Would this be project be worthy of putting on the community page?
I'm
thinking of going through with theneildeals' original proposal of
selling the album with all proceeds going to a (music related) charity.
Would UG have a say on what the charity is and would they offer support
for the whole project?
Yes, I think it definitely qualifies as an exciting event. I'll talk with PiCSeL about putting that on the Community Page.
I
like that it's being done for charity, but that brings up some serious
questions. Who manages the proceeds? What safeguards are in place so
there isn't any skimming of monies? UG will be at least tacitly
endorsing this, if it's coordinated on the site. So it would be
important to prevent any possibility of a scam.
Since it's being
created as a product to be sold, what will be the medium? A physical
CD? Who will provide the funds for pressing them? It would be fair
for those funds to be reimbursed from the proceeds, but even that
raises the question of possible skimming. You need to answer all these
kinds of questions, even if the answer to any of them is "We haven't
decided yet".
Next question would be distribution. I can
imagine difficulties distributing on an international basis, unless an
established record label is involved in the process. Since the users
are in different countries, they'll surely want their work to be
available at least in their own country. Do you have any plans on this?
Selecting
a charity to benefit brings a few problems. You'll want to find
something that's limited to humanitarian efforts and not politically
charged. Obviously something like greenpeace would not be a good
choice because of politics. Maybe something like doctors without
borders, or smth. Although I know little about them.
Anything
done solely for the purpose of drawing users to the site and enjoying
the free use is easy. When there is money involved, it becomes more
difficult. I'm sure you can understand.
I'll forward this to UG
Office via PiCSeL. I'm sure he, matter, and zappp will need to discuss
it. They will no doubt raise even more questions than I've presented
here.
Best regards, -------------------------------------------------- -----------------
From strawforest007: Hi,
Firstly cheers for the reply and thanks for the help. The
answers are not all that straight forward and like you say, there are
more questions to be asked.
The original creator (theneildeal)
proposed iTunes as the only medium for the album, according to him it
would take a set fee and the album would be up. I'm definitely sure
it's not that easy, although it may be worth contacting apple about the
posibilities.
In my opinion the most basic option to minimalise
any 'skimming' or not have to rely on anyone (either a group,
individual or otherwise) would be to offer the album either as a
hard-copy or mp3 or both directly to the charity in question, where
they have full rights to sell and distribute any number of copies they
decide to make and they keep all the proceeds. That way the album is a
direct donation to the charity and I suppose they could indefinitely
take-it-or-leave-it. In this situation, how the charity is presented
with the album is up to the performers, UG and the charity itself. It
would be great to get a few other UG'ers involved (volunteers) to
provide physical aspects for the hard-copies i.e. one user presses the
CD, one user makes the cover art, one user makes the liner notes etc...
This could all be physically posted to an administrator (I don't mind!)
where they put the package together. This can be sent to the charity
either directly or to UG who review the package and then send it to the
charity themselves. The costs invloved would be minimal as they are
spread out and I hope the volunteers would be willing to front these
costs themselves. In return I would expect any volunteer involved to
receive 1 free copy of the finished album (on CD), as will each
performer.
A further alternative would be for UG to admin it
all, with a page for the album which has a list of the tracks for
download with some sort of 'all proceeds go to....' when the album is
purchased (will require setup of online payment options). Or the
download could be free to all and the option of 'please make a donation
to...' be placed on the page (either links to the charity website, or a
direct payment page or something?). A summary of the album and the
charity would of course be on the page too. If the charity also had a
similar page featuring the album (cross-promoting UG too, naturally) it
would be win-win for all concerned.
The charity will
indisputedly be a music-related charity, most likely one that gives
opportunities to deprived children (provides instruments, lessons or
concert tickets). The decision for the charity is in discussion and may
not be finalised until after the album is ready.
I'm thinking
and typing all this on the spot, so the answers are not finalised and
need fine-tuning. I'm open to any ideas or suggestions too!
-------------------------------------------------- ---------------- From UG:
itunes might be a good solution. it would allow for international
distribution, a single registration fee, and it would likely be
possible to iron out an arrangement with them to send the proceeds
directly to the charity after the registration fee was reimbursed. Do
some research. Maybe they would be willing to waive the registration
fee since the proceeds are going to charity. idk.
Hosting this
on UG would be difficult. Andrew (matter) had a thread asking for
opinions on a possible UG Digital Music Platform. The feedback from
UGers was favourable, but I think there are some legal and technical
issues that were never resolved. If that ever matures, of course it
would be a great choice on where to host this. But I don't know if or
when that might happen.
A charity like you've described sounds
lovely, but does one exist, other than on a local level? This piece of
the puzzle might be the hardest to fit. idk.
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