1. Why don't you use Kickstarter, like you have for the past four albums? 

A: Kickstarter worked great for me, but it is a true fundraiser and all or nothing makes it one constant plea for people to hurry up and donate. I never felt comfortable with that aspect. Also, Kickstarter took a considerable fee of all my donations (and I still was hit with PayPal fees), and I could never add new items or allow people who missed the deadline to contribute. It also took two months to do and you could never begin an album till after the completion. In those ways, it was very inflexible.

2. What happens if you don't finish the album? 

A: You can look back at the ten previous studio albums I did and see that's one thing I know how to do, but also the Kickstarter album timelines of progress and completion of them. I've done ten studio albums, multiple eps, live records, singles, etc and produced albums for other artists. I have already begun the album and depending on how much I raise (and how quickly) certainly will affect how fast I finish it. 

3. Why do you need pre-funding to record your album?

A: Indie Do-It-Yourself artists do not have recording budgets. Even artists on bigger labels who have that luxury owe it all back, record labels (and I've worked with several good ones) are really just banks. Touring is not as profitable for smaller club level artists in general and the money we once made from selling cds is now just a trickle or fractions of pennies from streaming. I will spend my own funds on this project, borrow funds, and crowdfund funds, because it takes all of that to cover all the costs. I have raised from five to eight-thousand dollars on my Kickstarter campaigns, and they only ever barely covered recording cost, not production or promotion. 

4. How much do you need and what will you spend the money on?

A: The main chunk comes from paying for studio time for recording, production, musicians, mixing, mastering, etc. That's the fun part and the bare bones necessary to produce the album: costs range from $7,000-$10,000 on all of this over the years for my full production albums. Manufacturing and production for cds, and/or vinyl (if budget allows), and the artwork-design and photography that requires is the next chunk of funds: another $3,000-$4,000 roughly covers those costs. Beyond that, depending on the budget I raise, will be funding promotion of some kind. Sometimes that's just an indie publicist or radio promoter, for US, EU, UK, etc. Without some help getting it to people, it doesn't get heard except for the people who already follow me and know me. This could be anywhere from $5,000-$10,000 in and of itself. *This is not a luxury I've ever had on my own and why I have signed distribution deals for so many of my albums in the US, UK, EU, etc. If any of those options are available to me I'd consider like always, but I really just want to get the music out there. 

5. How does the House Concert option work?

A: I suggest dropping me a line to let me know where you live, if we haven't worked together before. In general, we would work out a time when I can play your house while I tour nearby. However, if you live farther away than a day's drive it just takes a bit more planning. I have done house shows in the UK, NL, DE, NO, BE and all over the USA. 

6. I have more questions.

A: Email me, message me, snailmail me, send a pigeon carrier, or a raven from King's Landing; I will answer it! :)