Originally Posted by niteshift
Hey Sean,

Couple of queation, being the old cynic that I am ! ...

Do you have the express permission of AI in your project ? Being a registered trademark, any inference to it may breach its trademark standing.

It would be a good idea to state the charity. YTBT is not really a very good endorsement, in fact it doesn't endorse anything. If the songwriter were to sign up for "Worthy Good Cause No 54" with an express endorsement from the charity, then that would help things along.

$700 is not so bad for a studio produced recording, but could not these production costs be paid for by the studio, put down as overheads, recouped first, then the remaining "profit" be donated to the said charity ? Some folks may not have $700 to donate to your studio.

From a songwriters point of view, compilation recordings are not a sensible business practice, as the individual song gets lost mixed in with the others. If doing a compilation for charity, why not get a few well known artists, team them up with suitable songs, and add to the marketing by promoting it as a team effort ? Would established artists be a part of the project ?

I think it's a little vague at the moment, and the $700 "fee" may distract from what you are trying to achieve. Maybe a rethink ?

cheers, niteshift




Niteshift, thanks for the questions.

First, I will tell you that there are meetings in the works with people getting AI on board to allow Luanne to use American Idol on the compilation CD.

Secondly, most of the songs we've selected so far are already produced, and we're going to have the album mastered at no charge. At first, Luanne only wanted produced, radio ready songs submitted, but there are a few songs that are great that are piano or guitar vocals, and for a few hundred bucks they'll be radio ready. When it comes to a commercial ready CD, those songs need to be produced. Now, I was asked how much does can a demo cost and I gave a price that Arctic Sound Studios and I usually work with. I am not making a dime from this, I am just offering my help because I was asked to help with the song selection and production of the album. Reality is that studio time and musician fees are a part of having a song produced, and it's not a donation to a studio.

If someone doesn't want to submit a song because they think they might have to get it produced, I'm cool with that. But, if someone doesnt want to submit a song because they think my intentions are shady, then I apologize for that. The only reason I mentioned the cost of a demo is because a poster in this thread asked me what one could cost, and I wasn't going to hide from his question, then that would have been shady.

Sean Gasaway
Gasaway Music