Help make Sarah's new album amazing
A$10,911
of $10,000 targetyrs ago
Successful on 26th Feb 2014 at 9:47PM.
YOU CAN FIND ALL CURRENT NEWS AND DETAILS ABOUT SARAH AT : www.sarahbelkner.com
Hi there lovely people...
WHO I AM
My name is Sarah Belkner (nee McCallum ) and I have been making music for quite some time now in varying forms. I moved to Sydney from New Zealand 7 and a bit years ago and have been independantly releasing songs as the artist name 'Miss Little'.
WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING
I released an EP and a full length album and have got to do some wonderful things like sing with Neil Finn and Crowded House and support and play with a host of cool cats such as Lanie Lane, Abby Dobson, Darren Percival and Brendan Maclean. I have had many day jobs over the years in shops and call centres to subsidise my music and currently teach a lot of singing, write arrangements and play on and produce other peoples albums to earn income so I can act on my true passion of making original albums and playing my songs live to people.
WHAT I AM CURRENTLY DOING
It has come time for the name 'Miss Little' to go. I guess you could say I am growing up and so is my music. Or for me it is more a case of shedding old skin.
It is now my goal to make this my job, meaning I earn my living from my original music and I believe this is very achievable. But like every good business you can't continue to sink everything you have and more blindly into it otherwise you will end up sinking! So this is me bringing you STEP 1.
Over the past year or so I have been working on a whole pile of new material. Unsure if I had a really great album in amongst the swag of songs, In August 2013 my band and I went into the studio and recorded 23 of these songs in 2 days. Low and behold an album began to rear it's head at me! I knew it would be a monster to make just by the nature of the material and where the songs could go. This demo process also confirmed that in my heart of hearts I wanted to make it and make it PROPERLY.
So no cutting corners, no skimping on quality and time needed and no lap tops in bedrooms. Instead, as of this week I am in a professional studio for a decent amount of time, paying the best people I know to make the best album possible. (See video for introductions to all the amazing people working on this album).
WITH YOUR HELP we will be able to make this album, and make it awesome! Your contribution will go directly into recording, mixing, mastering, musician fees and publicity and if we make our target anything over that will go into photos, pressing, artwork, video clips and touring.
As many of you will relate to the only thing with quality is that it is hard to do cheaply even when you have very good kind talented friends and husbands working for you. I am keeping costs down as much as possible (scottish blood) but with no lottery or sugar daddy or label to advance funds it adds up pretty darn quickly.
In this day and age too of streaming and recorded music generally being free I feel it is important that artists still strive for quality of artistic expression and not give in to the ever growing quantity mountain of shite.
THE REWARDS AND STUFF
I have put the deadline of September for most of the rewards as this is when I am planning to release the album so the physical albums will come out just before then. But please be assured all other non physical rewards singles, hang outs, lessons will happen before then some even as soon as March. You will notice all the rewards receive advance digital downloads of the singles so you will get stuff along the way to tide you over until the grand finale. And obviously all the non album rewards will happen well before then.
This is one of the Newsagency sessions duets ( featuring Abby Dobson) that has now been mastered and made into a limited edition CD available exclusively to some of the reward packs.
So instead of selling those weird but tasty fundraising brand chocolates door to door I am here to offer you advance purchasing of the album or another reward so you can directly help and influence the quality and the success of this body of work.
You can come and clap on the album and hang out in the studio, there is an advance hearing wine and cheese evening, I will be giving some music lessons. For those not in Australia or Sydney we can do all the one on one rewards via skype and for those in NZ there are opportunities for house concerts and lessons when I am there next as I come to visit my family regularly. And if you don't like any of that but still want to contribute by golly you can and you will receive a heartfelt thank-you from me in the liner notes.
Having you contribute gives me a much better chance of making this album as successfull as it can be so I can continue to make more albums for your listening pleasure.
OTHER THAN THAT
lets see how great we can make this thing! I will keep you posted on all things recording, pozible, gigs etc through the whole thing AND if you do choose to contribute you will be the first to be revealed the elusive new name along with some other goodies, unreleased tracks etc. Proper VIP treatment.
If you have any questions just hit me up, I would love to hear from you!
Hi there lovely people...
WHO I AM
My name is Sarah Belkner (nee McCallum ) and I have been making music for quite some time now in varying forms. I moved to Sydney from New Zealand 7 and a bit years ago and have been independantly releasing songs as the artist name 'Miss Little'.
WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING
I released an EP and a full length album and have got to do some wonderful things like sing with Neil Finn and Crowded House and support and play with a host of cool cats such as Lanie Lane, Abby Dobson, Darren Percival and Brendan Maclean. I have had many day jobs over the years in shops and call centres to subsidise my music and currently teach a lot of singing, write arrangements and play on and produce other peoples albums to earn income so I can act on my true passion of making original albums and playing my songs live to people.
WHAT I AM CURRENTLY DOING
It has come time for the name 'Miss Little' to go. I guess you could say I am growing up and so is my music. Or for me it is more a case of shedding old skin.
It is now my goal to make this my job, meaning I earn my living from my original music and I believe this is very achievable. But like every good business you can't continue to sink everything you have and more blindly into it otherwise you will end up sinking! So this is me bringing you STEP 1.
Over the past year or so I have been working on a whole pile of new material. Unsure if I had a really great album in amongst the swag of songs, In August 2013 my band and I went into the studio and recorded 23 of these songs in 2 days. Low and behold an album began to rear it's head at me! I knew it would be a monster to make just by the nature of the material and where the songs could go. This demo process also confirmed that in my heart of hearts I wanted to make it and make it PROPERLY.
So no cutting corners, no skimping on quality and time needed and no lap tops in bedrooms. Instead, as of this week I am in a professional studio for a decent amount of time, paying the best people I know to make the best album possible. (See video for introductions to all the amazing people working on this album).
WITH YOUR HELP we will be able to make this album, and make it awesome! Your contribution will go directly into recording, mixing, mastering, musician fees and publicity and if we make our target anything over that will go into photos, pressing, artwork, video clips and touring.
As many of you will relate to the only thing with quality is that it is hard to do cheaply even when you have very good kind talented friends and husbands working for you. I am keeping costs down as much as possible (scottish blood) but with no lottery or sugar daddy or label to advance funds it adds up pretty darn quickly.
In this day and age too of streaming and recorded music generally being free I feel it is important that artists still strive for quality of artistic expression and not give in to the ever growing quantity mountain of shite.
THE REWARDS AND STUFF
I have put the deadline of September for most of the rewards as this is when I am planning to release the album so the physical albums will come out just before then. But please be assured all other non physical rewards singles, hang outs, lessons will happen before then some even as soon as March. You will notice all the rewards receive advance digital downloads of the singles so you will get stuff along the way to tide you over until the grand finale. And obviously all the non album rewards will happen well before then.
This is one of the Newsagency sessions duets ( featuring Abby Dobson) that has now been mastered and made into a limited edition CD available exclusively to some of the reward packs.
So instead of selling those weird but tasty fundraising brand chocolates door to door I am here to offer you advance purchasing of the album or another reward so you can directly help and influence the quality and the success of this body of work.
You can come and clap on the album and hang out in the studio, there is an advance hearing wine and cheese evening, I will be giving some music lessons. For those not in Australia or Sydney we can do all the one on one rewards via skype and for those in NZ there are opportunities for house concerts and lessons when I am there next as I come to visit my family regularly. And if you don't like any of that but still want to contribute by golly you can and you will receive a heartfelt thank-you from me in the liner notes.
Having you contribute gives me a much better chance of making this album as successfull as it can be so I can continue to make more albums for your listening pleasure.
OTHER THAN THAT
lets see how great we can make this thing! I will keep you posted on all things recording, pozible, gigs etc through the whole thing AND if you do choose to contribute you will be the first to be revealed the elusive new name along with some other goodies, unreleased tracks etc. Proper VIP treatment.
If you have any questions just hit me up, I would love to hear from you!
How The Funds Will Be Used
OK my friends there will be no trips to Fiji I promise!
Here are the things that your gracious purchase will help cover:
Recording
Mixing
Mastering
Musician Fees
Producer Fees
Publicity
Which even with some pretty lovely discounts from everyone involved comes in at around the $25,000 mark of which the Australian Council have granted me $11,840
Here are the things that I will still need to cover even after all of this (or if we somehow amazingly go over target this is where that money will go):
Photos
Artwork
CD Pressing
Vinyl Pressing
Video clips
Touring
I won't put a figure on this as it will make both you and I gawk a little so lets just say it's quite a lot but doable! I have been used to covering everything in the past so this is so great to even try and lessen the load and be able to do this all to the standard my heart desires.
Here are the things that your gracious purchase will help cover:
Recording
Mixing
Mastering
Musician Fees
Producer Fees
Publicity
Which even with some pretty lovely discounts from everyone involved comes in at around the $25,000 mark of which the Australian Council have granted me $11,840
Here are the things that I will still need to cover even after all of this (or if we somehow amazingly go over target this is where that money will go):
Photos
Artwork
CD Pressing
Vinyl Pressing
Video clips
Touring
I won't put a figure on this as it will make both you and I gawk a little so lets just say it's quite a lot but doable! I have been used to covering everything in the past so this is so great to even try and lessen the load and be able to do this all to the standard my heart desires.
The Challenges
There are things I can and will control about this project (quality, finances, release schedule etc)
and there are some things I can't ( If it earns big bucks, if millions of people like it or not, if it moves me to the position I have dreamt of my entire life)
but as a really cool tai chi teacher at Woodford folk festival said 'Like the tortoise we must first poke our heads out of our shell in order to move forward'.
And you know what, over the years from a few hard hits I have learnt when I need to leap and when to lie down and here we are leaping so lets go!
Sarah XX
and there are some things I can't ( If it earns big bucks, if millions of people like it or not, if it moves me to the position I have dreamt of my entire life)
but as a really cool tai chi teacher at Woodford folk festival said 'Like the tortoise we must first poke our heads out of our shell in order to move forward'.
And you know what, over the years from a few hard hits I have learnt when I need to leap and when to lie down and here we are leaping so lets go!
Sarah XX
DIGITAL SINGLES Digital download of the first 2 singles from the album before they are released to the world
4 chosen
Est. delivery is Jun 14
DIGITAL ALBUM A pre release digital download of the FULL album PLUS downloads of the first 2 singles from the album before they are released to the world.
12 chosen
Est. delivery is Sep 14
DIGITAL PACK A digital download of my previous album 'When Things Fall Apart And Into Place' PLUS A pre release digital download of the FULL new album and the singles before they are released to the world.
20 chosen
Est. delivery is Sep 14
PHYSICAL PERSONALLY SIGNED CD A physical personally signed pre release copy of the new album PLUS digital downloads of the first 2 singles from the album before they are released to the world. (Incls P&P to Australia and NZ. anywhere else in the world please add $5 to order)
41 chosen
Est. delivery is Sep 14
VINYL VS. DIGITAL A special limited edition numbered, signed VINYL press of the new album delivered to your door. It also comes with a limited edition copy of the 'recording memoir' letter written by me on the last day of recording. PLUS a digital download of the album before it is released to the world and the singles along the way. (Incls P&P to Australia and NZ. anywhere else in the world please add $5 to order)
26 chosen / 24 available
Est. delivery is Sep 14
YOUR NAME IN THE LINER NOTES Have your name credited in the new album! PLUS A mastered limited edition physical signed CD of 'THE NEWSAGENCY SESSIONS' Project which features me singing snazzy duets with Elana Stone, Abby Dobson and Brendan Maclean amongst others. You also get a personally signed pre release physical copy of the new album and digital downloads of the singles along the way. (Incls P&P to Australia and NZ. anywhere else in the world please add $5 to order)
9 chosen
Est. delivery is Sep 14
LESSON TIME A one hour singing or songwriting or general music lesson of your choice with me in person in Sydney or in your town when I come there next ( incl NZ) or on SKYPE to anywhere on the planet. PLUS a physical personally signed pre release copy of the new album and digital singles along the way before they are released to the world. (Incls P&P to Australia and NZ. anywhere else in the world please add $5 to order)
6 chosen / 4 available
Est. delivery is Sep 14
THE SONGBOOK A very limited edition book of hand written lyrics and copies of chord charts from the recordings. It will also include a copy of the 'Recording Memoir' a letter written by me on the last day of recording. You will also get your name in the liner notes, A personally signed pre release copy of the new album and the digital singles along the way. (Incls P&P to Australia and NZ. anywhere else in the world please add $5 to order)
4 chosen / 6 available
Est. delivery is Sep 14
PLAY ON THE ALBUM! ( Recording will be early March in Sydney date TBC) Come and hang with us at the studio! you will get to hear some sneak peaks of the album in progress and provide some hand claps and clicks to a track! (No experience required :) Naturally you will get your name in the credits and will also receive a signed pre release copy of the album and the digital singles along the way. (Incls P&P to Australia and NZ. anywhere else in the world please add $5 to order)
4 chosen / 6 available
Est. delivery is Sep 14
COVER SPECIAL I will cover a song of your choice and post it on youtube and/or record it at home so you can keep it forever! You will also get your name in the liner notes AND receive a signed pre release copy of the album and the digital singles along the way. (Incls P&P to Australia and NZ. anywhere else in the world please add $5 to order)
1 chosen / 9 available
Est. delivery is Sep 14
ALBUM PREVIEW WINE AND CHEESE EVENING FOR YOU AND A FRIEND AT THE STUDIO! Bring a friend to the studio and be a part of a very small group of people for an exclusive first album listen in full pre mixing. ( probably March TBC) We will eat some cheese, have some wine or tea and you can see where it's all done. I may even need some help picking the tracks for the album! PLUS your name in the liner notes, a pre release signed physical copy of the album and the digital singles along the way.
1 chosen / 5 available
Est. delivery is Mar 14
I WILL WRITE YOU YOUR VERY OWN SONG! Have a special occasion coming up or have just always wanted your own song? I will write you an original song and post it to youtube and/or record it at home for you to have or give to a friend. You will also get your name in the liner notes, a pre release signed copy of the new album and the digital singles along the way before anybody else. (Incls P&P to Australia and NZ. anywhere else in the world please add $5 to order)
1 chosen / 4 available
Est. delivery is Sep 14
PRIVATE SOLO HOUSE CONCERT AUSTRALIA OR NEW ZEALAND ( NB cities outside of Sydney may incur flight charges unless we can work it around when I am there next touring/visiting) Get your friends together! I will come to your house and sing some of my songs and some covers of your choice. PLUS 3 signed copies of the new album, 2 copies of limited edition VINYL, your name in the liner notes and the digital singles along the way!
0 chosen / 10 available
Est. delivery is Sep 14
YOUR VERY OWN PROFESSIONALLY RECORDED SONG I will write you an original song and go into the studio with Richie B and record to release standard. This would make a great gift for a wedding, birthday or just for yourself! PLUS your name in the liner notes, a signed pre release physical copy of the album and the digital singles along the way. (Incls P&P to Australia and NZ. anywhere else in the world please add $5 to order)
2 chosen
Est. delivery is Sep 14