ACSII charity album-- What needs to happen first?

[topitmunkeydog]

So back in the TMI thread I read some stuff that gave me the idea of hey, we should start a charity album for Abby to help her out with SRS (Sex Reassignment Therapy) and HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy?)
Before I post an official announcement in the Contests subforum, I want to get some details sorted out. This is my first time organizing a charity album (or a compilation album of any kind) so I am not going to even try making all these decisions myself because somehow I will mess something up. Instead, I will ask everybody advice on the following:
What should the title of the album be?
How should the album be released?
Who is willing to create artwork for the album? (I can do this if nopony else wants to)
Should the songs have a theme?
What other requirements, if any, should be present for the songs?
How should they be submitted? (probably just send them to my email address)
How much should be charged for the album?
When should the deadline for completion be?

I feel like we need to determine the answers to these questions before "officially" beginning organization of such album. Many expressed desire to help out with this, including ACSII herself, so I definitely think we can get a solid album together and help out a fellow brony in need!

DISCUSS.

[Acsii]

Just bumping so it shows up in my posts thing...

[Nine Volt]

Well, for how much should be charged, the Bandcamp minimum is 7 USD, so there's that.
I think Alycs could create artwork (though I'm not him; he may very well be busy).

[TheMalenEst]

i could maybe give a shot at the album art :3

but yeah a theme or a title would be good to start with.

is there going to be judges or quality control?

[topitmunkeydog]

Yeah, judges and quality control would definitely be in order. Who wants to do this? I can judge sort of but I feel like there should be someone more experienced than me on it too. For example, someone who actually knows EDM, because that's what I expect the majority of people to submit.

[itroitnyah]

This has a lot of heart put into it, it would be great if ASCII could get a sex change, I know it would make him so happy. I would love to help as much as I can. But one thing that bothers me is that, where's the publicity really going to come from? I'm certain that we couldn't really raise enough money for ASCII ourselves. I guess if we advertised on tumblr to the transgender community we could get extra money, but I'm not really sure where else. Maybe there's a subreddit for tg's, so that's another option. So yeah, the biggest thing we really have to worry about is promotion. It's right up there along with the song quality we let in.

Which brings me to an idea, we could, instead of making this album purely for ASCII, we could make this album to raise money for all the kids who want a gender change but can't afford. We could put ASCII on the top priority list, of course, and advertise and have a whole sign up process for people who really want gender changes so that they can get the money they need and have some security checks to ensure that they're actual people and not just people who are going to steal the money. It could be a great process, and we'd be helping more than just one person. We could help many people depending on how much money we get. And it would raise the publicity for this album as well.

[topitmunkeydog]

him

her

I guess if we advertised on tumblr to the transgender community we could get extra money, but I'm not really sure where else. Maybe there's a subreddit for tg's, so that's another option.

I've never used either tumblr or reddit but from what I know these both seem to be good ideas. I have many friends who use tumblr as well, and many of them are also either part of the LGBT community or supportive of their LGBT friends. So I could just go make a tumblr and tell them all to reblog this thing. As well as whoever actually has a tumblr here with followers and stuff.

Which brings me to an idea, we could, instead of making this album purely for ASCII, we could make this album to raise money for all the kids who want a gender change but can't afford. We could put ASCII on the top priority list, of course, and advertise and have a whole sign up process for people who really want gender changes so that they can get the money they need and have some security checks to ensure that they're actual people and not just people who are going to steal the money. It could be a great process, and we'd be helping more than just one person. We could help many people depending on how much money we get. And it would raise the publicity for this album as well.

This is a great idea. So I was talking with my dad about my idea for this specific album, and he thinks that it's not a great idea, because I can't really relate to transgendered people. I mean, my best friend from preschool ended up having a sex change in like fourth grade or something (FTM), because his parents are extremely supportive. But I don't know any transgendered people in real life who are having trouble financially with therapy, so he said that I am not really qualified to do this album. I disagreed because I am helping out a fellow brony in need, because that's what communities are for, be it IRL or internet. (I'm still doing the album though. He didn't say I could not do it, he just wasn't very keen on the idea.)
But the thing is, if it does turn into a project like that, I would not be qualified or credible to run that. I'm not transgender, and my life hasn't been affected at all by someone who failed to get therapy. I definitely support the cause, but if people asked me "why are you doing this?" I would have to say that I don't really know other than my desire to help people and then they would not take me seriously. So if a ginormous project like this were to happen, I would definitely be a supporter, but not a leader because of my lack of experience. Do you (kinda) understand what I am saying? I'm not making this album a big deal, just organizing a little something to help someone out.

chiptune needs to be allowed

Why not?

[vladnuke]

The bandcamp minimum is not $7, lol. It's more like $0.01.
Anyway, if it's a good album, you can probz get away with charging $5.

Now, to sell it, you need an avenue of promotion, and to get that, you need everyone who's on this album to advertise it, maybe even getting outside promotion. Getting EQD on board will help, but if you don't get people to get hype about this, then you have no market, and therefore no moneh.

The more people who see your album, the bigger chance you have of some of them deciding to lay cash on it. Try to advertise it on LGBTQ+ forums, on people's tumblogs/regular blogs, basically any place where you think your cause will shine out.

Release teaser tracks, make videos (good ones), look as legit as you can, because people pay attention to that.

Basically, marketing, you need it.

[topitmunkeydog]

I wanted to refrain from posting anything on April Fools day because 1) nobody would take it seriously and 2) nobody would even see it because they would be too troll-happy. And the days after that I've been so busy with testing that I didn't get a chance to update this topic (rather, I forgot, lol.)
So I contacted some communities, and am starting to figure out the publication of the album. All we need before it starts "officially" is like a title for the album. Seeking Solace?

[Nine Volt]

Quantum of Solace?

No, Seeking Solace is a cool name. A Safe Place sounds too depressing.

[Acsii]

I approve :3

[topitmunkeydog]

Cool I'll start up the topic tomorrow or today if time allows. Y'all can use that name over and again if you want to repeat the project more than once (as suggested by itroitnyah) but again I probably won't have time to organize more than one album (hence after this project I would turn it over to anyone who wishes to continue it.)

[CaptainFluffatun]

Well, for how much should be charged, the Bandcamp minimum is 7 USD, so there's that.
I think Alycs could create artwork (though I'm not him; he may very well be busy).

There's no minimum...

[Lying Pink]

This is gonna be sweeet!

[Nine Volt]

Well, for how much should be charged, the Bandcamp minimum is 7 USD, so there's that.
I think Alycs could create artwork (though I'm not him; he may very well be busy).

There's no minimum...

For an album? The minimum is 7 dollars, unless you make it free. I swear I'm right...

[itroitnyah]

No, you're wrong. I've made albums on Bandcamp before and I would put the price at something low like $2.5 [or fan chosen pay] (since I only put my songs at $.35+ [or fan chosen pay], I just put the album a bit cheaper than the cost of the songs combined).

[Freewave]

Well, for how much should be charged, the Bandcamp minimum is 7 USD, so there's that.
I think Alycs could create artwork (though I'm not him; he may very well be busy).

There's no minimum...

For an album? The minimum is 7 dollars, unless you make it free. I swear I'm right...

Nope Nope Nope Nope

What pricing performs best?
Please take what we’re about to tell you with a grain of salt. Part of what makes Bandcamp Bandcamp is that you, not some corporate behemoth, set your own pricing. And that’s really as it should be, since the most effective price just isn’t the same for every artist, and you know your fans better than anyone. That said, we have the advantage of a metric crap-ton of data, and that data tells us a few things:

For digital albums of seven tracks or more, most artists will maximize their earnings by charging $7 USD. For EP-length albums (six tracks or fewer), $4 USD is the sweet spot. But again, there are exceptions, and if you’re an established artist who has seen recent success charging $18 for your digital albums, go for it. However, in all cases, leaving “let fans pay more if they want” checked is key: fans pay more than the minimum a whopping 40% of the time, driving up the average price paid by nearly 50% (in fact, every day, we see überfans paying $50, $100, $200 for albums priced far lower).

You can setup bandcamp to do "pay what you want" or free but you are allowed only 100 free downloads out of the gate. If you hit that you have to wait another month for 100 more (and the price does move TO $7 OR you can buy 1000 free downloads for $20.

Then how does Bandcamp get paid?As you sell on Bandcamp, we track your revenue share balance, and when a sale comes along that's less than or equal to your balance, that sale goes to Bandcamp. Let's look at an example. Say you're at the 10% digital fee rate, and you sell an album for $10. All $10 of that sale goes straight to you, but your revenue share balance (the amount you owe Bandcamp) is now $1. Then you sell another album for $10. All $10 of that sale also goes straight to you, but your balance is now $2. You keep on selling $10 albums, and those sales keep on going to you. However, upon the sale of your tenth $10 album, your balance has reached $10, so that $10 sale, and only that sale, goes to Bandcamp (and your balance is then reset back to zero). You can view your balance at any time by exporting your sales history from the Sales section of your Tools page.

[Freewave]

Which brings me to an idea, we could, instead of making this album purely for ASCII, we could make this album to raise money for all the kids who want a gender change but can't afford. We could put ASCII on the top priority list, of course, and advertise and have a whole sign up process for people who really want gender changes so that they can get the money they need and have some security checks to ensure that they're actual people and not just people who are going to steal the money. It could be a great process, and we'd be helping more than just one person. We could help many people depending on how much money we get. And it would raise the publicity for this album as well.

I gotta ask a question and i hate to be the grumpy goose but just how much is this procedure gonna cost just for ASCII? Does she have health insurance to pay part of it? You might lucky just to get a FRACTION of what she needs for the procedure but you HAVE to know what your goal ($) is to hit it.

It's a very sweet idea but as people have pointed out I'm not sure who's going to buy this album or how you sell the idea. Are you gonna market the album to non-brony trasngenders or hope to get the general brony community to buy it (though EQD)?

I will tell you from personal experience, the brony community will not likely even be aware it's released if EQD does not spotlight and they kind of pick and choose what albums do or don't make it on there. Other option is if you can raise awareness through tumblr with some big name support.

Are you gonna have songs on the topic? Or about MLP? Sorry to ask these questions but you have to forsee obstacles or they will come up. Plan accordingly.


Only thing i have seen marketed in a similar fashion (a charity fund for one person) has been Kiki's song by Mandopony. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iONgWzq7CkM I have no idea if that was successful or not as the comments were turned off due to spam and arguments. It also brings up the problem that Mando could fart in a bottle and i'm sure people would buy it as cologne and yet if you pool together tracks from lesser knowns you'd be lucky to even get a second glance.....

[Acsii]

I'm going to say this again HEALTH INSURANCE DOES NOT COVER THIS STUFF BECAUSE THEY ARE DICKS

[topitmunkeydog]

I feel like we should try rubbing elbows with real famous people to see if they want to submit something. Mandopny especially is good at making songs really fast so even if its just a performance of a Vivaldi guitar concerto or something tacking his (or some other famous people) would be beneficial.

[Acsii]

Anybody that has a tumblr and would like to help moderate the tumblr we're making for this can you PM me your email

[topitmunkeydog]

okay I've started the official topic now!
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=7577

I suggest to minimize confusion we ask a mod to close this thread, and all further discussion can take place in said thread. Or, remove the first step and just stop posting in this thread because there is a new one.