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THE LOVELY INDIE

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Apr 1, 2021

Hello Team Members!

HAPPY APRIL! I hope this month brings a lot of joy, delight and abundance to you. I’m here to request help on assignment 2!

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Assignment 2:

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One of my goals this year is to write 40 songs and choose the best of those 40 to release a brand spankin’ new album. I know I know, 40 songs is a LOFTY goal, but so far I’ve written 9! So I feel like I’m off to a good start.

Now, since I am in the very early planning phases of the album, one of the first things that needs to be addressed is financing. I need to find a way to raise money to be able to fund this album and it’s subsequent launch. 

The costs associated with a successful album launch are HUGE. Not only am I paying for the album creation itself, I also have to pay for at least two music videos, marketing/advertising, publishing and merchandise. I have no idea at this point how much everything would cost, but on the higher end, I’m guessing upwards of $25 000, and on the lower end I think I could get by with maybe $12 000 — but that would be scraping.

I really want to make a fully produced album this time around – full beautiful robust instrumentation, airy vocals, meaningful subject matter that connects each song with the next. I have big deams yo! The last full album I released was strictly acoustic, which was beautiful, but this time I really want to make a statement piece, and show the world what I can really do.

SoooOo here’s where assignment 2 comes in.

I need IDEAS! Good, amazing, out-of-the-box crowdfunding / fund-raising ideas to help raise the capital that’s going to make this album happen.

I’ve done an indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for my 2017 which went over well, I came close to meeting my goal and ended up raising $7772. I’ve tried the monthly subscription model on Patreon for several years which went OK…. and I would consider it again, but I can’t say it really worked wonders in terms of the financial aspect.

I’ve thought about doing an album “pre sale” strategy since I’ve never tackled that before. But honestly, who buys music these days?! I’d say the majority of fans today stream on spotify or apple music, OR they listen on Sirius XM….. all of which make the idea of a “pre sale” obsolete. — What do you do? Do you stream, or do you buy?

At the moment, doing an “in person” live fundraising concert is out of the question largely because of COVID but also because my fans live all over the place. I think doing something in person would be more challenging to raise enough funds.

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So, I need your GREAT, AMAZING, ONE-OF-A-KIND ideas! Throw anything and everything at me, I’m all ears.

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Where, when?

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TEAM Meeting
Time: Apr 15, 2021 05:00 PM Pacific Time
Meeting ID: 758 7671 8488
Passcode: gMDn4iJOIN

I’d like to host our first Team Meeting to discuss Assignment #2 on a google zoom! I’ve never done this before, and I think it’ll be fun. This meeting will take place on THURSDAY April 15th at 5pm PST. I have no idea what timezone you are all in, but hope this date/time will work in your schedule.

Please start thinking about your fundraising ideas for assignment 2. If you can’t make the meeting, please post your ideas in the comments below and I will bring them up during the meeting. Otherwise, see you in 2 weeks and I CAN’T WAIT TO MEET YOU!!!

xoxoxo

-Jessica

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  1. Mary Riley says:

    Hi Jessica:

    It’s Mary Riley. I’m sorry I won’t be able to make the meeting due to work commitments (being a nurse in an ambulatory care facility makes making any plans when on the late shift impossible).

    I’m certainly far from being computer savvy so my ideas may be limited.

    What about offering to send a song somehow to a donor’s honoree for a price? For instance: a donor would like to send a special song to her husband on his birthday. Perhaps it may cost you nothing but for a nominal fee of $50 (or whatever) he will get his song.

    I liken it to what I do. For instance, I am catholic and on special days like birthdays or anniversaries i send money to a religious group to pray for the recipient of the card I send. And the card lets the recipient know the intention.

    It’s a thought anyway. I will catch up but now break is over. Back to work;)

    Hope meeting goes well!

    Mary

  2. quay garriga says:

    HI Jess! I am so excited to hear all about your plans for a new album! The thought of 40 more of your songs just existing in the world and then some of them being produced on an album like you described is just thrilling! The world needs your light right now and your music will be like balm to the world’s aching soul. I am disappointed that I cannot come to the meeting scheduled for the 15th at 5p. I will be anxious to hear what the others say. In answer to your question, do I stream or buy?, we buy at our house. As for fundraising – the only idea I have come up with is to charge for an online concert or Q & A sort of thing. It seems a lot of artists are doing this now using veeps for charging the tickets. The cost for a couple of things we have signed up for has been 15-100$ depending on the artist and the platform/experience. I hope that you get some good feedback from folks at the meeting. PS – I love the idea of a song writing retreat weekend that Alain suggested! ~ Quay

    • Jessica Allossery says:

      Thank you soooo much Quay for your input! Super helpful. I’d never heard of veeps before so thank you for adding that. Perhaps doing an online concert but charging extra for a Q&A portion before or after the show would be a cool idea! I’, not sure I’d raise the capital I need though.. However I could consider doing this several times!

  3. Matt Baney says:

    Hi!
    I am on several travel forums, and some of the travel guides on the forums are getting creative with fund-raising since their only source of income has been zero’d out for the last year or so. Some of them are offering virtual tours, usually via Zoom or something similar. Sometimes its an acutual live walk around their city, sometimes its more like a lecture or slideshow, They are usually 1 or 2 hours and some are free, and some charge $5 to $20.
    You could maybe do something similar for virtual concerts, although it may be quite time consuming to raise as much as you need for the album.

    I’m planning to join in to the Team meeting, but thought I’d post my idea, in case I don’t make it!

    • Jessica Allossery says:

      Interesting comparison, Matt! Thanks for sharing a new idea! We can discuss it during the meeting! Hope you’ll be able to make it

  4. Philip Hamid says:

    Jessica, I wouldn’t be able to attend due to a prior commitment.
    Since you tried all the other sources and it wasn’t that successful I suggest you look into Equity crowdfunding.

    • Jessica Allossery says:

      Thanks so much for your input Philip! I’m not super familiar with Equity crowdfunding. Can you shed a little light?

  5. Alain Boulet says:

    Jessica,
    i’m in i used Google chrome i hope it keeps working..
    One idea i have is have you ever done music for tv commercials and movies. or submitted your music for such endeavor it’s not usably full song it would be quicker and you could raise money for an album.
    i would guess you have an agent make him look for contact in the commercial side of music..

    Another idea is put on a song writing retreat together, have room for 10 participants at $1;000.00 rand over a long weekend..
    it could be organized to be a fun gathering and you could work one on one with participants,
    What about playing folk festivals all around Canada. might be to late for this year but next year!!!

    Regards
    Alain Boulet

    • Jessica Allossery says:

      Thank you Alain! I will bring up these points on the virtual team meeting next thursday!

  6. Steven Hill says:

    Unfortunately, I can’t make that meeting :(. Would’ve loved to meet you and DaGreg and everyone else!

    Currently I stream most music, but I buy a song that really hits home with me. Sad to say, when Google Play switched over to YouTube Music, all I get is like 3 minute buffering between playing songs, so I hardly listen to my own purchased music anymore. Drives me crazy. I hate YouTube Music.

    I don’t really have any funding ideas. If I had the capital, I would fund you myself. That’s how much I enjoy your music.

    • Jessica Allossery says:

      We will have another meeting some time down the road, so don’t worry Steven! I look forward to meeting you virtually when the time aligns with your schedule at another meeting.

  7. Jeff Webb says:

    Hi. I will try to join the team meeting. I do think pre-sale fund raising is well used by a number of artists. I’ve supported a few of my “favourites” in this way, even well established musicians who you would assume don’t really need this sort of backing! Anyway I still buy a lot of music e.g. I own pretty much all your recordings among many others, because I think the musician should be rewarded directly for what they do. But I do stream as well – mainly a lot of back catalogue stuff from bands I’ve been listening to for years, re-mixes and for discovering new music and artists. Hope this helps.

    • Jessica Allossery says:

      Hi Jeff! It would be great to finally meet you virtually! Thank you for your input and advice as well, it’s good to know and get a scope of what people do these days to support their fav artists. 🙂

SO WE CAN BE BESTIES!  😂

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