Hello! To put this simply, I’m a musician & the purpose of this Gofundme is solely to raise enough money to manufacture a run of CDs of my latest album. Streaming services pay artists fractions of a penny and I'm hoping to kickstart my career by selling CDs (something that seems to have gone extinct over the course of the last decade). If you have the time, let me explain why this is so necessary.

My name is Devon. I'm a Canadian musician from Ontario currently living in Maryland. I’ve been making music for as long as I can remember. Since I was a child I knew that being a professional musician was the only road for me, and over the years I developed my style and have become enormously proud of my work. Things were easier when I was a teenager in a small city- playing shows and hand-delivering CDs around town to other musicians and fans in the scene. COVID really hurt all artists, but I adapted and spent all my time focusing on promoting my music on streaming platforms and collaborating to help other struggling artists through my independent record label ‘Lamebird Records’. My thinking was: if I can focus all my efforts into building a strong online presence through people streaming my songs I’ll have that in my pocket when the lockdown ends. Unfortunately, along with every single independent artist I know, I found out quick that things don’t work like this.

Despite a very successful few years in terms of numbers, I’m ashamed to say that thousands of regular listeners from all around the world on many different platforms has only amounted to $71.10. Each full “listen” pulls in (if you’re very lucky) about $0.003. There is no way to progress as a musician via people streaming your music (even, in some cases, for big artists backed by major labels). With the cost of living skyrocketing and me trying to start a life for myself and future family, people often mention that the only way to earn as a musician is to have many irons in the fire. So I devoted time to doing this. Over the years I’ve started an independent record label to promote musicians I believe in, worked with a couple very successful artists and big names through collaboration and production, designed and sold merch lines, and even have experimented with the concept of licensing music for movies and TV. I’ve dished out money on ad campaigns, been interviewed by blogs, labels and music websites, I’ve increased the quality of the production of my music through new equipment and with the help of other (more talented) producers. All of this effort combined with tirelessly working to direct people to my music on streaming platforms has yielded a devastating $71.10. That is significantly less than a day’s work for me in my day job.

Despite the monumental feedback I get from my audience and other artists, despite the high number of people who hear my music every day, despite working tirelessly for five years to promote everything I release… streaming can not produce enough money for a loaf of bread every week (and certainly not enough to ever build a stable life for myself). I’ve always been okay with roughing it, the struggle isn’t what hurts (I continue, to this day, to sleep in my car for days on end to save the little bit of gas money it takes to commute and I’m great with it- gives me more time to work on music before going to sleep). It’s the idea that there is no future for me (and millions of others) doing what I not only love, but can not stop myself from doing. Music is the only thing in the world that makes sense to me, and -though I’m usually extremely humble I feel after all these years I’ve earned the right to say- I’m good at it. I believe in doing what is necessary to succeed, but never sacrificing the art in the process. It might be easier to make catchy jingles for businesses or to compromise what I believe in and create radio-friendly and bland music for people who won’t care, but life isn’t about what is easy or yields the quickest results. My whole career has been an impossible uphill struggle but that is how things are supposed to be. So, I could spend the rest of my life waiting around for streaming companies to pay artists in a fair and legal way but that is futile and a lazy, sad way of living. Instead, I want to rebuild the entire way people listen to my music.

I’ve always been a big believer that streaming music online is almost unethical but we feel “forced” into it. Why? Why not continue to make CDs and distribute them ourselves? Why not continue as if nothing has changed? Sure, the ability to make money off this model has decreased drastically but if it means it opens just enough doors for me as a musician and the small amount of funds can help ensure I never have to give up music, then I’m ecstatic. The idea that selling CDs as a musician has somehow become a strange one is absurd. We exist in this short window of time right now where there are still people (like myself) who want to listen to a CD instead of hitting play on Spotify. Maybe the age of cassettes and vinyl have slipped away from us but CDs still have some blood flowing! This is a model that has worked for me in the past on a smaller scale and now, with the audience I’ve built, can work wonders for my career today. Think of it this way:

One thousand streams on Spotify (the leading streaming platform) yields less than three dollars (if you’re very lucky).

Selling less than 50 CDs priced at $10 would fully cover the cost of producing them and would turn a profit of a couple hundred dollars (which is money that can serve as an investment in my career).

Distributing music digitally comes with big costs (memberships and subscriptions ensure that even if you are doing well you are losing big amounts of money, even as an independent artist).

Distributing music physically comes with costs too, but there exists the opportunity to actually turn a bit of a profit.

So why am I asking for money?

Without spinning a sob story or going into unnecessary detail regarding my current situation, I’ll just say this: despite being in good spirits and trying to see things in a positive light, money is a huge issue for me right now. While falling behind on bills and working six days a week to try to keep my head above water, the idea of putting even $20 into my career right now is completely undoable. I always reinvested anything I made off my music back into my career and that used to work great for me! Today, though, in the streaming age and far away -geographically- from scenes and niches who enjoy my music (and without the money to travel to play shows) investing a profit of less than a cent into my music when distribution alone costs roughly $100/year is pointless and impossible. I simply need an influx of money to fund this process of making this record something special that you can hold in your hand.

What will I do with the money?

With any and all funds I receive from this fundraiser, I will work with a company to professionally manufacture these physical releases of my latest album ‘Echo the Heart’ and anything remaining will be used to help fund the release of the next album that is currently being worked on now. This is important**** NOT A DIME of this money will go towards paying bills or settling debts. Nothing goes towards groceries, gas, medical expenses, etc. I work very hard every day and put in the hours at my job to do my best to make ends meet (even when often, I can not), but 100% of anything earned during this fundraiser will be used for the purpose of helping kickstart my career so that one day music can provide enough money to support me and my family. Making music and sharing it with the world is the greatest gift I’ve been blessed with and I am not deterred by the current state of the industry. This is the way forward for me, right now, and even if I only reach half of my small goal here, I’ll make it work somehow! I’m simply grateful for your support and I will invest your money with care.

What can you get out of this?

Because of my own personal beliefs, I don’t want to accept somebody’s money without delivering a product in return. I wish I could deliver a product to every donation no matter how big or small but some things are hard to pull off because of limited funds. However, I’ll be honored to ship a special one-of-a-kind copy of this record to anybody in America who donates over $50 to this fundraiser. For larger orders I will do my best to include some merch as well (sometimes this is a challenge because the company I use can hit some delays with shipping merchandise out so it isn't always reliable but I promise you I will try my best or put your name on a list for future shipments if things don't work out). For some smaller donations I will send out some private album codes so you can get a digital copy of this last album (on Bandcamp) for free with lots of bonus tracks included that are not available to hear on major streaming platforms)! I’ll keep sending codes until I hit Bandcamp’s limit. If you want to receive any of this (or ANYTHING else related to my music) just message me anywhere online (instagram: https://www.instagram.com/polarislandparkway/ or email me) and I will do my absolute best to get something special to you in return. I care deeply about taking care of my listeners and sending back the love and appreciation they show my music.

In closing, I feel very uncomfortable asking for money and it is something I’ve never done before. Instead of approaching this in a negative way and detailing all the ways in which I’m struggling, I want everyone & myself to see this as an exciting opportunity for an independent artist and a great way to help shift the power away from these corporations who profit off of creative people while allowing them to receive only fractions of a penny, and put that power back into the hands of the artist. My music belongs to me and you, not Swedish billionaires or Californian businessmen. Help me get this movement started and kickstart my career and I promise I will never turn my back on you. Thank you for reading

-Dev (Polar Island Parkway)

PS- Feel free to reach out with ANY questions