I’ve been working on this message for quite a while as it’s a bizarre topic for an artist at my level of the music business. I’m not really big enough on any business scale for this to be of significant financial impact for bootleggers to steal my music/ likeness, but it’s impactful to how I support myself and the small team I have that works to get my music out to y’all.
There are a variety of spam responses that show up on my social media pages advertising various clothing products utilizing the graphics that I have paid artists to create for my music and band. I’m not sure if these entities are actually selling the products or taking people’s money and not delivering the products as I’ve never physically seen one at a gig. I am thankful that Lori Young, quickly monitors and reports these spam messages on the social media pages so hopefully a minimal number of people are seeing them. That said, Alex Meixner and Alex Meixner Band merchandise is available through www.alexmeixner.com/shop. CDs are available at a few sources on the internet and we have a few partners that we’re working with to distribute some of my related merchandise. If you have a question, please never hesitate to drop an email at info@alexmeixner.com and we’ll verify that the merchandise is valid.
The really big issue though is the outright piracy of my music, as well as my father’s. There is an enthusiastic group of American Slovenian Polka fans in the Netherlands that are centered around pirate radio stations. I’ve had the opportunity to perform twice in the Netherlands. Joe Godina from Spotlight International has worked hard to maintain the availability of our old recordings on CDs and the diminished return from recording due to the replacement of physical media with streaming models has made recording very difficult to recoup expenses. Someone in the Netherlands has released at least 2 completely illegal LP records, one is a duplicate of my father’s landmark Slovenian recording with Darlene Balog-Fejka “Na Mostu.” There are numerous spelling errors on the cover including Darlene Barlog instead of Balog. The other bootleg release is a compilation of my Dad and I’s music that is labeled as a “Button Box Polka Album” even though the picture is of a piano accordion and some of the tunes aren’t featuring button box.
I really wish that the people responsible for these albums would’ve contacted me so we could’ve worked together to make better productions and distribute the income fairly to the owners of the copyrights. We’re all doing our best to keep the cultural heritage of our music alive and support our families.
In the meantime, I am thankful for all the people who support my music by attending performances, following and sharing social media posts with other people, joining www.patreon.com/alexmeixner, and of course buying merchandise through my website and other legitimate distributors. With that said we have a special 15% online sale on all AMB music, shirts & other accessories available on www.alexmeixner.com store through the end of May 2023 using the code “legitimate”. (Support and Ticket categories are excluded from this sale.) Pick up some items that you’ve been thinking about for yourself or a friend or even an enemy. Maybe we can spread a little happiness!
I’m packing up the van and heading north and east. Tom is heading up the coast from Florida. Chris and Jimmy are getting ready to Polka from Pennsylvania. Please let us know where we’ll be seeing ya. Share the events on your social media so we can get as many people out to these events. We are limiting our northeast tours to 2 short trips with the Alex Meixner Band. I’m excited and devoted to giving y’all the best possible shows whenever I’m out on the road.