RAQ
These are some rarely-asked questions:
- Why did you start Dear Rockers?
- Why five bucks?
- How does this thing work?
- Who are you?
- What about other currencies?
Why did you start Dear Rockers?
I’ve owned over 250 CDs, but I’ve also downloaded a lot of music or received it from friends. That process has enabled me to discover a bunch of great artists, and in many cases I’ve gone on to buy their CDs or attend their concerts. That hasn’t been true for every artist, though, and I’ve always felt a little sheepish about that.
In the great debate about the RIAA and the future of digital music, I think we sometimes forget that musicians still need to make a living. So I thought I’d help out some of those musicians that I hadn’t otherwise compensated, and encourage others to do the same.
I also thought it’d be fun to get people to deploy their craft skills, in a vague homage to Post Secret. You don’t have to decorate your letter, but I think you’ll enjoy it more if you do.
When you buy songs from the iTunes music store, artists make 8 to 14 cents per song, depending on their contract. So $5 represents about three albums worth of income for an artist. I encourage you to support musicians in other ways, like attending their live shows, but five bucks seems like a good place to start.
Check out the How It Works page. That should explain everything. If you’re still in the dark, drop me a line at dearrockers {at} gmail.com.
My name is Darren Barefoot. I do web marketing and social media relations, and I just finished an ebook on social media marketing. Otherwise, I am (in the immortal words of Kris Krug), whatever you say I am. Some of my other odd web projects are Write Great Knols, Get a First Life and iCryptex.
Good question. I recommend you just convert your local currency to US dollars (or Canadian, because they’re currently stronger, eh). If you live in a country where an artist isn’t likely to visit, you might want to send them your ‘five bucks’ in a more common currency, like US dollars or British pounds.
