Monthly Archives: April 2007

Update on BMG Music

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(This is a follow-up to my April 7th warning of a potential BMG Music Service scam.)

On 9 Apr 2007 20:10:45 EST, cs1@bmgmusicservice.com wrote:

To: Travis Seitler

We received your inquiry regarding the Stelk class action settlement email you received.

We hope you’ll take advantage of placing your settlement order online by clicking on the link in the email. If you have any problems placing your order please contact us via email at cs@bmgms.com.

Thank you.

Your Friends at
BMG Music Service

I looked at the headers, and not only did this e-mail originate from a Random House server (BMG and Random House are both part of the Bertelsmann-Media Worldwide network), but both e-mail address domains (bmgmusicservice.com and bmgms.com) are administered by Random House servers.

So strange as it seems, this one is actually legit. Well, I should say the original e-mail came with the approval of a Bertelsmann company. I can’t shake the feeling that the whole “buy online from CDLounge.com” thing is an effort to transfer your membership from BMG to CDLounge for some shady legal reason (avoiding further settlements?). Call me paranoid, but I’m going to use the PDF Settlement Voucher instead (login required).

BTW, notice how this e-mail reply didn’t address any specific concerns? They just made it sound like I couldn’t figure out how to place an order online. (Their own records would show I do know this, but I suppose that would require this particular group of companies to actually know what they’re doing.) With all the ways that this settlement’s execution is being botched up, the folks at BMG/Columbia House are losing major emotional capital at a time when they desperately needed to raise it.

“He died at his storyboard.”

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Congratulations to Johnny Hart (B.C., The Wizard of Id), who saw his risen Savior this Easter. He was certainly one who strove to honor the Lord in his work (not merely in spite of it, as many of us do).

Mr. Hart inspired me in my childhood years, providing an example of what could be done by an artist who loved Jesus; showing us how to serve “in the world” while remaining a faithful witness. I hope that those who follow will live up to his legacy, and continue in it for future generations.

Faith To Be Strong

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Don’t you love it when you listen to a song and it brilliantly captures exactly how you’re feeling at that particular moment? I just had that experience with a song from a new-to-me album I’ve wanted for years, but didn’t have a sufficient excuse to buy until I had money to burn on an iTunes gift card I got for Christmas.

This is not another song about the mountains, except about how hard they are to move. Have you ever stood before them like a mustard seed who’s waiting for some proof? I say faith is a burden: it’s a weight to bear; it’s brave and bittersweet, and hope is hard to hold to. Lord, I believe, only help my unbelief till there’s no more faith; no more hope. I’ll see your face and Lord, I’ll know—I’ll sing your praise and let them go—’cause only love remains.

— Andrew Peterson, No More Faith (Clear To Venus, 2001).

As wonderful as this life can be sometimes, nothing could possibly compare to the day that’s coming. More than anything, my heart cries out:

But, Lord, ‘tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait, the sky, not the grave, is our goal. Oh trump of the angel! Oh voice of the Lord! Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul! And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll; the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend…

And sometimes, I want that Day so badly that I can’t sing the last line: “Even so, it is well with my soul.” Because sometimes it’s not well with my soul “even so” (that is, even if the Lord doesn’t “haste the day”). I want sin to be gone; I want to stand face-to-face with my lord and my God in that city he’s been preparing. I’m weary of the pain and disappointment and disease and death that sin has subjected this world to. I want to see everything finally brought into utter subjection to Jesus, the Christ.

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.

— Isaiah 11:6-9 (ESV)

Yesterday we celebrated God’s triumph over Satan, Death and Hell. His victory was total, but it is not yet utter. And so we praise and work and wait and hope, until “…the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death” — 1 Corinthians 15:24-26 (ESV). But until then…

Give us faith to be strong, give us strength to be faithful; this life is not long, but it’s hard. Give us grace to go on, make us willing and able; Lord, give us faith to be strong.

— Andrew Peterson, Faith To Be Strong (Carried Along, 2000).

URGENT: BMG Music Service Scam?

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Yesterday I received the following e-mail claiming to be from BMG Music Service. The story is legit, and there really is a class-action suit like it says… but every link on the page goes to cdlounge.com, not bmgmusicservice.com:

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Now I was suspicious, especially since there’s nothing but a login box at cdlounge.com (Strike #1 in my book). So I started digging around a bit.

BMG Music Service’s FAQ section states:

Q. How do I know an email is from BMG Music Service?
A. BMG Music Service will send you emails about your orders and account as well as special sales and promotions, and these emails will come from bmgmusic@bmgmusicservice.com. Occasionally you may receive a fraudulent email that appears to be from BMG Music Service but is actually an attempt to trick you into providing personal information that can be used for identity theft. These emails are often called spoof or phishing emails.

BMG Music Service will never ask you to confirm account information like passwords or credit card information through email. If you receive suspicious email, please forward it to us immediately at emailspoof@bmgdirect.com and we will investigate it.

The e-mail I received says it came from cs@bmgmusic.com, so that’s Strike #2 (it should be coming from bmgmusic@bmgmusicservice.com, according to the FAQ). I looked at the questionable e-mail’s headers, and its Return-Path is soneill@103637-litigation1.yourmusic.com—Strike #3 (Yourmusic.com looks as if it may be owned by BMG Music Service, but like CDLounge.com, it could just as easily be a competitor).

I tried to forward the e-mail to emailspoof@bmgdirect.com like they said, but it failed in a “this account does not exist” sort of way. So I’ve forwarded the thing to bmgmusic@bmgmusicdirect.com now, and I’m waiting to hear from them. If this isn’t an instance of phishing, the folks at BMG really need to get their act together. You just don’t tell people that you’re one site on the logo (BMGMusicService.com) but link it to another site (CDLounge.com) and have your e-mail originate from yet another site (YourMusic.com). So it’s either really fishy or really tacky. :razz:

UPDATE: Looks like it’s legit. See my recent update for more details.

Derek Webb’s New Album Sounds Good

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Derek Webb's The Ringing BellI just wanted to post a really quick note about this one: Derek Webb’s new album, The Ringing Bell, is available for pre-order. Here’s an interesting bonus: if you order it at the album’s site then you’ll also get a 96-page graphic novel with the CD when it ships on May 1st, and you can instantly download the album in MP3 format (128kbps, but it’ll do while you wait for the album to ship).

And from the sound of the album (you can stream the whole album at theRingingBell.com) this is Derek’s most energetic album ever. That’s a good thing! My one gripe with the guy’s previous albums is that they’re just too darned slow! :lol:

Too bad I don’t have $20 to spend right now. ;)