Dcodr

Unfortunately very few musicians get their gear back. In fact of all the musicians who filed a Stolen Instrument Report through our Stolen Instrument Database http://www.musicpage.com/sid not a single one has reported their gear returned. That said we can only speak to the stolen instruments filed on musicpage. One note id like to add, since it is tax time, if you have any gear stolen and pay to replace it out of your pocket - there is a good chance you can deduct that as a expense on your tax return. Of course you have to be a musician who has been paid at some point to qualify as a "pro musician." But if you drop a few hundred or thousand on a replacement instrument, being able to write off the expense can make a big different on your tax return. Every little bit helps!

Unfortunately it is.

When this subject comes up at music conferences i speak at, I always advise artists to get soundscan credit for the CD's they sell. Last time i checked over 70% of all independent music (not including digital sales) are sold at the artist's shows, with 87% being sold in the 15 minutes following an artist's set. I used to recommend a company called Stretch the Skies which allowed artists to fill out a tally sheet then have the venue manager sign to confirm. The artist then faxed the form to Stretch the Skies by midnight each Wednesday. They charged you 10¢ per cd (billed) but would then report your CD sales to Soundscan. Its not a requirement by any means, but most people who work in the industry wont take your word for it when you say you sold X number of CD's since artists sometimes exaggerate. I know that Indie Hit Maker is now offering the same reporting service but must confess im not sure what they charge. If your looking for what I call "Under the surface" promotion, reporting your CD sales is crucial.

Man this is a long list of stolen instruments. Waay too long! While I hope no-one needs it, I added a free stolen instrument database (S.I.D.) to Musicpage. Like Screaming's site, its totally free to submit a report on your stolen gear, but SID is a little more robust. If you file a stolen instrument report, S.I.D. creates a custom page with the specs on your stolen gear. The page includes all the details: where it was stolen from, serial number, color, manufacturer, model number, finish, your contact and reward info along with photos. The page will stay up on S.I.D. forever, unless you pull it down (hopefully after recovering your gear). After you create your report, you will have a link that you can email to people, post of your website, twitter, facebook, etc. The link makes it easier for you to spread the word and give people so they can access your gear's details. You can check out an example of a S.I.D. report here. We even generate a email alias that redirects messages to your actual email without displaying it in the SID report. If you are thinking about buying any used gear, you can search SID by serial number, manufacturer, date or location stolen, etc here https://www.musicpage.com/pages/sid I really hope no one has a need to file a report. But if you do, I hope SID helps. [ATTACH=CONFIG]340535[/ATTACH]

Looks like there hasnt been a post here in a while - which is a good thing. But in case anyone else has any gear jacked, i wanted to et you know about another resource. Its the Stolen Instrument Database aka S.I.D. Its free to create a stolen instrument report. You can add photos, a description and your contact info. Each report gets its own page you can link to with all your instrument's info. You can also search the data base by serial number, date of the theft, location, etc for free at https://www.musicpage.com/sid I hope no one has to use it. But the last band i managed had $40,000 worth of gear jacked. My hope is this database can be used to help with recovery and to prevent future sales of stolen instruments by making it free and easy to search a serial number in a national database.