Doing a google search on my name brings up all kinds of interesting things. Everything from on line stores to forums to reviews of my CDs. But at this time the majority of 'hits' from google are so called mp3 sites hawking my works. They go by such names as "mp3.sweetpreserve." "mp3here," "soundsfiesta," "tunerecord." etc. They all look very slick, professional, and legit, but none of them are. They are all pirate sites most probably run by the Russian mafia.

Not to say that all mp3 stores are pirates, there are real stores selling mp3s such as iTunes, emusic, napster, etc. So, how can one tell the difference between real mp3 stores and pirate ones? Well for one read the text they use to describe my music, most of it is gibberish but here's a great example of one of the more readable ones I found on one pirate site:

"There is so much to love about Loren Nerell, starting with incredible harmonies, songwriting chops and stellar stage presence. Mila Sparrow has compared writing for Loren Nerell's new album to that on 'Lilin Dewa' - but has declared the lyrics will be even more terrifying. While no new Loren Nerell album is in sight, the artist has been road testing new songs during 1996 tour in Asia. IT makes me wanna dance!"

Harmonies, songwriting and stellar stage presence are interesting, and I guess one could say my lyrics would be terrifying. Terrifyingly bad if I wrote any! And now you know why my creative output has been so low all these years. I've been stuck in Asia on an endless tour testing new material.

Another way to tell is the price, if a web site is selling a track for $.03 or a whole album for $.99 then there is something wrong. At those prices no one is making any money, most real mp3 stores sell tracks for no less then 75 cents or entire albums for $7.50. Having said this I have noticed that a lot of these pirate stores have stopped listing prices, so this might be harder to tell. My guess is these stores are really just fishing for your credit card number so be careful.

Another way to tell is, at least in my case is by the tracks they have to offer. Just about every fake store offers one track from my first album "Point of Arrival,' and two tracks from my second called "Book of Alchemy." The reason being back in the late 1990s I was one of many artists on mp3.com who offered free downloads of my music. And as you have probably guessed by now these three tracks came from that site, evidently someone downloaded them and they have managed to get into the hands of these profiteers. At this time I have yet to offer anything from my first two albums for sale on any mp3 site.

So please, if you like the music then consider buying the tracks from a real store for real prices. It helps support the artist who make the music and you won't have to worry about what happens to you and your credit, unless you buy too many tracks, but that's your own problem.

- Loren