No grubby little lawyer’s hand was involved in any of these policies. Everything here is the work of Hoss himself, and he really means it. Last updated May 10, 2008

Programming and Content Policy

HossTheBoss.com will have lots of diversity in its programming. We’ll play a lot of music — of all types. We’ll be longwinded a lot — about all sorts of subjects. We’ll have technical difficulties. And we’ll make mistakes that we will be honest about correcting quickly. Anyone who doesn’t like that would do well to just take his or her tie off.

Anyone who wants to contribute to the programming or website content is welcome to contact us with ideas. We are eager to take on new ideas and will do so as time and resources permit. But don’t rush us, dang it! Being the energetic, optimistic outfit that we are, we will rarely discourage someone who puts forth an idea, but, of course, we reserve the right to do so at our whim. Anyone who doesn’t like that is welcome to start an Internet radio station of his own, dang it.

Audience Participation Policy

On many pages of this site, we welcome audience participation via “comments.” And, during many of our radio programs, we welcome listeners to participate via telephone calls, emails, skype chats etc.

As much as is practically possible, we will not preview these messages (emails and skype messages will have to be previewed by their nature, of course), and we reserve the right to censor only the messages that we deem to be spam or those that we think ramble incomprehensibly. We welcome criticism of HossTheBoss.com itself in our various audience participation forums.

Music Royalties Policy

Hoss became disenchanted with the American music royalties system in 2006 when he discovered that independent bands such as the ones who appear most on HossTheBoss.com often never receive even one cent of the money paid into the system by radio stations such as HossTheBoss.com. So, as of May 2006, we simply do not pay royalties fees to ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or any other music licensing organization. This means that we secure permission of the copyright holder (both of the recording and the song) for each song that appears on the station. In exchange for permission, we offer musicians at least one Internet link on HossTheBoss.com.

We document permission to play music in a variety of ways depending upon our relationship with the copyright holder. In many cases, the permission is given verbally and we simply note it in writing in our file. In others, the permission comes via email that we save. And in still others the permission comes on a page signed formally by the parties. We assume that we have permission to play all music sent to us unsolicited. This is particularly the case in which the music is sent via the site’s specially designated email address: musicsubmit@hosstheboss.com and for music sent via the MusicSubmit.com music submission service. Our documentation for every song is available for inspection upon request.

We realize that misunderstandings and miscommunication may sometimes arise regarding who, exactly, owns the copyright of a particular song but, as a general practice, we do do not attempt to initially verify copyright claims of people who submit music. If notified of a dispute, however, we will immediately stop playing the song in question and will not play it again until the verified copyright holder has signed a permission document. Likewise, we will assume that permission granted is only valid for as long as the copyright holder agrees. Musicians who wish to revoke their permission should simply notify us.

Any violations we make in regard this policy should be interpreted as accidental. Copyright holders may sue us for violations, of course, but we hope that they will pursue more forgiving remedies. Hoss has forgiven a lot of people himself over the years. And, besides, Hoss doesn’t have any money. Any lawsuit victories would be mostly symbolic (and mostly the result of Hoss not being able to afford legal help to defend himself properly). Hoss doesn’t recommend bully-like behavior for anyone — it just leads to stress. Spend your money on a nice vacation instead — but he realizes that bully-like behavior is a much revered traditions among Americans who wear ties too often. Who is Hoss to try to discourage an American tradition? Read more about this policy here.

Music Sales Policy

HossTheBoss.com encourages all band to make their music available on at least one of the several music retail sites with which we are affiliated (CDBaby.com, Amazon.com, LoneStarMusic.com, and iTunes.com). If we know that a band appearing on our station has music available through one of those sites, we will provide a relevant link in the HossTheBoss.com store. In the event a band does not have music available on one of our affiliate sites, we will make Mp3 downloads available to all who complete this form and agree to these terms.

Email Policy

Emails sent to HossTheBoss.com will likely be filed along with associated email addresses. The information in the emails will remain confidential unless we receive your permission to share it. (In some cases, we will assume permission, based on the context of the email.) We will not share your email address with anyone and will only use it to send you relevant messages about HossTheBoss.com matters.

Telephone Policy

HossTheBoss.com’s “studio line” phone number is the same as its business line number. Accordingly, we will exercise caution to make sure that we do not broadcast calls intended for confidential communication. We ask callers to keep in mind that accidents are inevitable, however. If the chance that a private conversation may end up being broadcast is not acceptable, we ask potential callers to communicate with us via Skype chat or via email.

All calls may be recorded. When it is clear that a call is intended to be broadcast, we reserve the right to air it repeatedly and to edit it as needed

Advertising Policy

The complete set of HossTheBoss.com advertising policies is listed in the site’s advertising section. But one part is especially important, so we have put it on this page, too:

Hoss’s Declaration of Independence

We may occasionally refer to advertisers as “sponsors” or “supporters” of the site, but we hope such language does not imply that the advertisers necessarily approve of the site’s content. Advertisers are entitled to no special influence over what we decide to run (or not to run) in the non-advertising sections of the site.

We will always be upfront with our audience about what parts of the content of our site is paid advertising. This is another reason Hoss is an outcast of the media business. Please don’t ask Hoss to blend your ad seemlessly into the site’s other content. Such requests make him really angry, and might just end up being the subject of a blog post aimed at embarrassing you into taking a journalism class at your local community college.

Hoss’s independence is not for sale.

Copyright Policy

Hoss (aka Don Cudd) makes full copyright claims to all work that he writes (or otherwise produces) and posts on this site. If you would like to use the material for your own purposes, please ask Hoss first — not some third party as Best In Texas Magazine did.

In regard to all work appearing on the site or station and not produced by Hoss, well, Hoss does not think it’s right to hold another person’s work hostage or, worse, to edit a piece published under another another person’s name . So, of course, HossTheBoss.com claims no copyright — other than the right to use particular pieces by permission — to anything written or submitted by someone else. (In otherwords, HossTheBoss.com will never say, “All submissions become the property of HossTheBoss.com.” That is a ridiculously abusive policy practiced by far too many media outlets run by guys who need to take their dang ties off.)

In short, your words and ideas are safe should you allow HossTheBoss.com to publish them, and we trust our audience members to use Hoss’s ideas and words in a responsible, trustworthy manner as well.