Tilia Americana: Studio Recording
Donation protected
In some ways it's hard to believe that more than a year has passed since we wrote our first song together, and in others it seems incredible that it's only been a year since that cold weekend in February 2015 when Lazy Summer Love Song was born. Since then, we've become the duo known as Tilia Americana , written 19 original songs, played house concerts and local venues around Longmont, had the honor of inviting a variety of talented musicians up on stage with us, and booked a full calendar of gigs around the Front Range. It's been a fulfilling and gratifying experience to be able to share our music with friends old and new, and to feel the electricity of musical connection happen over and over again with our audiences as we sing and play music that touches their hearts.
As Tilia Americana has grown, we've evolved from capturing poor-quality iPhone recordings of our practices, to making single-take demos in the home studios of generous friends, to self-funding the recording of a better-quality digital EP that we've shared for free with anyone who cares to listen. The next step is to record and produce a full-length, professional-quality digital "album" to bring more of our music to our listeners, book a wider range of venues, and connect with new fans.
But what we already knew and have now experienced first-hand is that creating music is not free! Gigging requires sound equipment...web sites and social media and marketing materials all cost money...professional accompanying musicians must be compensated for their work...and recording, mixing, mastering, and distributing music carries with it substantial costs for studio, engineer, and producer time. Sometimes gigs pay, sometimes audiences are generous with tips, but at this point in our band's evolution the music is just not self-sustaining, financially.
WE NEED YOUR HELP
This is where must appeal to you, our friends, supporters, and (we hope) fans. Will you help us take Tilia Americana to the next stage by donating to our GoFundMe campaign? Our goal is to raise $6000 before winter to fund studio time, session musicians, mixing and mastering, and other costs so that we can prep for and begin recording in late winter, with a plan to relase the final product in the spring of 2017.
WHY SO MUCH? WHY GOFUNDME?
$6000 is a lot of money and frankly speaking, we're incredibly uncomfortable asking for it. But in reality this is a shoestring budget for recording an album, and even if we reach this goal, we will most certainly have to kick in additional personal funds to take the project to completion. But we are trying to think of it this way: are there 600 music lovers out there who would pay $10 in advance so that an album of well-crafted music can be created? Or 300 people who would be willing to pay $20? Or maybe a few music lovers who understand the financial challenges of being an independent artist or musician, and would pay a little or a lot more so that art keeps getting made and music played?
Some may ask why we are using a personal fundraising platform instead of one geared specifically toward musicians. The financial terms and technical requirements of the various crowdfunding vehicles were definitely factors, but more importantly we want you, our donors, to understand that you are not *buying* anything from us; you are patronizing the arts. Your donation supports an artistic endeavour that we hope will evoke emotion, make you think, feel, and imagine, and connect you to the power of music.
WHAT DO YOU GET FOR YOUR DONATION?
*Everyone* who donates, no matter what amount, recieves 1) a high-quality digital download of the finished album, with lyrics and original artwork delivered as a digital booklet, 2) the gratifying knowledge that you have supported independent musicans in the act of creation, and 3) our eternal gratitude for making it possible for us to produce this music.
We are offering a few additional, more tangible rewards for donors who support us at higher levels, but we also must be clear up front that our music will only be distributed digitally; we are not planning to produce physical CDs for distribution. We made this choice consciously, out of a personal dedication to reducing the production of printed materials, discs, and packaging that, in this era of portable digital and streaming music, are either treated as disposable or end up as clutter. In our hearts we know that our supporters will get more use and enjoyment from a t-shirt or hand-crafted piece of art than from a disc that gets ripped straight to PC anyway and is then sent to the landfill.
WE APPRECIATE YOUR SUPPORT
If you've read this far, we want to close by offering our sincerest gratitude for your support of our musical pursuits so far. We have so much more that we want to share with the world and we are very grateful to know that you are alongside us for the ride.
--with love from Jeanne and Andy, Tilia Americana
As Tilia Americana has grown, we've evolved from capturing poor-quality iPhone recordings of our practices, to making single-take demos in the home studios of generous friends, to self-funding the recording of a better-quality digital EP that we've shared for free with anyone who cares to listen. The next step is to record and produce a full-length, professional-quality digital "album" to bring more of our music to our listeners, book a wider range of venues, and connect with new fans.
But what we already knew and have now experienced first-hand is that creating music is not free! Gigging requires sound equipment...web sites and social media and marketing materials all cost money...professional accompanying musicians must be compensated for their work...and recording, mixing, mastering, and distributing music carries with it substantial costs for studio, engineer, and producer time. Sometimes gigs pay, sometimes audiences are generous with tips, but at this point in our band's evolution the music is just not self-sustaining, financially.
WE NEED YOUR HELP
This is where must appeal to you, our friends, supporters, and (we hope) fans. Will you help us take Tilia Americana to the next stage by donating to our GoFundMe campaign? Our goal is to raise $6000 before winter to fund studio time, session musicians, mixing and mastering, and other costs so that we can prep for and begin recording in late winter, with a plan to relase the final product in the spring of 2017.
WHY SO MUCH? WHY GOFUNDME?
$6000 is a lot of money and frankly speaking, we're incredibly uncomfortable asking for it. But in reality this is a shoestring budget for recording an album, and even if we reach this goal, we will most certainly have to kick in additional personal funds to take the project to completion. But we are trying to think of it this way: are there 600 music lovers out there who would pay $10 in advance so that an album of well-crafted music can be created? Or 300 people who would be willing to pay $20? Or maybe a few music lovers who understand the financial challenges of being an independent artist or musician, and would pay a little or a lot more so that art keeps getting made and music played?
Some may ask why we are using a personal fundraising platform instead of one geared specifically toward musicians. The financial terms and technical requirements of the various crowdfunding vehicles were definitely factors, but more importantly we want you, our donors, to understand that you are not *buying* anything from us; you are patronizing the arts. Your donation supports an artistic endeavour that we hope will evoke emotion, make you think, feel, and imagine, and connect you to the power of music.
WHAT DO YOU GET FOR YOUR DONATION?
*Everyone* who donates, no matter what amount, recieves 1) a high-quality digital download of the finished album, with lyrics and original artwork delivered as a digital booklet, 2) the gratifying knowledge that you have supported independent musicans in the act of creation, and 3) our eternal gratitude for making it possible for us to produce this music.
We are offering a few additional, more tangible rewards for donors who support us at higher levels, but we also must be clear up front that our music will only be distributed digitally; we are not planning to produce physical CDs for distribution. We made this choice consciously, out of a personal dedication to reducing the production of printed materials, discs, and packaging that, in this era of portable digital and streaming music, are either treated as disposable or end up as clutter. In our hearts we know that our supporters will get more use and enjoyment from a t-shirt or hand-crafted piece of art than from a disc that gets ripped straight to PC anyway and is then sent to the landfill.
WE APPRECIATE YOUR SUPPORT
If you've read this far, we want to close by offering our sincerest gratitude for your support of our musical pursuits so far. We have so much more that we want to share with the world and we are very grateful to know that you are alongside us for the ride.
--with love from Jeanne and Andy, Tilia Americana
Organizer
Jeanne McAdara
Organizer
Longmont, CO
