Hey there, fundraising friends!
I haven't blogged in almost a month. Remember when I said I'd be spreading out my fundraising so I don't have to be pestering people continuously because they'd get sick of it? That.
Also, I was in bed ill for a week, which has delayed me in getting started on this month's fundraising event. Hopefully it will all work out though.
So, what is this latest fundraising effort? Well, it's a cover song project type of thing, where for £10 people can request a song for me to record a cover of. I'm aiming to raise £100 for this challenge, so that's ten covers.
You might not understand how, as a musician, this is a challenge. I've had a good old rant about why it's a challenge further down. You should read it if you care, or if you're really bored.
As the video of my headshave currently has 908 views, I've made one to go with this fundraiser. Check it!
Here's the donation link.
Here's a rant about covers to explain why this is a challenge:
The covers rant
As far as I'm concerned, if you're calling yourself a "musician", it means you're creative, therefore, you should create things, not copy things, which is what covers are. Obviously, everybody who starts to play a musical instrument does so by learning the songs of their heroes, but if you're an actual musician, shouldn't that progress to writing your own?
I've repeatedly heard the argument "Would you not play covers for the money?" and the like. Well, I have a job for money. If I want more money, I apply for better paid jobs. If I started playing covers for money, well, isn't that just going to do another job outside of my job that I already have? One job is enough for me, thank you very much. Also, when you split the money a covers band gets paid, after petrol and a couple of pints, there's not much left. For me, not enough to make it worth the hassle.
If young bands have it drummed into their heads that the only reason to play music is to make a few quid in their local pub, well, that's crap. Where's the encouragement and incentive to write their own stuff so they can go me megastars? Why is nobody pointing out that the people who wrote the songs they play are not playing covers and are making a hell of a lot more money by doing so?
It bothers me that bar managers will pay bands to come in and play other peoples songs, when musicians who write their own stuff can fudge right off. "They play songs people know, and people want to hear songs they know on a night out", is the general argument. So, why not put on CDs of said songs people know? It'll be better quality and cheaper.
Think of it this way: would an art gallery pay somebody to come in and copy the Mona Lisa with a packet of Crayolas and a refill pad? No, they really wouldn't. Why should music be different?
Covers bands might get a few quid from playing other people's songs, but, personally, I love the feeling of somebody paying for a CD of my songs. To know that somebody valued the songs you wrote at the end of your bed enough to part with their hard earned cash for it? That's a whole lot of warm and fuzzy inside right there. To log on to your iTunes sales report to see that somebody in Australia bought just one of your tracks? That's a feeling the few quid you'd make from playing covers really just can not buy.
I've also had people argue that some of my favourite bands have played covers. There's a difference between a band playing the occasional covers as a nod to their influences. Oasis played I Am The Walrus, but it was hardly their bread and butter. If anything, it's opened me up to more music. There's also a difference between covers and reinterpretations, a la Nouvelle Vague, or Mark Ronson's Version album.
Rant over.
Here's one of my favourite covers:
And here's one my favourite reinterpretations:
