Hatch, who has his own website where he sells CDs and cassettes and offers samples of his original music, was also quick to praise the Internet as a medium for artists to interact directly with fans.
However, he also admitted the site did little to boost sales of his own latest release, a collection of patriotic tunes.
"If any of you own a copy of my latest CD, let me congratulate you. You are a member of a very small, select group," he told retailers, whom he jokingly chastised for not stocking enough of his mostly religious and patriotic albums, much of them written in collaboration with fellow Utah songwriter Janice Kapp Perry.
Later in the speech, Hatch conceded that the slow album sales might be because he doesn't have a good enough name.
That, at least, was the theory propounded by U2 singer Bono in a recent trip to Washington to lobby on behalf of Third World causes.
In a meeting with Hatch, the socially conscious singer allegedly asked to hear a few of his tunes. Bono praised the senator's songwriting skills but told Hatch he'd need a better name to make it in music. He suggested changing his name to "Johnny Trapdoor."
Hatch, however, wasn't sure the name would work for his day job. |
