| flounder |
05-19-2010 11:40 AM |
I hope this doesn't count as spam, but I just got this message from the Richard Cheese fan club and thought I would pass it along.
Quote:
Dear Richard Cheese Fan:
I am so grateful to you and all of my fans around the U.S. and the world for your kind support of Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine. We really appreciate your enthusiasm and loyalty.
As you know, we've just released our 9th CD, "OK BARTENDER," and we're finishing up an all-new Hawaiian tiki music album "LAVAPALOOZA starring JOHNNY ALOHA" for release in August 2010.
But after that, I don't know if we can afford to make any more albums. :-(
Why? There are several reasons:
Due to illegal music piracy (filesharing, burning CDs, digital copies, etc.), CD sales are down by 75% since 2007. Without that sales revenue, we don't have enough money to invest in new recordings.
In fact, our last three CDs haven't even turned a profit yet. For each CD we make, we spend tens of thousands of dollars in advance on recording studios, musicians, mixing, mastering, manufacturing, packaging, and shipping, not to mention the hours of time developing, arranging, and rehearsing the songs. We have to pay publishers, attorneys, and accountants, too. And, since we pay hefty royalties to the original artists for every song sold, we earn even less money.
So, because of the enormous investments we've made for our previous CDs, we just don't have the money in the bank to fund new CDs.
As you know, the economic climate has been difficult for everyone. For our band, concert ticket sales were down in 2009, but travel costs went up. We played a lot of cities in 2008/2009, but we just barely broke even. So, that's one of the reasons we haven't been able to tour as much as we had hoped, because it's just not as profitable as it used to be. Also, because of my lousy vocal chords, I can't perform as many shows as I'd like.
With less touring, that means fewer sales of CDs, T-shirts and Posters to our fans. Once again, without that revenue stream, we can't afford to invest in recording sessions for new material.
I'm very proud of the CDs we've released in the last 10 years: "TUXICITY," "I'D LIKE A VIRGIN," "APERITIF FOR DESTRUCTION," "SILENT NIGHTCLUB," "THE SUNNY SIDE OF THE MOON," "DICK AT NITE, "VIVA LA VODKA," and "OK BARTENDER." It's been a labor of love for us.
But we don't have a record label funding our albums anymore. And while I might dress like a million bucks, I'm not a millionaire, either.
The money for my CDs comes out of MY POCKET, which happens to be pretty empty right now...!
Every day, I wake up and wonder, how am I going to afford to release any more new albums??
I'm not trying to get rich. I just want to keep making enough money so we can keep recording new CDs.
How can you help keep the music going?
Very easy:
SPREAD THE CHEESE!
Simply put, we need more new fans, more new CD sales, more satisfied customers.
We don't need YOU to buy more of our CDs; you've already been wonderfully generous and supportive.
We need YOUR FRIENDS to buy our CDs!
If you love our music, then PLEASE introduce us to new fans!
Send them to shop.richardcheese.com
or Facebook
or iTunes, where all 9 of our CDs are available for download!
Send out emails and FaceBook messages to your friends, family, and co-workers!
Play our CDs for people at nightclubs, bars, strip joints, and parties!
Post positive reviews of our albums on iTunes, amazon.com, and other websites!
If we can just double the number of customers we have, we'll be able to pay off our debts and get to work on our 11th album for your listening enjoyment!!
Remember, we're not doing this to get rich; we just want to earn enough revenue so we can keep re-investing in the business of recording music for our loyal fans.
>From the bottom of my heart, I sincerely appreciate your continued support. Thanks for believing in The Cheese.
Best Wishes,
RC
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[email protected]
RICHARD CHEESE - Lounge Singer Versions Of The Hits - richardcheese.com
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