Fastmusic Speaks Up

I had a chance to talk to Neal of the fastmusic network yesterday, and we talked a bit about what you guys were talking about the other day. He was pretty pissed off at me, but I guess he understands that I have an obligation to post stuff, even if it affects a friend. Turns out, this is an issue they have been aware of, and they've done something rather drastic about it. Click below to read his official statement.

Fastmusic Online Store?
The story of Fastmusic, our online store, and the future direction of the
Network

Since we started this "thing," as people have often called us, we've always beenmisunderstood.In Sept '97, we launched a resource site. Less than a year later,we started the label by signing the Frownies, and in Nov '98 the online store
was launched. Things went well for the following 1? years. Then as the label
and store grew, we realized we were too small to do it all. So we decided to
get an indie distro to pack and shipped. Now, here's where things went wrong
(April 2000). The distro was apparently screwing everyone, and was put on hold
by every label, including us! So, they couldn't fill the orders, we got ripped
off and lost thousands, and had to hire a programmer re-write our system to
deal with the mess. And what a mess it was.

So, the to the question is no. Fastmusic will no longer be an online store for
punk-related stuff. We have decided to only sell what is on our label and a fewother select items. But, there's another store, Interpunk, who has a great punkstore. If you want to support the network, first come to Fastmusic, and then goto
Interpunk. They have a lot in stock and the cash to pre-order items.

People with outstanding Fastmusic orders: we're asking you to work with us in
order to get through this hard time, and ultimately get your items to you.
We're doing the best we can (all 1-4 of us depending on the day), and will do
everything we can to make up for any inconvenience. We're not out to screw you;we're just in a really bad spot.

The Future remains to be seen.

So what are we now? We're a label, and a community. We do everything we can to
support small and large bands in any way we can- including free hosting. We
have a lot of people willing to help (if you're one of them, I'm sorry about
this, but I'm swamped).

The bottom line is that we're going to focus our energy into the growing networkand the record label. We're adding more to the network in place of the store,
as you will notice within the next few days. You can still search on bands, getinformation, and even buy them through Interpunk, but we will not be filling
new orders anymore. We will however, sell our own label items including shirts
and CDs that we manufacture ourselves.

In order for us to keep going, we need your support…. tell your friends about
us again, tell them to visit the site and order from Interpunk. Consider buyingthe Disarming Violence- it's for a good cause. Tell your friends to check out
the site every day and see what's new. Support what could be the first time
that punkers could come together through the Internet. We've all heard whispersof Unity, and what difference it could make. if we only we didn't fight. Well,
maybe through this community, we can use the hope of Unity and perhaps make
some sort of difference; even if it's just a link.