In the summer of 2009, I came up with an idea to record and give away a children's album through my website, Listen & Learn Music. The only problem was that I had no way of funding this project...until I discovered Kickstarter.
Kickstarter is an online platform for bringing creative ideas to life through crowdsourcing. A project idea is posted, and then people can choose to pledge money toward that project. If the monetary goal is met in time, the project manager receives the funds in order to make that idea a reality.
On July 10, 2009, I posted my project, Listen & Learn: Music for a Different Kind of Audience, on the Kickstarter website. The pledges began to roll in, and by the deadline of October 8, I had surpassed my goal of $2,000 thanks to these generous people.
I recorded the album at Jupiter Studios in St. Louis in March 2010. You can read a day-by-day account of my recording studio experience here:
Next, it was time to coordinate the album photography and artwork. I was incredibly lucky to have both donated by generous and talented individuals. Read about my experiences with photographer Kimberly Smoot and graphic designer Jason Taylor. The discs were manufactured and replicated by Discmakers.
I chose the album's release date as July 10, 2009, exactly a year after the kick-off of my Kickstarter project. My hope is that I can pay forward the extreme generosity I received in creating this album by distributing it to anyone and everyone who might enjoy and benefit from the songs it contains. Please join me in doing so by forwarding a link to the website to anyone you think might be interested, whether it is a parent, teacher, or otherwise.
