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Donation is the new goal.
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Warp Brain Records
Warp Brain Records
Started Topics :
125
Posts :
169
Posted : Oct 15, 2010 05:13:19
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As most of you people know, most of the labels are dealing with low sales. this is not the main issue of this message.
Now, we are a label based in the USA, if you google "Warp Brain Records" you will find information and data available to anybody.
We as a group, dealing with many stages in order to release music that was taken care in a very high standard of releases, from visuals to quality music and finally to one of our goals of making differences in the world.
We hope to make sells anough to maintain a healthy flow between the maintanding the releases and at the same time to have an opportunity to donate a certain possible ammount of money if the sells can afford it.
As supporting the music we will also need to do a good deed to the organization chosen by the artists appearing on the CD ( will be one chosen randomly), it is a decision of making a difference, no matter how big it is, but we strongly believe in the possibility to help. right now, if you check our catalog, you will find releases that could beging that reaction in matter of hours or months, as soon as sells reach a certain ammount of income, the donation will be arranged, we rather have that than a failure to maintain releases of talented artists and of giving the listener a media that was worked with high precision.
NO fighting between any format or things like that, for us as a label we support CDs and digital media, both have the possibility of receiving an income, I hope also will make people RE love the CD format that can be enoyd by its real quality that is biased.
We expect mixed comments and support as well as bashing of people that will give their opinions and its all welcome, but if you focus on our main goal, you will make a possitive difference by supporting Warp Brain Records.
Peace.
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Xolvexs
IsraTrance Senior Member
Started Topics :
241
Posts :
2848
Posted : Oct 15, 2010 07:19
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rather than going the donation route why not try this
social business is a non-loss, non-dividend company designed to address a social objective. The profits are used to expand the company’s reach and improve the product/service. This model has grown from the work of Muhammad Yunus and others.
Social business is a cause-driven business. In a social business, the investors/owners can gradually recoup the money invested, but cannot take any dividend beyond that point. Purpose of the investment is purely to achieve one or more social objectives through the operation of the company, no personal gain is desired by the investors. The company must cover all costs and make revenue, at the same time achieve the social objective, such as, healthcare for the poor, housing for the poor, financial services for the poor, nutrition for malnourished children, providing safe drinking water, introducing renewable energy, etc. in a business way.
The impact of the business on people or environment, rather than the amount of profit made in a given period measures the success of social business. Sustainability of the company indicates that it is running as a business. The objective of the company is to achieve social goals.
These [7] were developed by Prof. Muhammad Yunus at the World Economic Forum in Davos, January 2009
* Business objective will be to overcome poverty, or one or more problems (such as education, health, technology access, and environment) which threaten people and society; not profit maximization
* Financial and economic sustainability
* Investors get back their investment amount only. No dividend is given beyond investment money
* When investment amount is paid back, company profit stays with the company for expansion and improvement
* Environmentally conscious
* Workforce gets market wage with better working conditions
* …do it with joy
i have been working closely with prof. yunus and there is a way you can build a record label on the social business model.
think about it
music undoubtedly serves a social purpose
 When death comes to your doorstep, make sure you are alive |
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Basilisk
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
168
Posts :
2984
Posted : Oct 15, 2010 07:46
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Since Ektoplazm accepts donations through Paypal there is often a balance sitting in the account. When this money is not being used to pay for hosting, mastering, and artwork, I cycle the Ektoplazm "seed money" through Kiva, a peer-to-peer micro-financing service:
http://www.kiva.org
So far I've been able to loan out more than $2,500 to people in developing nations to start small businesses, fix their homes, and buy clothing and much-needed supplies. When the Ektoplazm account is running low I withdraw some of what comes back in loan repayments. When donations to the site are high I send some of that through Kiva again. After all, Paypal charges no fees when transferring to Kiva.
Free music is making a difference in many ways 
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Beat Agency
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
53
Posts :
1752
Posted : Oct 15, 2010 07:52
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The fun thing is the artists dont see many donations. People rather donate to sites like Ektoplazm which is awesome and labels. But they tend to forget to donate directly to the artists which is a huge shame.
www.beatagency.dk |
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Maine Coon
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
12
Posts :
1659
Posted : Oct 15, 2010 08:12
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^
Part of it is convenience: Ektoplazm's PayPal button is right there - those of artists are not.
It would be a simple matter for contributing artists to get a PayPal account and coordinate the necessary steps with Alex, so that donating to them could be as easy as rating their releases.
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mk47
Inactive User
Started Topics :
118
Posts :
4444
Posted : Oct 15, 2010 08:14
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Beat Agency
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
53
Posts :
1752
Posted : Oct 15, 2010 08:17
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Well I have had a paypal donation button (and still have even though it has to be changed since i changed the paypal account a week ago) on example the elysium site for almost 2 years now. More than 35.000 downloads before it went on the ektoplazm site and many emails thanking me for the free music expressing how they like the music etc. Yet only one donation of 2 dollars in 2 years. So nope I doubt people donate much directly to the artists compared to donations toward example ektoplazm. Or maybe i was just one of the "unlucky" ones 
www.beatagency.dk |
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Basilisk
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
168
Posts :
2984
Posted : Oct 15, 2010 14:52
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Quote:
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On 2010-10-15 07:52, Beat Agency wrote:
The fun thing is the artists dont see many donations. People rather donate to sites like Ektoplazm which is awesome and labels. But they tend to forget to donate directly to the artists which is a huge shame. |
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It's true. There are direct donation links on a few release postings but I don't think people have made use of them much at all. Hopefully this will improve somewhat with the site redesign (which should include artist profiles with Paypal links for those who have an account).
I should probably note that Ektoplazm is strictly non-profit and we're not talking a high volume of donations here either.
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Maine Coon
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
12
Posts :
1659
Posted : Oct 15, 2010 18:55
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On 2010-10-15 14:52, Basilisk wrote:
It's true. There are direct donation links on a few release postings but I don't think people have made use of them much at all. Hopefully this will improve somewhat with the site redesign (which should include artist profiles with Paypal links for those who have an account).
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That's excellent! 
It would be great to have profiles of all contributors, not just "signed" ones (like Ekoplex). Lots of work for you, I imagine...
Unrelated to Mohammad Yunus and charitable work, but hopefully still relevant:
Do track authors get any part from Ektoplazm's physical CD sales or does it all go to the label? |
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rich
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
103
Posts :
2184
Posted : Oct 15, 2010 19:06
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On 2010-10-15 14:52, Basilisk wrote:
It's true. There are direct donation links on a few release postings but I don't think people have made use of them much at all. Hopefully this will improve somewhat with the site redesign (which should include artist profiles with Paypal links for those who have an account).
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This is what I've been clambering for all along. Pay the artists directly. And once Ektoplazm is redesigned, there should be a clear announcement of this feature.
And Alex, omg, the micro loan system sounds incredible and I'm really even more impressed with you then before. That is awesome and I have to say you are a standup human being. And modest at that. Hats off
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Basilisk
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
168
Posts :
2984
Posted : Oct 15, 2010 19:48
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On 2010-10-15 18:55, Maine Coon wrote:
It would be great to have profiles of all contributors, not just "signed" ones (like Ekoplex). Lots of work for you, I imagine...
Unrelated to Mohammad Yunus and charitable work, but hopefully still relevant:
Do track authors get any part from Ektoplazm's physical CD sales or does it all go to the label?
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Yes, the idea is to have MySpace-like profiles that artists can maintain themselves. It doesn't make sense for me to be the sole content creator on the site--it's too much work and I just end up being a bottleneck (particularly as I am in school for most of the year).
About CD sales: they're so insignificant that there isn't much of a point passing any of it on but I always do if asked. Usually the cost of making a release on Ektoplazm is around $200 to $600 so when $25 comes in the artists usually tell me to keep it. There are some cases where releases have been mastered at the artist's expense but even then no one has really asked. I did some profit-sharing with Ekoplex back in the early days but with the amount of gigs he's scored through releasing his music for free the paltry amount that comes in through Kunaki isn't significant.
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On 2010-10-15 19:06, rich wrote:
This is what I've been clambering for all along. Pay the artists directly. And once Ektoplazm is redesigned, there should be a clear announcement of this feature. |
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Oh, there will be.
Alright, hopefully that answers those questions well enough... let's get this thread back on track It seems like the original aim was to discuss charitable works and donations to a good cause. I gave an example of how Ektoplazm is involved and would like to hear of other approaches. It would also be interesting to find out how much those tsunami and earthquake relief CDs made. Does anyone know?
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Login
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
65
Posts :
1707
Posted : Oct 15, 2010 21:34
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I love kiva and all the other microfinance/social bussinees NGO outhere (check this http://microfranchising.blogspot.com/ ), they are one of the more succesfull aproachs to combat poverty ever.
but kiva surely could be a great options since you create a very personal attachment to helping others.
"The dedication to repetition — the search for nirvana in a single held tone or an endlessly cycling rhythm — is one of electronic music's noblest gestures." |
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juliew9855
Started Topics :
0
Posts :
1
Posted : Oct 16, 2010 03:06
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Quote:
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On 2010-10-15 07:46, Basilisk wrote:
Since Ektoplazm accepts donations through Paypal there is often a balance sitting in the account. When this money is not being used to pay for hosting, mastering, and artwork, I cycle the Ektoplazm "seed money" through Kiva, a peer-to-peer micro-financing service:
http://www.kiva.org
So far I've been able to loan out more than $2,500 to people in developing nations to start small businesses, fix their homes, and buy clothing and much-needed supplies. When the Ektoplazm account is running low I withdraw some of what comes back in loan repayments. When donations to the site are high I send some of that through Kiva again. After all, Paypal charges no fees when transferring to Kiva.
Free music is making a difference in many ways
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Such a very amazing link!
Thanks you for the post.
__________________
http://moviesonlineworld.com |
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lucidpicnic
Lucid Picnic
Started Topics :
132
Posts :
855
Posted : Oct 17, 2010 15:59
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bakshish music
Bakshish Music
Started Topics :
21
Posts :
56
Posted : Oct 17, 2010 22:41
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hi there
this is our experience so far :
we exist as collective from one year
we give our music for free download (mp3@320) and we ask for donations for flac, wav and wav24.
we also sell in few online shops (not through aggregators so not on iTunes, Beatport etc).
so far the sales in the shops are much higher than the donations...many ppl buy the mp3 from the shops because they don't even know that they can get it for free from us.
and.....ppl generally like shopping more than donating...
but we still think that this attitude can/must be changed.
at the moment we just covering the costs of our server and the soundcloud pro account.
I think (maux here) that pretty soon also the download market will be oldfashion and pretty much decline like the cd market now...ppl will mostly stream music online from services like Soundcloud or Last.fm or Blip.fm and who knows what next...without even bother to spend money in hard disks and devices...
we are digital buskers, our street is the net.
free music is the present
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