Face or Graphic Art?

While I continue to live in ‘limbo land’ while the final mixes simmer, we are hard at work on the packaging - liner notes, lyrics, credits, and… the cover concept. Which leads me to this conundrum – face or graphic art? Do we go for some clever, artsy representation of the thematic concept of the CD or just slap a photog of my mug on there? 

Well, there are certainly several different streams of thought on this one. My first knee-jerk response is… artsy concept!!! But that could be because I am not all that interested in my own face. Add to that, all the great album covers from years past that have no face on them anywhere, or the faces are part of some larger cool theme… think Sgt Pepper, Dark Side of the Moon, all albums by Boston, Asia, Yes and more… and we can’t forget those two groundbreaking works, Believing Beyond the Shadows and Take It In…

So, others in this process lobbied for the face shot… the feeling is that people want to see who is singing these songs, want to make a connection to a person and not a cool artsy picture. And there have been a few albums with face shots on the cover… think most of the early Beatles, the Partridge Family, and most pop and country music in the last decade…

So, what to do? Can we combine the two? Put a face on the cover and yet couch it in colors, location, fonts, style, etc to give it some feel of art and maybe lead towards the concept of the art within? That would take two very specific things to accomplish… a great photographer and great graphic artist. Fortunately, I have both! All the photos were taken by Chris Hodge and the graphic design is being done by Steve Fors of Chicago.

So, what do you all think? Face or Graphic Art?

The Horrors of Fund Raising

Let’s face it… recording a CD is expensive. I know the costs have come down dramatically in the last 10 years, but when you don’t have any money, it doesn’t matter if the cost is $10,000 or $100,000. One of the goals of the project I am currently working on is to significantly raise the bar on quality, the quality of the songs, the quality of the recording, the quality of the packaging, all of it. And that means money. And money means fund raising…

I imagine there are as many ways of doing this as there are people, but this is how we did it…

First, we set a budget. A detailed budget, taking into consideration all the costs associated with the CD from the pre-production, to the Producer, the studio time, additional musicians, mixing, duping to the (often forgotten piece) marketing for the CD once it is out. In my opinion, it also doesn’t hurt to add a little on top to cover things you didn’t plan on. Then we wrote it all out in a detailed proposal, outlining the purpose of the CD, the theme, the need for a higher level of quality, etc. We also outlined the budget, where it would be spent, the credentials of the people we hoped to bring on board and finally what we would be doing with the CD once it was released. This part of the process was the hardest, in my opinion.

Second, we needed to find Partners. My management team and I decided to seek out Partners on three levels – Corporate, Personal and General. The Corporate entities we approached had to have some reason to be interested in the theme and concept of the CD. Everyday With You is a CD based around the theme of the whole motion of marriage so approaching churches with active marriage ministries, for example, makes good sense on both sides. We also approached companies that while not directly connected to ‘marriage’ could certainly appreciate the concept of the CD and wanted to be a part. The people we approached on a Personal level were people that I know who have, for a long time, supported not only my music, but also my family and myself. Not just a catch all of folks, but a very specific list that we sent the proposal to, and then followed up on a couple of occasions… persistent but not pushy. Finally, we did make the opportunity available to the General public via e-Newsletter and website.

Finally – Keep At It! Like anything, raising a budget is a time consuming process. I was hoping that I could send out the proposals and then just count the money, but obviously, that is not how it works. It takes follow up and the fine line of ‘persistent and not pushy.’ Especially with the Corporate folks, I found I needed to set appointments for conference calls, email correspondence and regularly following up. With the Personal folks, I sent the initial proposal and then followed up with a couple of specific emails. In regards to the General folks, that was mentioned in e-Newsletters, blogs, and on my website. No follow up needed there. I also got good at jokingly inserting my need for budget into almost every conversation imaginable… not a bad idea.

Along with that, I also set up multiple levels of Partnership. That way there was a place for everyone to participate. And giving folks the feeling of ‘ownership,’ of having a stake in the outcome really gives tem more of a reason to be involved.

The two things I found hardest about the process were these… first, being thankful for the amount raised when I was still worried about the amount left to raise. I remember a specific conversation with a friend of mine about halfway through the process – he was thrilled about how far I had come and I was worried about how far I had yet to go. Forgetting the thankfulness, really impairs finishing the race, I think. And secondly, conveying the idea (primarily to the folks in the Personal category) that any level of partnership was great. I know several folks who felt their available funds at the moment were too small to be of consequence, but once they knew that even what they felt was small, I knew was huge because it all adds up, both from the financial perspective as well as the spiritual and support perspective, they really wanted to get on board.

Finding Co-Writers

I mentioned in an earlier blog that I avoided for years the process of co-writing. I will admit that it was partly out of arrogance, but it was also partly out of ignorance… where do I find co-writers?

Actually, that is a really good question, but not the first one I had to answer. The first question was “What am I writing these songs for?” Is it to learn how to write better? Is it to build up a repertoire? Is it for a specific project? The answer to this question would determine what tier of writer I would have luck approaching. For me, the answer was ‘a specific project’ so that made the collaboration more attractive to higher level writers. The second question I had to answer was “What am I willing to put into this?” Obviously, my time and talents, that is a given, but would I be willing to pay up front for someone’s time to write with me? I know some folks who are put off by this idea thinking that the potential payback of a recorded cut should be enough, but let’s be honest… music can be such a crap-shoot in the best of times and with an artist like myself who is seeking out co-writers who are ‘above’ me, I think it is totally fair to compensate these folks for their time, for their mentoring of me in the song writing process.

OK, I have an upcoming project, I have a direction, I am willing to compensate a higher tier co-writer if need be… how do I find them? On this project I co-wrote with 5 different writers and the means of finding them was different for each. Two were people I knew from my association with Indieheaven.com and the other 3 were essentially strangers to me personally, but known by reputation. However, knowing who you want to write with and getting them to do it are two different things. But in all 5 cases there were 2 commonalities that, I imagine, hold true for every new co-writing relationship.

Actually, that is the first commonality… relationships. Two of the folks were people I knew personally and had interacted with both online via the Indieheaven Network and face to face. Two of the other three were people that were known to people I know, sort of the ‘friend of a friend’ route. The last was sort of ironic, in that I met a man after a gig who turned out to be the brother of one of the folks I wanted to co-write with. His having seen me play, and passing that on, gave credibility to the possibility of a partnership.

I remember reading about an exchange that took place in the early days of Beatlemania. A car pulled up beside the limo holding the band and a girl yelled to George Harrison, “How does one go about meeting a Beatle?” His response? “One starts by saying hello.” That leads me to the second commonality… ask. The worst thing that can happen is they will say no. But you may be surprised how open people are to new co-writing relationships.

Lastly, I had to be prepared to work on their timeline. Folks who are great songwriters are usually very busy and my song was one of many they were juggling. There is a fine line of being persistent and involved in the process and becoming obnoxious. Also, knowing when to postpone the process with a writer is important too. A sixth writer that i was working with was simply too swamped, and it was better for both of us to call it off this time around, while keeping the door open for a future collaboration.