KVR Audio

Max el Belga · Post by **Max el Belga** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 12:02 pm

Quote : "I've been having similar thoughts over the last few weeks as well. In fact, I've mulled over the idea of forming some kind of a coalition of artists, KVR and others, that would be willing to donate music to an on-going relief effort."

rockstar_not, you can count on me for that project. I think disasters won´t stop and I can´t think of a better way to do something with my music. I'm also with you on this.

Max el B.

emdot_ambient · Post by **emdot_ambient** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 1:20 pm

rockstar_not wrote:
mn wrote: IMO, it would be nice if we could somehow keep an ongoing series of CD's going...
...Who here has any experience forming a non-profit NGO? It's almost as if this would require it...

My thoughts exactly. As shocking as Katrina/Rita were, there's absolutely no comparrison to the suffering going on in Kashmir.

But the effort involved, and the lag between concept and product--even when the project comes together as smoothly as the Chrysalid project has--is so great that when the disasters come in close succession, it's hard to concieve how to organize at this grass roots level an ongoing relief effort.

Someone earlier asked about setting up a non-profit status for Chrysalid, and I agreed that in this one case it didn't make sense to do that, but for an ongoing revolving door relief effort, I think one would be required.

It's a fascinating idea, but one fraught with all the pitfalls we see in other NGO's (marketing, administrative, fund raising and general operating costs cutting into the amount of $ that can go to the relief efforts). On the other hand, it contains within it the seed of something great.

It would be a fairly major operation to get started, I think. There are all kinds of legal, financial and descision making hurdles to get over, including:

--Setting up the NGO as a legal entity
--Obtaining funding to do the initial organization set-up
--Setting up bank accounts, web pages, telephone and fax lines
--Physical space for running the business--you'll need to have people available to actually answer the phone when it rings!
--Creation of contracts for contributors
--Marketing/PR for the NGO itself
--Ongoing fund raising for general funds and specific project funds
--Accounting, legal and administrative staffing

Just to name a few things that pop into mind. A lot of this could start small and build over time, and there are probably ways of organizing that would minimize costs and need for permanent staff in some areas . . .

But ultimately what you really need is a central organizational core who would pick the disaster relief projects to be worked on, put project task forces together who would oversee the collection and selection of songs, advertise the effort within the musician communities, get pre-orders and fund raising going. The organizational core would then coordinate all the legal and contractual work: arranging for the mastering and manufacturing of the CD's, the cover designs and printing, handle the sales and distribution of the CD's and the global promotion of each project. They'd also have to handle where the funds go, perhaps forming partnerships with various other NGO's.

So . . . a lot of work. But worthy of some serious consideration.

kovacs · Post by **kovacs** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 1:35 pm

I am not opposed to the idea of creating an NGO here, but maybe it owuld be a good idea to start a new thread about it? This thread is getting quite chaotic as it is.

emdot_ambient · Post by **emdot_ambient** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 1:42 pm

kovacs wrote:I am not opposed to the idea of creating an NGO here, but maybe it owuld be a good idea to start a new thread about it? This thread is getting quite chaotic as it is.

Agreed. Sorry.

Damned fascist!

xander · Post by **xander** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 2:24 pm

Lots of well said words here -- nothing wrong with talking about it a bit.

Certainly an NGO would be the way to go if we were going to do this frequently, for many reasons -- most of them obvious ones, i.e. most of us couldn't afford the time to do this on a regular basis since we all have personal costs involved as well.

We sure are developing a level of expertise here in KVR that has a degree of inherent value, for sure.

No, there couldn't be anything more valuable than contributing our music to help suffering people - it's so wonderful in this era of the internet we are able to do such a thing -- it still boggles my mind.

Be that as it may, start another thread for the Pakistan/Kasmir Earthquake Relief CD and I'll pitch in when and where I can. I'd just like to make sure we finish this one first.

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 3:07 pm

....xander....about that letter...what I would like is to include the names and locales of the handful (really more the one handful) of you guys that have worked tirelessly on this. Real names would be best, but if you want me to go with screen names that's ok...PM me with them if you can and I'll get this out by COB tomorrow...

xander · Post by **xander** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 5:24 pm

Hink wrote:....xander....about that letter...what I would like is to include the names and locales of the handful (really more the one handful) of you guys that have worked tirelessly on this. Real names would be best, but if you want me to go with screen names that's ok...PM me with them if you can and I'll get this out by COB tomorrow...

A wonderful thing Hink -- for sure.

Being as we're all spread out over the globe, it's taking me a bit to sync up with everyone to ask them about it, but I think in a couple more hours I can get back to you with all the details.

Stand by

Cheers mate,
Alex

koolkeys · Post by **koolkeys** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 6:06 pm

If we opt for an ongoing relief effort, it would be terribly hard to keep making CD's. It's been alot of time, work, resources, etc. and it may be too hard.

However, what about having a KVR continued relief site that a few people kept up. And instead of selling CD's, maybe the idea should go with individual song downloads for $1 each, with a TON of songs eventually getting there and growing. Then, someone could build a music collection and help charity at the same time? Also, KVR Relief T-shirts and other items could be sold also. The web site would be on them and that would be more advertising.

We could then have a blanket statement that all funds go to the Red Cross for the current relief efforts they are working.

Anybody think this would work?

Koolkeys

kovacs · Post by **kovacs** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:07 pm

koolkeys wrote:blablalbla...
However, what about having a KVR continued relief site that a few people kept up....blablabla

^^what he said.

Seriously, that's a very good suggestion!

freeztar · Post by **freeztar** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:33 pm

...Yawn...
Did I miss anything?

(caught up now)

1. I personally disqualify myself from winning prizes.
2. mn, I'd be happy to take over with the prize drawings.
3. Great ideas on continued relief efforts, has a thread been started?

4. Let's see this thing through mates!

koolkeys · Post by **koolkeys** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 12:59 am

I think it would also be a good opportunity for people to give tracks when other track lists are already full. And the profits become more immediate, since people get a product right away, and the money gets forwarded every month or whatever. This CD has been great, but to redo all this effort every time there is a disaster. People could sample songs, and buy the ones they want, in the style they want.

I think that would be the best way to do it. And if it was a lengthy, continued effort, then we would still maybe not have to create a not-for-profit. Here's why. We're not making any profit, of course. But we are also not the charity. All the taxes are done with the Red Cross since they are actually USING the money. But since WE are not the charity, we may not have to file for anything. Maybe somebody can contact the Red Cross and find out how other companies do this.

Koolkeys

UskanK · Post by **UskanK** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 1:08 am

In fact, I've mulled over the idea of forming some kind of a coalition of artists, KVR and others, that would be willing to donate music to an on-going relief effort.

Exactly what I was thinking the last few days as well... It would be great to get an ongoing flow of CD's and other marketable items for these purposes, under a "brand" name, to get audience recognition.

Sounds great to my ears.

mn · Post by mn » Tue Oct 18, 2005 2:27 am

We've got a new prize!

Dangerous Bear Underground

has donated their brand new just released WusikEngine library Ignition! This will be drawn at order #165! Thanks, John!

mn · Post by mn » Tue Oct 18, 2005 2:32 am

Good discussion on future plans, etc, I'm just too exhausted to think about it at the moment and I'm on my way out the door to work soon. We should also discuss it as much as possible a) later and b) out of the thread so as not to lose focus here - I know, I'm the one who brought it up

.

freeztar I PM'd you, the jist of which was let's see if we get the new site going in the next few days which would be a good cutover otherwise I'll take you up on the relief offer, thanks

.

You™ · Post by **You™** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 3:12 am

I think I have caught up with all the info you have sent (thanks!) and am nearly ready to upload the new Chrysalid site pages I've done (thanks Kovacs et al):
http://216.181.215.169/work/katrinareliefcd/

I am still missing info for these artists:

AllenPOPO (no bio, no picture)
aMUSEd (no bio, no picture)
Annode (no bio, no picture)
Benedict (no picture)
Elektroniqa (not much bio - no location, no picture)
emdot_ambient (no picture)
Glooper (no picture)
HanafiH (not much bio)
haydxn (no bio, no picture)
Herodotus (no bio, no picture)
Hovmod (not much bio, no picture)
Ja.x (no picture)
Koolkeys (no picture)
Kriminal (no bio)
Mistral (no picture)
mn (not much bio, no picture)
pHz (no bio, no picture)
Remco (no bio, no picture)
Sascha Franck (no bio, no picture)
Techbot (no bio, no picture)
TOTC (no bio, no picture)
ttoz (no bio, no picture)
Van Greco (no bio, no picture)
vurt (no bio, no picture)
xRAVENx (no picture)

I noticed that Bluedad's bio mentions Horse, but we don't officially have a page for him. Do we need to add another page? If so, I'll need his bio & picture too.

Remember, we want pictures of the humans who are trying to help this cause. I think it best not to post logos or weird filtered stuff. If you don't want to post a picture, that's fine. Say so when you send your bio. But If you don't send something appropriate, you might not like what I put on your page.

Also, there's been talk of extending out the dev section so that each has their own separate page. That's an extra 20 pages for individual developers which I'm going to have to build later (tomorrow). This site is already over 70 pages and a lot of the content is still fluid. It's not beyond what I can handle yet, but it's getting tedious and I'm not sure I'll be able to stay on top of constant updates once the site goes live. I'm sorry but I really can't take over the drawings. I am committed to making sure this site gets online as soon as possible and that it looks nice, renders consistently and is coded well enough that updates should be straightforward. And I'll help out as best I can with its maintenance, but I've got other significant demands for my time that I need to attend.

My email is f2 (at) f2sys (dot) net

The bio format is:

Artist Name - Song Title
(To match CD)

Location:
(City, State, Region, Country)

Picture:
(Horizontal JPEG 500 pixels wide by 200 pixels. Please not too many big logos or bizarre psychedelic potatoshop pics. If your image is square or vertical, use a smaller width. When you compress, try to keep the file under 25k.

*NOTE: You can email your picture or provide the URL for one already on the internet and I will grab it. The pictures will be resized if necessary, so exact size isn't a problem. Your image may be cropped or manipulated to make it work best with the layout. Send only high quality JPEGs in case your picture needs to be edited. Make sure you have FULL DIGITAL RIGHTS to the picture you submit.
Musical background / influences / approach:
(Put your real name here if you wish - as well as a short bio, experience, favorite bands and/or philosophy. Let's keep it to one or two paragraphs max, written in 3rd person.)

Song details:
(Here's where you explain what the song means and how it was recorded - two paragraphs max.)

Lyrics:
(The lyrics of your submission, if any)

Contact:
(1 URL, 1 email)

Thanks,

George

Musicians for Katrina Relief