Jack Of Arts

October 26, 2013 – Saturday, 10 AM - Snail Records, Nashville TN

"So… they refused, huh? Both of them?" Tayaw says, still feeling devastated at the news he just received.

"Yeah… I'm sorry Isaac." Cody says.

Tayaw, after he received a call earlier in the morning from Cody bearing bad news, he immediately took the first flight from Bismark, North Dakota to Nashville.

"What exactly did they say?" Tayaw asks.

"It's best if you see the letters." 

/ Mr. Yawat. We regret to inform you that your submissions do not meet the…/

/ Mr. Yawat. We regret to reject your application for the following awards…. Your songs and songwriting do not have enough…/

Tayaw after only a few seconds, finishes reading the letters.

"Heh… f*ckin really? I'm not saying I am entitled to win awards, but I know I'm good enough to at least compete..." Tayaw says in barely suppressed anger.

"I know. It didn't even make the voting process. I'm sorry. If you were on a major label, this would not have happened." Cody says.

"No. Not your fault. I mean, Strawberry Front made it in both. What I'm calling bullshit on is that their reason. Really? Is it because I'm not an American? Or they think that I'm not a Christian basing on my nationality?" Tayaw says.

"What? I don't remember reading that..." Cody says in surprise.

"Here's what CMA said, right?

'While you have critically acclaimed songs adapting the genre, we cannot see enough cultural and religious inspirations of what we consider Country Music should express.' 

"Maybe because you're from around here, Cody, that you don't see it and might have just glossed it over as some meaningless excuse. But as an outsider, it's speaks differently to me." Tayaw says. 

"Are you saying it's discrimination?" Cody cannot believe it.

"They didn't write it, but that's what I'm surmising." Tayaw says. 

"…" Cody is speechless before "sigh" taking a deep breath.

"No… I don't think that's the case. That's just an excuse they used. Nashville, CMA, and ACM is much more progressive than you think." Cody says.

"If it's not discrimination, then what is it? Is it because I don't sing about beer, tractors, and pick-up trucks?" Tayaw says, frustrated.

"Heh… that's funny. But no. Those songs do get nominated but they never win." Cody says.

"Then I should have sang about God? Are they using my religion against me? Can't they see how many ungodly country songs are out there?" Tayaw asks.

"Not that either. Country singers often get in trouble from religious groups, so you can avoid singing about our God as much as you like…" Cody says. 

"Then what's CMA's reason? At least ACM said 'Your music and songwriting does not present impact and innovation to country music.', which sounds valid. But that's bullshit too.

"Even though I based my music on outlaw country, blues, and bluegrass, they still sound way modern compared to old songs.

"It's these recent country songs instead that is destroying country. Except for a few innovators, the most are making country music sound like inferior and outdated version of pop." Tayaw rants. 

"Okay…" Cody finally arranges his thoughts. "Here's my take. Like I said, I think those are just excuses. In fact, I don't even think ACM and CMA are entirely at fault here." Cody says.

"How do you figure? I've heard that there is plenty of politics and bribing going around these awards." Tayaw asks.

"There are, but in the end of the day, it's just gaining small advantages. In general, these organizations are mostly objective. The thing here is that your application for awards didn't even make it to the voting process. The problem lies in the selection committees of ACM and CMA; they choose which applications make it to consideration of the organization members." Cody says. 

"So… Some, or a few people actually just want to prevent me from even competing by bribing the selection committee?" Tayaw nods in realization.

"It happened before when the major labels had monopoly." Cody says.

"BUT… why? If it's not discrimination, why don't they let me in?" Tayaw asks.

"They're scared…" Cody says.

"What?" Tayaw is stunned.

"They're scared. Look. After your performance at the Grand Country Opera last …"

"April."

"Right, April. Since April, you are exposed to more country music fans around the country. You're no longer just in the awareness of country indie fans, or the younger fans who got to know you through the internet. People from all ages now know you." Cody explains.

'Was that why I got to a billion View Points so fast?' Tayaw considers his miscalculation. 

"Wait…" Tayaw then realizes something.

"When is the announcement for the nominations?" Tayaw asks.

"Tonight." Cody says bitterly, knowing what Tayaw is thinking.

"When's the award ceremony?" Tayaw asks again.

"Two weeks later. CMAs on the Saturday and ACMs on the Sunday." Cody says.

"F*ckin hell. By sending the letters late, they even made sure to not even give me time to re-apply . What the f*ck." Tayaw is feeling very wronged, for the first time in a long time.

"Yeah… Again. I'm sorry. Had you signed in a major label, this wouldn't have happened." Cody says, guiltily.

"That might be the case, but this still isn't right. It's not your fault. I mean, Strawberry Front wasn't rejected right?" Tayaw asks.

"No." Cody says.

"It's me specifically they're targeting, then." Tayaw sighs deeply, calming down.

"Come to think of it… Am I that good an artist? That they're scared?" Tayaw chuckles.

"Might be." Cody is relieved that Tayaw is not venting to him. 

"F*ck… Hey…" Tayaw suddenly thinks of something.

"What?" Cody asks, anxious at the face that Tayaw is making.

"Kick me out of Snail Records." Tayaw says.

"WHAT?!" Cody is shocked. 

"You heard me clearly." Tayaw says. 

"Damn... What are you planning to do?" Cody asks, figuring out that Tayaw cannot simply suggest such a thing without a reason.

"I'm gonna do something crazy. I'm gonna stir the pot." Tayaw says.

"Wait… No. No no no no no... It might affect my label. It might affect Strawberry Front!" Cody does not even want to hear Tayaw's plan.

"Look, once the nominations are announced tonight, they can't take off Strawberry Front unless they do something criminal or racist, right? Didn't you also say that it's not the ACMs and CMAs fault?" Tayaw says.

"Yes… and yes…" Cody says with a wince.

"And Strawberry Front does not have a bad history right? I'm betting you also checked the history of their social media before signing them?" Tayaw asks.

"They're clean." Cody nods.

"Then they'll be fine." Tayaw says. 

"I'm not sure about this. What exactly are you gonna do?" Cody asks.

"I'm gonna post these letters on my social media." Tayaw reveals.

"WHAT?!" Cody is scared just thinking about the consequences.

"You'll implicate us! Whoever did this to you, they might turn to us! The ACM and CMA might kick us out of their organizations!" Cody says.

"That's why I'm telling you to announce that kicked me out of the label. Announce it tomorrow." Tayaw says.

"No. It's too risky." Cody refuses.

"I can't just take it lying down, Cody. Just announce it, but don't actually kick me out. I still have songs for your artists." Tayaw says.

Cody is starting to feel annoyed and frustrated at Tayaw.

"I might as well just kick you out for real. It's in our contract that if you do something that'll f.u.c.k the label, you're out. The breach of contract fees you'll give me might be barely enough to repair the damage you're going to do." Cody cannot think of anything else to stop Tayaw. 

"Sure… Go ahead. I'm not doing anything illegal. I'm pretty sure the bylaws of CMA or ACM don't forbid posting nomination letters, or else I wouldn't have seen some country singers post theirs in their social media." Tayaw says, basing on what he has seen in his previous life.

"Those are nomination letters. The rejection letters though… no one shares them. There might be a rule against it." Cody shakes his head.

"That's because it's an embarrassing thing to do for artists and their labels, not because it's in the rules. I bet your a.s.s that." Tayaw says, bullshitting.

Cody is cornered and gives up reasoning with Tayaw. 

"I can't stop you from doing this, huh?" Cody says. 

"No." Tayaw shrugs.

"Fine... FINE! I'll f.u.c.kin push you under the bus! But if that's not enough, and we are still implicated, I'm going to kick you out for real and sue you for damages." Cody finally decides.

"Good decision, Cody... But I hope this won't end up to a bad enough result that we resort to lawsuits. Suing me is going to be very expensive. I can spend three Snail Records worth of money just for lawyers." Tayaw says casually, but this threat sends chills up Cody's spine.

"I knew it. I f.u.c.kin' knew it. The deal was too good to be true. Are you sure you're not the devil in 'The Devil's Suit and Tie'?" Cody says. 

"I'm not that bad." Tayaw smirks at the reference. 

~

11 PM - Bismarck, North Dakota

Tayaw is now back in North Dakota, lounging in his camper van, having just finished his show in the city. Instead of typing down codes for the game engine, he is busy scrolling through social media. 

|~CountryMusicAssociation √ ~ Congratulations to all the nominees! To all the country fans, please tune in to NBC on November 9, 7PM Pacific Time and join us in our celebration.|

|~AcademyOfCountryMusic √ ~ Congratulations to all the ACM award nominees! Please join us on November 10, 7PM Pacific time at the ABC network. 

"Celebration huh... Hehehehhh. Not so fast." Tayaw giggles as he starts typing. 

| ~isaacyawat √ ~ 'Mr. Isaac Yawat, We regret to inform you that your application for the following awards is denied for the voting process. Your submissions do not meet our requirements. While you have critically acclaimed songs adapting the genre, we cannot see enough cultural and religious inspirations of what we expect Country Music should express… Signed, [Name Redacted]

Head of Selection Committee,

Country Music Association|

| ~isaacyawat √ ~ @CountryMusicAssociation Thank you for making me realize my flaws. I hope that next time, I can write songs that reflect the values of Country music fans. |

| ~isaacyawat √ ~ ' Mr. Isaac Yawat, We regret to reject your application for the following awards. From what we have seen from your submitted body of work, we have concluded that they do not present enough impact and innovation that our organization expect from the candidates of the awards you have applied for….

Signed, [Name Redacted]

Head of Selection Committee

Academy of Country Music |

|~isaacyawat √ ~ @AcademyOfCountryMusic Thank you for giving me this lesson. I will work hard, study more, and produce more to make novel songs. |

|~snailrecords √ ~ The Snail Records music label does not reflect the opinions of its artists. We will immediately call for an internal investigation on how to deal with the current situation and hope to reach a satisfying conclusion to all parties involved. Thank you very much.| 

|~tldGrimmauld √ ~ @AcademyOfCountryMusic @CountryMusicAssociation You finally had a chance to nominate a deserving winner and you've wasted it! As a country fan, I am disappointed.|

|~tldGrimmauld √ ~ @isaacyawat Buddy. Don't let these jokers let you down. It's the country fans that you should please and not these mobsters of the music business. I'm enjoying listening to '19', and it's probably better than most of these songs nominated. Keep doing you, buddy.|

"AND SO IT BEGINS…" Tayaw theatrically declares to his empty hotel room with a shit eating grin on his face.