WILL BLOG FOR CASH
How does one record a live CD and build a new website without the cash of a record label? We're about to find out. Taking a page from Joe Trippi's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", I've added a donation button to the left side of your screen there - in hopes that enough money can be raised to fund version 2.0 of the web and music me. The idea is that the 600+ people who come here regularly might annie up a buck or two each in support of a new and much better site (combining shlog.com and shaungroves.com) and a piece of silicon full of ones and zeros that will hopefully sound sweet and make us all smile.
I'm making a budget for both the CD and the new site this week and next and will post that when it's done, along with a goal amount and new donation graphic to show our progress - like Howard Dean's baseball bat that was filled in with red a little more each day as the goal for campaign contributions was progressed towards. I'm open to suggestions on what that graphic could be. Got any?
I'll also post the details of what this new site will look like, but for now I can honestly say it's not like any other artist website out there. It's core is a blog - three actually. It's a blog on crack and steroids at the same time - on crackoids, actually...and lots of Dr.Pepper.
Anyway, I'd appreciate your help building this monster and making my next CD. You'll be heavily involved in the making of both if you want to be. Oh, and if there happens to be left over donation money sitting around when all this is over it'll be given to Compassion International.
Thanks in advance for your generosity. Shlog on.
-Shaun
I'm making a budget for both the CD and the new site this week and next and will post that when it's done, along with a goal amount and new donation graphic to show our progress - like Howard Dean's baseball bat that was filled in with red a little more each day as the goal for campaign contributions was progressed towards. I'm open to suggestions on what that graphic could be. Got any?
I'll also post the details of what this new site will look like, but for now I can honestly say it's not like any other artist website out there. It's core is a blog - three actually. It's a blog on crack and steroids at the same time - on crackoids, actually...and lots of Dr.Pepper.
Anyway, I'd appreciate your help building this monster and making my next CD. You'll be heavily involved in the making of both if you want to be. Oh, and if there happens to be left over donation money sitting around when all this is over it'll be given to Compassion International.
Thanks in advance for your generosity. Shlog on.
-Shaun
posted by Shaun Groves @ 5/31/2006
37 comments
37 Comments:
Great ideal Shaun. I have no issues with donating towards your new blog and album. I am looking foward to the day that I can pre- order your new album.
Thomas
I say make the donations graphic thing a guitar. By the way dijaever find your baby? When I get my first pay check I promise after I take out tithe and at least 25 bucks for gas you can have the rest. Don't know how much that'll be but hey you're worth it :)
Okay, will you let me know if it worked? I've never used my PayPal account before...
It worked. Thanks muchly, Cristy.
And thank you, Thomas, too.
no it's not cheesy.
b
who gets to just sign their name as "b"? Is that me, because my parents and my grandma call me "B"? Or is it the friend in the neighborhood california guy named Brody? Or is it the witty and clever radio dj from south florida? I think when you sign in as anonymous and then just sign "b" you should get fined and that money should go straight into the shlog.com/cd/feed my kids fund.
"b", I mean, Brian
I move that we vote on the "Anti-b" bill authored by afrm/brian immediately following the addition of an addendum authored by yours truly stating that any acronym serving as a screen name (eg. afrm) must be explained or can no longer be used.
-shaun
(aka. hrs)
I agree! We've all been trying to figure out what afrm means for a long time now...
I thought afrm stood for "a frisky rhinoceros mom" but thats just me.
Do we get a prayer cloth if we donate???
Well I like this plan my friend. I will personal donate a large sum to your CD (at least 7-9 dollars) if you do a live version of 1.) Jesus 2.) that Texas song that I swear will make you millions.
Speaking of Sigur Ros have you seen the video for "Glosoli"? -just beautiful.
http://www.emichrysalis.co.uk/quicktime/sigur_ros/glosoli/index.php?version=7.040&bandwidth=5600
Cheers.
I have. Amazing.
Prayer cloth in the mail.
I'm up for it for sure! Cash aside, please let me know other ways I can help too. Promotion, concerts, etc.
Beth
Besides using a paypal account, how could someone like me send in money through mail? where would I send it to? I would love to help out in any way Shaun. You and your music are awesome!
----Kristen_E
Thanks Kristen,
My snail mail goes to...
Shaun Groves
POBox 680055
Franklin, TN 37068
Be happy to help. :-) Looking forward to your new site and CD. I was thinking a guitar for the graphic maybe also.
so what only brother in laws named "brian" (if that is your real name) get to sign as "b"? i want my ten bucks back. and more rosemary carrots.
b
WOW! That's all I can say. WOW!
The total donations as of 7:35 PM MAY 31 are:
*Drum roll*
$235
That's almost half of the estimated cost of the website 2.0. Holy cow, guys! I'm amazed at how quickly we reached that number.
Thank you. I'm actually speechless. And that's a rare thing as you know.
SG
The difference it seems to me is that in the Dean campaign he had a more vital cause. Not that you do not have one with christian music.
But what about a more tangable goal like making the next CD downloadable free?
Just a thought. I am reading Trippi's book right now and wrestling with this right now myself.
While it would be nice if it were free, it's not really practical. Shaun does have bills to pay, etc. Not only that, as a purchaser and heavy listener of his previous work, I can say that it will be a pleasure not only to fund this next project, but purchase it upon it's completion (more than a few copies probably). A few preview snipits along the way however would be nice.
Beth
Yeah Yeah that is true. And I buy alot of music myself. But what if there were other ways to make the money off of it.
Just trying to think differently about it.
The band Alathea is also raising funds for its next CD. The girls did the same thing for their first three projects too. They focus on selling a certain number of CD pre-orders to get the money to go back into the studio. It's a good way to raise the funds and it gives fans something tangible to look forward to for their contribution.
http://www.alathea.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=239
n
Good cause --- better message. ;)
Shaun,
I would suggest that the donation monitor not be a guitar - too cliche. How about a piggy bank that oinks every time a donation is made. As it fills up, it starts to get a slightly quesy expression (from overeating), and when the budget is surpassed its eyes will bulge. (Or does this only appeal to me as being funny?)
On another note, I like the idea of raising funds to offer the new music as free downloads. I have long been a proponent of taking the "Industry" out of "Christian Music" and allowing the focus to be on providing spiritual food to the spiritually hungry, no matter their financial ability.
I'll be praying on what I can give towards this end.
I'd love to remove industry as well but then how does one eat? I'd have to become bi-vocational, which I am in a sense already, but I'd have to work a full time job outside of music and therefore be unable to make music and blog and write and teach etc etc. But I've been thinking, long before it was brought up here, about offering this next CD as a free download and then selling something else so that I'll have funds to live on and make more music in the future. See, we can pretty easily raise the money to make a live Cd. Those are cheap. It's the record after that, if there is one, that will cost much much more. My thinking is that the sell of a live record would fund the next studio record of all original material.
What if, and I'm just thinking out loud here, I offered for free download, the songs only from the live record but offered for the sale the physical disc with all the banter of a live show and the addition of some footage from the show - behind the scenes stuff, documentary style? So the music is free, but the rest is not. A physical disc with packaging (for those who still read packaging) is not. I could possibly offer a downloadable version of all this content for a price as well.
Thoughts on that idea? I'd love to make the music free though.
Another factor in all this is that I have to pay a publisher in order to record, even if given away for free, any material from my first three albums. Selling the music would help pay those fees.
Anybody have a creative way around all this, or a new idea to add to the mix?
SG
Shaun,
You need to stay away from free. Look how skinny you are now! If you were to give this stuff away, we'd soon lose you and your genious because you'd melt away for sure.
Being old myself, I'd prefer to purchase the physical cd. The more behind the scenes, documentary stuff, the better. Free is of course good, but not necessary for me at all. Pre-orders of whatever you're putting out would be a great way to make the money and I'd for sure order ahead; and then be very impatient waiting for it to arrive! Last year I didn't think July 12th would ever get here!
Beth
Just a thought too. Is anyone out there up for a "matching funds" stint? Just like the listener supported stations, etc. do. A matching grant for everyone who donates during a certain time, up to a certain amount of money. Of course it would be on a smaller scale, but fun to do none the less. Shaun, would you be able to accurately track this if it were to happen?
Beth
Sure. I can track it. Keep the ideas coming. We're in this together.
No, eating is not a luxury for most of us. Though, with the exception of Shaun here, most Americans are overweight we are not like camels, so a constant supply of food is very good.
Your comments on the free music, pay for the extras, is the kind of idea I had in mind. Personally, I will download freebies to preview, but I am addicted to the packaging and will buy the physical CD every time I can. I also was thinking of the model that Steve Camp uses, where his music is offered for free at his website, with a suggested offering for those who can afford to pay. I also harken back to the days when Christian music concerts were free, and a love offering was taken to support the artist. Does that make me old?
Of course, all of these thoughts are complicated by the fact that almost no artist is a true one-man show: there is the publisher, the venues, the distributors, the agents, and Uncle Sam all wanting their share. I try to think idealistically and make the world fit around the ideal. That makes me either a dreamer, overly optimistic, naive, or all of the above.
Yeah, the free music, pay for extras is a great idea, or even go through itunes and do free songs but you have to pay 99 cents for the extras. I would love a live DVD of a concert. Your concerts are great. I saw you with Bebo back in the day in Austin, and bought your album immediately to have you sign it. I thought it was so cool that you were from Texas too. But, yeah I can't belive how fast donations are coming in. It's awesome! My husband and I will give some next month. Already have our tithe alotted this month.
Just chiming in that I agree - free song downloads for preview are great and I like doing that. On top of that I also like owning the CD, holding it in my hands, reading over the liner notes. I like the dual discs with "making of the CD" footage and stuff like that. Chris Rice has that on his DVD and it's fun to watch.
I would buy the physical CD and I would buy the concert DVD(s). Each of your concerts is so different, you could do the DVD thing over and over...
It's more than the music with you, Shaun, what you say between the music is as good as/better than the music. Plus I like to hear the music with just you and your guitar/piano. And you crack me up!
You could make the CD purchasable for the people who wanted it. and possibly have a few more songs on there.
But the Message is what is real not the CD
The message is what this is all about not the music. Stop thinking like a "chrisian music artist" and start thinking like a revolutionary. That is when the money would start to flow in from doantions.
If the message is real and relevant.
Which is hard because there is a definate relaxed position that is so easily taken living in america because we do not have any real struggles.
Once again, spanked by someone named "anonymous." Man, that joker gets around. And, oddly, is always against the flow.
Anyways, I'm willing to be schooled anonymous, so can you elaborate on how to make this "about the message" so I can go ahead and be revolutionary and all. Seriously, wondering what you mean specifically.
I've never thought of myself as a guy without a message. That's a first. I'm usually accused, if of anything, of having too much message...but that's another post.
Would love clarification. Not sure I'm reacting to what you MEANT as much as what I understood.
SG
Cool and thank you Shaun. When I get some money from working.. I'll definately be sure to send it through snail mail. :D haha
Shaun - On my way over to your link right now to send a little something your way. I guess now is as good a time as any to admit that Chaotic Hammer is not my real name. :-)
Based on how much you have challenged and encouraged me, and caused me to carefully examine every aspect of my walk with the Lord, I wish I could give a whole lot more. The work you do for Him needs to be supported and encouraged as much as possible.
Thanks.
Update: $313 as of 8:23 Central Time, June 1
Thanks again, everybody. Amazing.
There's no graphic up yet to show our progress because I don't have a budget yet. I'm waiting on the final price from the web designer, which should be here in the next couple days. Working on it.
SG
you can definitely count on some bling coming from "the bling!" brutha!
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