http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_public.gne?id=47082143@N02

joelrakes

donate

I’ll be honest with you here. Putting out these Christmas EP’s every year doesn’t really cost me much monetarily speaking. I do all of the recording myself in my little bedroom studio, I recruit friends to play for free, and I mix and master the recordings too. Doing so much of the grunt work myself makes this a nearly cost-free adventure.

However, the amount of time this whole endeavor takes is truly another matter. I lose track really, but I imagine I spend at least 75-100 hours each winter selecting, arranging, producing, recording, and mixing these songs to give away. I’m not complaining, I like it mostly. I just wanted to offer some perspective.

This year I do have one small “hard cost” that I am covering out of pocket. In the past, the service I use to host the music (BandCamp) was 100% free. However, this year I can only give away 200 free song downloads a month. That wasn’t going to cut it. So I had spend some cash to obtain additional song download credits so I can continue to keep this a free thing for everyone.

Please feel no compulsion, but if you have found enjoyment from these songs, would you consider donating a few bucks via PayPal to help me cover the music hosting costs? I’d really appreciate it!

Thanks for hearing me out!

-Joel