As many of you know, my latest CD, “Recital”, came out in October just in time for Sun Valley. It is now available in so many ways, including on CDBaby and iTunes. If you haven’t gotten it by now, then you are definitely dragging your feet, and are not sure you even want it. Anyway, this is pretty far off the point I want to make. More finely to the point, even though this album is practically brand new, probably the one thing I hear most often from both buyers and nay-sayers alike is, “Do you have another one?” Well, generally in that case, I point them toward my other CD, “Nature Boy” (also on iTunes) that has been out for a few years. (Yes I know it looks like I’m shamelessly plugging my CDs, but really there’s a point to all this.) This is usually met with, “Oh I already have that one, do you have any others?”

People!! Do you all think that we musicians just have our own personal studios, or just go into places that don’t charge anything for studio time, lay down a bunch of unprepared tracks, and then go home, only to have them magically appear on our doorstep ready to be placed in your hot little hands? Ok that sounds a little harsh. I don’t really mean it to be.... Seriously though, I do appreciate the fans clamoring for new works all the time. It’s super inspiring! That is, until I look at my resources and realize that I am going to have to wait in order to make it all happen. Trust me, if I could, I’d put out a CD every 8 months or so. That is a really good (and completely overly ambitious) timeline to have at my low level of promotion. Plus, I would love for every album to be a big hit like “Nature Boy”, do you have any idea how much that album cost to make? Not only that, I was still hugely constrained by even that budget. It could have been even better, though I am most proud of it.

The bottom line is that running this as part of a business can be very difficult. Trying to uphold quality and give the people what they want must be dealt with very delicately. In order to do another big project like “Nature Boy”, or even (hopefully) something bigger than that, sometime in the future is going to take a great deal of resources. My own plans to deal with this have consisted of doing a series of smaller projects to help build funds for the ultimate large project. In my dealings with fans, this has been what I have mentioned to them. They all really love “Nature Boy”, and they would like to see another project like it. It is difficult for me to see the disappointed looks on their faces when I explain to them that it’s going to take a few small projects to get there again. Even though I believe I can make those smaller projects just as creative and fun, it doesn’t seem to be sitting well at first glance. Trust me, I love recording, and if I had my way I’d be in the studio at least 3 times a week just to mess around with the equipment.... haha!

So anyway, you can all see my dilemma with trying to keep the fans happy. I have kicked around the idea before about fundraising by getting fans and others to donate. This could get things to move a little quicker. However, I haven’t been able to figure out a good way to implement it. I am not a non-profit organization, so not only would the donations NOT be tax deductible, but the benefits to the donors have not been thought through thoroughly (good alliteration  :).  I figure that the names of the donors would definitely go in the liner notes, but that doesn’t seem like enough. I could tier the donations and range it from $10 all the way to $10,000, and offer better things to the donors as they contribute more. Maybe, for $10 get a free copy of the CD when it’s finished (not a bad deal since they sell for $20 usually). Perhaps at the $5000 mark, allow the donor to ensure that their requested song goes on the album? Or an original composition written by yours truly for the first $10,000 donor? I dunno, just playing around with things in my head.

My Mom hates the idea... but she’ll be the first person to tell me that I need to get started on the next project the day of my CD release that I have been working the last year over. Gofigure....

Anyway, a flooded mind is a terrible thing to waste. Bye for now!

P.S. Please leave comments. I need all the encouragement I can get right now!

Update 3/22 - OK My mom doesn’t HATE the idea... she just advised against it at first. Now that she’s read the blog, she understands better what I’m thinking of doing. She has wished me luck! :) Mother’s blessing is always a good thing.