Another song from back in the day, this one is a unique song because it has politically charged lyrics which never happens in dance music. I wonder if any drunk guy in a club caught this.

I’m at it again!

Here is an excerpt of a letter I wrote to an organization:

“I am absolutely horrified by your physical submission requirement. It goes against the values of human decency. Do you love the arts? Do you love this world? Do you hate capitalism? If you answered yes to any of these, then you must remove this requirement immediately.

Let me go by each question one by one.

Do you love the arts?

I love the arts. I would love to spend the afternoon playing music. Since I work many hours just to keep a roof over my head, I cherish every moment I can to play music. As far as I know, this is an economic reality for the average Canadian artist. Mailing a physical CD requires an entire afternoon. It includes printing a cover, burning a CD, buying mailing supplies, going to the local post office, and spending at least an hours worth of minimum wage to mail it out to you.

I have two afternoons a week. I would much rather use that afternoon to play music. I’m sure many other artists would prefer to do so as well. Marketing should be the last and easiest thing to worry about. We already put in the effort into creating music.

Do you love this world?

Think of the trees we cut for the cover art and envelope.
Think of the chemical processing and plastic for the CD and it’s case.
Think of the burning fossil fuels to deliver the package.

Every gesture counts. And there will be no arts, or even life if we create an inhabitable environment for ourselves.

I’m not saying I live my life 100% eco friendly, but I try my best, I even started composting last year. There are some really easy ways to do your part, like eliminating this rule.

Do you hate capitalism?

Enjoying a physical possession is part of consumerist culture. It leads to hoarding, disgusting land fills, and messes with your self worth. Capitalism is a system built on greed, which does not bode well for the arts, which is why they are starving.

So why would you ask them to pay an hours worth of minimum wage to mail you something?

This letter took me about an hour to write, but I am sacrificing this time hoping that you would eliminate this rule in order to become accessible to all artists of all economic classes in an eco friendly manner.”

—

Save money and invest in digital marketing.

Let’s say the cost of packaging, mailing supplies, stamp, CD, cover art, case, time equals to $10 each, do you know how much you could do with that?

$10 can go into a digital marketing campaign where you can guarantee that people saw your ad. For next to pennies, I have ads appearing on RollingStones, Vice, and Pitchfork. But you have to be careful, you have to be an expert at this or else you could waste a lot of money, however it is worth learning about or paying a consultant. I do online marketing as a living, and I passed the AdWords test.

$10 spent on a package to an indie organization, blog or a campus radio is very hit and miss. You don’t know for sure where the CD goes, and chances are, they will throw away your CD. I love what they stand for in theory, but I’ve volunteered for one of these organizations, and it broke my heart to see so many CD’s go into the trash. Broken dreams, broken planet, broken money (that could have been a nice meal for the starving artist). In 2014, I wish all music organizations put a stop to asking for physical CDs. Enough is enough!

It seems vain, putting out you deepest personal expressions, and then asking the whole world to listen to it and even demand that they pay for it.

Hey guys!

I got a brand new sewing machine! A great way to stay creative on my music down time! After messaging about five ads, one came through, the best offer yet! This machine wasn’t used even once and I got a good deal. I promised the previous owner that I would make her something…

It is my brand new sewing machine I got off of kijiji!!! The fashion possibilities with this machine are endless!

Then boom! After a weekend of squinting over the manual, rereading instructions over and over and over again, I made this tote bag! Here is the grand debut it deserves at the Eaton Centre.

I love this tote bag so much that it got its own kiosk in the mall!

My tote bag debut at the Eaton Centre in the fashion capital!

And when I say a weekend, I don’t mean an hour here and there. I devoted my entire Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning on this. I spent a good hour at Fabricville choosing the fabrics. I went first to the stuff on sale, which was a disorganized pile of upholstery. I pulled out a few fabrics from the mountain and came up with these two main upholsteries: the dark blue and the spring flower pattern.

Then I spent the rest of the evening cutting the fabrics. It was important to get every measurement right. But it was so hard! I had a little bit a break of “Arrested Development” in between.

Don’t let the smiles fool you, it was tough! I had no idea what I was in for.  The instructions seemed so fun on this website, but it was a tough challenge, especially for someone who only started sewing buttons on a shirt a month ago: http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2013/07/two-tone-fabric-totes-2-variations.html.

All in all, the experience was absolutely worth it. It is good to have a skill, and know where your garments are coming from and fully customize it to your liking!