The Record Companies Are Dead…
Would You Be My Record Company Instead?

In the olden days it worked like this:

• Really talented musician got “discovered” by a record company talent scout
• Musician signed multi-year record deal and recorded his songs
• The record company paid for all the marketing and promotion which actually came out of the musicians pocket because the musician never saw a dime until the record company paid off their investment. Any “advance” had to be paid off too.
• The radio stations (often paid off in various ways by Record companies) played the music and people heard it for free and liked it enough to run to the record store to buy it.
• Musicians with the right amount of support and talent were able to build large audiences and get their work out into the ears of millions.

Now it works like this.

• The record companies are either dying or all ready dead. Even if they were alive and well, a 48 year old unknown singer/songwriter would be the absolutely last thing they’d be interested in.
• A musician who has talent has to “discover” him or herself and begin to learn how to “do it yourself” or DIY. Marketing, promotion, internet search engine optimization, blogging, social media etc…
• The new musician is competing not only with established acts (in my case James Taylor, Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Leonard Cohen, John Mayer, Peter Gabriel etc.) he is also competing with a gazillion new and unheard of acts. He is also competing with TV, and with all the other gazillion voices, causes, ideas, books, movies, games, sports, people who are clamoring for attention. Paris Hilton is the Michelangelo of the new Attention Age. She has elevated the art of getting attention to the highest art form. But she doesn’t really contribute much of lasting value.( Oops sorry about getting up on my soap box for a moment…:o)
• So now, in order to get even a micro slice of the attention pie, in order to get people to listen, there is a new process. It is still evolving. But it is basically based on me giving away unlimited free downloads of my music. Because unless you listen you will not get a chance to like what you hear and if you do not get that chance you certainly are not going to come to see me live in concert or buy the tee-shirt.
• But here is the question. If I give away my work how do I buy food and pay rent? How do I put gas in my car so that I can drive to the show? In the really olden days I would find a patron or benefactor in the nobility or the church who would support my work. After that it was corporations that did that. Now it’s all comes down to you and me.
• It all hinges around me somehow finding a way to reach out to you so that you will stop what you are doing in your busy life long enough to listen to one or more of my songs. Then if and only then, if you like it, download and share my music. Email it to your friends. Burn it on a mix CD and give it away for Christmas. This is exactly what the old dinosaur record companies are suing college kids for. Those college kids are actually doing the music a huge favor. They are sharing it and spreading it. It’s like when radio first started playing music for free over the air waves. The record companies screamed “Who will buy our music if it’s able to be heard for free?” Well that free listen was what sent us scurrying to buy the LPs back in the day. And then when radio stations started playing the entire side of an LP and people had (gasp!) cassette recorders at home. The record industry screamed again. The end result was that the people won and music grew new audiences.

So I don’t really need you to be my record company in the traditional sense. I don’t want you to be stiff, and closed minded. I need you to be my open minded partner. I need your help. I’m entering a viciously competitive, attention clobbered world where my small voice can barely be heard. I’m not a 20 something hottie. Most people my age are still listening to the stuff they “bonded” with back in their own college days. So I need ears that are willing to try new stuff.

I’ve waited 30 years for this. I’ve overcome immense personal challenges to even be here. I’ve made a deep commitment to preserve and share these tunes that chose me to be their songwriter. I’ve invested thousands and thousands of dollars of my own money on the dozen or so CD’s I’ve already recorded. It’s okay if I don’t make back that money. I’ve preserved the tunes so at the very least my kids will know my life through the songs. But so far I’ve recorded only about half of what I’ve written. I need your help to record the other half and get it out.

I am moving forward with this goal every single day. I would like your company on this road. I will do my best to provide back to you support and a transformative listening experience that can in some small way touch and improve your life or give you the ability to touch and improve the lives of others.

Here’s some specific things you can do to help.

Stage 1: Fan and Enthusiast

1. Go to any open of my song posts and download it by right clicking the little down load link just below the audio player. Put it on your mp3 player. Play it on your computer. Burn it to a cd and play it in your car. burn another copy for a friend. Attach it to an e-mail and send it to a friend who might need to hear whatever the message is in the song.
2. If you like it come back for more or sign up for my weekly news letter or RSS feed. I upload a minimum of 1 song per week so there’s always something new happening. If you opt in I will also give you the option of providing me with your street address to which I will send you a free CD.
3. Share any post by clicking the little buttons at the bottom. With a click of a button you can post to your facebook page, or twitter or stumbleupon or digg etc.
4. If at any point you feel so moved, you can make a donation of any size with the handy donation button at the bottom of each post or in the right sidebar.
5. Wherever possible come to see me live in concert. Introduce yourself, Hang out a bit. Request a song. I’ll do my best to dedicate it and play if for you.

Stage 2 Micro Patronage:
Here’s how you can help me and help your business or favorite cause (or just make your mark on the world).

Earth Patron:
You can sponsor the recording of one of my songs. This will preserve the tune in crisp clear digital sound. Just me and my guitar. No fancy production. Just raw and clear.  Participation Investment $100.00 per song.

You get:

1. Your name and website link listed with the song post (or if you are supporting a favorite cause and choose to be anonymous you can have your cause info here instead)
2. Every time I perform the song I will say “The recording and preservation of this song was made possible by your name here”
3. You will also get the first listen to the new recording.
4. If you are local, and schedule’s permit, you are invited to come to the recording session in person.

Wind Patron:
You can sponsor an entire year of the Life In Song Project (10-15 songs). When I go into the studio I can record several songs at each session. Again this is raw, acoustic Mark Shepard along the lines of Eyes On The Horizon or Ocean of Dreams. Investment: $1,000

You get:

1. Your name and website link listed with each of the songs posted (or if you are supporting a favorite cause and choose to be anonymous you can have your cause info here instead)
2. Every time I perform any the songs in this collection I will say “The recording and preservation of this song was made possible by your name here”
3. You will also get the first listen to the new recording.
4. If you are local, and schedule’s permit, you are invited to come to the recording session in person.
5. You will get the entire session on CD
6. You will get your name on the CD label
7. You will get a dozen CD’s to give away
8. A free house concert at your home. Invite your friends or just keep me to yourself for the evening. Please Note: Unless you want to fly me in to your city, or cover travel expenses, this benefit is for the local folks only within an hour or two drive from New Haven CT.

Fire Patron:
A number of my songs are crying out for other instruments and arrangements that will totally set fire to the raw material of the basic song. In order to produce a song I have to pay other musicians as well as 10-30 hours of studio time and arranging with my long time collaborator Joe Mennonna (at $100 per hour). So each produced song costs anywhere from $1,000-$3000 depending on the complexity of the arrangement. The benefit of producing a song is that it is much more accessible to a wider audience. So your sponsor ship message can reach more. To see how this works compare the Youtube video of Motivation with some of my acoustic videos. At this writing, Motivation has had over 2500 views (just in the MarkShepardSongs channel.

Watch the Video here to see what I’m talking about and imagine your name as patron.

I also have it up in several other channels and video directories across the web that have garnered about 500 views each fromall over the world.

You get:

1. Your name and website link listed with each of the songs posted (or if you are supporting a favorite cause and choose to be anonymous you can have your cause info here instead)
2. Every time I perform any the songs in this collection I will say “The recording and preservation of this song was made possible by your name here“
3. You will also get the first listen to the new recording.
4. If you are local, and schedule’s permit, you are invited to come to the recording session in person and experience the entire process from start to finish.
5. You will get the entire session on CD
6. You will get your name on the CD label You will get 2 dozen CD’s to give away
7. You will get your name on the tee shirt along with the song lyrics.
8. You will get sponsorship mention in the music video The video will be uploaded to over a dozen of the leading video directories on the web. Where appropriate we can even work your photo or one of your favorite photos into the video. Possibly even a cameo appearance. Again, see the Motivation Video. I was able to work photos of Kathy McAfee and her two sons as well as a memorial picture of her brother into the video.
9. A free house concert at your home. Invite your friends or just keep me to yourself for the evening. Please Note: Unless you want to fly me in to your city, or cover travel expenses, this benefit is for the local folks only within an hour or two drive from New Haven CT.

This is obviously still in the formative stage so if you have any other ideas or suggestions on how you can help and how I can support your support please let me know.

Interested? Got Questions?

Please contact me at mark [at] MarkShepard.com or 203-495-8808