Image by R.Black
Hey folks!
I’m sitting in the studio at Plaiddog Recording in Waltham MA, awaiting our final tracking session for the new EP, The Haunted Album.
It took many, wild unlikelihoods for this project to come into the world. I hadn’t planned on it. In fact, most of the songs were humming in the background of my laptop notes section, trying to get my attention in one way or another. They would pop up when I would open a new tab, or spin by my eyeballs as I was attempting to start another project I was unable to stop thinking about.
I wasn’t even thinking about studio time, yet. I was too busy and WAY too broke to think about recording anything at this point. Then one day I received an email from someone asking if I was a songwriter and if I had any songs ready for recording.
I had received solicitations like this before, all of them scams of some sort. But, because of my morbid sense of curiosity, I indulged in a wee back and forth. “Something something, crowdfunding campaign” (HAHAHAAA no.), “something something Boston, MA” (AbsoLOUTLY not), “something something, take your time, here’s our website, feel free to reach out to other folks who have completed the program.” ………..Ok.
I sat on it for a few days. I read reviews, perused the website, subreddits, and stalked other artists’ Instagrams. I reached out to them personally and received nothing but positive feedback. It was beginning to look legit. The only negative reviews were about delays during the pandemic. Which…..I mean, Covid delayed everyone and all things.
So I set up a meeting and confronted my anxiety over crowdfunding. I always understood the amount of work it would take to pull off a successful campaign. The ease with which the process makes itself seem is a product of the companies that invented the platforms in the first place. I am a member of an age bracket where illusion and disillusionment converge. Should I approach this with the wide-eyed hopefulness of someone who isn’t aware of the pitfalls? Should I trust that I know the racket and pass?
Luckily, I’m young enough to be hopeful.
It WAS a lot of work. BUT Plaiddog Recording has a very neat thing going on for it. It has a whole department dedicated to the automation and project management of building and executing successful crowdfunding campaigns. It’s business seems to depend on it. In an industry that keeps pivoting towards putting independent artists in charge of their own destiny and driving the production of music into home studios, Plaiddog is making it possible for those who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford the experience and end product of a studio experience with a professional engineer, professional studio musicians, and a producer, that exact thing.
Like most creatives, I hate asking for money. I never got into music for this reason. It’s an ongoing, and seemingly universal quandary. But, after having given 20+ years of my energy and commitment to jobs that I thought would make it easier to chase my artistic dragons, and only being drained of my inspiration to create. I was only ever inspired by my community and how they showed up. My community continues to remain my reason. I’ve only ever known inspiration from my personal experiences and from the stories I share with individuals in my world. And when I asked to lean on them for this project, they showed up in ways I wouldn’t have known had I not put myself in the position to ask.
And now we have a new collection of songs which I am beyond excited to present back to my community as the result of our collective efforts.
I give my unending gratitude to everyone who donated or just commented with their enthusiasm for the project, I now have a second EP in as many years to share with you all. These songs that have been hovering in the periphery now have a home.
I can’t wait to share the recordings with you. They are just as much yours as they are mine.
<3 EmZis