Do Not Make Me Work For It

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I am a musician. I am also a music fan. I like simplicity. I like as little steps as possible to find out more info. on bands. If you’re a musician, you should not make me work to find out information on you. It should be at my (or anyone else’s) fingertips. I don’t want to go looking for info. on yourself. Why? ‘Cause I’m like you. I’m lazy. I want it NOW. Yes, I can hear you now ‘So, it took you an extra 20 SECONDS to find something’. But, that’s not the point. The point is this: it should be EASY to find what I want. I want to go to your website and have all the information. You own the website. You want eyes, ears, everything on your website that you own and control (I’m going on the assumption that you do have your own site and own the domain name). You do not own Facebook. You do not own Twitter, Pinterest, Google + and more. They could be gone tomorrow. But, you own the website. I also hear the argument ‘Well, everyone uses Facebook. I just create an event and everyone gets the notice’. You do not own Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg (and those that bought shares this week) own it. Facebook makes money off YOU with advertising, selling your personal information and more. Why make money for someone else? Draw the internet to your webpage, sell adverts, then you could make money. You should have all your information on your site. It should be one-stop shopping on your website. Of course, you may have links on your site to say, a free download, but the link is still on your page. All this means is that you should update your site with the latest information on yourself. It takes effort. You should do the little things so fans don’t have to do research. I am a musician. I am also a fan. As a music fan, I see the things you do well and I see the things you do wrong. As a musician, I learn from your mistakes. This doesn’t mean my website is perfect. It’s not. But, I try to make it as simple as possible for you to navigate and to find the info. you want. I ask friends to look at my site and tell me what you like and what you do not like. Font too small? A dead link? Photo needs resizing? Hey, let me know. You, as a musician (or someone who has their own website) should take the time and make the effort to make it easy for anyone to find you. You should be doing this, but, maybe its not your thing. Go and find someone who will do it. It’s in your best interests….

Halifax Record Fair 3 Poster

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Halifax Record Fair 3 Poster Musical Guests

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Here is the poster for the Halifax Record Fair 3 performance with Eliza And The Strange. I’ll be performing songs from The Trenton Project.

 

EDIT: yes, i realized a few days later that my name is spelled wrong. And the band changed its name from Eliza And The Strange to Bloody Diamonds. But, the show is still on and it’ll still be a great day.

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Radio Show on CKDU – May 3, 2011

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Hey Everyone,

I’ll be co-hosting a fill-in show with pal Russell Gragg on local college radio station CKDU (88.1FM or listen on-line) in Halifax. Thursday, May 3, 2011. 9-10:30PM AST. It’s an open format so we’ll be playing whatever we want *rubbing hands together*, and we’ll be talking music. Hopefully I’ll carry the torch of Sound Opinions and The Strombo Show. Tune in.

 

Crowdfunding Is Not Panhandling

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Musicians have to hustle. Write, perform, shake hands, kiss babies, use social media, build websites, etc.. A lot of work. Not included is daily life, relationships, friendships and a lot of stuff I’ve missed. Add to this a recording project. A lot of work goes into a recording project. Songs are one thing. There’s artwork, musicians, music format (CD, vinyl etc.), studio time. Musicians have to hustle to pay these bills. That also means musicians have to find ways to pay for all of it. There is some Gov’t funding but it’s not guaranteed. Jobs, part-time jobs will help. For myself, I have to be creative. I have to be a fundraiser. First, let me say I’m not holding my hand out. Have you tried to apply for Gov’t funding? You have to have everything planned out. In writing. Let me tell you, trying to write out a business plan is not easy. But the Gov’t looks at you as a business. Beyond this, I have find creative ways to raise funds. Another word for raising money is ‘Crowdfunding’. This is where you go to your fans/friends/whoever and offer incentives to help fund a project. I’m not holding out my hand. You get something in return. The incentives have to be, well, enticing, creative. There are websites that will host/promote your funding campaign. Here is one: Indiegogo. I’m working towards a campaign. I’ve asked some talented artists to create artwork that will be sold with the music. This is MONTHS in advance of the music being released. Just like my music, there’s no guarantee whether the artwork will appeal to anyone. You hope it will. But this is not panhandling. This is not begging. This is hard work. Myself (with my music) and the artists (with their artwork) hope it is appealing. Asking you, the fan, to buy my music is one thing, but buying anything beyond this is challenging. Maybe you will like the artwork, maybe you won’t like the artwork. Who knows? The main point is this: This is not panhandling.

Below is a video from Big James. He is a Montreal-based musician and he explains a little better that crowdfunding is not panhandling and responds to one reporter’s opinion. Enjoy.

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Trenton Project Artwork – Rd.5

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Today I met with Caitlin McGuire (website) and received a sample of the pop-up book. Interesting to see the steps from paper to artwork. This is just one of the pop-up book. There will be three, all themed around The Trenton Project. Essentially, I gave Caitlin some photos and got out of the way. This is great artwork.

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Caitlin's formula for pop-up book

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Sample Cover

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open up the book and 'Voila!'

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Caitlin's contact info.

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artwork & artist together

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Well, What Is The Trenton Project?

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I named the working title of this musical endeavor ‘Trenton Project’ because the songs I wrote reflect the days I grew up in Trenton, Nova Scotia. The songs reflect the town I knew in my youth and the changes that I see since I’ve left. The name ‘Trenton’ could be replaced with any small town name. A rural one industry town that has been hit by a global economy, where jobs are shipped out to reflect the bottom line of a company’s financial spreadsheet. Somehow, the town has survived. Examples i use to explain the project is taking songs like David + David’s ‘Swallowed By The Cracks‘ or Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Youngstown‘ but expanded to 7 songs. The ‘Trenton Project’ is a musical postcard to those towns.