A new HFC compilation

Are you ready for a new HFC compilation?

  • YES! Count me in!

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No --I don't see the point, it's lame and/or don't want to pay the entry price.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    0
zorrow

zorrow

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Guys, it seems to me we're due for a new edition of the HFC compilation. We've tried this many times with little success, but just saw this site and I think it won't be a big deal to print 1000 copies for 500 bucks.

I have this idea then:

We limit the time to a max of 4.5 minutes per track. As a CD can easily handle 70 minutes, 70/4.5 = 15.555 participants, which can actually be stretched to 16 participants -- hoping that not every track will reach the max length.

So, the entry price to participate would be $500/16 = $31.25, and then we'll sell the CD's around and give them away in our shows and so on. /emoticons/default_tongue.png

I can manage to get an FTP site up and running to put the tracks (WAV). If someone wants to do the mastering, that would be cool.

So guys, if you have one ORIGINAL track ready, no matter the genre, style or whatever, why don't we give it a go? /emoticons/default_tongue.png

Please answer to the poll!

 
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I've got a couple possibilities. One is ready to go while the other just needs my 17 yr old daughter to find a half hour to track vocals. Neither one is Top 10 material, is that ok? Is this for fun or is this for serious promotion?

As far as the entry price, what about doing it as a price to buy the CD instead? If there were, say, 40 people who would buy the CD, some who would buy two copies, you've got 50 sold. $500/50=$10 per copy.

Pay-to-play is aversive, but pay to get a couple copies of the CD is much more palatable. People are willing to pay $10 to $20 per CD, especially if they know the profits are going to a good cause. I don't think I'm willing to pay $31.25 to have one of my songs on a CD and nothing to show for it.

If you charged $15, that would leave some profit to support the HFC website costs. Plus there would be some freebies to hand out as promotion. The Ovation Fan Club has done several CDs this way. I think that one of the members did the burning and artwork on their own equipment and kept the costs down to a few dollars per CD. The profits all went to support the website.

 
I think it's a fun ideas. I have a couple of originals recorded with my band that would work. I'm interested to see what other people think of the idea.

 
Uncle Thor said:
I've got a couple possibilities. One is ready to go while the other just needs my 17 yr old daughter to find a half hour to track vocals. Neither one is Top 10 material, is that ok? Is this for fun or is this for serious promotion?
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I guess it should be serious enough so the HFC won't be ashamed. I mean, humor is welcome, but not sloppy things. But of course, it doesn't have to be super high quality. Decent demo quality will be fine.

Uncle Thor said:
As far as the entry price, what about doing it as a price to buy the CD instead? If there were, say, 40 people who would buy the CD, some who would buy two copies, you've got 50 sold. $500/50=$10 per copy.

Pay-to-play is aversive, but pay to get a couple copies of the CD is much more palatable. People are willing to pay $10 to $20 per CD, especially if they know the profits are going to a good cause. I don't think I'm willing to pay $31.25 to have one of my songs on a CD and nothing to show for it.

If you charged $15, that would leave some profit to support the HFC website costs. Plus there would be some freebies to hand out as promotion. The Ovation Fan Club has done several CDs this way. I think that one of the members did the burning and artwork on their own equipment and kept the costs down to a few dollars per CD. The profits all went to support the website.
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Ok, I like that idea. We can even think about printing a CD with some kind of packaging --more expensive, but with credits, a cover and all that stuff. Can we then at least get some "official" support from the admins here? We'll identify the guys who can help with the artwork, the mastering, etc., and we'll do a poll in order to see how many copies can be considered "pre-sold". Depending on the results, I might even be willing to absorb some financial risks on my own --provided I will get my investment back, of course.

sonic1974 said:
I think it's a fun ideas. I have a couple of originals recorded with my band that would work. I'm interested to see what other people think of the idea.
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Me too. I'll be looking forward to see what the others say. So far I've had little success with this kind of project, but I sincerely hope I'll be part of an HFC compilation someday --and that's why I push for it.

 
This is always a cool thing to share with the other members, as well as the outside world.

I agree that you'd want it to reflect well, but there will always be a big stretch when it comes to styles, song selection and production quality. I think that the "warts and all" approach is definitely an honest reflection and also might allow some members to contribute without any intimidation factor.

I would also mention that it would be best to stick to originals, as there would be issues performing/recording/selling somebody else's copyrighted material! /emoticons/default_tongue.png

 
You can put me down for 2 copies. Either one of the two songs I've got are amateur compositions and demo quality recordings.

The OFC ground rules were pretty lax, with the self-appointed coordinator responsible for screening the entries. That way the members could submit more than one song and the person building the CD could select which songs made the cut.

I would suggest having slightly stronger ground rules, such as your "demo quality" comment. Live recordings are ok as long as the quality is good. Some folks will submit pro quality recordings which will make the bad recordings stand out as even worse. Recording into your laptop with the 25 yr old plastic Radio Shack cassette recorder mic isn't going to cut it. People should know up front what basic level is expected and required.

Hamer content is probably preferable. It is nice to get the info for the jacket liner notes on the guitar and other equipment as might be of interest to other HFC members. Guitar model, strings, amp, effects, and other pertinent data.

A basic release form should be signed and mailed into whomever does the CD which says the composer and performer allow use of their material. For a nominal fee, $35 or thereabouts, the finished CD can be submitted to the Copyright office and all songs registered. Some folks here are serious enough pros that it might be something to consider doing. Alternatively, we could each be responsible for our own copyright.

It would be nice to have the little Circle-S and Circle-R printed on the CD and jacket to protect the submitters.

If there is a plan to burn a pile of CDs to be sold at shows, it should be clear that the selling price can't exceed the original cost. Basically, you can't make profit off of other people's songs.

If there is a printed jacket liner, consider letting the artists provide a www link, such as myspace, so that those who are interested can find more from that person. Again, for the pros it might be helpful. (That isn't me, just thinking out loud).

 
^Lotta interesting ideas there...

Well, I name myself to lead the project. /emoticons/default_tongue.png Who follows me? /emoticons/default_tongue.png

Edited to add: This was my 2112 post, he, he; so I guess this time we'll manage to put the CD down according to the prophecy. /emoticons/default_huh.png

 
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I can't participate in the poll because I think it is a great idea and would love to contribute, but don't have any songs ready.

Count me in for $10 for one copy, though.

...actually, I forgot to follow up to get copies of the previous compilations. Put me down for $10/each for those, too, if possible. If someone officially associated with HFC wants to FTP me the .mp3 files for $10/each, I could do that, too.

 
Well, for those who don't have any song ready, I guess you have easily one month to do something. Normally these things take some time to take off here.

 
I'm in. Songs are mastered, but I'll see if I can find unmastered versions if you prefer that. Most guitar work is done on a standard custom

 
I see so far we have 9 participants willing to contribute with their originals. I'll consider we'll have enough material for a CD when the poll will reach 15 "I'm in" or more.

So please, let's start right away collecting the names and the commitments. I created this email account in order to take care of this:

hfc DOT compilation AT gmail DOT com

So, if you are SERIOUSLY committed to participate and think you can provide an original song of a max duration of 4:30 minutes BEFORE the deadline date --which I'm fixing now for November 30th, 2009--; please send me an email to the address above with your contact info, details about the song, the gear, the artist, etc.

Thanks!

 
I'd contribute, as I have several songs that are in need of redoing with my current set-up - and I'm itching to get back into my meager home studio... (New Mac was "incompatible" with my earlier Firewire 400 interfact... took forever to get around to buying a converter cable).

Grimm

 
BTW, just had the idea of allowing up to a certain amount of money which every contributor may pay if they want to.

So, if you contribute with a song AND you also give some money for releasing of the CD, then you'll get one or more CD's at just the production cost, depending on the money you paid.

This way we'll spread some financial risks among all the participants, which sounds fair to me. What do you think?

 
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