Roger Scott Craig is not only the man behind HARLAN CAGE and 101 SOUTH. He also played already for LIVERPOOL EXPRESS and toured with NINA HAGEN. So he experienced really a lot in the past 20 years. Now he was so fine to answer my questions about his present and future. I really tried to focus on these themes and didn’t want to ask, as many did before,  questions about his past.

 M.R.: It has been a long time since your last album with 101 South and even longer for the last Harlan Cage album. You told me, that you wanted to get out of the music biz. You tried to invent a solar pool skimmer, did you? Was it a success?

R.S.C.: Well, there is no music business when people steal our work using Illegal File Sharing sites. FREE MUSIC IS NOT A BUSINESS!!  If there is no money coming in then what is the point spending six months making a great album only to have people get it for free on Limewire, or some other Illegal File Sharing site. That was one of the reasons I quit making new CDs and instead ran a Real Estate company for several years. And my invention THE SOLAR POWERED POOL SKIMMER has been a success but the four companies who are marketing it do not give me any credit or pay me which is no big deal. I am just proud to have been involved with something which uses Solar energy and is good for the environment too. Plus it keeps pools clean and it was my invention.

M.R.: Now you are back. Did you already think at the time of your break about reentering the music biz, again?

R.S.C.: Yes, I got some interesting phone calls from many people and started to feel enthused again about making new music. But this time I have decided to avoid using any 'MIDDLE MEN' and start doing DIRECT SALES to my fans using MTUNZ.COM. It was a concept I came up with a few years ago and so far the reaction has been amazing. Basically it is how I forsee the future of the music industry. Musicians selling directly to the fans using MTUNZ.COM and getting 80% of revenues, and not 8% or less which was the old business model used by record companies. Plus iTunes takes a large chunk out of our earnings and why do we need them? Using MTUNZ.COM we have the first opportunity to use DIRECT SALES using the Internet and most of the musicians I know are very supportive. They too like 80% much better than 8%!!

M.R.: So what is the main difference for musicians to be released via your company than the normal way via record company?

R.S.C.: Well, most people have no clue what has been going on over so many decades. Record companies ended up making all the money and most musicians I know ended up with nothing from their success. Maybe you know the story of the band BADFINGER who wrote so many wonderful songs including the song
WITHOUT YOU which was recorded by Harry Nilsson and Mariah Carey too. The main songwriters in that band both committed suicide, and died distraught and penniless.
How come people do not realize that most musicians are not driving around in large limos. They are driving around in old cars with bald tires and I am so tired of how the media portrays us. Maybe the top 1% travel using limos but the remaining 99% are usually only a few steps away from being homeless. And for the record, I wanted you to know that the best offer I got for the new 101 South CD NO U-TURN was a pitiful $9000, from which I would have made NO MONEY after paying all the musicians, studio time and mastering costs. So I had to figure out a new and better way to sell my product, and MTUNZ.COM is an attempt to start something more FAIR and more EQUITABLE.

M.R.: A lot of bands are trying to release their albums by their own and get marketing through internet
platforms like myspace. Does mtunz.com also care about promotional things?

R.S.C.: Well, most bands I know are making absolutely no money using MYSPACE, but instead are giving their hard work away for FREE> How crazy is that??
So with MTUNZ.COM I am asking the fans to stop stealing our work using Illegal File sharing sites and to PLEASE support good quality music by paying for it. Because the music industry will soon end if people get our material for free and I am asking the fans for HELP and I think they will respond. WE SHALL SEE!

M.R.: If I understand the way of mtunz right (til now!), the customer has to buy the album before getting
the chance to listen to it (yearly amount). So he/she never knows if he likes the music. Don't you
think that lots of people avoid the risk?

R.S.C.: NO! The new albums will be up on the site so the fans can hear the tracks they are buying before deciding if they want to buy or not. These will be (maybe) thirty second samples, with a little bit of a verse and a chorus too so they can decide for themselves. Yes or no??!! We have not agreed on how to set up MTUNZ.COM YET but I will keep you posted on how we are going to launch this new site. From my own perspecitive. if I send out just one mastered CD to one fan who then sticks my work up on Limewire where everyone else can get it for FREE then this does not work for me. So I decided to see if people we happy to listen to the new CD, agree to buy it (PRE-ORDER) then wait maybe two or three weeks for the release date to come around. This way in this time period I will have been paid something FAIR by the fans and not feel so bad when some jerk puts my work up on Limewire! This is the only way forward for musicians from my perspective as one sale can mean one new album being available FOR FREE on some Illegal File Sharing site. So let's see if the fans agree that this is FAIR, but not getting paid is NOT FAIR and os we have to do something or else perish and go work at McDonalds!!

M.R.: What can we expect in the future via mtunz? You said, the new 101 South Album "No U-Turn" will be
exclusively available at mtunz and told me about plans for a new FORTUNE album in March.
Are there any other releases already planned? Any other bands?

R.S.C.: All sorts of plans for MTUNZ in 2009. Yes the new 101 SOUTH CD NO U-TURN will be only available here as will the new FORTUNE CD coming out in July 2009.
Plus I already have so many other artists coming to me to offer their new albums to MTUNZ. PLEASE REMEMBER THAT MTUNZ.COM IS A NON-EXCLUSIVE SITE and that bands can still sell their music using conventional sites as well as their own websites. But 80% on MTUNZ is pretty fair and we will see how things go in the coming months.

M.R.: I heard rumors, that you are working again with Steve Perry. What else are you working at besides
mtunz?

R.S.C.: Well, there is some special stuff going on in my life right now but I cannot give you details right now. But I am working with many of the guys who were in the ALAN PARSONS PROJECT BAND and this is amazing indeed. These guys are my own heroes and now they are working with me. For me personally, Ian Bairnson has always been the best melodic guitarist in the world and he is my new partner and friend. Just does not get any better than Ian B for me! Just my favourite all time musician and how lucky I am to now be working with him. And what a cool dude he is, with a small ego but with a unique approach to playing guitar. He is the best.

M.R.: I think, any live activities won't be able at the moment, are they? Or do you play some gigs in the near future? Do you even plan to play gigs any more? Because mostly they are very expensive.

R.S.C.: MTUNZ.COM has already gotten some amazing support from my many friends who worked for, or knew the Beatles. Pete Best (and his brother Roag) was in the Beatles before Ringo, Tony Bramwell ran APPLE and he is so supportive of MTUNZ. Frieda Kelly ran the Beatles Fan club and Mike McCartney is an old friend of mine from my days in Liverpool (Liverpool Express). Many people do not know that the Liverpool Express song YOU ARE MY LOVE is one of Paul's favorite songs and that means a lot to me as he is another one of my own heroes. Plus my first band was the MERSEYBEATS and they all knew the BEATLES which is where the connection came from. And so we are going to have some exciting concerts to help launch MTUNZ.COM with some fantastic musicians offering to come on to my team to help with the launch. A concert in MALIBU, CALIFORNIA followed by a concert at the CAVERN CLUB IN LIVERPOOL.

These are great news, aren’t they? So come on dudes. Give MTUNZ.COM the chance, stop all these File Sharing Sites and enjoy music as it was meant to be: Legal! Or do you really want that such great artists will work at McDonalds? WE WILL SUPPORT MTUNZ.COM!!!!