Indie artist Sam Billen thinks a little differently than a lot of musicians when it comes to where his music and Christmas intersect. Sam's idea is to print up a thousand (or a couple of thousand) Christmas CDs, and then hand them out--for free--to random strangers on the street. No strings attached. Just giving the gift of music, quite literally and quite personally. Crazy, right? Well, it's not as though he's never done this before. Back in 2008, Sam handed out hundreds of copies of his "Merry Christmas" to people on the streets of Lawrence and Kansas City, Kansas. Then he sent hundreds more to friends in places like Japan, France and Hong Kong to do the same.
It worked once, so there's no reason to believe it wouldn't work again.
So what kind of help is Sam Billen looking for? Well, the monetary kind, actually. Sam and his project partner, Josh Atkinson, need to raise $1200 by November 20. Pledging anywhere from $1 on up will come with certain rewards. For example, for a pledge of $5, you'll get a pre-release download and one physical copy of the CD. Greater pledge amounts will net greater incentives--up to and including an original song written for you about anything you specify and a personal concert via skype for you and your friends. If they don't raise $1200 by November 20, there will be no album. If they raise more, they'll press more copies. And any leftover funds will be donated to charity.
It's weird. But weird in a good, cool, Christmasy kind of way.
Now, just so you don't feel any pressure on this, you should know that the spirit of giving doesn't end at the city limit of Lawrence, Kansas. It's almost certain that the album will be made available for free download once all the copies have been distributed. We'll add it to the Free List when that happens. And you can certainly go, right now, and download "Merry Christmas" from 2008 and "The More The Merrier" from 2009. But we thought we'd let you know about this, in case it sounds like something you'd like to do. How often do you get the opportunity, afterall, to be a "major financial backer" for a record album--knowing that your $1 or five or whatever brought a surprise and a smile to some random person in the world for Christmas? Head on over to Kickstarter, if you're interested in being a part of this project.
It worked once, so there's no reason to believe it wouldn't work again.
So what kind of help is Sam Billen looking for? Well, the monetary kind, actually. Sam and his project partner, Josh Atkinson, need to raise $1200 by November 20. Pledging anywhere from $1 on up will come with certain rewards. For example, for a pledge of $5, you'll get a pre-release download and one physical copy of the CD. Greater pledge amounts will net greater incentives--up to and including an original song written for you about anything you specify and a personal concert via skype for you and your friends. If they don't raise $1200 by November 20, there will be no album. If they raise more, they'll press more copies. And any leftover funds will be donated to charity.
It's weird. But weird in a good, cool, Christmasy kind of way.
Now, just so you don't feel any pressure on this, you should know that the spirit of giving doesn't end at the city limit of Lawrence, Kansas. It's almost certain that the album will be made available for free download once all the copies have been distributed. We'll add it to the Free List when that happens. And you can certainly go, right now, and download "Merry Christmas" from 2008 and "The More The Merrier" from 2009. But we thought we'd let you know about this, in case it sounds like something you'd like to do. How often do you get the opportunity, afterall, to be a "major financial backer" for a record album--knowing that your $1 or five or whatever brought a surprise and a smile to some random person in the world for Christmas? Head on over to Kickstarter, if you're interested in being a part of this project.
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