I'm curious what you'll think of it. The original version was always meant to be just a demo, with a "real" version to be recorded later. Of course, I didn't intend "later" to mean "four years later." It's by far the most popular song I've written to date (in terms of spins, scrobbles, iTunes money, etc.)
The Startup Weekend gig was pretty awesome. If you didn't catch it before, it's an event where a group of techie and bizdev people come together, brainstorm a business idea, then actually develop it and launch it within a weekend. I have to admit that I felt seriously nervous about pulling people away from their coding and bizdev-ing to watch lil' ol' me belt out a few tunes sans microphone, but it they turned out to be a really great crowd.
Update: Here's the business they built that weekend (daaaamn), and here's a Flickr set of the event, including some photos of yours truly.
Thanks to Andrew, Samantha and Kym for setting me up with that one.
In other news, Jerin and I looked into doing a week-long East Coast tour in June. A tour! Exciting! And then she ran the numbers and we had a good laugh. Even with cheap plane tickets and crashing on the couches of accommodating fans, there's very little chance we'd break even.
Heck, if I wanted to go broke, I can do that at home! So, for the moment, no East Coast tour. But I remain hopeful that I might be able to pull something together later this year. So please allow me to pimp my Eventful widget yet again, as a gentle reminder that if you'd like to see me play in our lifetimes, letting me know you're out there is a good first step.
This afternoon I'm performing a brief set for the lads and lasses attending Startup Weekend Seattle. The event is sold out, so it should be fun, despite the fact that I have no songs about revenue models or the benefits of an LLC over an S-Corp.
I've pushed another song from Save You From Yourself out of the nest and onto the web. Over in Weardale UK, Steven Wheatley's Dalecast podcast was the first to jump on it. Thanks, Steven.
I wish I had more to report these days, but all I've been up to is stuffing padding envelopes. I think I've only sent out about 30 packages but it feels like I've been at it forever. Plus, I have a head cold. Fun!
I'm also gearing up to send some CDs to local radio this week. The two big names in town are KMTT, a commercial station that plays AAA format (that's "adult album alternative" I think) and the promised land of indie rock, KEXP. I think there's a decent chance of some modest airplay from both, but I'm not going to fret over it. There are also a kabillion smaller stations in the area to approach.
The Metafilter Podcast features a clip of "At The Airport" following a really awesome interview with Jesse Thorn of the Sound Of Young America radio show.
Episode 30 of Justo Morales' The PePe Show features "You Are Loved" as well as an in-person interview we recorded when he was visiting Seattle waaay back in summer of '07. That may as well be the Cretaceous Period in internet time. Luckily I'm a musician and not a politician, and therefore can't be held accountable for things I said six months ago. Whew!
If you're a podcaster interested in songs from Save You From Yourself, keep an eye on Podshow and others. And drop me a line so I can link you up.
"llook to the indie labels, which incidentally, are booming and profiting because they don't operate on bloated budgets designed to keep the suits well-fed while the artists do all the work."
The idea has been around awhile and lots of people have suggested it to me. I've always balked for two reasons: 1) even in bulk, the drives are expensive and 2) it's a lot of work to come up with extra content to fill out a 1GB drive and make it feel worthy of the price tag. I about tore my hair out doing the CD extras on Where I've Been and the MP3-only mini CDs awhile back.
That said, IndieDrive looks like a pretty cool idea. I've signed up so I could poke around on the website, but haven't uploaded any music yet.
I think there's an opportunity here to offer pressed-for-time musicians (like me) some pre-made templates for doing flash drives, CD extras, etc. Something like: drag and drop your music files here, some photos and video here, put your lyrics here, then pick a layout template and bang, instant kiosk complete with autorun which you can then just drag onto the USB drive or CD.
But then, I'm still skeptical. Personally I wouldn't buy an album on a USB drive unless there was some serious value add, like bonus tracks or video you can only get by purchasing the drive. Or maybe the artist's entire back catalog. "The Complete Works Of..." etc. What would move you to purchase a USB drive over a CD?
I'm starting to send out pre-release copies of Save You From Yourself to the press. Every few days I mail out a handful of puffy envelopes.
I had a long phone conversation (I know! The phone!) with my pal Kym Tuvim last night. She's in the middle of promoting a new album herself. Aside from teaching piano, Kym is otherwise a full-time touring songwriter.
Get this, Kym sent out packages to over 140 radio stations! No spam cannon, no "check out my MySpace!" nonsense. Just polite emails asking for permission to send a CD, and then a follow-up email awhile later. (Also: her CD is awesome, and in top-notch packaging.)
And it's working. She's getting airplay.
See, this is one of the reasons I'm not worried. Sure, anyone with little or no money can record an album and slap it onto the web these days. That used to be hard, now it's the easy part.
But the extra-mile stuff that actually gets results is still hard. Picking up the phone, going out on tour, following up without coming off like an insane person, writing a really good song that won't be forgotten the moment another dramatic chipmunk comes along.*
(* yes, everyone knows it's a prairie dog by now.)
I figure if I try 10% harder, that's 10% more than most will even bother doing.
The last of the international pre-orders went out today. I goofed up the addressing and had to rewrite all the customs slips by hand. Not a big deal, except that writing out things like "Hellevoetsluis" is difficult when you spend all day at a keyboard like I do. Man, my handwriting has really gone downhill in the last few years.
I also sent copies to Pandora and the All Music Guide. I've been frustrated with AMG in the past, as I've tried several times to have my listing info updated there to no avail. I even had correspondence with a real live person once! Maybe this time I'll get lucky.
I've also submitted to several online stores in the hope they'll include me in their catalogs. No word yet as I just sent out the packages last week. Most of these places have a "don't call us, we'll call you" policies so I won't know for sure until I hear back. Fingers crossed!
You might be wondering why on earth the release date is over a month away when I have the boxes of CDs sitting in my dining room right now (proof!). There's a few reasons I came up with this.
First: now that the pre-orders are shipped, I'd like those people to bask in the privilege of exclusivity for a little while.
Second: if you're a member of the Demo Club, fear not. You'll be able to get the album well before 2/19.
Third: the 2/19 date is artificial. The whole thing is a concession to traditional media -- newspapers, magazines, radio -- which still expects an official release date, with press releases and review copies sent weeks in advance.
Why am I bothering with "traditional" media, when I've been putting out music online since 2002? Mostly it's because I've never really, really tried before. Part of it is: with so many bands spamming everyone in the nation with MySpace bulletins, I might actually rise above some of the noise by reverting to old-school methods.
But also: a lot of people who like the kind of music I write aren't online as much as you and I are. I want them to hear about it. It doesn't hurt to swing for the fences now and then. (I'll be reporting the results here in the near future.)
The Startup Weekend gig was pretty awesome. If you didn't catch it before, it's an event where a group of techie and bizdev people come together, brainstorm a business idea, then actually develop it and launch it within a weekend. I have to admit that I felt seriously nervous about pulling people away from their coding and bizdev-ing to watch lil' ol' me belt out a few tunes sans microphone, but it they turned out to be a really great crowd.
I'm starting to send out pre-release copies of 