Email, Email:
If you'd like to have your album reviewed by Shipwreck Island Studios.com simply send an email to either Tony or Jere. Both read a 100% of their emails and respond to as many as they can. Also if you have a question, comment, or news, feel free to email the guys as well.
› Tony: tkukoc@shipwreckislandstudios.com › Jere: rockdawg@shipwreckislandstudios.com
What Do We Do?
Help Get The Word Out:
Our main goal is to support music, whether it's your local hometown band or an upcoming band that was signed to a major label. In a nutshell if we like the music, we'll post about it. Now it's been said in the past, "But there's not a lot of bad music on your website." That's because most of the material we consider to be a waste of time doesn't need to be posted. At the end of the year we do our Best Of Awards which has tons of information as to what we found was the best but also what we found to be the worst of the year. So eventually yes we'll talk about the bad stuff. We can't cover everything so if we do missing something we are sorry about that. But you can always email us and let us know what bands your listening to and we'll give them a listen. But our primary goal is just to have fun, support music as well as report other news that is relevant to our world.
Who Are We?
A Crew Of 2:
Tony (Age 28) (Missouri): A college graduate with degrees in Computer Science and Management. Tony found his love for music while in his High School band. In the summer of 99 he was introduced to the the broader side of music via the internet. From there he went on to write and release his own music. In 2005 an EP entitled Exit 12 was released under the band name ForeLife. Was it released on a major label? Not at all, this release was done by Tony himself and sold online at the Official ForeLife Website over the summer of 2005. Will more material be released? As of April 2006, Tony has written 6 additional tracks and is looking to release a full length album this year. What type of music is this? Exit 12 was a combination of Rock and Effects, all instrumental. The new full length album is in a similar direction at times, but overall will be completely different and according to Tony will be more based toward a movie soundtrack. So if your into instrumental material and are into movie scores this will be right up your alley. What are Tony's favorite bands? Tony enjoys listening to all types of music, though his favorite bands/artists include: John Waite, FireHouse, Acceptance, Eddie Money, Harem Scarem and many more. What are Tony's primary roles at The Island? Editor, Reviewer, Interviewer, News Finder/Writer, Graphic Designer, Producer & Co-Owner. All news updates are done by Tony, but meetings are held before each update to decide what will be added.
Jere (Age 27) (Michigan): Music is an important part of Jere's life but not his true passion. Jere found his true passion while in High School. While others were scrambling for their cameras to capture their special moments Jere truly was the camera. Every school event weather it be prom or a football game, Jere could be found with camera in hand. The mix of music and photography took full swing in the summer of 2003 when Cadott, WI came a calling. Jere along with Tony made the two hour trip to Cadott where they were treated to the sounds of FireHouse & Sammy Hagar. That was the defining moment as Jere was able to snap pictures of CJ Snare and other members of FireHouse. Soon after, Tony & Jere agreed that a website would be perfect to share the photo's and experiences they had during that summer. When Jere isn't working on The Island he can be found working on Balanced Karma Photography, his personal website which showcases his photography. If your a Harem Scarem fan then you've surely run into Jere on the Official Harem Scarem Forum as he's currently one of the mods. What are Jere's favorite bands? Jere enjoys listening to Guns N' Roses, Cinderella, Van Halen, FireHouse, AC/DC, Audioslave, Harem Scarem and many more. What are Jere's primary roles at The Island? Head Photographer, Reviewer, Interviewer, News Finder & Co-Owner.
Shipwreck Island Studios (Age 6): The Island has been in existence for the past 6 years. In that time we have grown in popularity a 100 times over. When launched in the summer of 2002 The Island saw 300 to 500 hits a month. But in January 2003 with the release of their Best Of Awards the site hits tripled. Within the first hour of the release the website went down and Tony decided to officially move The Island to a dot com. Every year The Island gets bigger and bigger, 2004 saw a few thousand hits a month where 2005 saw a few tens of thousands a month. 2006 opened with a major bang has over 120,000 people logged on to view the Best Of 2005 Awards. The numbers don't lie, The Island is growing at a rapid pace. Only time will tell what happens next, but we'll keep on keepin' on!
FAQ's?
Are We A Real Music Studio?:
In the sense of the word no, we don't have a ton of fancy equipment to release tons of music. The studio part of the name simply means the people's place. The only material released from The Island would be Tony's music. All music is recorded at his home. We pride ourselves on not selling out like other websites out there. Too many so called "Big Gun Sites" feel they have the upper-hand and know it all. Sadly they know very little because the people running them are being paid by a label to run their site. Now it's fine to be paid for your work but most of these websites aren't telling the truth and are simply being influenced by the people who pay them. We are not paid here at The Island, this site is a labor of love. Sometime down the road we may end up being paid for what we do but even at that point we will never allow someone outside tell us how to think about the music we like. We have many friends in the music business such as artists, suppliers and producers. There's no outside influences on us, all of our reviews are exactly how we feel about the material/artist. Hopefully other sites will follow this trend and stop lying to music fans around the world, but we aren't holding our breath.
So If There's No Pay, How Does The Site Continue?:
The Island is funded by Tony, everything is out of pocket. At some point additional funds could come from donations and or payment for additional website features. Any money that is donated simply goes to continue the website and helps pay for bandwidth, travel to concerts, etc.
Are You Telling The Truth About Your Ages?:
We have a real passion for music and weather people want to believe who we are, our information and or our opinions is a choice they will have to make. We are in fact in our 20's and are having a blast running a website such as this. "If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything."- Dr. Emmett Brown (Back To The Future)
Labels & RIAA?
Our Take On MP3 Downloading & The Music Industry:
A lot of amazing talent is being passed up these days and it's not getting any easier for the artists with all the lies being put forth by both the RIAA & Labels. Their leading most consumers to believe that the internet is a bad place to be and no good can come from it. Not to mention the fact that they blame MP3 downloading for their low amount of record sales. Fact is the only people seeing a loss when it comes to MP3 downloading are the indie artists and those artists who have their own labels and home studios (basically releasing material on their own but still tied to a major label). We aren't saying downloading MP3's should be done, we're sure there's some small bit of truth to their information that it hurts sales, but they are going to the extreme most of the time. The reason why album sales are down: 1. The labels aren't putting out enough albums. They only print so many of each disc and aren't shipping them to enough places. 2. The purchasers that are doing the buying weather it be at your local Wal-Mart or Sam Goody are not being informed of the new material so they basically pick whatever the label has listed, and then again sometimes not.