Some Old Words, Some New Music

[This is a partial repeat of a post from April. You'd think, since I haven't posted anything at all to this blog in quite a while, I'd have some original material for you. Well, the words are mostly taken from an earlier post - a few small edits, here and there - but where I'll point you to at the end will be all new and shiny! So, if you think you've read this before, either you did or you have a cognitive disorder and should see a doctor. Meanwhile, though, the important NEW stuff is at the end, so skim down there if you're that sort of a person.]


My apologies for leaving you without new material for a while. The reason for the long time between posts is that I've been working on making our company website better.

[Wow. I'm such a slacker, I've re-posted a piece wherein I told you I was a slacker back then!]

Now, I'm not a techie, even by the wildest stretch of anyone's imagination. At one time - and not too long ago, when you consider the entire history of mankind - I actually believed that "HTML" was pronounced "hittamill". So, I haven't been writing code or actually constructing anything. What I've been doing, with help from others concerning the technical end of things, is populating our latest version of the website with selections from our music library.

I'm going to send you there at the end of this, to listen to some of the new selections I've chosen to offer our clients, but first I want to explain exactly why we offer music on our website.

You see, we deal in both music and voices, for use in telephony applications. We offer these services individually or in combination. For instance, if your company needs to prompt callers through a menu of choices, making their interactions with you go quickly and smoothly, you can purchase stand-alone voice prompts from us. If, instead, you wish to enlighten your potential customers concerning what your company has to offer, by way of sales or specials or new goods, you might order a combination of voice and music, which we call Messages-On-Hold. You can choose to have that play on your phone system whenever customers are put on-hold for a minute or two. Or, you can order Music-On-Hold, which is simply nice music, chosen by you from our music library, that entertains your customers while they wait.

Music-On-Hold, to my way of thinking, is a much nicer option than having your customers wait on-hold with silence for their only companion. If all you offer your customers is silence, they're never quite sure if you're actually going to come back on the line at all. At least, if music is playing, they'll know they're still connected. In addition, most of your callers will probably find the music quite pleasant. Some may actually be disappointed when you come back on the line, bemoaning the fact that they didn't get to hear the end of the tune that was playing.

(OK, I'll grant you those people may be nutjobs. But, if you have to deal with nutjobs, why not make them happy nutjobs by giving them good music to listen to? It will certainly make your job easier than if you just leave them to stew in silence.)

I'll give you the link to the new music in a moment. Before I send you on your way, however, I'll answer a question that some of you may have been thinking: Why should I pay for your music when I can just play the radio over the phone, or perhaps some CDs, while my customers are on-hold?

The simple answer is that it's illegal to play the radio or CDs over the phone. ASCAP and BMI, music licensing agencies, vigorously pursue criminal copyright complaints, and if you play CDs or a radio over the phone, you are, in effect, stealing their product. You can be hit with a fairly hefty fine if you're caught and prosecuted. Meanwhile, our music is fully-licensed and legal for you to do with as you please, once you purchase it. And our prices are extremely reasonable, especially when compared to what you could be paying ASCAP and/or BMI should you be hit with fines.

Anyway, go HERE and you'll be able to listen to some of the new music I've chosen to highlight from our library. Of course, we offer 16 distinctly different categories of music for use in productions - that's 4 more than the last time I talked about our website! - so feel free to roam around amongst the various categories and listen to whatever strikes your fancy.

(Of course, if you don't like having your fancy struck - it can be painful - then just go on your merry way and I'll see you next time around. You'll be missing some dandy tunes, though.)

(Those categories marked *NEW* or *UPDATED* are just that. They have been introduced or modified in the past couple of weeks, thus why I felt it would be good to re-print this piece and give you the opportunity to cruise our website once more. There are even two other categories that may be new to you, but weren't actually added so recently as to warrant calling them "new" by this time. I'd offer you prizes for guessing which ones they are, but I'm actually on my Thanksgiving vacation as you read this and won't be around to settle the fistfights that are likely to break out during a competition to be the first one to answer correctly. There are no prizes FOR YOUR OWN GOOD.)

(Hey, Dan, do you think they're buying that? I couldn't just come out and say I'm a cheap son of a b... This thing is still ON?!? Oh, heck...)