Broken Angels
- Written by Paul Miro
As those of you who follow me on social networks will have seen, the second volume of my Sinombré project, Broken Angels will be released on CD on 2nd July 2018.
It is quite a milestone moment, and I feel a huge sense of relief that, after so many unavoidable delays, I am going to be able to share the album with you. The level of interest and curiosity and number of people wanting to listen to and own Broken Angles has played no small part in my trying to speed the process along.
To make this campaign even more personal, it will be run exclusively from my web store miromart.com. For practical reasons, it will be a more streamlined campaign than the one for the previous album, with the main focus being on the CD itself.
Here’s a sneak preview of what will be available:
Broken Angels CD (obviously!)
Get your name on the album thanks (limited numbers)
A one-off hardback notebook containing handwritten lyrics to every song from volumes I & II of Sinombré in the original planned running order.
Handwritten lyrics of your choice
‘Colour notes’ – As I have mentioned a few times, I have a condition called synaesthesia, which, in my case, means I see sounds as colours, and many of my original ideas for songs are jotted down as random colours. To me, these act as visual reminders that are as effective as audio recordings. A number of people have expressed an interest in getting hold of one of these ‘sketches’, and I’ll be selling a limited number of those relating to songs from the album, each of which would have been made before the tracks came into existence.
Everyone who pre-orders will receive a free downloadable PDF special full colour lyric booklet, with artwork by Haluk Gurer.
A limited edition poster featuring the ‘CD panel’ artwork from All Hope is Gone.
All of the exclusives will also include a signed copy of the CD.
To clarify: the album will only be available in CD format. I do not plan to make it available to download or stream.
I have already received a number of messages from friends overseas, especially in the US, concerned about shipping because of some of the crazy politics that is currently causing chaos. Obviously, I can’t predict what other crazy policies world leaders will enact in the near future, but as things stand, there should be no problems shipping your orders to wherever you live. Shipping charges will, of course, apply.
Because there will be no pledge-type database of automatic updates and shared mailouts, every aspect of this campaign is going to be reliant on old fashioned ‘street team’ mentality. Social network shares, word of mouth, sharing of links to my web store, and generally harassing friends into submission are all encouraged.
You are the reason that this album is happening, and, this time around, we will all be working together even more closely to make it a success.
I consider myself immensely privileged to have such an amazing bunch of people supporting what I do. Thanks for being amazing! I cannot wait to share this album with you.
Sinombré Vol I: All Hope is Gone Digital Release Tonight
- Written by Paul Miro
I am proud and pleased as punch to announce that the full download version of my brand new album Sinombré Vol I: All Hope is Gone will be released tonight at 6 P.M GMT to those who have pledged on my campaign.
I will write a full and extensive summary and thanks as the campaign draws to a close. For now, I am simply thanking everyone once again for the incredible commitment and support that you have given to the campaign and for making this release possible. It is 100% down to you. There has not been one word in the press on media, no radio play. Just Social networks, Pledge Music's page and word of mouth have enabled me to produce and release what I consider to be my best album to date, which is truly incredible.
From mail and messages I've received, I know there are a fair number of people who 'don't do Pledge,' and don't like to download music, and who simply wish to get a CD copy of the album. Firstly, this means you will have missed out on an absolute stack of free bonus material - a free live album, the possibility to purchase a bonus album that won't be released, a number of pledge exclusive songs, videos etc. Every download has been made available in formats that enable you to burn this material to CD if you choose, but, for starters it would simply be financially impossible for me release all of this stuff on CD. Also, part of the idea of the Pledge journey is to provide a constant stream of free exclusive content during the campaign, and I've tried to make that incentive as atractive as possible, meaning that, in real terms, a basic £8 download pledge, or £12 CD pledge provides you with the equivalent of around £60 worth of material, were it to be released commercially.
One of the most common comments has been, 'I'll wait and grab a copy of the CD from you at a gig.' Whilst the campaign has been huge success, it does not look likely that there will be money to enable me to play any gigs in conjunction with its release, meaning that the 'grab a CD from a gig,' option is not going to be possible. I live in hope that at some point I will be in a position to be able to put on some live dates, but it won't be anytime soon.
The campaign now has just 30 days left to run before it closes (it ends on 31st July). At that point, all of the exclusives will disappear forever. (The free live album will be removed on 7th July). After that, the new CD will be available to purchase from my online store. I have no intention of releasing it via iTunes/Amazon/Spotify etc. as I feel that would be to betray all of the people who have helped to make this album happen.
This is not in any way a case of me saying, 'Go on, Pledge, you know you want to.' Having released my previous album via fan-funding, I suspect that, once it's too late, I will be inundated with requests for all of the material that is no longer available. I know I've already mentioned this in previous posts but, at the risk of needless repetition: once it's gone, it's gone.
But, to close on the brightest and most exciting note: my new album launches TONIGHT!
Full Album Digital Download Coming 1 July
- Written by Paul Miro
The Pledge Music campaign for my new album is now entering its final few weeks.
Seeing as only people who have already pledged have access to the updates on the Pledge site, I thought I would write a blog/ schedule here so that everyone knows what’s going to occur.
The first ‘big’ announcement is the launch of the digital download of the full album on 1st July. Everyone who has pledged will automatically receive a link to the download on the date of release. This download will only be available to pledgers - the commercial digital release will not be in online stores until some weeks after the physical CD release, which is scheduled for the beginning of August.
I know a lot of people who have been waiting to pledge until the album is ready to download or, in some cases, until the CD is released. It is perhaps worth me making one point here. During the course of the campaign, I have gone to great lengths to provide pledgers with as much free, exclusive bonus content as possible. Some of this content will remain available until the close of the campaign. Other exclusives, including some store items, will start to disappear once the digital download goes live.
Just to give non-pledgers an idea of the free content that has been/will be available:
Exclusive live acoustic video performances of a number of tracks from the album. These versions will never be released.
A free full-length live album ‘Live Undangerous’ recently recorded. This is worth the price of a pledge in itself, but is available completely free and will not be released commercially. This exclusive is only available until 7th July and you will need to pledge on or before this date if you wish to grab the album.
Numerous behind-the-scenes videos.
Free full-production tracks to download - again, these will not be released commercially.
Numerous exclusive previews of promotional videos.
And there will be yet more updates and free exclusives.
This is not so much a sales pitch as a reminder that all of this content will disappear at the conclusion of the campaign, some of it sooner. From experience, I am fully anticipating a bunch of past-the-deadline requests for stuff that is no longer available, so I’m getting in front of all that by stating quite simply that when it’s gone, it’s gone and, if you want all the free bonus stuff, you need to pledge.
I’ve also received a number of messages from people saying that they aren’t bothered about all the pledge malarkey, but will pick up a CD from me at a gig. As things stand, aside from the private/ house gigs for which people have pledged, I don’t think I am likely to be playing any live shows in conjunction with the new album’s release so, again, if you want to get hold of the album, pledging is the safest option.
So far, the pledge journey has been a high-octane thrill ride, and there are still a few weeks of fun ahead. None of it could have happened without the support of everyone who has pledged so far. Thanks once again to everyone for getting behind the campaign with such phenomenal enthusiasm and making it possible for the album to become a reality that I can share.
And for those who wish to get involved, the pledge link is here
Free: Live Undangerous
- Written by Paul Miro
Next week, the PledgeMusic exclusive update on my current campaign will be something very special. For a limited time, pledgers will receive a free live album.
As a nod to one of my favourite live albums of all time, it will be entitled Live Undangerous. The recordings were captured at my recent UK shows with The Dowling Poole by my amazing friend Dave Draper, who has been closely involved with everything I’ve recorded for over a decade. I’ve taken the recordings away and given them some TLC in the studio, and Dave has mastered the finished mixes. Surprisingly, this is the first live album I have recorded and the finished result is really exciting. As Dave commented: ‘That’s a cracking record. Glad I recorded it. Would’ve missed some gold.’
I recently posted on social networks about this forthcoming giveaway and a number of people have already questioned the wisdom of my giving away an entire album. ‘Why don’t you hold it back, sell it as a stand alone album,’ etc. Well, sure. I could do that. But that would miss the point of what my Pledge campaign is about. Marketing and promotion are not my speciality. Ask any independent musician and, if they are honest, they will concede that they concentrate on doing what they do best: making music and, when it comes down to it, they are frankly clueless when it comes to effective self-promotion. We are inundated with advice from all quarters advising how best to maximise impact, monetise this and that, extend the reach of whatever. It’s something I accept I will never understand and, were I to dedicate the necessary time to learning the hows and how-not-tos, it would ultimately dilute the passion I invest in my music. Promotion and marketing are the remit of of other professionals, whose services currently fall well outside my budget.
The purpose of the Pledge Music campaign is to raise funds to enable me to cover the costs of recording and releasing the new studio album and merchandise, and I was determined from the outset to ensure those who joined me on the journey would receive as much free, unique content as possible as a sign of my appreciation for the incredible level of support I’ve received for the project. And, of course, I wanted to offer incentives to encourage people to get involved.
I can’t think of a much better incentive than a full free album - my first ever live album at that!
Once it goes live, it will be completely free to download in Wav/Flac and MP3 formats for one month.
I know that after that month expires my inbox will be filled with many questions, and, pre-empting that inevitability, I have prepared a list of them. The answer to all of them is a resounding NO!
1. Is there any way I can get hold of the free live album that was on your Pledge campaign?
2. Can you make it available on CD (NO… but, if you pledged in time, then you could burn your own CD from the WAV files)
3. If I sent you some money, would you send me the files.
4. Would you burn me a copy on CD, just for me
5. Will you consider releasing it for sale
And so on.
To everyone who has pledged so far, I cannot thank you enough. So far, the project is approaching around 75% of what I dreamed it might, and I am overwhelmed by your support and faith in what I do.
Those who haven't pledged, you can do so here:
New Album Pledge Campaign Now Live!
- Written by Paul Miro
For those of you who haven’t been following my latest social media updates, just to let you know that the Pledge Music campaign for my forthcoming album SInombré Vol I: All Hope is Gone is now live
Here
The album will be released digitally for download a month before the end of the campaign and the CD will be released a moth after that.
As a pledger, you will receive lots of exclusive updates and some material that no one else will get to see or hear, together with other releases before anyone else gets to hear them.
As a fan-funded project, you are completely in control of helping to make this an album that I am able to share with the world.
A massive amount of preparation has gone into the co-ordination of the campaign and, to experience the journey from launch to release, the sooner you pledge, the better.
Thanks to everyone who has pledged so far. The first few days have been amazing, and I hope that, with your help, the word continues to spread and more people get involved.