first system of alone together

I just sent an email to my Kickstarter backers with a PDF of the score, and hard copies are going in the mail today. Right after I finished sending the PDF out, I checked my usual web comics and found this gem on Married to the Sea:

Married to the Sea, 5 March 2012

This was today’s comic! I swear I didn’t plan that.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks to each person that’s pledged. Thanks to each person that read about this project and thought about pledging. Thanks to each person who passed this project along to friends and colleagues. Who knew all you had to do to get a commission was to ask for one?

Earlier this morning, with a pledge from Alex Sellers, the commissioning consortium on Kickstarter reached its goal. It has since surpassed that goal (thanks to a generous pledge from Tim Rosenberg). If you read my blog, you should definitely read Tim’s as well. He doesn’t post as much as he used to, but there’s a lot of both thoughtful insights and humor. Well, I think it’s humorous anyway.

Talking about money like this is awkward for me. I’m asking people to pay me for something that, in all honesty, I’d probably do for free. I think most performers have this experience much younger than composers. I know I did as a performer. (Thankfully, one outgrows this feeling through playing showtunes and wedding music.)

Having said all that, I picked a goal of $500 because I thought it was achievable. I wanted to pick $1000, but I would have been in a crappy mood for a while if we’d only gotten to $800 and gotten nothing. Here’s the thing: yes, I’m a greedy jerk and I want your money, but that’s not the point (mostly). Now that we’ve reached the goal, the thing I’m more concerned about in this project is building a large network of people to play the piece. I know projects have been done in the past with new music to have lots of simultaneous “premieres” of works, but I want to have a big group of performers that are invested in this piece and feel some ownership of it. ”Investment” and “ownership” are, literally speaking, words about money. However, I think it’s telling that we also use those words to describe intellectual, emotional, cultural, and (in this case) artistic connections as well. That’s what I want.

So my point is this: we’ve reached our goal on Kickstarter, but this project ain’t over until the fat lady’s digital watch alarm goes off on Friday, April 22, 2011 at 11:36pm EDT. Please, continue to pass the word along.

Also, I don’t know if I’ve fully convinced Tim that we need to do this, but I really want to write a paper that uses our Kickstarter experience as the basis for discussing Web 2.0 things and the future of music patronage. My working title is “Patronage 2.0.” I know, it doesn’t have a colon in it, so it’s not a real academic document title yet. Like I said, it’s the working title. I’d also really like to title the section on social networking “Tweet the Composer.” Whaddaya think?

Haydn had the Esterhazy family.

Beethoven had Archduke Rudolph.

Bartók, Stravinsky, and Copland had Koussevitzky, Diaghilev, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

People with lots of money, we’re talkin’ Esterhazy money, are not, by and large, spending it on the patronage of classical music the way they might have 250 years ago. There are certainly some who are, and while the NEA is funded less and less each year, there are still a handful of composers (mostly already well-established) that are receiving commissions from individuals and government/non-profit grants. They are, however, the exceptions.

In addition to people like Rich Uncle Pennybags and non-profits, one of the biggest support groups for composers has historically been performers, particularly over the last hundred years or so. Conductor Serge Koussevitzky commissioned Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra; clarinetist Benny Goodman commissioned Copland’s Clarinet Concerto.

The internet has lowered the entry cost of so many industries and other ventures. Why not patronage? In Spring 2010, Facebook ruffled feathers with some new policies about privacy (and a leak of some personal info). Many informed users were worried that Facebook had too much control over the internet and users, and up popped a little startup called Diaspora. Diaspora was working on a new kind of social network to compete with Facebook, and to raise money, they turned to Kickstarter. Kickstarter allows users to pledge support to creative products. It brings together people who are creating niche products with the niches they want to access and influence. Diaspora was able to raise over $200,000 mostly with donations of $5 to $25.

Kickstarter has an interesting all-or-nothing approach to fundraising. When starting a project, you set a goal and a deadline. People pledge various amounts. Different amounts get different rewards. If you reach your goal, backers’ credit cards are charged for their pledges and you get the money. If not, no money changes hands. This makes sense. The Diaspora folks couldn’t have done much with $200, and it would suck to be one of the people who gave part of the $200 just to see nothing come of it.

That got me thinking about my own niche, contemporary concert music. How could this model work for us that are creating music which unfortunately (yet honestly) has a very small audience? Kickstarter could be perfect for arts patronage in the internet age. Commissioning consortia have been around for quite a while, but when was the last time you heard of a commission that you could participate in for twenty-five bucks? (crickets)

So, I’m going to try it. I’m going to use Kickstarter to put together a commissioning consortium for a solo saxophone piece I’ll start working on this summer with Tim Rosenberg. I’ll keep updates on the blog, and on the Kickstarter project page. I’ll have a link to that here when I launch the project. My goal is to raise at least $500 in 90 days. Wish me luck!

In the film, there’s a very funny scene in which Navin Johnson, played by Martin, ecstatically proclaims “I’m somebody! Look! My name in print!” even though the “print” in question is the local phone directory.

I had that experience the other day when I discovered my name in the iTunes store, where the H2 Quartet‘s new album Times and Spaces is now available. Yes, I know. Just about anybody can put music in the iTunes store if they’re willing to jump through the right hoops. But I’m really proud of this piece and the recording, even though I had very little to do with the recording. In fact, maybe that’s what makes me so happy about it. It’s one of the few times in my brief career that I haven’t had to beg for performers or herd metaphorical cats in rehearsal. Yet there it is, my name in print.

Incidentally, the CD is also available as a digital download from Amazon, but they don’t list composers over there. Check it out from your preferred download dealer.

iTunes – Amazon

We checked in. Right away, we were reminded of our little scheme by my name badge: “Folio Publishing: David MacDonald.” Game on.

In the morning, we heard some great performances and some awful performances. Sam heard two guys play that he really wanted to have play his sax and electronics piece, simony. Later in the afternoon was Sam’s piece, trying it at home, played by the Iridium Quartet. Phillip and Nate got in just in time to hear the performance. At the end of the day, we were all pretty exhausted (especially Phillip and Nate, who had been in transit for around 18 hours).

Today, we got to set up our Folio Publishing Cooperative booth. Several people stopped by and looked at our stuff. A lot of people listened to our recordings (some people listened to the same piece more than once!), and a few told us they would be back tomorrow to buy things. Tomorrow we’re going to take credit cards. Yeah, we’re that cool. Unfortunately, though, the bottom line is this: We sold two things today. Two of Joe Lulloff’s CDs. If things continue this way, I’m going to feel really stupid. I was the one who convinced all of my friends to shell out some cash for the table and put together loads of scores for this silly thing. But again, it’s important to contextualize the definition of success. Sometimes that takes a bit of perspective and reflection. We had plenty working against our success as well. Not many people had heard of the composers at our table, no one had heard of our company, and as I told the composers involved, I would be a bit hesistant to give money or my credit card number at a seemingly fly-by-night conference vendor. Folio Publishing Cooperative will evolve the same way trying it at home will probably evolve. And when we get to where we’re going, we’ll have a different definition of success.

On a brighter note, H2 played my piece, Falling up the down escalator. They played it around 10 clicks faster than I’ve ever heard them play it before, but it sounded great. Even better: the hall was packed. Several people came by the table afterward to check out the score and tell me how much they enjoyed the piece. We’ll see if that turns into any sales in the next couple of days.

The goal of our voyage is to narrow the gap between composers and publishers. We’re headed to the North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference. Each of us have works being played, but we’re also going to distribute scores. We have a trunk load of scores, parts, and CDs from our colleagues at Michigan State that we will be selling (hopefully) to saxophonists at the conference. We think our music is valuable, and we think we can convince others of its value as well.

This is a bit of an experiment. We don’t really know if anybody will be interested in our scores, or how much they’ll be willing to pay. But if Jacob Ter Veldhuis can sell scores by the bucket, what’s stopping us?

With the de-mystification of computers and the internet and the decreasing price of high-quality printers, the list of things that publishers can do for composers that composers can’t do for themselves is getting smaller every day. Perhaps the biggest thing remaining is distribution. The two of us, along with the rest of the Folio Publishing Cooperative, are trying to take that one as well by taking our music directly to performers.

Next on Folio Publishing Cooperative…

Will our heroes arrive in Georgia safely?

And will anyone spend real money on their scores?

(dramatic music)