My MusicPro Insurance Claim

I’ll give the link again later, but feel free to skip this post and instead spend the time setting up your Music Pro Insurance.

It’s about $12/month for $10,000 worth of stuff.

Skeptical? Here’s exactly how my claim went.

My Marcus Miller Fender Jazz bass got stolen out of a van that broken into.  Inside the case of the bass was two 21 foot bass monster cables.

The bass and the cables were listed on my policy.

A police report was filed for the van break-in and the theft (you must file a police report if your stuff gets stolen).

I was actually out of town when the theft happened so it was a pal of mine doing all the work with the po-po.

The day after the break-in my pal sent me a picture of the Citizen’s Information Notice…one piece of paper from the cop with a bunch of info on it including the official report #.

See, when the police come and take down all the info, the actual full report itself isn’t  available to get a copy of until 72 hours later.

But once I had the Citizen’s Info Notice, that’s all Music Pro needs in order to get things going.

I emailed Music Pro about what happened and a guy named Mark called me the same day.  I missed his call and we spent the next 5 days playing phone tag. Yuck.

We finally connected on the phone. Mark is a nice guy, but Mark is not a music guy.  He works for the parent insurance group that Music Pro is owned by.

I explained everything to him, and went through the stolen gear that was insured through the policy.  He set the wheels in motion and said my claim would be reviewed in the next couple days.

Sure enough, a couple days later I got an email saying a check was going in the mail for me in the amount of….ha, I’m not gonna tell you that.

BUT, the amount was less than it was supposed be.

What had happened was two things that caused confusion ….1) The Marcus Miller Jazz bass stopped being manufactured in 2014…2) There were still companies (falsely) advertising that they had it at a drastically reduced price…and Music Pro was using this price as the replacement value.

So I got on the phone with Fender customer relations and had them send Music Pro an email outlining these details along with the regular price that the bass was sold for when it stopped being manufactured in 2014.

Once my man Mark received this email he had my claim reviewed and the additional funds added to the check.

I will have the check tomorrow and my stuff got stolen 12 days ago.  

That’s pretty legit.

All in all , over the 12 days I talked to my main man Mark twice, emailed with him four times, talked with Fender once and emailed with Fender once.

Pretty freaking easy.  And no one was a jerk.


If you are at all serious about music, go get gear insurance.

If you don’t, you are an idiot.

If you don’t, you are not serious about music.

And you’re serious about music. Go.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Light In Your Eyes

If you can’t see the light, the light can’t see you and neither can anyone else. 

The eyes are the window to the soul, and the soul is the connecting piece.

Now hopefully the lights are hung in such a way that you’re not getting annoyingly blinded.  But at least if you are, you know the people can see you.

The spotlight operator can make or break a moment. (so tip him)

But as it pertains to you…

Use the light (and dark) to your advantage, on purpose. 

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Satisfy The People Accordingly

Check out our new awesome album!!!…for the fans.  Fans want to HEAR (not buy) the entire album…the super fans (don’t want to buy the album) want to buy the Super Deluxe VIP Limited Edition Package.

Check out our new awesome song!!!…for the people.  Don’t point the masses to your album, that’s too much.  Point them to the one song, the smash.  And it better be a smash…and the artwork, picture, colors, the words used in the FB post, tweet, snap better be on point.

Go and satisfy the people accordingly.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

I’ve Cracked The Rock Star Code

It came to me. The answer…

I wrote the title of the post and had the juicy info sitting pretty in my smart smart brain…so I paused and took a proud stroll to the kitchen to get a celebratory La Criox, basking in THE knowledge. 

As I cracked open the peach-pear La Croix, I got a text.  I told myself I would remember the ANSWER while opening and replying to the text.  Mission accomplished, ain’t no thang.

After leaving the kitchen I got my shoe caught on the head of a nail just baaaaarely sticking up out of the hardwood floor.  This was a safety hazard, so I busted out the nail-set and hammer.  Disaster avoided, and the all wisdom of the entertainment universe was still held tight in my beautiful mind.

I made it back into my office…here we go, in one fell swoop I’m going to make artists become the stars they’d always hoped to be. 

There was my black chair, the black desk, my silver Mac.

I sat down, opened up the computer, and…

I forgot the answer.

I forgot it.

Sorry everyone.

Guess I should have written down my great ideas when I had them.


I feel like there’s a lesson in there somewhere.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

The Money Situation

The thing everyone is waiting for someone else to bring up…

The money situation.

It could be per an existing contract, a future contract, a dinner tab, a percentage split, gig pay, per diem, royalty splits, etc, etc.

There is fear about talking about biz money with the other people involved…which is a perfect opportunity for you to be the one who steps up and talks about money with the other people involved.

p.s. A reminder…discussing the money situation before starting the project is always the best way.  Discussing it during or after the project is better than not at all (duh), but it gets a lot messier.



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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Starting With A Good Thing

Good graphics and photos and logos don’t change the actual thing. 

They change what someone thinks about the thing…which then changes has the power to change the perceived value, effectiveness, meaningfulness and desired-ness of the thing. 

But the thing itself…is just that.

Make sure you start with a good, specific, meaning-filled thing…the graphics and photos and logos are going to turn out much better that way.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com