Help Kickstart the Noah Budin Songbook

Ok, this is the fourth Jewish music related Kickstarter project's I've featured and I want to make a few things clear. I think that the Jewish music community, as well as the rest of the world, will start seeing a lot more artistic projects funded this way. And I think that's a good thing. It puts pressure on artists to think about how, and how effectively, they're engaging with their audience and it puts pressure on us, the audience, to think about about what artists we value and how we support them. In short, it helps artists and audience become collaborators in a really direct way.

On a more practical note, I don't get any kickbacks from the project recipients. I do pledge to most of them myself. I haven't posted every kickstarter campaign I've seen and as the number goes up I'll be increasingly choosy about which ones I do post. So stay engaged with your favorite artists, get on their mailing lists, facebook, and twitter feeds. Our artists only can light up our lives if we help them do it.

Ok, enough of that. Today's pitch is from Noah Budin, a singer, songwriter, and storyteller who's very much loved in the pop liturgical / songleader community. His songs have become camp and Hebrew school staples. Here on the chilly North Coast, my daughter's youth choir sings Budin's Hallelujahland with great gusto every chance they get. If you don't already know Budin and his work, you should check out his website, grab an album or two and look for one of his many concerts.

Budin is looking help to self-publish a songbook. Here's his pitch and a medley of this tunes.

"Every song from Hallelujah Land: Songs of Faith and Freedom and Metaphor will be published in this songbook in two different formats: sheet music and chordster. The sheet music will have, well, all of the things sheet music has. You know, time signature, key signature, a melody line, and chord symbols written over the top of the staff. In other words, lead sheets. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a “chordster” is a “camp” style representation of the songs: lyrics with chord names above each line in the appropriate places. Perfect for guitar players and song leaders....

OK. So, why do I need your help? I'm a DIY musician. Self published, self recorded, self booked, and self financed. While all aspects of the book are being produced professionally, I have no publisher, no distribution and no cash advance. I don't expect to make a lot of money from sales. Like my CDs, it's a labor of love - passion, really - and, while they seem to bring pleasure to people, for me, they are marketing tools. I really just like to play music for people.

Over the years I've gotten many requests for sheet music to my songs. I'm humbled and grateful that my music is "out there" and being used and enjoyed by so many people. So, I'm looking for support from my fans, especially the educators, song leaders, and other musicians who would love to have the book, to bring this project to fruition. In other words, at most levels of pledging, I'm asking you to purchase the songbook in advance to cover the costs of production"

This kind of buy-in-advance pitch makes a lot of sense and is going to become more and more common as we go forward.