What do you get when you take a grunge band about to release new music, combined with no money for marketing?
You get creative.
While recently scrolling through Instagram Reels, I came across a video by an Australian musician named Harrison Storm offering $500 to make a video with his song. Well, that’s different, I thought. Instead of paying marketing agencies or playlisters (aka modern-day payola), why not just offer people money directly in order to generate interest in your music? God bless those Aussies and their unique ways of thinking.
So I did what any artist would do when he’d rather be making music than doing marketing: I copied Harrison’s plan, word for word. Hey, I’m trying to create original music, not original marketing schemes.
But our plan is a little bit different: instead of just ponying up the $500, we’re going to try to crowdfund it. The fun part here is we might raise $500, or less, or maybe even quite a bit more — and some lucky creative soul out there is going to get every penny (well, after paying GoFundMe’s fees and taxes).
We’re calling the contest the All My Friends Are Aliens Challenge. If you want to contribute, the fundraiser link is right here. Thank you for helping us reach more listeners!
If you want a chance to win the money, follow the instructions in our Instagram video above.
If you don’t want to contribute cash, and don’t want to make a video, you can still help by pre-saving our EP at this link here. (Just ignore the form that pops up after you click save — that’s for the creators.)
The contest ends on Thanksgiving Day, with our EP releasing the following day, Black Friday. I will be sure to update you on the contest winner at that time!
One more time, here’s the GoFundMe link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-all-my-friends-are-aliens-challenge
In other news, the hand-drawn animation from our music video “Black and the Red” is currently on view at the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition exhibit in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The artist — my wife, Mariya — is showing the video as well as 42 framed stills drawn in charcoal. Additionally, local musicians Barry Dobrin, Ernesto Rodriguez, St. John Lau, and Tootsie West all recorded their own versions of the song as part of the exhibit. (Here’s Barry’s version of the song, with Mariya’s video.) If you’re in New York, stop by — it is on view until November 19th.