The month of March was pre-release month for my new album New Vintage. New Vintage will have a June 1 release date with a live show at The Wolf in Ballwin, MO in the greater St. Louis, MO area. I’d like to say, “Thanks!” to everyone who reserved a copy of the CD.
I often mention using goals to direct what I do with music. Goals have taken me to play music in ten states in the last six months and will take me to more little accomplishments. With the pre-release, I set a modest goal and learned a lot from the last time I released an album. The lesson I continued to learn is that people will most likely choose the simplest option to help. In January 2018, I started a book discussing my business model for music as a side job. Lessons learned in my pre-release are detailed there.
For my pre-release, I offered the cd, name in liner notes, and some merch for $10 which is what the CD will cost after release. I had an add-on option for a shirt. No one took the add on. Insert sad face followed by laughing face emoji. So, I thought about revising my goal. I rode it out for a week and decided to try a little harder to meet the goal. By the end of the month I surpassed my original goal by 12%.
I’m sharing because I’m glad I met the goal but, more importantly, I’m sharing as running yourself like a business with music is difficult. Seeing that people can work their art into something financially self supporting and profit generating can be inspiring. I often say it’s not about the money, but money helps justify the time and effort spent.
Again, thanks to everyone who helped out. I’m excited for this album and, though I have the next one planned because I’m always thinking ahead, the next new one will be a few years off.