I have to apologize for my recommendation. When
Ghostface Killah released Twelve Reasons to Die, his latest album, I encouraged
everyone to go and order it directly from RZA’s label, Soul Temple Music. Many were
upset because it was delayed, but that was apparently due to the manufacturer.
Eventually, I received my limited edition collector’s pack, an excellent deal
and an awesome package. One record did have an additional label hanging, but
easily peeled off, leaving the album unharmed. That was the only issue I had.
Until now.
The other day I was informed that there are hundreds (at
least) of people who have not received orders they placed directly through the
Soul Temple Music Bandcamp page. This included those who have never received
their original order for 12R2D. I remember getting the pre-order emails for
U-God and a few others well in advance of a release schedule. So far in advance
that there is no way to dispute not getting it through PayPal (45 days), most
banks (60 days), most credit cards (90). Status update emails apparently are
never answered. Don’t get me wrong, you’d be partly to blame for actually
spending money on one of U-God’s albums. He’s certainly the least recognizable,
least skilled, least profitable, etc. of the Clan; I probably wouldn’t even
download it for free.
Now you might think I’m being mean, and I admit that the
truth hurts sometimes, but there’s no way Soul Temple Music doesn’t have entire
skids of U-God’s album laying around. Maybe 100 bought it and they’re still
waiting on it to ship? Please. I could see Ghost and RZA releases running out
and needing to be repressed. But if you asked someone to name the members of
Wu-Tang Clan, they’d give you every member, including Cappadonna, and still
forget about U-God. This is the most anyone has ever written about him, so I’ll
stop and get back to my point.
It doesn’t take that long to start up a small record label.
Doesn’t take that many people to run it, either. There’s no reason why one
person can’t print an order slip, pack the item in a box, tape it, and label it
in one minute. That’s 60 an hour. In an 8 hour shift, with lunch and taking a
few smoke breaks, you can crank out 400 a day, even if you’re lazy. That would
take you 8 employees in 5 days to ship out the 15,000 units Ghostface sold the
first week. He didn’t even sell a third of that the following week, so you
could fire half of them and still make one get coffee, fetch lunches, wash your
car, under-the-desk favors, whatever.
RZA’s net worth is $18 Million. Ghostface Killah’s is $17
Million. U-God’s is less than yours. But it’s safe to say all the other Wu-Tang
Clan members have more money than you. They made it off of us. None of these
people cared you ordered and didn’t receive their album. People have been
banned from their Facebook pages and Twitter accounts for simply asking where
their orders are at. Soul Temple at least owe everyone a generic email response
about how they’ve screwed everything up, repeatedly, and don’t know how to run
a business. You’d have better results contacting the psychic Sylvia Browne and
asking her if your package had shipped; she’d have better accuracy answering
too.
Boycott Soul Temple Music, RZA, Ghostface Killa, U-God, and
anyone else that can’t make a simple phone call to help get the ball rolling.