[Perform-talk] What are we going to do about this issue?

Kenlawrence124 at aol.com Kenlawrence124 at aol.com
Thu Oct 29 22:55:40 UTC 2009


Hi folks that's great work.  CD baby was accessible till a few months  ago. 
 I would say all of you should send this issue to _cdbaby at cdbaby.com_ 
(mailto:cdbaby at cdbaby.com) .  This message is  being copyed to them and they will 
see all three of today's digest since AOL no  longer lets you select your 
text only.  Your right nou participating in the  site won't do any good it 
won't change the inaccessibility issue, it just passes  the problem to someone 
else.  So, Since CD baby is getting this too, Let me  tell all of you who I 
had reviewed in the passed.  These are all the  performers we Won't find 
because we're blind.  In addition to the NFB  performing arts CD and Lisa's 
CD, I've reviewed All three albums by Laura  Berman, visit her at 
_www.lauraberman_ (http://www.lauraberman)   music.com Three by Amy Allison, 
_www.amyallisonmusic.com_ (http://www.amyallisonmusic.com)  Two by NJ  singer Kathy 
Phillips _www.kathyphillips.com_ (http://www.kathyphillips.com)  Two by Lisa  
Berstein, _www.lisabmusic.com_ (http://www.lisabmusic.com)  Detroit  hard 
rockers Broadzilla _www.broadzilla.net_ (http://www.broadzilla.net)  although 
that site is in  need of an update huh?  British hard rockers 
Girlschool.co.uk Two by Cindy  bullens _www.therefugeesmusic.com_ 
(http://www.therefugeesmusic.com)   or _www.cindybullens.com_ (http://www.cindybullens.com)  four by 
Kelly  Richey, _www.kellyrichey.com_ (http://www.kellyrichey.com)  and two 
by  laura Veirs, _www.lauraveirs.com_ (http://www.lauraveirs.com)  That's  
just a starters.  Go to those sites and support them that way because even  if 
CD baby won't support the blind and looks at us as second class, the 
artists  need us.  In a way, even though they're not blind, they are independent  
artists who might as well be federationests.  I hope folks sign up to the  
mailing lists of all artists and I know they'd love to know a fan passed them 
on  to more fans.  Several of the artists I've reviewed and contacted have  
given to the imagine fund for our marches.  
 
I pledge to  participate actively in the efforts of the national federation 
of the blind to  achieve equality, opportunity, and security for the blind; 
to support the  policies and programs of the federation; and abide by it's 
constitution.  

 
In a message dated 10/29/2009 1:07:28 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
perform-talk-request at nfbnet.org writes:

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Today's Topics:

1. Re:  Whatare we going to do about this issue? (David Dunphy)
2. Re:  Whatare we going to do about this issue? (Moria)
3. Performing  Arts of California (Dennis H.R.  Sumlin)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message:  1
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:14:54 -0400
From: "David Dunphy"  <djdrocks4ever at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Perform-talk] Whatare we  going to do about this issue?
To: "Performing Arts Division list"  <perform-talk at nfbnet.org>
Message-ID:  <EAC15C69449244CCAB3942CA475F3E61 at TheDoubleD>
Content-Type:  text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=original

I don't think it's an absolute crock of you know  what. I think it's an 
absolute crock of shit! 


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------------------------------

Message:  2
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:55:34 -0400
From: "Moria"  <morningglow at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Perform-talk] Whatare we  going to do about this issue?
To: "'Performing Arts Division list'"  <perform-talk at nfbnet.org>
Message-ID:  <0KS800GVSQ1EK9P7 at vms173003.mailsrvcs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;  charset=us-ascii

Guess what?  Apparently, not only can't you  preview the songs, you can't 
buy
the CD either.

On September 5 I  went to the CD Baby site and tried to purchase Lisa
Ostrow's album  "Unconditional".  I couldn't preview the songs.  Based on  
the
reviews, and because I used to know Lisa and want to support her  project, I
decided to buy the CD anyway.  When I pressed enter on the  "buy CD" button,
nothing happened.  I went to the "Contact us" link  and sent them an email.
I promptly got a form response which said they  might be slower than usual 
in
responding because of their new launch.   I thought the new launch must be
part of the problem; something that was  accessible before had been made
inaccessible.  I never received a  follow-up email.

This past Saturday I returned to the site, but got the  same results.  So on
Monday afternoon I called and had a long talk  with someone in customer
service.  I wanted to make sure the problem  wasn't just my computer or my
understanding of the site.  With the rep  on the phone, I once again went to
Lisa's album page and tried to preview  the songs and to buy the CD.  I 
could
do neither.  The rep also  told me that Lisa's page looked like it was set 
up
incorrectly.  (I  thought this might have to do with the access problem as
well, and highly  doubt it was any fault of Lisa's.)  So I looked up another
CD which  I'd been wanting to purchase, and tried to preview the songs and
buy that  CD.  The results were the same.  I couldn't even  distinguish
between the songs which had preview samples and the one which  the rep told
me did not.  And with JAWS, the setup of the other  group's page seemd to me
to be the same as the setup of Lisa's page, so the  differences must have 
all
been visual.

Throughout the conversation,  the rep was courteous and trying to be 
helpful,
but obviously couldn't  solve the problem.  She said she'd pass the
information on to  someone.  In the end, I ordered both the CDs from her.
After reading  Marion's post, I rather wish I'd waited; I guess consumerism
got the better  of me.

This situation is particularly infuriating because CD Baby used  to be very
accessible.  It worked well, and didn't seem to need a  makeover.  The
customer service rep told me there have been other  problems with the new
design: apparently people are trying to pay for their  CDs and getting 
thrown
back to a previous page.  I wonder what  "improvements" they were trying to
incorporate?

I find the email Ken  received insulting.  It really does relegate us to the
status of  second-class customers.  I doubt we're a large enough market to
affect  them with a boycott, though.  What they need now is a lot of  free
publicity.  I'll do whatever I can to help.

Masha  Sten-Clanton




-----Original Message-----
From:  perform-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:perform-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On  Behalf Of Marion & Martin
Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 12:55  PM
To: Performing Arts Division list
Subject: Re: [Perform-talk] Whatare  we going to do about this issue?

Ken,
One thing I can  do is to inform CDBaby that my plans to sell my music on
their website are  on hold until such time as my blind consumers and I can
independently  navigate the site! Consumers are what drive any business, so
we need to get  as many people as possible to cooperate by not purchasing
from CDBaby  and/or pulling their products from their catalogue.

Fraternally  yours,
Marion


----- Original Message -----
From:  <Kenlawrence124 at aol.com>
To: <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc:  <perform-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 12:35  PM
Subject: [Perform-talk] Whatare we going to do about this  issue?


> Hello friends Sorry for a cross posting, but I think  this is important 
> both
> to the access of the net, and to the  musicians on the PAD list.  I
> recently  got an email from a  electronic/dance group called Girls on 
film 
> stating
> that  the  new release is available on CD baby.  I went to CD baby and  
> found
> that  blind users can no longer preview what they  buy on CD baby.  Yeah 
> that
> right sound in sight  contributers blind can no longer hear samples before
> buying.   Below is a message along with my original to CD baby alerting 
>  them
> to this.  The cop out here is a cop out and I got the same  thing from
> Pandora.  It seems to me that the lie that it costs to  much to make a 
site
> accessible won't cut it.  So my friends what  are we going to do to help 
> Kevin
> Reeves and all the blind  people who until now at least depended on the
> discover music tag on CD  baby?  We sure can't discover music if we can't 
> sample
>  it Huh?  Tell me if you think this is an absolute crock of you know   
what.
>
> Hello Ken,
> I'm sorry our update removed the  functional use for our blind  customers.
> Our programmers
>  are all in house and are looking forward to  making it more friendly to  
> the
> blind.
> Unfortunately, there are a few other   programming issues they need to
> finish first.
> Take  care,
> Joel
> -CD  Baby
> In Reply To:
> Hello,  My name is Ken, and I'm blind and am very  disappointed that you
>  have changed
> your page.  Today I wanted to post a  review of  a CD by Girls on Film
> called Mental
> inage and I found that I  can  see the times of the songs, and a bunch of
> check  boxes,
> and the place to  review but according to one of the  members the preview
> button is
> now a flash   application.  This likely means the blind user can no longer
>  preview
> CDs  before buying since Flash can't be read by a screen  reader.  So for
> now the  reviews
> of Ken Lawrence of  national federation of the blind won't be  appearing 
on
> the  site
> unless I hear the music elsewhere.  I'm sorry It's  not  something you've
> done on purpose,
> but you should consider who  is on the  net and who is able to access your
> site.   In
> future why not consult with  the federation?  We have a  web certification
> program
> and we'll give you  all you  need to make your site accessible for the
> blind.  Give
>  them a  call at 1-410-659-9314 between 8:30 and 5:00 eastern time and  
take
> the  Tech
> answer line on the prompt.  We'll  give you all the help you need  for the
> blind.
> The  Crackerjack staff at our tech center have gotten me out of  a few
>  pickles already
> Huh?
> I pledge to participate actively in the  efforts  of the national 
> federation
> of the
> blind  to achieve equality, opportunity, and  security for the blind; to
>  support the
> policies and programs of the  federation; and abide  by it's constitution.
>
>
> I pledge to  participate  actively in the efforts of the national 
> federation
> of the  blind to  achieve equality, opportunity, and security for the 
>  blind;
> to support the  policies and programs of the federation;  and abide by 
it's
> constitution.
>  _______________________________________________
> Perform-talk mailing  list
> Perform-talk at nfbnet.org
>  http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/perform-talk_nfbnet.org
> To  unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
>  Perform-talk:
>
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0verizon.net  


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------------------------------

Message:  3
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:34:21 -0400
From: "Dennis H.R. Sumlin"  <DHolston at nyc.rr.com>
Subject: [Perform-talk] Performing Arts of  California
To: "Performing Arts Division list"  <perform-talk at nfbnet.org>
Message-ID:  <005301ca5872$9f70b440$ea0d4142 at dennis>
Content-Type:  text/plain;    charset="iso-8859-1"

Hello all.
In recent  weeks, a great development has been happening with the 
performing arts  division.  The interest in the mission of the division has grown to 
the  point that there are efforts to establish state divisions of the 
performing  arts.  Currently, 2 states are pursuing such a move.  This message  is 
about California.  There are a few people who are trying to set up  this 
division in the state and need your help.  If anybody knows people  who live 
in California, and would like to help out or join such a division,  please 
get in touch with Darian Smith from the bay area.  His email is  
dsmithnfb at gmail.com
Please help this effort as it will allow the mission of  the division to 
assist blind entertainers even more.  

The other  state that is making such a move is Georgia.  Derrick Tuff from 
the  Atlanta area is writing the proposal to submit to the Georgia state  
president.

Thanks to all who are part of this effort and please spread  the word, and 
maybe other states will make the same move.
Please post this  to other lists as well.


********
Dennis Sumlin  Holston.
President: Performing Arts Division of the National Federation of  the 
Blind.
(347) 875-7469 
http://www.padnfb.org
President:  Westchester chapter of New York State.
Artist Recruitment Specialist: The  Visionary Media Company



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