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Posted by: Pedja Simovic Jan 31 2009, 05:52 PM

Hello GMC,

I just received an email from owner of truthinmusic website. I finished closed second and don't yet know who won it. Around 20th of January I had 250 votes ahead of 2nd placed contestant and frankly I don't know what happened within those 10 days. Here is email I got from owner :

Hello Pedja
it was a very close finish, but you came in a very respectable second against a top player...though you didn't win..you should be very proud. This still should be a big feather in your cap for the attention you received. Over 3,000 more people now know about Pedja Jazz guitarist, from Serbia.

Please send me all your contact information..address etc. so the John Coltrane 6 CD set can go out Monday to you.

All the best,

Chris


I have to add that I feel down now as this came as shock to me. Thank you all for voting and I am off to thank my friends from myspace and facebook as well.


Pedja

Posted by: Fsgdjv Jan 31 2009, 05:54 PM

Damn, if feels like if I had remembered to vote those days I forgot you could have won, but nevertheless, second place is great, and well. Congratulations, even though you didn't win, as it says there, more people know about you know and that's always good, right?

Second place is awesome though, congratulations.

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Jan 31 2009, 05:58 PM

Thanks man... I guess you are right...
I am not fighting for recognition nor anything like that. I got acclaimed at places where it mattered for me (London GI and Berklee in Boston)... Other than that I have been on TV's and Radio's in Serbia and satellite since I was 17-18 years old.
The point I am trying to make is, it doesn't console me that 3000 more people know about me

Thanks anyways for voting , that was really cool of you to do.

Posted by: enforcer Jan 31 2009, 06:02 PM

Bro, really I did what I could

It sucks to be 2nd this close...

Well congratz, maybe better next time...

Can

Posted by: Marek Rojewski Jan 31 2009, 06:04 PM

Congratulations for placing second.

Posted by: audiopaal Jan 31 2009, 06:12 PM

Congratulations on second place mate

Posted by: UncleSkillet Jan 31 2009, 06:17 PM

Sorry to hear that bro. I know how much you wanted to win. Keep you chin up and hold your head high. You are still 1st place here at GMC with us.

Posted by: Emir Hot Jan 31 2009, 06:24 PM

Second place is very good mate. I should have remembered to click 20 times a day Sorry

These competitions are about how many family members you have to click for you. I don't think those guys play better than you. We know who you are.

Well done

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Jan 31 2009, 06:42 PM

Thanks guys but I honestly don't know what to feel now. After 250 votes lead and people voting every day, I can just wonder how did I loose that lead. Did people really vote for me ? Or is owner of the site hiding something...
If people didnt vote for me , I accept not 2nd but last place - but I find that very hard to believe it. My friends and family from my town voted, my myspace and msn friends and even you guys from GMC voted. So there were votes in my favor every day one way or the other...
I think it has to do with the owner of the site. He is paying those prizes from his pocket. He obviously never organized something like this and was totally new to everything. Just think about how there wasn't thank you page after voting for 3 weeks or so into voting. Not even to mention voting statistics that show like on Guitar Idol etc.

Lots of suspicions , I even wonder if owner will pay anyone 1000$ , whoever won it ... He might send them all same email I got and claim somebody else won it That way he just needs to send 6 cd's to 6 people and he is all set ...


I was really thinking by reading your responses guys I would feel better, but honestly I am very upset and emotion right now, so I will take a brake today and cool down a bit if its possible.

Thank you all

Pedja

Posted by: Tolek Jan 31 2009, 06:45 PM

Even if you´re not satisfied with the 2nd place, we know that you are a great player. Congratulations anyway!

Posted by: skennington Jan 31 2009, 06:58 PM

I know it won't make you feel better Pedja, but congrat's anyway. You had nothing to loose here so remember that. Tbh, I can't help but to think those votes are skewed in some way or another. Maybe I'm wrong, but just a gut feeling....For what it's worth, I felt your entry Won!

Posted by: Emir Hot Jan 31 2009, 07:06 PM

Maybe it's true that the site owner knew who was the winner even at the start of the competition. Don't worry about that too much.

Posted by: fatb0t Jan 31 2009, 07:20 PM

It's a competition, what's the big deal? You're still a great player - why were you banking on winning?

Posted by: Marek Rojewski Jan 31 2009, 07:23 PM

You know 250 votes aren't much. You could vote more times on Yourself dedicating few hours/one day for that. This is the biggest drawback of these kind of internet voting..

Posted by: Emir Hot Jan 31 2009, 07:30 PM

That's why I never wanted to apply for Guitar Idol. When I won the Guitar Hero UK 2005 there was no public voting. 3 rounds playing in front of judges only and the final was live on stage with the audience but again only judges voted. That was much more fair than these family and friends oriented competitions.

Posted by: lcsdds Jan 31 2009, 07:42 PM

Hold your head up Pedja you are a great player. I never really liked the thought of music competitions. Music is such a subjective thing. If you are going to have a competition though it think what Emir said about only judges voting and not family and friends would be the fairest way to do it.

Posted by: Kuba Szafran Jan 31 2009, 10:16 PM

Congratulations Pedja !

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jan 31 2009, 11:33 PM

2nd place is I think great achievement for you Pedja, so you should be very proud I think. Congratulations, and wish better luck next time mate.

Posted by: Toni Suominen Jan 31 2009, 11:36 PM

Congrats Pedja, I'm sure you will win next time!

Posted by: ErikEklund Jan 31 2009, 11:40 PM

congrats to the second place, you are a great guitarist, that is what matters

Posted by: Canis Jan 31 2009, 11:40 PM

Congratulations with 2nd place ^^
I know I did my share of votes.. If there really was a winner, maybe he knew of a bigger source of votes? :ph43r:

Anyway, you're a great jazz player! As long as you keep making music, and stay as down-to-earth as we know you are, you'll always be the real winner in our eyes

I know that sounded cheesy, but it's true =)

Posted by: wrk Feb 1 2009, 12:37 AM

Hm .. i'm sorry Pedja, it seemed to be a sure win .. if this contest was real, 2nd place is of course a good result.

I guess you are maybe right with your doubts in this competition. The website and voting page was so much below todays standard, which was a bit weird.

btw .. shouldn't be the winner announced somewhere on the website ?

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Feb 1 2009, 01:15 AM

Thanks Tolek



Thanks Skennington... One day before competition ended I had 1000$ extra now I don't , so I kinda lost something there



Good question... I received messages from owner almost everyday until 25th saying I am in huge lead , that I shouldn't worry I am winning this, where can he make a payment etc - but on 30th I got surprising message saying I am still in the lead but this time its a close one, and then I got a message today around 6pm in Serbia which is 12 in the afternoon in USA stating that I finished 2nd... So something happened there, without prior explanations.
I was counting on those 1000$ 1 day before competition ended and everything change less than 24 hours to go - thats why I am bit suspicious thats all.
Overall competition was not run properly regardless of my current status - as nobody expect owner had insight into votes - so he could have made his mind any way he wanted etc.

Thanks anyways, good question



I never voted more than once myself and I was told from the beginning that one vote per IP address counts. So I don't know how you can get 250 votes in couple hours or a day. If you can I have to learn how man seriously




Thanks Monte... I am only feeling bad because of financial reward behind it. I don't feel need to compete with anybody out there but myself. Competition was good when I was 12 all the way to when I entered Berklee. From then on it became obvious what I need to do , how to organize my practice time and how to achieve all my goals.
So again, dissapointment is because of financial loss nothing more nothing less - as first prize gets 1000$ everybody else gets 6 cd's I do agree with you and Emir, panel of judges is definitely way to go like on proper auditions etc



Thanks Kuba



I don't agree with 2nd place being great achievement. I would feel that way if I entered some jazz competition at Thelonious Monk University for example. I feel rather down because I had 1000$ less than 24 hours before competition ended , and I lost under strange circumstances.





Thanks Toni for believing but I don't think I will be entering any competitions like this one in a while now



Thanks Eric, appreciate it man.

@ Canis

Thanks Canis. I know you voted a lot , I really appreciate it man. Sometimes all you can do is hope for the best but life is full of surprises like this one.

I needed those 1000$ not 1st prize but I guess this year will be year of sacrifices for me ...

Thanks buddy

@ wrk

Andy it seemed to be sure win to me as well. I could go on and post you messages I got from owner and you guys could see that something doesn't add up there , but I am not going to do that now ... Its over, I finished 2nd, its the same as finishing last (prize wise), I had a lead less than 24 hours before the end and I somehow lost it, voting system was not accurate from beginning as well as vote page , but thats the reality that I have to accept now and thats it.

I will get to your final mix and comments now and hopefully publish them all today during some time.

Thanks

Posted by: audiopaal Feb 1 2009, 02:45 AM

Second place or whatever place, you're always a fantastic player in my book
I've heard from your lessons and the solos you shared on your fusion collab, that you're a great, innovative, exciting and very skilled player!

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Feb 1 2009, 05:07 AM

Great!! Congrats Pedja!

Posted by: Velvet Roger Feb 1 2009, 08:31 AM

Pedja congrats on the 2nd place . You are an absolutely awesome guitar player and keep that in mind (as that will solve all the hard feelings in the end )

Posted by: Marek Rojewski Feb 1 2009, 08:50 AM

Pedja, if You use phone modem, not a "stable connection" ( don't know proper word ) each time You connect and disconnect ( with the Internet ) You have a different ip adress. That is at least how it was few years ago, I don't think anything changed since than. Of course almost no one I know use such old way of connecting, but that doesn't mean to much.

EDIT: I googled "changing i.p. adress" and there are many matches, so there surely are ways of changing Your ip.

Posted by: wrk Feb 1 2009, 09:01 AM

Actually this why everyone who wants to vote should at least create a user account. To create endless accounts and endless email address is just more work and it would limit multiple voting a bit. Now that a lot of people connect with mobile phones to the internet, dynamic ip addresses are become popular again .. like in the dial up modem time as you said.

Posted by: Muris Varajic Feb 1 2009, 12:04 PM

Congrats Pedja, 2nd place is also great, well done!

Posted by: berko Feb 1 2009, 12:20 PM

What Marek said about the modem connection and a new ip adress sorted out for your computer each time you log in is sad but true. Other than that I voted nearly every day till the 30th of January. Sometime from more ip addresses. The weird thing is that even when randomly I hit the vote submission button from the same ip adress it always thanked me for submitting my vote but then again you can't be sure whether that counted or not. It really was a poorly designed site. I couldn't seem to find the winner either, not statistics, no user accounts, not even an email address required.

I'm aware that among 6 participants a 2nd place is not that much especially with no 1k$. I don't know how much you know about the background or the chief organizer. I don't think it would be a good idea to rant about it because such people could easily disappear without a trace. Maybe if the winner is not announced on the site (and btw the voting is still ON and you can even submit votes!!!) then you can maybe search all participants and ask about their experience about the contest. Other than that I really don't understand why the do such things especially with such a genre and with such motto: "truth in music".

But I would like to congratulate as well because I liked to listen to your impro in the vid

berko

Posted by: Paiva Feb 1 2009, 12:20 PM

Congratz Pedja if they did cheat then they don't deserve a great player like you to be in their competition!

Posted by: jdriver Feb 1 2009, 05:41 PM

It sounds very suspicious to me also. I thought you were way ahead with all our voting. I voted pretty much every day.

I just checked the site, it's still showing Pedja's huge lead, and does not announce the winner. The one in second place, Theo, I think he's awful.

I sent an email to them and complained.

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Feb 1 2009, 11:43 PM

Sorry to hear it Pedja. Can something be done, like complaining?

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Feb 2 2009, 01:47 PM

Thanks for all your support guys.
You all did best you could but something obviously didn't work out in the end.
I took a day off to get it all out of my head so now I am back recharged and this is all water under the bridge now

Posted by: David Wallimann Feb 2 2009, 02:00 PM

Congrats Pedja, that's great!
I don't understand why you feel down though?

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Feb 2 2009, 02:57 PM

10 days before competition ended I had more then 250 votes in the lead. Last day of the competition I was in a lead. Somehow I managed to loose it at the end !
1000 $ prize would help me a lot too

Posted by: David Wallimann Feb 2 2009, 03:06 PM

Ah I understand...
Keeps your heads up though man, something good will come up, like maybe a new bit check from your great forum participation!

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Feb 2 2009, 03:54 PM

Ha, thanks David but I am not so confident about that buddy

Posted by: Jose Mena Feb 2 2009, 04:00 PM

Great Pedja, although 1st place would have been better, you still were recognized for your skills, haven't heard the other guitar player, but the problem with these contests is that it is based on voting, I really hope the guy that won really plays.

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Feb 2 2009, 06:47 PM

Thanks Jose. I enjoy talking to you today in chat As far as this go, it is all water under the bridge for me , don't want to think back of it

Posted by: Sinisa Cekic Feb 3 2009, 06:16 PM

Sad vidoh ovo ...?!?!..muvachina na sve strane jbg

Posted by: Vasilije Vukmirovic Feb 3 2009, 06:22 PM

Congratulations!

This reminds me of elections in Serbia back in 90's

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Feb 3 2009, 11:07 PM

Sta da ti kazem, bas je bezveze ispalo na kraju



Yeah , me too , tough Americans seem to know how to steal votes better