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Beer Budget CD Release Strategy as an Alternative to The Way It'sNormally Done



Rainer wrote:
"So basically, if you do not value your own spare time at all (or even
give it a negative value), then that can be ok, if, on the other hand,
you value your spare time a great deal (like Krispen), then by all
means don't make your CDs yourself! It does not pay off."

There are a lot of ways that things can pay us off as you say.  Not all 
involve money.  Some are economic,  some are time saving,  some
involve spiritual or personal satisfaction,  etc.     It's hard to 
quantize in this case for me so I can't agree with
your assessment of the way I do it.

Let me explain why your approach doesn't appeal to me:


What you say WOULD be true if I were in the economic bracket that you and 
Krispen are in, but I'm not.

What I mean by this is that I don't make very much money (because I live 
mostly 
off of my artistry or things related to it, peripherally like teaching, 
giving seminars, studio 
work, touring , et. al.)  at all so I have a lot more time 
than either of you to work on my music.

What I happen to do as an artist in a sense means that I'm not on the 
clock.

Not that time isn't valuable to me,  but the fact of the matter is 
that I lay out less actual cash doing it my way than with the Kunaki 
solution (which, by the way, 
I think is a wonderful solution for lots of people:  especially people 
with really high paying 
and time demanding jobs outside of the music, like you and Krispen).

Because my resources are vastly smaller than yours,  it's actually a 
better alternative for me to 
do it the way that I do it, merely because I lack the financial resources.

In my own world,  I rationalize this decision by thinking that I would 
have to go out 
and do work that is time consuming and not meaningful to me to make more 
money to put 
it out in ways that are more expensive.

I think if I were starting over again, however, that I might very well 
take the route that you 
are taking (having a good job that derives income not directly related to 
music) because it's gotten 
to be so vastly more difficult to make a living as a professional musician 
than when I was starting out.
I've just done it for 30 years and I just feel stubbornly (and 
egotistically) attached to doing 
it the way I do it.

Additionally,  I get a lot of artistic satisfaction out of doing 
everything myself.
I really like being in control of every aspect of my final 'product'.  In 
order to do this, 
I have to spend very little money to retain the aesthetic control that 
pleases me and 
gives me satisfaction, artistically.   I'm down with that compromise.  
I actually love doing way more, with very, very little (it's one of the 
salient reasons that draws 
me both to found sound and to lo fi toy videography)............I can 
spend a lot less money 
on all of it and it spurns me on to be a lot more creative.

Spiritually (and this is just for me: please understand that I"m not 
putting down anyone 
who chooses a different path),   I like that I'm involved with every step 
of the process.

Doing so forces me to learn a lot about all kinds of things that have 
helped my skill set in 
music and visual arts,  from designing to production to mastering, etc.  I 
get to grow a lot as 
an artist, consequently.

Sure, I'd love to do a killer vinyl release of Dayglo Orange Plastic (in 
fact, can't you imagine a 
cool limited run of 200 using Translucent Orange Vinyl?)  but I literally 
don't have enough money 
to do that.

It's all good...................I just wanted to pipe in and let people 
know that there are  a lot 
of ways to do things in the music industry without going down the typical 
paths.

And all that said and done,  I have great respect for both yours and 
Krispen's artistry and all the 
things you guys chose to do to put your own artistry out to the world.

Happy New Year to you and may 2009 be a really fruitful artistic year for 
you.

yours,  respectfully,   Rick