Katalyst Artist Gatherings

Well, about 9 months ago, Graham Ord & Jason Vance started this little gathering meeting once a month at the Streaming Cafe. There have been so many different inspiring artists who have shared about their craft, how they got into it, and a chance to show off some of their work.

Some of the past artists have been guys like Dave Watland (visual artist), Mark Stone (writer), Andrew Smith (musician & rage activist), Coey Doak (musician) and then last night we had an amazing time with some local filmmakers / animation superstars Paul Cotton & Todd Ramsay.

These guys shared some amazing footage of stuff they've shot - everything from Big White promo flicks to seasonal time lapses to animated pickles plucking their nose hairs animated to some crazy bluegrass tune. Basically, for the love of all that is good and decent, check out their site(s).

It was so cool to be able to meet so many new people from the video community as well - there are some serious people in town here that have skills to pay the bills. Thanks again to Paul & Todd for showing off in a really humble way. Solid stuff boys.

Next month on June 2 from 7-9pm we'll be having a few Balfours (literally 3) with Nikki Balfour (visual artist), Jimmy Balfour (musician), and Jessica Balfour (photographer) sharing their brains with us. Should be good.

Remember, it's open to anyone and if there's a Canucks game on we could always stream it on the TVs there like we did this past week...

Cash grabs for your next CD release

by Nico Boesten
Pretty much all of my artistically minded musician buddies are piss poor.

I'm not a huge fan of generalizations but when it comes to talking about all the things the average independent artist needs to do in order to "make it" (or make something) in the sea of digital music pirates, it's a feat of gargantuan proportions.

The average artist playing the average club / basement / coffee shop has to work their little tutus off trying to get well paid gigs, keep their websites / Fbook / Twitter / RN / Bandcamp etc. up to date, send out emails, sell merch, write tunes, practice... Tons of things to do. And unless you've either landed some sweet deal, robbed your brother's piggy bank, or have a plutonium mine hidden in your backyard it's tough to make a living plucking your git-box.

So, people are getting creative in the way they raise money for projects and I've seen a few really cool tools that artists can use to get their fanbase involved in supporting their next album.

This is my buddy Tom Conlon who hails from the east coast of the US of EH and doesn't believe in selling his music. It's always by donation. He tours nonstop in a van and is one of the most generous guys you'll ever meet in your life. Maybe that's why he's penniless. Anyway, he's using a free service called Kickstarter to get people involved in supporting his next album project.

Tom Conlon's project with his brilliant little video explaining the project is here.




The real beauty in this is that you can give different packages to people who donate depending on how much they give.

For example:
Pledge $300 or more and get: digital pre-release, 2 signed copies, signed poster, your name in 'thank you' credits, plus...personalized video blog performance of the TC song of your choice.

The even cooler-er thing about this is that if you don't get enough pledges by the date you set, nobody pays and you're back to the drawing board. Ya, this would be a bit of an emotional sledgehammering to the confidence and ego of the artist, but at least all the donors will be off the hook.

Point being, it's a great tool that could really work for you if you need a slick tool to help raise some money.

Have you heard of any other great tools / websites that could help artists?