Christian Songwriter's Network

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone might have an interest in collaberating on a CD to help raise funds for persecuted Christians? You can read more about this in my other post under...

Ministry Oppoturnities

Topic:

Help the Persecuted Christians In S.E. Asia
http://forums.christiansongwriters.org/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=14771

I'm looking for creative people who have experience in this area. I need help with brainstorming ideas on how to create a CD where either a portion, or all, of the proceeds would be given to support persecuted Christian refugees in Myanmar.

Please let me know if you are interested!

Thanks,

_________________
Grace & Peace,
guitar2tr

Free Download: AbcLearnGuitar eBook

I have on several occasions been involved in fund raising and missional CD's.

I know you need to have all your financial ducks in order before you start, because tax laws vary from state to state, and since this one has international ties, all sorts of problems can arise.

I don't know the mission of this one, I don't know what financial contributions would do to assist people being persecuted in China, and I don't know the organizations that would directly benefit... but these are questions that need to be answered clearly before you even begin to make this project.

You need to get the group you're working with in on the project as early as possible. Amazingly, some don't accept projects like this easily, and will not lend their name to them unless they are sure of your reputable nature. If they are not on board, then marketing is almost non-existent, and it becomes a moot point.

As an example, I became part of a Christmas CD that included independent artists and studios from around the world. After all the music was recorded, mixed and mastered, CD Baby was brought on to sell it, all graphics were set, we got word that "Save the Children" wasn't willing to lend their name and wouldn't promote the CD. At the same time, some questions about taxation came up in Ireland. In the end, we gave it away, (having people on the honor system promise to give to charity). With no promotion outside of our own word of mouth, it wound up that 20 CD's were given away, and little or no good came for the hundreds of man hours that went into the project. A real pity.

So there might be some interest, but have the business end clearly set at the outset, and in stone as early as possible... or don't waste your time.

_________________
Keep Pressin' On (Phil. 3:13-14)

Steve Goad
ItsaGodGig Music
Humble, TX
http://www.itsagodgig.org

Thanks for the info and quick reply.

Actually, the ministry is not to China, but Myanmar (formerly Burma). The organization is Vision Beyond Borders. They have a short video detailing this very urgent situation at:

Myanmar Video

How possible do you think it would be to get all of the production process, music and songwriting donated by the invidual indie artists? Forget CD Baby. Instead, each contributer to the project could promote the CD on SoundClick, their own websites, Facebook and other social networks, etc. Do you think that would be too difficult to pull off?

_________________
Grace & Peace,
guitar2tr

Free Download: AbcLearnGuitar eBook

Sure, if the artists and studios are on board donating their own individual parts, it would be easy enough to pull off. Get a mastering engineer to throw his studio behind it, do it all by download so that there are not CD production costs involved, and you could basically do the project for free. I would assume, since you are presenting it, that you would be the producer (a critical role to assure that the project gets done).

The hard part for the producer would be to make sure about the financial matters after that (how would the money be accounted for, if the charity itself lends its name, would it be tax deductible, making sure the charity gets credits, etc).

It is a daunting task on the production end, but sure, it is workable.

_________________
Keep Pressin' On (Phil. 3:13-14)

Steve Goad
ItsaGodGig Music
Humble, TX
http://www.itsagodgig.org

My idea is to have indie artists donate individual mp3s from songs they have already copyrighted and recorded.

Then I (or someone else) would simply
- copy and compile these donated songs onto a master CD
- create a simple cover (perhaps with a graphics software program)
- and provide a dedicated sales page online where people could order a CD for themselves

Another possibility would be to set it up so people could create a custom CD from a list of songs that are made available on a dedicated sales page.

Each individual contributer to the project would help promote the CD online and off.

The difficult part, I agree, is with...

Personally, I would like to know how realistic this idea is, and if there is any interest in creating such a project, before I make contact with Vision Beyond Borders. That way I will be able to present them with something that is more comprehensive and tangible.

It will definitely need to be easy for them to incorporate. They already have their hands full as it is.

_________________
Grace & Peace,
guitar2tr

Free Download: AbcLearnGuitar eBook

This seems like a great idea. If artists already have CD quality recordings, it would be fairly simple to produce a compilation CD.

If the proceeds are to help Vision Beyond Borders, why not have all the money go directly to them? If the music is being sold in digital form via internet, then that should be fairly easy. If no one else ever "gets" any of the money then there may not be any tax issue. I'm not sure how feasible it would be to burn CDs, because someone has to advance the funds to have CDs duplicated - the charity is not likely to want to bear that up front cost even for small runs of 50 or 100, unless they are certain of the marketability of the CD. If the charity has developed a strong network of relationships with some supporting businesses, radio stations and churches, that might be another avenue to check . . .

Obviously, the main "return" for the artists would be helping the ministry. If that isn't enough, then perhaps some would do it for some additional media exposure. This would require a commitment from the ministry to incorporate selections from the CD (and references to the artists?) on the various radio programs they list on their site, credits on their website and promotional mailings, etc....

Hope these thoughts didn't create a worse jumble!

Keep us posted - I would think there would be a number of folks who would donate a copy of a song for this purpose...
I recently did a music CD as a charitable project for a local hospital so if you need help with graphics work for designing a cover, feel free to let me know.

_________________
Heard it said that while none of us is particularly SPECIAL, each one of us is PRECIOUS.


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemus ... dID=500680

Hi Pattib,

Thanks for your encouragement! Sorry it took so long for me to get back to you. Chalk that up to computer problems, workload, etc. Now regarding some of the comments you made...



Yes, yes. This is exactly what I had in mind. Each artist would get free advertising and extra exposure!



Well, I was thinking that the "album" could be digital and uploaded via Soundclick. Those who donated to VBB would then be allowed to download the entire album of songs and burn their own CDs from the mp3 files.

If Soundclick didn't work, perhaps another online storage provider would be available.



Thank you so much! If more people show an interest in providing songs, perhaps we can get something going. Until then, Vision Beyond Borders is asking Christians to join them in prayer for the Karen Refugees.

You can download the Free 30 Day Prayer Guide on my website at:

http://www.abclearnguitar.com/Myanmar.html

It provides a lot of additional information about the situation. Please tell others to download it too, and pray!

_________________
Grace & Peace,
guitar2tr

Free Download: AbcLearnGuitar eBook