Changing the Way You Hear My Music (Patreon)

When I started the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast 19 years ago, I used the marketing slogan "changing the way you hear Celtic music." The idea was that podcasts would change how music is heard.

A few years later, CD sales began to decline. Digital music became more popular. Then it too began to decline and streaming music became everything. And in an ironic twist, vinyl record sales began to take off.

No. It wasn't my fault that the bedrock of the indie musician's income model ended. LOL. But I was able to recognize that a change was coming.

The Rapidly-Changing, New Music Business is right here on Patreon. It is through your generous support that musicians, like myself, make a living with music. However, it is also over on Kickstarter.

While Patreon allows me to freely share everything I do online, Kickstarter is how fans get ahold of physical products.

Yes. I have CDs and album pins. But the numbers are decreasing. I have only 8 CD titles currently available for sale (Dancing With Hobbits, Come Adventure With Me, Selcouth, Don't Go Drinking With Hobbits, Pirates vs. Dragons, Kilted For Her Pleasure, Scottish Songs of Drinking & Rebellion and How America Saved Irish Music). My goal is to sell out of each of those titles and only keep 3-4 of my most-recent albums in production.

The same with Album Pins.

Should I go back and print an album pin for Happy Songs of Death. I thought I might, but it now feels like going backwards. Times change. The only way I'll fund any new CD sales is through Kickstarter.

Online sales in general aren't great each month. The one time fans really want to buy something is when I'm selling it through Kickstarter.

So that's what I'm gonna focus on, Kickstarter. And I'm getting ready to launch a new one...

WHAT IS ANOTHER FAIRE TO REMEMBER?

Another Faire to Remember is the new studio album for my band, Brobdingnagian Bards. It is a continuation of our hit CD, A Faire to Remember.

A Faire to Remember had 17 tracks. The first ten were our picks of the top 10 most-popular Renaissance festival songs. Then we shared some of our favorite finds and writes.

Another Faire to Remember continues that mission. You'll hear more popular Renaissance festival songs. But you'll also hear the songs that we wrote for the Ren faire community.

Personally, I started playing music because I wanted to be a songwriter. So it's my hope that some of our new original songs will become faire standards.

But that's really not up to me or Andrew. That's up to the Ren faire community.

But to make this all happen, it all begins with a Kickstarter.

KICKSTARTER

The current release date for the Kickstarter is Nov 9. We're raising funds for a short-run of physical CDs and album pins. There'll be a limited-edition t-shirt. There'll be a songbook with lyrics and chords.

But the best part about this is that there will be new music from the Brobdingnagian Bards!

I once called us a cover band of ourselves. This album, in particular, solidifies that we are no longer just a cover band, we are vibrant, new band, creating and sharing vibrant new music.

We would LOVE your support!

It all begins in a couple weeks. If you want to be a part of the campaign, please follow our Kickstarter pre-launch page. It's gonna be epic!

Oh! And it's very likely there will be BONUS tracks exclusively available for patrons.

So please keep following us.

Slainte!
Marc