This is really nice, really well done. I usually get antsy during podcasts (ADHD??), but this one flowed well and kept me interested and entertained. Thoroughly enjoyed it!
I've never felt comfortable taking grant money to make new music. Over the decades I've funded every release I've put out or funded for others and only once did I apply and receive public money and that was in 1997 a $5,500 factor recording grant for our album released in 1999. Kelly and I via our company invested $12,000 to fund that release. A Father of a band member invested $3,000 and while the band didn't invest in the invoices associated with making the album from rentals and studios to producer fees and post recording. In total if we look at the marketing hours I spent and the "extra" non paid hours our producers put in because they didn't sign up for two years but once they started as all really serious song makers they finished the project. The band lived together during this 2 year period in Toronto and used every cent they made working in pubs to pay for practice space and expenses playing shows because in Toronto if you're not playing shows while making an album you're forgotten in weeks. So in total we probably spent about $60,000 in time and skills - I also repaid about $500 of our factor loan in the 2 years after releasing our album. The loan was artist friendly and any debt forgiven after two years. I still feel bad we weren't able to repay that loan but the stress and pressure of trying to get signed to our two Canadian labels during that two year period burned out the band and they all quit shortly after the album was done. While we did have distribution without touring sales were very low and most came from indiepool because our distributor dropped us and we had to pay them back for unsold albums. I give all your listeners these real experiences so they have a more realistic sense of how hard it is to make even modest income from making new music in Toronto which is the biggest market in Canada. We all tend to put "happy" smiles on and play the pretend game of "looking" like we're wealthy music makers but the reality is even our top songwriters if you average their after tax income would have a career in the low income range of employment. So make music because you love it - my advice is have the "day" job because then you don't need the grants and tax dollars because I know many that have made a living in non profit organizations focused on getting as much grant and loan tax money as possible. Its actually a career for some sadly. We're songwriters - our art is about expressing emotions deeply to invite and unite us - its an art we evolve to help humans evolve. Too many music makers faced with the reality of the music industry stop making music burned out and bitter. I know several really innovative and creative songwriters that no longer make music - that hurts our art because we don't have their contributions and exciting new art to inspire us - so all this inspired by what you're doing here for the few interested in real experiences being brave enough to create new music in this world - happy creative days ahead all : )
![Summer Walker - Heart Of A Woman [Official Lyric Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SFddctbZzw8/mqdefault.jpg)
This is really nice, really well done. I usually get antsy during podcasts (ADHD??), but this one flowed well and kept me interested and entertained. Thoroughly enjoyed it!
Very well done!
You're both so talented! Love listening to how Saint Hubert's Eve came to be. Such an incredible story.
Facebook populated by your grandparents?!? I’m Wounded!
I've never felt comfortable taking grant money to make new music. Over the decades I've funded every release I've put out or funded for others and only once did I apply and receive public money and that was in 1997 a $5,500 factor recording grant for our album released in 1999. Kelly and I via our company invested $12,000 to fund that release. A Father of a band member invested $3,000 and while the band didn't invest in the invoices associated with making the album from rentals and studios to producer fees and post recording. In total if we look at the marketing hours I spent and the "extra" non paid hours our producers put in because they didn't sign up for two years but once they started as all really serious song makers they finished the project. The band lived together during this 2 year period in Toronto and used every cent they made working in pubs to pay for practice space and expenses playing shows because in Toronto if you're not playing shows while making an album you're forgotten in weeks. So in total we probably spent about $60,000 in time and skills - I also repaid about $500 of our factor loan in the 2 years after releasing our album. The loan was artist friendly and any debt forgiven after two years. I still feel bad we weren't able to repay that loan but the stress and pressure of trying to get signed to our two Canadian labels during that two year period burned out the band and they all quit shortly after the album was done. While we did have distribution without touring sales were very low and most came from indiepool because our distributor dropped us and we had to pay them back for unsold albums. I give all your listeners these real experiences so they have a more realistic sense of how hard it is to make even modest income from making new music in Toronto which is the biggest market in Canada. We all tend to put "happy" smiles on and play the pretend game of "looking" like we're wealthy music makers but the reality is even our top songwriters if you average their after tax income would have a career in the low income range of employment. So make music because you love it - my advice is have the "day" job because then you don't need the grants and tax dollars because I know many that have made a living in non profit organizations focused on getting as much grant and loan tax money as possible. Its actually a career for some sadly. We're songwriters - our art is about expressing emotions deeply to invite and unite us - its an art we evolve to help humans evolve. Too many music makers faced with the reality of the music industry stop making music burned out and bitter. I know several really innovative and creative songwriters that no longer make music - that hurts our art because we don't have their contributions and exciting new art to inspire us - so all this inspired by what you're doing here for the few interested in real experiences being brave enough to create new music in this world - happy creative days ahead all : )