Hey, GAF. As some of you know, I am a 20-year-old classical, flamenco, Brazilian, and jazz guitarist residing in Minneapolis, MN. I have recorded three CDs, perform regularly throughout the Twin Cities, and maintain an active YouTube page with over 120 videos and currently about 1300 subscribers. Several months ago, I started work on my fourth album (mostly original compositions). However, not too long after I started recording it, I received an email from a representative of the Krzysztof Komeda estate. Apparently, Komeda's sister (who is in her 70s) discovered my rendition of one of her brother's compositions on YouTube, and enjoyed it so much that she wants me to record an album of Komeda compositions.
Some background: Krzysztof Komeda is considered to be one of the most important Polish musicians of all time, perhaps second to Chopin. He established the avant-garde jazz scene in Poland during a time when jazz was banned, and he wrote the scores for many of Roman Polanski's movies (most have probably heard the main theme from "Rosemary's Baby").
Naturally, considering that Komeda is one of my favorite composers, I agreed. However, considering that I can't suspend work on my fourth album, I will have to record and pay for both it and the Komeda tribute. Due to this reason, I have started a Kickstarter to finance this recording. Here's a link:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/danielvolovets/an-album-in-memory-of-krzysztof-komeda
However, since I am also a pre-med student (with the MCAT on the horizon), I have not been performing as much as I used to. As such, my advertising venues are few and far between, and at this point I have exhausted most of them (Facebook, Twitter, etc). So I am asking GAF for help -- not necessarily for funding the Kickstarter (although that would obviously be much appreciated), but in spreading the word. As a "proof of concept", here are two home-made recordings of my arrangements of Ballad for Bernt (the video found by Komeda's sister) and the theme from Rosemary's Baby.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-LgkM7oH3k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRAFh3t8_bk
My brother, who was 14 at the time of the recording in the first video, also plays tenor saxophone, violin, piano, and flute and will appear on the album as well. He is self-taught on most of those instruments, including the soprano saxophone -- he had only played it for a few months at the time of the recording.
I realize that self-promotion is frowned upon on GAF, so if this post violates the ToS in any way, please feel free to delete/lock it. Otherwise, I would greatly appreciate any and all help. Thank you guys so much!
P.S. Sorry if the bolding is annoying, but I figured it would make the post easier to read.
Edit - Some clarification, since a few folks have asked:
The deal in regards to the commission was that I do not need to pay royalties or worry about copyrights. That saves about $500 right off the bat (conservative estimate, actually, since HarryFox charges $50 per piece for 500 copies and I'll more than likely have over 10 tracks on the final album). I also get to keep all of the proceeds from the album, and retain the copyrights to my performances. Finally, they are providing me with sheet music for all of the Komeda pieces that will be on the album, to assist in the arranging process (i.e., so that I'm not doing it all by ear, as I have been so far). My three previous albums were recorded in a professional studio, so the money will be used to fund recording, mixing, mastering (~$500), and CD duplication (~$1500 for 500 copies).
