The Loooove Song

It's settled.  I'll stay with Alicia when I go back to Grand Rapids for the father-daughter ball.  I think I can fit the keyboard into the Beetle one way or another (hopefully with the top still up!) if I unscrew it from the stand.  Otherwise I know the guitar case will fit.  Anyway, I'll be meeting her man at last, and I'm bringing some of my song ideas with me, interviewing them and hopefully completing one of the songs for their wedding.  I really love getting assignments... well I wasn't assigned to do this by them, but when the need for a song arises, it makes it easier to produce said song.  Maybe I really do work better under pressure!

Now that I've returned from Utah with my writing, it really is stunning just how much of it there is!  There are 5 enormous boxes of papers and all of it is either creative writing or college papers.  I found a web site that purchases quality college papers, and I could probably make a fair bit of money selling mine!  Hmmm, now that's an idea!  I could put that toward the business.  But I digress.  There is a LOT of writing material and I have not gone through it all yet.  I did pick out the best song ideas as I went along though, and brought those home in my luggage, so I'll be able to pick out maybe 10 or so that I can sample to Alicia and Greg so that they can give me an idea of what they would like to hear at their wedding, which tunes they prefer and what of their lives, and their love, I can add to "their" song.

It's just lovely to be invited to participate in weddings, especially weddings of people so dear to me as Alicia.  I can't wait.

The thought of being Flashed

Wow, if I award my web site project tomorrow, I could be fully Flashed and rolling THIS MONTH!  The thought of being all over the web and YouTube so soon is both thrilling and terrifying.  I decided to spend some funds on laying the groundwork for my record label, which isn't project-specific, but it's better than just recording songs until I ran out of money.  At least this way I can offer music to the public and even start selling demo tracks and sheet music to a few impatient fans (you know who you are!).  Any sales will go toward completing the project, since I've diverted project funds to start a business, and that wasn't planned.

A friend of a friend is an expert in helping people draw up business plans.  I have a strong idea of what I'm doing, but I need to have a plan on paper that will make business sense, so I'm hoping to acquire his services.  Just verbally telling my bankers about my plan (launching the CD on my site, CDBaby, and iTunes, simultaneously with the songbook, sheet music downloads for piano, guitar and full orchestration) really impressed them.  They were especially interested in the financial reasons I chose to start a record label as a business to launch my CD on (and a publishing company for the sheet music).  Based on my strong plans and the research I had done, they pulled some strings for me to help make my dream happen, and fast!  They all know me by name now and usher me right in to sit down and take care of my business regardless of whoever else is in the bank (most of them are heading for the teller windows anyway).

I'm still considering the company in India but I'm also considering other companies and individuals who could do my Flash site.  They all have impressive examples to show and they all have the potential to do a great job.  It's a difficult decision to make!  More soon.  Curly girl is in need of her mother!

Cost per CD, now and in the future.

So I get this email from a VP at DiscMakers and now I am convinced, they really like being helpful.  He pointed out that they have ways to keep the cost of the initial run of the CD down, etc.  After talking it over with my friend Lynn I decided that it may be a better idea to keep the run around 300 instead of 1000, because although that would make the cost per CD something around $3 each, that would help me use less of my initial budget for pressing CDs and leave more room in the budget for studio time.  Future runs could be a higher quantity, and thus a lower cost.  I have given myself a $5000 budget.  $5000/$15 per CD = ~333 CDs that must be sold in order to recoup the initial investment.  The thing I'm struggling with is... how do I keep it all separated?!  I have a sole proprietorship, which is a record label.  I am the only artist presently on the label.  Do I treat the business as me and vice versa?  Or do I view it as I'm an act signed to my label and therefore the money I've spent starting my business should not count toward the project?  Man, I need an accountant!

Shout out to the DiscMakers dudes.  You'll be hearing from me... when the songs have been recorded!

So... what's in a name, anyway?

When I was younger I knew I wanted to be a recording artist, but I never liked my name that much: Tricia Sturgis.  It didn't sound like a professional name to me.  I actually wanted to change my last name to McLaurin, which is a family name on my mother's side, and shorten my first name to Trish.  Trish McLaurin seemed like just the thing.  And yes, I've already heard the speeches from my sister and mother about spelling Trish with the "sh" spelling when my given name is the "ci" spelling.  To this I say... blech!  I would constantly be correcting people pronouncing Trich like a word that rhymes with "stitch" - and telling them, "No, it's Trich, like MICHigan!"  No, I'm not going to do that every day of my life.  Trish it is.  I like it that way!

But I digress.  I never changed my surname to McLaurin, legally.  I ended up getting married and now my last name is Pulley.  So what should I do?  If you're reading this, register in and let me know what you think.  Should I use my married name and go with Trish Pulley or stick to the plan and go with Trish McLaurin?  I identify with my grandmother's side of the family, with my Irish heritage, and love the name.  I think it suits my musical style well.  Then again I have married into the Pulley family and love that name, too.  I guess I should pray about it and... well... ask my husband his opinion!

Plans in the making...

I've decided that some funds need to be dedicated to the online presence of Melodiuus Records and myself as an artist, so that I can better execute my plan.  For anyone just joining us, the plan is to release 20 to 30 home videos of me singing various songs I've written or co-written, then let the listeners decide what goes on the CD!  Everyone who listens will be having a say, because I'll be determining 8 of the tracks on the CD two ways: I'll be counting the number of total listens, and I'll be counting votes submitted through the website.

I'm a member of elance.com and have now submitted a project plan and I'm receiving bids for the completion of this website.  It's interesting as the bids come in, because there's such a large difference in the price providers want to charge and also what they're able to tell about their skills.  One company from India sent me the link to a sample Flash site they did for a record label, complete with letting me log into the admin section and play around with the controls.  COOL!  It's really quite stunning and I imagine they could customize it for me and I would be thrilled to pieces.  The communication from the company has been very professional and their examples speak for themselves.  Some of the providers submitted cheaper bids, but their example sites look like something from the mid- to late- 1990s.  I've also noticed lower approval ratings from their past customers, so they're unlikely to be awarded my project.

Tomorrow I head back to Chase to see what is involved in getting the merchant account, so I can be ready to sell my CDs, sheet music, merchandise, and whatnot on the website as soon as it's available.

I can't believe this is really happening!