SMALL CIRCLE – So, a week and a half ago boxes full of shiny new CDs were delivered to our doorstep. We left the next day for the Spokane Songwriter Festival, on the Bilyeu farm in Spokane, Missouri, where we played songs from the album and sold them to our friends and fellow songwriters.
BIGGER CIRCLE – The next week we had an album release party at Lindberg’s Bar on historic Commercial Street in our hometown of Springfield, Missouri. We played for a couple of hours and sold dozens of albums to our friends and several new folks we’d never met.
BIGGER CIRCLE – This week the album is available on the MayApple Records site for order or download. We are alerting all of our fans and friends on Facebook and by email. We’ve had orders from out of state and from other countries, mostly people we know.
BIGGER CIRCLE – Next week we’ll deliver copies to the local and regional record stores, where complete strangers can wander by, pick up a copy and say, “Damn, this looks like fine album; and, hey, I remember Sarah saying something about this band opening for Big Smith a while back.”
TURNING INTO WAVES…
Then, we’ll play quite a few gigs in the area to spread the word.
By July, once we have pretty much saturated the local market, we’ll put the album on iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby…all the usual suspects, so far-flung strangers stumbling upon our music can enjoy it as their own.
We do it this way because we believe Americana and roots music should be, first and foremost, local. Music that is written and played first for family and friends and shared with the people we know remains connected to our authentic selves and our community. If it begins primarily as a commodity, there’s something disconnected and sort of dishonest about it.
Sure, we hope we sell a lot of albums, and we may be nothing more than a drop in the bucket, but as long as we make waves….
