Minutes of the Meeting held 11th November 1999

		ACTION
APOLOGIES
There were no apologies
MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
Agreed as VALID.
MATTERS ARISING
Reports were heard on the following items:
	MCPS/PPL
	Due to the vast workload on Other Matters undertaken this month by Mr Whitaker, this would Pend Again.		MW
	SENDING STUFF TO FIERCE PANDA
	This had been done.
	VALID STAMP
	This too had been DONE – total cost being £18.47. The meeting gasped in wonder at the BEAUTY of the new stamp, and stamped everything it could get its collective hands on.
	AAS GOLD DISC
	The Gold Disc was currently in Mr Fleay’s kitchen, and he vowed to take it into the shop in the coming week.		RF
	PHOTOGRAPHS ON WEBPAGE
	This had been ACTIONED, and very lovely it all looked too.
	SPLIT SCREEN VAN CLUB
	Mr Fleay presented Mr Whitaker with the required information about 1.3 billion, as promised.
	RIGHTS OF BAND REPRESENTATIVES
	Stephen Domino had been kept informed of all changes to Board Meeting times, and his attendance was more than welcome (though no-one was sure if he was actually coming after all), as would the attendance of any band representative be in future.
	WEBPAGE PAYING
	In what was rapidly becoming a new trend of EFFICIENCY, this also had been done.
	MUSIC LIVE
	It was agreed that if we did apply for funding for anything here, we should be well in due to the massive amount of work which had gone into our previous attempt, meaning most documentation was now in place. The only small problem was what exactly we would apply to do. It was agreed that the Board would have a Bit Of An Old Think about this, ready for next time.		ALL
	T-SHIRTS
	T-shirts had been passed on, as agreed last time. It was suggested that another t-shirt be done, this time white on black, for the Cuban Boys to model on telly in future. It was reported that one of these would cost about twelve quid, a small price to pay for a bit of GLORY, and Mr Hibbett would get this sorted out pretty sharpish.		MH
ORGANISATIONAL ISSUES
The following label-based issues were discussed:
	WEBPAGES
	Mr Fleay stated that the web counter had recently reset itself, but that he had used his MIGHTY BRANE to go in and put it back again. There was discussion of the idea that an EVIL MIND might try to make it look like we’d had even MORE hits there than had actually occurred, though this was rejected as being Beneath Our Dignity. Mr Fleay asked that the link to Frankie Machine now be included, and this would be made to happen.		MH
	WEB CONSULTANCY
	The Web Consultancy was now occurring. Messrs Fleay and Hibbett had met with Tom Reveal, and a prototype system had been presented, redesigned to comply with the wishes of the customer. Mr Hibbett reported a few problems that are frankly too dull to go into here, but hoped that they could be sorted out via a site visit. Mr Fleay had not yet broached the delicate subject of payment due to VAST amounts of goodwill and love involved, but would do so soon		MH RF
	NEWSLETTER
	The newsletter had gone out to over 300 people, though the vastness of the list seemed to mean it was always sent twice. This was puzzling. Mr Fleay agreed to send copies of the whole list to all board members, that they might check it for any further additions.		RF ALL
	PLUGGERS
	Mr Whitaker had spoken to John there, and Mr Hibbett had spoken to Lee. Both seemed generally happy, and it was commented, yet again, what Nice Blokes they were.
	DISTRIBUTION
	Again, there was a LOT of discussion. Mr Whitaker had been in contact with various agencies, as follows. On the 22^nd October he had written to Gareth at Shellshock to inform him of our decision to move to Prime. Gareth had replied, saying that all stock would thus be deleted on that day, giving shops a three month period in which they could return unwanted stock. He also stated that he would be raising an invoice against us for £50, for the work put into pre-sales for the delayed Fighting Cocks album, which they would now not be handling. Mr Whitaker wrote back, asking about how many pre-sales had been made on this album, which could justify such an invoice. He also asked about delivery costs. Gareth had asked that we provide an assurance that we would cover any losses incurred if the cost of returned stock outweighed sales so far, and guarantee that we would pay the £50 invoice. On the 4^th November Mr Whitaker wrote to him again, stating that we would be happy to reimburse any moneys due for returns, providing all our stock was returned. He then sent an email giving Gareth the correct address for delivery of stock. There was no reply, so Mr Whitaker emailed again, asking about delivery, and disputing the £50 invoice. He pointed out that a) we did not have, nor had we ever had, any kind of written contract with Shellshock; b) we were moving to Prime because of the many problems we had had contacting Shellshock and the poor service in general they had supplied, leading us to doubt that pre-sales work had actually been done, and c) no reply had been received from our previous email, and no justification had been received for this invoice. No reply had yet been received.
	Mr Fleay reported that Reveal had complained to them about the lack of service, and that Shellshock had rung to ask if they had had any problems, which of course they had. They then asked if Reveal wanted to order any more of our Stumble singles, which seemed a little odd if the stock had been deleted. There was a little worry that we had “grassed up” Reveal to Shellshock, but it was felt that Reveal were our main customers, and that at least it had resulted in them receiving better service. Meanwhile, Mr Whitaker had been speaking to Prime. Back catalogue information had been requested, and sent, and actual back catalogue had been gathered together to send soon. There was no Securicor delivery style delivery service as with Shellshock, but it was hoped something could be sorted out. Paul at Prime had been exceptionally supportive of our stance with shellshock and had even offered to pay the 50 quid for us. The meeting decided to alert people to  the behavior and bad service record of shellshock, using many and varied parts of Colourful Language, which would be more than appropriate.
	Mr Whitaker reported that Prime had said AAS records were becoming an office favourite, as they liked our sleeve notes and had been listening to the records. Whether this was true did not matter, as it was nice to know they were bothered enough to actually try to be nice to us either way. Unlike Shellshock, who hadn’t. Mr Whitaker pledged to ring Shellshock on Monday to try and get some response. It was agreed that, though it was Good to strive for an unstressful resolution, we are more than RIGHTEOUS in getting heavy and pursuing Other Avenues. Finally, there was Much Discussion about how Optimistic the meeting was for the future with Prime, and the FOOLISHNESS of Certain Other Labels in remaining at Shellshock was noted. Again, Board Members would be happy to explain this further at any given opportunity. The discussion ended with Hearty and Heartfelt Congratulations to Mr Whitaker for all his excellent work on this, and the possibility was dangled before his eyes that he be voted Player Of The Year on the basis of this.		MW
	FINANCE
	The MIGHTY SPREADSHEET was on the verge of being done. It was suddenly realized that Johnny at Backs was actually a Good Chap, and Mr Fleay would forward his telephone number to Mr Whitaker so that he could see if he (Johnny) could help us out in the current situation. There was discussion of the FACT that the Shellshock Business could be all sorted out by the next AGM, providing a Line In The Sand for some of the finances, and it was agreed that the situation would be explained to bands, i.e. that we would be covering any losses incurred from returns from the TITHE, rather than having to ask the bands to pay us back, but that this money would be recoupable from future projects undertaken.		RF RF MW
	QUALITY MANUAL – JOB DESCRIPTIONS
	Mr Whitaker had prepared 3 job descriptions, which had caused a little confusion. To clarify, one had been Campaign Manager (which would be his post), one was Manufacturing Coordinator/A&R link (which everyone would do), and one was Media Director. Mr Hibbett produced his Chairman’s Job Description, which included most of the Media Director responsibilities identified by Mr Whitaker, and some of the A&R bits. After lengthy discussion it was agreed that positions on the board be identified as Chairman (Mr Hibbett), Campaign Director (Mr Whitaker) and Finance Director (Mr Fleay). In addition, each Board Member would take on the role of Project Manager for individual projects, combining various sections of A&R and Manufacturing. It was felt that this would be a much more flexible way of operating. Some wider aspects would be carried out by individual Board Members, while the nitty gritty could be handled by Project Managers as they occurred, with help being given as needed by the others. Good.
	Mr Fleay stated that he would be writing his job description alongside the development of the Spreadsheet, and all agreed that this was a valuable exercise. Mr Whitaker would redraft his job description, alongside the Chairman’s and Project Manager descriptions. It was agreed that when completed these should all go on the webpages, and at the next meeting to idea of using these to go forward with the Quality Manual would be considered.		RF MW
	FOOTBALL
	It was noted by Mr Whitaker that Derby were going down, while Bradford were not, and Mr Fleay looked UPSET. Mr Hibbett stated that Posh were now top of the league, actually.
A&R
Bands and Ting were talked of, as follows:
	FRANKIE MACHINE
	The vinyl had not yet arrived, but was definitely on the way. 300 had been done, with 200 to be available for distribution. Mr Whitaker would be speaking to Prime soon to sort this all out, as well as the possibility of some mini-promotion. There was the traditional worrying about VAT or Import Tax or whatever, which may be included in the invoice, but maybe not. The sleeve had cost £225, and looked really good. Only the insert was yet to do. There was much discussion about a release date. Mr Fleay hoped to get the record out this year, but this was questioned on the basis that, if more time was allowed, more pre-promotion could be done. Mr Fleay had a big collection of addresses also, to which he could send some promo copies. The meeting agreed that the single certainly DESERVED to be heard by many people, as it was so GRATE. Gigs were discussed, and again the conundrum was considered of a Good Place for the might of Frankie Machine to play. Mr Hibbett would send some stuff direct to the 12 Bar Club, and the idea of doing an AAS Acoustic Night arose, so that Frankie Machine would be in the company of others, doing the similar. He would investigate the possibility of doing such a thing in Derby, and Mr Hibbett would do the same for Leicester.		MW MH RF MH
	MJ HIBBETT AND THE VALIDATORS
	Mr Hibbett reported that the Internet single had gone really well, with many more hits than usual to his Webpage as a direct result. Hey Hey 16K would also be appearing on the front cover of Crazynet magazine (issue 3), which was in Smiths and Everything. The DEAL here was a Gentleman’s Agreement that they would put it on their cover CD and mention the site itself, thus giving us a ton of publicity. Cool. Meanwhile it was pretty much confirmed that the Reveal single would be Payday Is The Best Day, with Carol & The Mandolin as the second track. The second Johnny Domino split single was looking a bit doubtful, however, as they wanted to wait until they had a few more songs.
	The Focus Group Exercise had finished, and Mr Hibbett was now working on a running order. He hoped to be having a band meeting next week, at which this could be finalized, and then to see Mr Reverb soon after to actually compile it. A pay claim for his data book should pay for production, and it was hoped that a promotion thing would pay for plugging in the new year, which Mr Whitaker pledged to sort out for him. Finally, he also hoped to use the band meeting to sort out how many gigs could be done, and where, ready for the Grand Launch Business when it did finally get released.		MW
	JOHNNY DOMINO
	Johnny Domino had apparently FINISHED their mixing! Mr Hibbett had received an email from them in which they confessed to being EXCITED about it, and that it was GOOD. There was much joy at this news, and the Board was promised that a tape copy of it would soon be forthcoming. Hoorah!
	PALA
	Pala had recently recorded some tracks, and messrs Hibbett and Fleay had been to see them, reporting them to have been impressive. Pala were considering the destiny of the tracks. It was noted that Beb may release it, as part of his dissertation."
	FIGHTING COCKS
	With regret, Mr Hibbett reported that this project had still got no further. He had a copy of the album ready to go, but had been waiting a fortnight for confirmation that money would be available to pay for it. It was agreed that we sit back and wait for something to happen about this record. If Charlie de la Cocks could send us the CASH to do the album with, including the covers and everything, we could get on and do it, but there was no point labouring away at it still. This was a shame, as the meeting agreed it was a BRILLIANT record, and we would love to do it at some point.
	LAZER GUIDED
	Not much was going on – they’d played quite a few gigs, and recorded 3 tracks (one of which, Mr Fleay reported, was Dead Good), and there were various Items in the pipeline.
	SALOON
	Again, not much had really been heard from them.
	WANDRIN’ ALLSTARS
	Mr Whitaker reported that they had moved into their new studio, All Star Laboratories, at a SECRET LOCATION, and that it was all taking shape. They would shortly be commencing work on a Twinkie remix, and their own material was sounding awesome.
	STUMBLE
	They had beeen seen in London recently, and were impressive. Mr Fleay presented the meeting with a tape of tracks they had recently recorded with Steve singing on, and pledged to speak to Steve and Neil about the possibility of us putting out their next single, a prospect which filled all with happiness.		RF
	COMPILATION ALBUM
	As usual, this would PEND.
	ANY OTHER A&R
	Before commencing with this the meeting agreed that, beautiful though it was that we now had a ROSTER, we must Not Rest On Our Laurels, hence many A&R possibilities for the future were discussed, as follows.